Comment by 9rx
6 days ago
> people are demonstrating a new behavior that is disrupting social norms
The social norm has always been that you write comments on the internet for yourself, not others. Nothing really changes if you now find enjoyment in adding AI output to your work. Whatever floats your boat, as they say.
The issue isn't people posting AI generated comments on the Internet as a whole, it's whether it should be allowed in this space. Part of the reason I come to HN is the quality of comments are pretty good relative to other places online. I think it's a legitimate question whether AI comments would help or hinder discussion here.
That's a pretty good sign that the HN user base as a rule finds most enjoyment in writing high quality content for themselves. All questions are legitimate, but in this circumstance what reason is there to believe that they would find even more enjoyment from reducing the quality?
It seems a lot like code. You can "vibe code" your way into an ungodly mess, but those who used to enjoy the craft of writing high quality code before LLMs arrived still seem to insist on high quality code even if an LLM is helping produce it now. It is highly likely that internet comments are no different. Those who value quality will continue to. Those who want garbage will produce it, AI or not.
Much more likely is seeing the user base shift over time towards users that don't care about quality. Many a forum have seen that happen long before LLMs were a thing, and it is likely to happen to forums again in the future. But, the comments aren't written for you (except your own, of course) anyway, so... It is not rational to want to control what others are writing for themselves. But you can be responsible for writing for yourself what you want to see!
Would you object to high quality AI comments?
that's an oxymoron
Has it? More than one forum has expected that commentary should contribute to the discussion. Reddit is the most prominent example, where originally upvotes were intended to be used for comments that contributed to the discussion. It's not the first or only example, however.
Sure, the motivation for many people to write comments is to satisfy themselves. The contents of those comments should not be purely self-satisfying, though.
> Reddit is the most prominent example
Reddit was originally just one guy with 100s of accounts. The epitome of writing for oneself.
> upvotes were intended to be used for comments that contributed to the discussion.
Intent is established by he who acts, not he who observes. It fundamentally cannot be any other way. The intent of an upvote is down to whatever he who pressed the button intended. That was case from conception of said feature, and will always remain the case. Attempting to project what you might have intended had you been the one who acted onto another party is illogical.
> The contents of those comments should not be purely self-satisfying, though.
Unless, perhaps, you are receiving a commission with detailed requirements, there is really no way to know what someone else will find satisfying. All you can do is write for yourself. If someone else also finds enjoyment in what you created, wonderful, but if not, who cares? That's their problem. And if you did receive a commission to write for another, well, you'd expect payment. Who among us is being paid to write comments?