Hacker News Reader

Comment by simonw | Hacker News Reader

The data is available in a SQLite database on GitHub: https://github.com/vlofgren/hn-green-clankers

You can explore the underlying data using SQL queries in your browser here: https://lite.datasette.io/?url=https%253A%252F%252Fraw.githu... (that's Datasette Lite, my build of the Datasette Python web app that runs in Pyodide in WebAssembly)

Here's a SQL query that shows the users in that data that posted the most comments with at least one em dash - the top ones all look like legitimate accounts to me: https://lite.datasette.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fraw.githubuserc...

View on HN

If you change to

> select user, source, count(*), ...

it's clear that every single outlier in em-dash use in the data set is a green account.

Hah (or maybe sad face), found bots replying to bots: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47137227

This was the original Moltbook

I still call voodoo on this. I use an iPhone, iPad, Mac to comment here—all of them autocorrect to em dashes at one point or another. Same goes for ellipsis.

Why would recently created accounts be 10x more likely to be created by owners of Apple products or English majors than the baseline?

I doubt it explains any reasonable fraction of this, but github moving from early adopter techies to general population "normies" would be a reason for the shift. I would expect it explains at least some increase in the use of em-dashes.

Do general population normies really use em-dash, or do they just reach for the dash they see clearly printed on their keyboard?

I think they're pressing the default dash (actually a hyphen) twice, and that autocompletes to a single em dash.

You can remove em dashes from the analysis and the trend is still there: newly created accounts are still 6X more likely to use the remaining LLM indicators (arrows and bullets, p = 0.00027).

Ellipses were never part of the analysis.

Firefox Mac - did this get autocorrected to an em dash ... ?

Looks like no. It's probably Safari that "knows better".

apparently HN comments are licensed not only to HN, but also to some guy in sweden

cool cool cool

great repo name!

It's worth remembering that you can argue that the use of the word is acceptable now, but can you guarantee that in 30 years time the future world will agree with you to the extent that they let you hold a position of responsibility after using the word 30 years ago.

There is precedent here.

The reason we look harshly on past word usage is because of what it represents. The use of slurs 30 years ago isn’t a problem because of the word but because it suggests an association with a specific behavior.

If you look back to the 90s and see someone using a racist slur, you fill in the gaps and assume they were using it because they were racist.

Will people in 30 years look back to today and judge those who showed disdain for people who rely on AI to write for them?

Even if clanker becomes a no-no word 30 years from now, it seems beyond the realm of possibility that people who hated clankers in 2026 will be looked upon harshly. Clankers aren’t a marginalized group today, they aren’t a class that needs protection.

What words are you thinking of when you say that there is precedent?

LLMs aren't "a group" (implied: "of people"), they're nonsapient software.

>Will people in 30 years look back to today and judge those who showed disdain for people who rely on AI to write for them?

There are people are judging your character for using such terms today. Their existence is not in doubt. It is only the future prevalence of the opinion that is in question.

>it seems beyond the realm of possibility that people who hated clankers in 2026 will be looked upon harshly

Thus spoke many people in history who acted with impunity.

I just saw a video on instagram which basically portrayed a rich racist southerner using all the same phrases they used to use for slaves, but for their robot.

"We treat this one better because it's a house clanker instead of a field clanker"

"If the clanker acts up it knows that it gets stuck in the box"

It was meant to be funny but definitely highlighted exactly what you are saying.

Yeah, this is why I don't use the word "clanker" myself. I don't like the culture it winks at.

Lol Just watched it minutes ago. Was it this one [1]

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/DVH32tTCbuT/?hl=en

Yep, that was the one!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com