123 pointsby napolux4 hours ago34 comments
  • nikeee16 minutes ago
    When I'm encountering some WoT like that, I'd like to have a button like "view source", but for "view prompt".

    Most ai generated messages or docs are unnecessarily verbose and just reading the prompt would suffice. I don't really get why some people seem to think that it's somehow better to have their bullet point prompt as a huge text.

    It just wastes my time. And probably only makes it look like it took more effort than it actually did (it may be the exact opposite).

  • Aeolun5 minutes ago
    I think what is interesting is that we keep needing these pages to teach people how not being an asshole works. I don't really understand why it is so hard to understand not to do (what I consider to be) impolite stupid shit.
  • hootzan hour ago
    Then at the end, "Use AI to make things clearer". NO! STOP USING AI AND JUST TALK!
    • great_wubwuban hour ago
      I have a coworker whose first language isn't English. She uses AI to polish up her writing, particularly long documents. She puts a ton of effort into making sure that it still reads well. Because of this effort her writing is strong and precise. Before AI she made all the obvious mistakes you'd expect from someone who's not a native English speaker. It's very hard to tell that she used AI because she puts so much effort into post-AI copy editing, it's just clear and useful writing. Sure, the occasional non-idiomatic phrase creeps in but those are hard to find.

      That's AI writing done right, and it's very different from this other guy I work with who does the whole slop grenade thing.

      • hootzan hour ago
        Then a better recommendation should be to use specialized AI proofreading tools, such as Kagi Translate's proofread feature. Yeah, it uses AI, but the "harness" around it forces you to use it only to improve your text, not sloppify it.

        https://translate.kagi.com/proofread

      • emsign20 minutes ago
        You do realize that when you have to find a special use case to defend something you are really giving an argument AGAINST casual widespread use of it.
    • maipenan hour ago
      I have had experiences where customers use AI to communicate and express their issues. Sometimes they produce walls of text like the website exemplifies, but overall it's a better alternative to not be able to explain the issue because you don't know the specific terminology and you are just a layman trying to do things.

      Show some love for the layman, we are all laymen in areas we don't know about.

    • keyboredan hour ago
      [flagged]
      • Forgeties7921 minutes ago
        The problem with this logic, no matter the context where it’s deployed, is that you can always default to “you’re doing it wrong” no matter what case or situation is brought up. It’s an argument that is unfalsifiable no matter what because you can simply gesture to the person as the problem in literally any scenario.

        If I build a car and it consistently gets into wrecks at a rate 500x that of other cars, you can’t just keep saying “operator error.” At some point you have to ask, ”why do operators keep having errors?”

  • SwiftyBug2 hours ago
    > Nobody writes essays in Slack

    I 100% write long texts in Slack. I always try to provide as much context as possible when reaching out to someone with a question or request.

    • bluGill10 minutes ago
      Do you start every response off with "that is a great question"? I don't know any human who does. "that is a great question" is reserved either for really hard questions, or sarcasm. The majority of questions are not great, they are just things the asker needs a simple answer.
    • warumdarum2 hours ago
      <context> <tutorial> <anecdata> <answer> <sumary> <funny hook>

      Introducing AI made markdown tags for conversations so others can only see what the wanty

      • 21asdffdsa122 hours ago
        Could add a <vitriol> tag to that - but yes, if that was auto assigned by LLM - i could see that.

        Could even add a "Autistism" filter, preventing conversation digressing, filtering out only points that stay on topic and only the <summary>, that way.

      • paultopiaan hour ago
        Hah, can we do that for recipes next?
        • warumdarum16 minutes ago
          Conversation add blocker unlocked
    • NickDouglasan hour ago
      Exception that proves the rule. You know what context that specific recipient needs from you. GenAI usually doesn't.
    • donatj2 hours ago
      Honestly, speaking as a friend, and as someone who's been at this a very long time, maybe stop doing that?

      It doesn't foster conversion and I personally find it kind of a hostile/disrespectful communication style. It's much harder to have a proper back and forth with a firehouse than it is a few sentences at a time.

      It declares authority "these are the facts" rather than "let's discuss ideas" and if you haven't fully earned that authority it honestly just kind of smells of insecurity.

      If there's something in the middle of a wall of text that invalidates something much further down, trying to communicate the problem becomes a pain in the butt. It's just not a good method for discovery.

      • strken9 minutes ago
        Speaking as a random internet stranger, it depends entirely on context.

        Sending me a message saying "Hi, I'm getting a Frobnizzle not found error" is a waste of both our time. Explain what you're doing so that I can reproduce it, even if it takes a few paragraphs. Maybe send me your user ID so I can check our logs. I don't care if you're declaring "these are the facts" because the facts are what I need to help you.

        If it's a massive wall of text with a defensive tone during a discussion, yeah, sure, that's bad. Do you work somewhere where that's common?

      • gpvos36 minutes ago
        Some people, like me, have developed this communication style because it turned out that when they didn't they were very often misunderstood. When properly applied (i.e., not excessively, no actual walls of text), giving appropriate context helps focus the thinking of the receiver in the right direction.
      • 21asdffdsa122 hours ago
        The next step is to not talk with each other at all.

        Just have a LLM that "knows you well" in all your position argue by points and values assigned to the points with the LLM of the opposition.

        If value alignment exists, a actual conversation may be engaged.

  • amelius2 hours ago
    > Should we use Redis or Memcached?

    Couldn't they have used an example aimed at a broader audience?

    I'm in IT but even I barely know what Redis or Memcached is about (never used either).

    • 0x696C69612 hours ago
      90% of people here know what those are.
      • AlecSchueleran hour ago
        And with a more broadly applicable example we could share the link with friends, family and coworkers who aren't on HN.
        • ameliusan hour ago
          Yes that was exactly my point :)
      • 35 minutes ago
        undefined
  • bdcravens35 minutes ago
    The other day I found the worst podcast I think I've ever tried to listen to. AgentStack Daily, which apparently sums up AI stories (mostly focused on OpenClaw and the like), using computerized voices.

    I don't even have an issue with it being AI-generated. However, the content is delivered so fast and monotone that it's impossible to listen to, and every episode is 40 minutes or more, every day.

    A brief daily summary, perhaps using the creator's real voice (via ElevenLabs or similar; the creator has a real podcast on the same site), would be so much more valuable.

  • utopiah12 minutes ago
    Yep indeed, if I discuss with you I want YOUR opinion.

    If I wanted a generic opinion... I wouldn't bother you.

  • jappgar2 hours ago
    I swear most executives can barely read so you're not doing your career any favors sending them more than 150 characters.
    • alexpotatoan hour ago
      The CEO of one firm I worked at wrote emails totally in bullet point format.

      Made it much easier to read and you could just reply with:

      > bullet point

      response

      which made life much easier

    • quietsegfaultan hour ago
      In instances where context is important, I have been including a summary with call to action at the start of the message, then include details below to hopefully eliminate back and forth. It helps me be more clear with my point, and most people once they have an action only use the context for reference later.
  • degenerate2 hours ago
    Replace "Them" with "Coworker" and the point of linking to the site is instantly understood (a LMGTFY-style shaming with a dash of humor to soften the blow)

    With "Them" I wasn't sure if you meant the AI companies, some dude I didn't recognize in the avatar, scammers, coworkers, etc...

    • hootzan hour ago
      LMGTFY definitely did not soften the blow, maybe it even increased the shaming factor lmao
  • paleotrope31 minutes ago
    The stated problem is so context dependant that this is borderline useless and quite hostile.
  • captainbland2 hours ago
    Just prompt them back: "that's a lot of detail, could you please summarise as briefly as possible what differences concern our requirements specifically?"
  • paultopiaan hour ago
    Do people actually do this in things like slack? (One of the best things about being a professor in a non lab field is that I don't have to use things like slack.) This seems like open contempt for the reader.
  • time0ut2 hours ago
    The best are the Jira tickets with a huge wall of AI slop requirements. Usually full of nonsense of course including implementation recommendations in the wrong language or framework. Questions for clarification met with blank stares from the author. Ah well, copy/paste into claude code and say “do this. make no mistakes” and get back to browsing HN…
    • mmasu2 hours ago
      I am so tired of these people, but it’s so sad they don’t understand themselves how ridiculous they are
  • naich2 hours ago
    Obviously you need to use an AI to summarise the wall of text generated by the AI. Duh.
    • lc9eran hour ago
      There’s someone in this thread unironically suggesting this.
      • lioeters32 minutes ago
        Pretty sure there's an implicit dynamic where the more someone uses AI, the more you require AI to understand and work with what it produced. If everyone around you is using AI, you are pressured to use AI to keep up with their level of "productivity". Like a cultural virus it multiplies in the space between people, I guess meme-like but far more virulent. Sure it empowers us, but at what cost.
  • tonetegeatinst40 minutes ago
    Darn and I was hoping we would see a new invention someone could form1 with the BATFE.
  • emsign23 minutes ago
    I've noticed this happening here as well. The instance I realize it's not another human I lose all interest in argueing or conversing. If this happens too often I leave those sites.

    Because nothing feels more like wasting my time than talking to an answering machine that is working against me. It's exhausting and demotivating.

  • LAC-Techan hour ago
    We desperately need some cultural norms and taboos to develop around AI usage.
  • misswaterfairy2 hours ago
    > Use AI to make things clearer, not longer. Let it sharpen your thinking, not replace it.

    If someone sends me an AI generated email, chat message, or message substantially influenced by AI[1], one of two not mutually exclusive things will happen:

    1. I ask them not to use AI as I want to hear from a human colleague about their human thoughts, not a robot;

    2. The message gets deleted.

    I try as best I can to teach and mentor others. I am more than happy to work through spelling mistakes, poor grammar, and misused words because at the end of the day I'm talking to a human colleague.

    Sometimes my messages get pretty long and detailed I will admit, though it's for a reason: context, nuance and technical details are important. If you're just going to offload your brain to a robot, I'm not going to waste my time feeding that robot with you in the middle as a conduit.

    [1] It is very easy to tell in in-person conversations: the authority with which a person talks about a particular topic via text communication, does not propagate into a verbal in-person conversation.

  • satisfice41 minutes ago
    “Worse: it's a conversation killer. There's nothing to respond to. Your wall of text suppresses dialogue. They can't reply, can't push back, can't clarify. It's a weapon disguised as helpfulness.”

    I can reply. I can push back. I can clarify. I am not helpless.

    • PunchyHamster11 minutes ago
      "Sorry, I asked you, if I wanted to ask AI I'd do it myself, if you don't know just say"
  • tyleo2 hours ago
    That’s interesting. When I use AI to help me write chat messages it’s almost always, “make this shorter,” or “clean this up”
    • microtonal2 hours ago
      Why do you use an AI to write chat messages?

      Either you have to give the AI the points you want to convey, then just put those points in a message. Or you don't have anything to convey, then don't post a message.

      I don't see why anyone would want a slopified version of whatever it was that I had to say.

      • disgruntledphd2an hour ago
        > I don't see why anyone would want a slopified version of whatever it was that I had to say.

        Lots of people lack confidence around their writing, and many people (particularly in tech) are not english native speakers. I can definitely see both of those groups getting use out of AI assistance in writing.

        That being said, I sometimes use AI to see if I've missed anything, but the last thing I'll give up to our future AI overloads is writing text, as I enjoy it.

        • jjulius23 minutes ago
          >Lots of people lack confidence...

          Not to single out OP or anything, but the more we do things on our own, the more likely we are to build our confidence. Relying on something or someone to hold our hand risks slowing down personal growth.

  • anonzzzies35 minutes ago
    I find that the people who are the worst at their jobs, write the largest blocks of absolutely useless texts. In all disciplines. So yes, I see humans writing 2 A4 docs in slack; they have no clue what the question was about and just insert drivel.
  • zaphar2 hours ago
    I have begun using the acronym TL;DP (Too long didn't prompt) For when someone sends a wall of text and I didn't want to waste tokens having an agent summarize it for me when the sender could have done that for me with their own agent.
  • quietsegfaultan hour ago
    I love asking someone who sent me a Slack wall of AI text to join a huddle, then ask them deep questions about said wall of text while they struggle because they have no idea what they’re talking about. It seems to encourage folks to be a little more careful about their wall of texts in the future.
  • boutell33 minutes ago
    Slop is not data is not information is not knowledge is not wisdom.
  • maipenan hour ago
    I like how the website matches the message. Short and Simple.

    It's a matter of having good taste. But AI education will help.

  • fontain12 minutes ago
    I like the naming. I tackled this same pitch with https://writelesswithai.com but a "slop grenade" is better, more memorable, a nice brand. Good work.

    ps. register slopgrenade.com too

  • joenot4432 hours ago
    This is slop too though, right?

    > Pasting a massive AI-generated response into a chat or email where a human would write one sentence. It destroys the medium itself. Nobody writes essays in Slack. It's only possible because of AI copy-paste.

    > It's like calling someone and asking "What time is the meeting?" and they read you a 10-page analysis of calendar management best practices. You asked a simple question. They lobbed a document.

    It’s hard to take the site seriously if the author themself isn’t able to write

    • foobarbecue2 hours ago
      I found the writing clear, concise, and human.
      • joenot443an hour ago
        It's certainly concise but I still remain unconvinced a human wrote it.

        > It's a weapon disguised as helpfulness.

        The source code is without a doubt AI (it's got a comment for the "<!-- Canonical URL -->"), so I guess one would have to assume they prepared the entire document beforehand, then fed it to Claude and instructed it to use that copy exactly.

        ...or they prompted "make me a site which tersely criticizes people who post AI slop on Slack, use the term slop grenade and style the site like nohello.net"

        Eventually you just get a sense for these things.

    • Biganon2 hours ago
      What makes you think this is AI slop?...
      • joenot443an hour ago
        > You asked a simple question. They lobbed a document.

        > It's a weapon disguised as helpfulness.

        These are particular sentences I find questionable. Would you write that way? I certainly wouldn't.

        GPTZero is by no means perfect, but it agreed this was likely generated.

        • nrclarkan hour ago
          Not the parent, but yes I would/do write that way for effect.
      • firmretentionan hour ago
        [dead]
  • anuramatan hour ago
    now I know what to call it, thanks
  • shevy-java2 hours ago
    When real people use AI slop to spam me down, I instantly know that this person does not want to communicate with me. So I stop all communication with that person.

    What is interesting is that some people don't understand this - even some clever devs.

    For instance, on the ffmpeg mailing list a few weeks ago, one of the lead devs from Germany, spammed a proposal with AI slop. Someone else asked the question why he expects others to read the slop and "engage" with this or that developer. That was a great question. The interesting thing is that the original developer who succumbed to slop, did not even understand why AI slop spam is problematic to other people. AI already changes how people work and also think. That is a big problem. I used to semi-jokingly say that AI slop is the beginning of skynet, but as I watch real people succumb to the AI slop, they actively (!) become dumber and don't understand why AI slop wastes the time of other people.

    I am not at all saying that AI is completely useless, though the current hype is annoying to no ends. But some individual humans don't understand the problem at all anymore. Personally I do not want to "interact" with AI slop at all. It just wastes my time.

  • tensegristan hour ago
    "Why it's wrong"
  • automatic61312 hours ago
    "You asked a simple question. They lobbed a document."

    Oh look, another blog post that should have been a comment. No slop blogs either, loser.

  • kseniamorph44 minutes ago
    [flagged]
    • kseniamorph44 minutes ago
      don't undervote me....it's a joke
  • aaron6952 hours ago
    [dead]
  • dude2507112 hours ago
    [flagged]