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This forum tends to be visited by an intersection of technologists and the VC crowd. The HN algorithm is more open and transparent than Reddit's, but any Reddit

This forum tends to be visited by an intersection of technologists and the VC crowd. The HN algorithm is more open and transparent than Reddit's, but any Reddit-like platform suffers from the whims of the community. Currently, it seems like a disproportionate amount of HN users are hyped up about generative AI compared to people in the real world, so you'll see those whims back in voting and flagging tendencies. That said, there is also a vocal anti-AI crowd here, or at least there used to be. Most of those people seemed to have left for greener pastures seeing how half the HN front page is "someone made XYZ but now with AI" these days. There are other places that discuss tech that aren't so focused on making money, and those are probably less biased in favour of the latest AI gadget. On the other hand, since the day ChatGPT was unleashed upon the general public, you should assume all online interaction is happening through AI and should probably be ignored. The human internet died the day we taught computers how to write a coherent paragraph.

peer2pay 2mo ago
What are these other places?
- sebstefan 2mo ago
  lobste.rs
  - astrange 2mo ago
    Is that forum good? I have it mentally associated with "Mastodon people" (incredible pedants and overbearing mods), but that's not exactly based on anything so I may have just confused it with some other site.
    - sebstefan 2mo ago
      Lol but Hackernews is the epitome of a forum filled with incredible pedants if anything so it's shocking hearing that. I would say it's the exact same thing over there, maybe with a little less decorum? Are you sure it's not more of an issue you're having with their politics? Because yes, similar to the Mastodon people, it's queer friendly, it's anti-AI, it has a lot of discussions about ethics, ... But as for the rest, yeah, no. Hackernews clone.
      - astrange 2mo ago
        Okay that's not Mastodon people, that's Metafilter or Tumblr people. Mastodon people in my head are European Linux users who are only capable of replying to things in the form of a non-constructive disagreement.
- righthand 2mo ago
  Language forums (ocaml for example).
zahlman 2mo ago
> That said, there is also a vocal anti-AI crowd here, or at least there used to be. Most of those people seemed to have left for greener pastures seeing how half the HN front page is "someone made XYZ but now with AI" these days. There is still a vocal anti-AI crowd here. The problem is that they don't seem to be very good, overall, at upholding HN commenting guidelines. (This is probably just a fatigue effect.) I keep seeing green accounts making pithy, uncivil snipes on this topic, with heavy use of sarcasm and reference to anti-AI "thought-terminating cliches" (e.g. mentioning the topic of water use and expecting that mention to stand in for an entire argument, while not acknowledging any of the well-established refutations). But the thing about "someone made XYZ but now with AI" is that most of it is posted by "someone", or someone with a connection to "someone". Hence the complaints about the state of Show HN. And the thing about "someone"s is that they do not care how many anti-AI people are lurking around. There's nothing the anti-AI people could do, in principle, to stop it. Consequently, the presence of those posts is not evidence that the anti-AI people are leaving. > On the other hand, since the day ChatGPT was unleashed upon the general public, you should assume all online interaction is happening through AI and should probably be ignored. …And yet you're still here?
- GPerson 2mo ago
  My clear-eyed perspective is that AI companies and their supporters are getting away with a massive crime against humanity, so it’s probably relatively more difficult for me to contain my frustrations than the people who are happy about it. When you plunder a little you get punished according to the rules, but these companies have proved when you plunder enough you get to start writing the rules.
  - inquirerGeneral 2mo ago
    [dead]
  - fragmede 2mo ago
    "The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic." is usually misattributed to Stalin, but it says that's not a new phenomenon. Now that you've said it out loud, how does that make you feel? It doesn't change anything. The "crime against humanity" of doing some work and charging money for it, is kind of a non-starter for conversation though.
danqqqq 2mo ago
[dead]

peer2pay 2mo ago

What are these other places?

sebstefan 2mo ago
lobste.rs
- astrange 2mo ago
  Is that forum good? I have it mentally associated with "Mastodon people" (incredible pedants and overbearing mods), but that's not exactly based on anything so I may have just confused it with some other site.
  - sebstefan 2mo ago
    Lol but Hackernews is the epitome of a forum filled with incredible pedants if anything so it's shocking hearing that. I would say it's the exact same thing over there, maybe with a little less decorum? Are you sure it's not more of an issue you're having with their politics? Because yes, similar to the Mastodon people, it's queer friendly, it's anti-AI, it has a lot of discussions about ethics, ... But as for the rest, yeah, no. Hackernews clone.
    - astrange 2mo ago
      Okay that's not Mastodon people, that's Metafilter or Tumblr people. Mastodon people in my head are European Linux users who are only capable of replying to things in the form of a non-constructive disagreement.
righthand 2mo ago
Language forums (ocaml for example).

zahlman 2mo ago

> That said, there is also a vocal anti-AI crowd here, or at least there used to be. Most of those people seemed to have left for greener pastures seeing how half the HN front page is "someone made XYZ but now with AI" these days. There is still a vocal anti-AI crowd here. The problem is that they don't seem to be very good, overall, at upholding HN commenting guidelines. (This is probably just a fatigue effect.) I keep seeing green accounts making pithy, uncivil snipes on this topic, with heavy use of sarcasm and reference to anti-AI "thought-terminating cliches" (e.g. mentioning the topic of water use and expecting that mention to stand in for an entire argument, while not acknowledging any of the well-established refutations). But the thing about "someone made XYZ but now with AI" is that most of it is posted by "someone", or someone with a connection to "someone". Hence the complaints about the state of Show HN. And the thing about "someone"s is that they do not care how many anti-AI people are lurking around. There's nothing the anti-AI people could do, in principle, to stop it. Consequently, the presence of those posts is not evidence that the anti-AI people are leaving. > On the other hand, since the day ChatGPT was unleashed upon the general public, you should assume all online interaction is happening through AI and should probably be ignored. …And yet you're still here?

GPerson 2mo ago
My clear-eyed perspective is that AI companies and their supporters are getting away with a massive crime against humanity, so it’s probably relatively more difficult for me to contain my frustrations than the people who are happy about it. When you plunder a little you get punished according to the rules, but these companies have proved when you plunder enough you get to start writing the rules.
- inquirerGeneral 2mo ago
  [dead]
- fragmede 2mo ago
  "The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic." is usually misattributed to Stalin, but it says that's not a new phenomenon. Now that you've said it out loud, how does that make you feel? It doesn't change anything. The "crime against humanity" of doing some work and charging money for it, is kind of a non-starter for conversation though.

danqqqq 2mo ago

[dead]