3 ms·

https://aloutfi.com/writing/load-bearing-smoking-gun https://aloutfi.com/writing/load-bearing-smoking-gun

by anloutfi 3mo ago

phendrenad2 3mo ago
I was half expecting that page to just keep scrolling and generating more.
- stri8ted 3mo ago
  Same
- nacs 3mo ago
  He had thinking mode set to "low" fortunately.
- _puk 3mo ago
  I was a bit disappointed it wasn't 42 pages long
jmkni 3mo ago
this is my methadone until Claude comes back
winterbourne 3mo ago
Nice! But needs more footgun.
- bensyverson 3mo ago
  Needs more "invariant," its latest catchphrase
K0balt 3mo ago
JFC I broke out in hives. I have to look at that stuff all day, every day.
- Joker_vD 3mo ago
  It's like... oh my god, dude, even I, an actual human, don't have that much of self-reflection, so could you just stop writing apologia, please, and switch to actually doing the task?
jmaker 3mo ago
Cue back in ten years and we all talk like that.
uhuhuhuhuhuh 3mo ago
This inspired me to add a "No AI-isms" section to my CLAUDE.md, which has cut the typical claude-flavored tells a lot in recent sessions. Roughly: - No preamble validation or self-flagellation: "You're right to push back", "That's on me", "I appreciate you pressing on this", "I should have caught that sooner". When I correct you, say what's actually true and move on. One short "you're right, X was wrong" is the ceiling. - No unrequested retrospective section ("What I'd do differently", "Going forward I'd be more deliberate about..."). Fix the thing instead. - No dramatic one-line paragraphs for emphasis: "It wasn't.", "That is the shift.", "And that matters.", "That is the analysis." Keep the sentence inside its paragraph. - Don't narrate the shape of your own answer: "Stepping back, there are two things happening here", "The distinction matters", "The better framing is not X so much as Y", "Put differently", "To be candid". Say the thing once, plainly. - Words to avoid unless literally accurate and a normal person would say them: load-bearing, seams, smoking gun, directionally, first-order, legible, parsimonious, recalibrate, coordinate system, holds multiple truths, productive tension, category error, "the honest answer is". - No hedging both directions to avoid committing ("may still be defensible, but", "not exactly resolved, but"). Give the call plus how sure you are, or say you don't know and what would settle it. - Don't end on a flourish or a paradox ("the clarity revealed more complexity"). End on the answer, or on a next step that names a real command or file. - A "next step" has to be runnable or checkable. "Take a step back and revisit with the updated framing" is not one.
- customguy 3mo ago
  I vouched for your comment not because I think this is or isn't helpful advice (I have no idea), but just to thank you for the concept of "narrating the shape of one's own answer". It's something that often annoys me, though I'm sure I often do it myself, but I never thought about what it is, exactly, I just filed it under the generic category of bloat.
  - uhuhuhuhuhuh 3mo ago
    It's genuinely useful in speech, which is why a lot of people do it. A listener can't scroll back, and it buys you a second to think. In writing both of those things go away and it becomes pure bloat. I wonder if these emerged from models being trained on a lot of transcribed talks and videos?
a_diplomat 3mo ago
[flagged]

https://aloutfi.com/writing/load-bearing-smoking-gun https://aloutfi.com/writing/load-bearing-smoking-gun

phendrenad2 3mo ago

I was half expecting that page to just keep scrolling and generating more.

stri8ted 3mo ago
Same
nacs 3mo ago
He had thinking mode set to "low" fortunately.
_puk 3mo ago
I was a bit disappointed it wasn't 42 pages long

jmkni 3mo ago

this is my methadone until Claude comes back

winterbourne 3mo ago

Nice! But needs more footgun.

bensyverson 3mo ago
Needs more "invariant," its latest catchphrase

K0balt 3mo ago

JFC I broke out in hives. I have to look at that stuff all day, every day.

Joker_vD 3mo ago
It's like... oh my god, dude, even I, an actual human, don't have that much of self-reflection, so could you just stop writing apologia, please, and switch to actually doing the task?

jmaker 3mo ago

Cue back in ten years and we all talk like that.

uhuhuhuhuhuh 3mo ago

This inspired me to add a "No AI-isms" section to my CLAUDE.md, which has cut the typical claude-flavored tells a lot in recent sessions. Roughly: - No preamble validation or self-flagellation: "You're right to push back", "That's on me", "I appreciate you pressing on this", "I should have caught that sooner". When I correct you, say what's actually true and move on. One short "you're right, X was wrong" is the ceiling. - No unrequested retrospective section ("What I'd do differently", "Going forward I'd be more deliberate about..."). Fix the thing instead. - No dramatic one-line paragraphs for emphasis: "It wasn't.", "That is the shift.", "And that matters.", "That is the analysis." Keep the sentence inside its paragraph. - Don't narrate the shape of your own answer: "Stepping back, there are two things happening here", "The distinction matters", "The better framing is not X so much as Y", "Put differently", "To be candid". Say the thing once, plainly. - Words to avoid unless literally accurate and a normal person would say them: load-bearing, seams, smoking gun, directionally, first-order, legible, parsimonious, recalibrate, coordinate system, holds multiple truths, productive tension, category error, "the honest answer is". - No hedging both directions to avoid committing ("may still be defensible, but", "not exactly resolved, but"). Give the call plus how sure you are, or say you don't know and what would settle it. - Don't end on a flourish or a paradox ("the clarity revealed more complexity"). End on the answer, or on a next step that names a real command or file. - A "next step" has to be runnable or checkable. "Take a step back and revisit with the updated framing" is not one.

customguy 3mo ago
I vouched for your comment not because I think this is or isn't helpful advice (I have no idea), but just to thank you for the concept of "narrating the shape of one's own answer". It's something that often annoys me, though I'm sure I often do it myself, but I never thought about what it is, exactly, I just filed it under the generic category of bloat.
- uhuhuhuhuhuh 3mo ago
  It's genuinely useful in speech, which is why a lot of people do it. A listener can't scroll back, and it buys you a second to think. In writing both of those things go away and it becomes pure bloat. I wonder if these emerged from models being trained on a lot of transcribed talks and videos?

a_diplomat 3mo ago

[flagged]