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These comments feel like llm authored astro turfing…
by phyalow 2mo ago
These comments feel like llm authored astro turfing…
- edoceo 2mo agoI'm sure they aren't. Folk (like me!) love Kago.
- Gareth321 2mo ago> Kago Nice try, LLM! I'm onto you!
- bayindirh 2mo agoIt's a funny claim about me, who doesn't use any LLMs for writing, coding or reducing any kind of mental or manual load. My comments are on the open, and I can answer any question or comment you have about any of them. :) No offense taken though. Made me smile while drinking my tea. :)
- dmacj 2mo ago> Kagi is not only an ad-free subscription. It’s a mental budget booster. Likely, the "It's not X, it's Y" phrasing is what probably rang the LLM alarm bells.
- bayindirh 2mo agoYeah, I figured the same thing after reading my comment and chuckled. :)
- andruby 2mo agoLLM's are trained on human phrasings. So now we can't use human phrasings anymore? I am one of those people that used to write em dashes – and now I self-censor them out of my writings :(
- qzx_pierri 2mo agoI still use them too. Don’t listen to these nerds. Self censoring is awful.
- Dumblydorr 2mo agoWow! Can I ask how Kagi is best for your uses? Would love to try myself
- bayindirh 2mo agoOh, this appeared late in my feed. I personally like the ability to filter my own results by promoting, demoting or blocking certain domains to filter lower quality results further. Same for image search which can also filter out AI generated images. Also, I find lenses very useful (which is a way to limit your search radius) to search for specific things in the specific parts of the internet. i.e. you can define a lens with specific websites for a subject, and if you need something precisely, you can only search these websites. I recently started to use SlopStop reporting to weed out AI generated webpages from search results, too. Lastly, all AI features are opt-in. No summaries, no widgets, no extra "bells and whistles" if you don't want on your result page.
- plutokras 2mo ago> I personally like the ability to filter my own results by promoting, demoting or blocking certain domains to filter lower quality results further. I had an annual Kagi subscription that I let lapse not long ago. That was hands-down the best feature, so I vibecoded a small userscript that replicates it for DuckDuckGo. DDG also lets you turn off ads. I'd gladly return once they fix the integration issues. In Safari, the redirect via the extension is a bit wonky at times.
- sebmellen 2mo agoSurprisingly, Kagi is actually just a really good business. Look at my comments, I despise AI spam and call it out wherever possible.
- InsideOutSanta 2mo agoI'm a customer of Kagi who is in no way affiliated with Kagi, other than sending them money. I agree with bayindirh: It’s possibly the single most impactful thing in my digital life. I know that we live in a world where tech increasingly sucks, and positive comments on tech are (correctly!) seen as suspicious. The thing, though, is that Kagi is genuinely just a great product, and search is such a central part of using the Internet that good, trustworthy search makes a huge difference.
- bilbo0s 2mo ago>trustworthy search makes a huge difference That's the rub. Today on the internet, no one can validate that there exists any "trustworthy search". If we don't control the servers and validate the software on it, then we are taking someone's word for it. Most often that someone is a marketing person at the hosting organization. Occasionally it's a random comment on the internet behind a pseudonym we know nothing about. People are becoming more and more, justifiably, cynical. And it's good for society that they are.
- john01dav 2mo agoKagi's business model also aligns incentives better than an ad and/or data mining fueled business model. Of course, this isn't proof, but it is evidence. One can also try the search in areas that one knows deeply and compare it to other search engines to see if it's truly better (I have not done this, but it is possible and isn't just trusting marketing.). I don't use Kagi primarily because I'm quite averse to subscriptions if I can find another way.
- InsideOutSanta 2mo ago> If we don't control the servers and validate the software on it, then we are taking someone's word for it That's what trust is, though. I find Kagi worthy of trust since I have no evidence that they are doing anything that would violate my trust in them, and their incentives align with mine. I give them money, they give me good search results. > People are becoming more and more, justifiably, cynical. And it's good for society that they are. I do not believe that this is good. Democracies are built on trust. Without trust, they die, as we can plainly see in the US right now, where people are so distrustful of each other that it is starting to destroy the very fabric holding together society itself.
- MarleTangible 2mo agoYou know who else sounds like LLM from time to time? ESL - English as a Second Language. People learn English from books, and get introduced to phrases through reading or interacting with others within the same community. So, it sounds like you're using the LLM argument as a way to diminish their voices as well.
- deleted 2mo ago[deleted]
- cindyllm 2mo ago[dead]
- ajmurmann 2mo agoAs an ESL person who has spoken English as their main language for two decades now I find this very interesting. The vast majority of my English has been spoken with my wife who used to be a marketing VP or in a professional context. Sometimes people complain about the ways politicians or corporate executives talk and I don't get it and to me it sounds totally normal because that's what I'm used to. Makes you wonder how ESL speakers will sound more and more like LLMs because that's a large part of their exposure.
- 2mo ago
- GreenWatermelon 2mo agoOn the other hand, your comment sounds to me like Anti-Kagi astroturfing.
- bilbo0s 2mo agoTogether, both comments make a good example of the reason one should not trust what one reads on the internet. It sucks. But there's just too much astro-turfing.
- Dumblydorr 2mo agoYeah that one was praising in a non-specific way. Whether or not it’s genuinely a user, it did feel like astroturfing, which is sad if it’s a real comment that they can’t compliment a good service.
- bayindirh 2mo agoIf I wrote the features that I like, and god forbid I use a bullet list, then I'll be labeled as a LLM user or LLM again. What do you want me to do? :) I can answer your questions if you want? :D Edit: Heh, I saw your other comment, too.
- inigyou 2mo agoThat comment was obviously LLM authored but it is true. Using Kagi really does feel like taking off a huge weight. Or generally any service where you're used to being the product and then you become the customer instead.
- bayindirh 2mo ago> That comment was obviously LLM authored... Wanna bet? =]
- cevn 2mo agoThis one is so short and only has one LLM-ism, it's entirely possible it was human, I'm 60/40 on it. Unless you are 100% sure it was LLM, please don't call it out.
- bayindirh 2mo agoThe funny thing is, In my whole life, this is probably the first time I have used that form, and I wrote it in a completely honest way. I just want to bang my head to the keyboard.
- cevn 2mo agoReading LLM's all day makes me really cynical, and I have to suppress the urge to judge all text written in that sense. SO I get where they are coming from, but people need to consider that they can be wrong, and that there is a real person whose feelings you can hurt by saying "OH this is like LLM, gotem!"
- bayindirh 2mo agoI can relate, because I also try to understand whether the text I'm reading is written by a human or emitted by a model constantly, and I don't use any LLMs day to day. On the other hand, I'm not new in the internet, and have relatively thick skin. I'm very amused today by the unintentional attention I got with my cloudy, morning brain. Nevertheless, regardless of what we do, believe or say, we shall be kind first and remember https://xkcd.com/438/ https://xkcd.com/438/ dearly. This is what I'm trying to do all the time, but I'm not perfect. Just a human, trying his best.