4 ms·

Em Dash in Reddit Comments, Interactive

3 points by jonatron 10mo ago

astahlx 10mo ago
Using em dash is just fine. Academic writing teached me using it. However, I have to admit that use of AI is accelerating its „adoption“.
nomilk 10mo ago
tl;dr: The proportion of Reddit comments containing emdashes more than doubled since ChatGPT's release! From the data: for several years before ChatGPT release, the proportion of Reddit comments containing emdashes was about 0.13-0.17%. For the few years after ChatGPT came out, it's between 0.17% and 0.41%.
- jonatron 10mo ago
  Click the % button in the top right
  - nomilk 10mo ago
    I noticed it shortly after commenting, and completely rewrote my comment accordingly. Excellent research! If you were to do a write-up on how you did this analysis, that would be very interesting (as the number of comments involved is large).
    - jonatron 10mo ago
      The "dev notes" in the top right links to https://intervolz.com/emdash-observer-writeup/ https://intervolz.com/emdash-observer-writeup/ I downloaded torrents of reddit comments, and processed them in Go, written using AI assistance. Then Intervolz did this thing and wrote it up.
      - HardwareLust 10mo ago
        Wait, why would people make torrents of reddit comments?
xnorswap 10mo ago
There is a sudden jump in late 2017. A very sudden jump that doesn't further grow. Browser or mobile OS keyboard change?
- jonatron 10mo ago
  From iOS 11 it auto-corrects -- to — https://glog.glennf.com/blog/2017/7/6/dash-dash-it-all https://glog.glennf.com/blog/2017/7/6/dash-dash-it-all
carlos-menezes 10mo ago
From my blog[0]: "I instinctively type alt + 0151 (Windows) or option + shift + - (Mac). I don’t use it everywhere (e.g., code comments), but I often employ it in my writing—a habit I developed after years of roleplaying in online games with native English speakers. An "advanced, trusted GPT-4, ChatGPT and AI Detector tool" flagged the text above as 100% "AI GPT". If I swap the em-dash for a hyphen, it drops to 48%. The em-dash is a stylistic choice that's been around since the 1830s–used to create a break in a sentence. I don’t know why this particular style of writing is flagged as AI-generated—as if real humans can’t pause for dramatic effect. We're left second-guessing our own voice and swapping out em-dashes for clunky commas—just to prove we're real. If that makes me sound like a bot—so be it." [0] https://www.carlos-menezes.com/em-dash-1830-invention/ https://www.carlos-menezes.com/em-dash-1830-invention/

3 points by jonatron 10mo ago

Using em dash is just fine. Academic writing teached me using it. However, I have to admit that use of AI is accelerating its „adoption“.

nomilk 10mo ago

tl;dr: The proportion of Reddit comments containing emdashes more than doubled since ChatGPT's release! From the data: for several years before ChatGPT release, the proportion of Reddit comments containing emdashes was about 0.13-0.17%. For the few years after ChatGPT came out, it's between 0.17% and 0.41%.

jonatron 10mo ago
Click the % button in the top right
- nomilk 10mo ago
  I noticed it shortly after commenting, and completely rewrote my comment accordingly. Excellent research! If you were to do a write-up on how you did this analysis, that would be very interesting (as the number of comments involved is large).
  - jonatron 10mo ago
    The "dev notes" in the top right links to https://intervolz.com/emdash-observer-writeup/ https://intervolz.com/emdash-observer-writeup/ I downloaded torrents of reddit comments, and processed them in Go, written using AI assistance. Then Intervolz did this thing and wrote it up.
    - HardwareLust 10mo ago
      Wait, why would people make torrents of reddit comments?

xnorswap 10mo ago

There is a sudden jump in late 2017. A very sudden jump that doesn't further grow. Browser or mobile OS keyboard change?

jonatron 10mo ago
From iOS 11 it auto-corrects -- to — https://glog.glennf.com/blog/2017/7/6/dash-dash-it-all https://glog.glennf.com/blog/2017/7/6/dash-dash-it-all

carlos-menezes 10mo ago

From my blog[0]: "I instinctively type alt + 0151 (Windows) or option + shift + - (Mac). I don’t use it everywhere (e.g., code comments), but I often employ it in my writing—a habit I developed after years of roleplaying in online games with native English speakers. An "advanced, trusted GPT-4, ChatGPT and AI Detector tool" flagged the text above as 100% "AI GPT". If I swap the em-dash for a hyphen, it drops to 48%. The em-dash is a stylistic choice that's been around since the 1830s–used to create a break in a sentence. I don’t know why this particular style of writing is flagged as AI-generated—as if real humans can’t pause for dramatic effect. We're left second-guessing our own voice and swapping out em-dashes for clunky commas—just to prove we're real. If that makes me sound like a bot—so be it." [0] https://www.carlos-menezes.com/em-dash-1830-invention/ https://www.carlos-menezes.com/em-dash-1830-invention/