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> The violation of AI policy is regretted. That's a good example of when you shouldn't use passive voice.
by nicbou 1y ago
> The violation of AI policy is regretted.
That's a good example of when you shouldn't use passive voice.
- benterix 1y agoOTOH kudos to them for regretting AI slop (even if they don't want to point out who precisely is regretting). I know some who'd vehemently deny in spite of evidence.
- serial_dev 1y agoThey don't regret serving you AI slop, they regret that the "writer" didn't even read their own article and that they got caught because of it.
- IAmBroom 1y ago"We regrets that mistakes were noticed."
- steve_taylor 1y agoIt's a good example of when you should use AI.
- throwaway638637 1y agoThat's just a manner of speaking in former British colonies, or at least the subcontinent. Much of formal speech like a bureaucrat wrote it because, well, the civil service ran India and that's who everyone emulated.
- thoroughburro 1y ago> That's just a manner of speaking in former British colonies, or at least the subcontinent. Which is still a good example of when you shouldn't use passive voice. Clarifying where “optimising language to evade a responsibility” evolved does nothing to justify it, which you imply with “that’s just”.
- hbarka 1y agoIt’s still passive voice, the kind used when trying to avoid blame or responsibility. So pretty much fits in bureaucratic places. That’s just…mistakes were made.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- throwup238 1y agoThis pattern of writing goes back to the Spanish conquistadors at the very least. They frequently described their actions in a passive voice when doing something they knew was horrible, only to switch to aggrandizing active voice when writing about their successes. It’s a standard way to blur responsibility and present violence as an almost natural “fact” rather than a deliberate action by identifiable agents. It didn’t escape everyone’s attention though. Bartolomé de las Casas definitely noticed it.
- pixelpoet 1y ago> This door is alarmed
- dredmorbius 1y agoThis is a convention for journalistic corrections, e.g., "The Times regrets the error", used to note corrections for at least a century: <https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/13/insider/the-times-regrets-the-error-readers-dont.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/13/insider/the-times-regrets...>
- strix_varius 1y agoYour example is not passive voice.
- IAmBroom 1y agoYes, they are pointing out how it should have been written.
- strix_varius 1y agoApparently not.
- vintermann 1y agoOn the other hand, this way you know they probably didn't use the chatbot to write the apology.