<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Hacker News: vonunov</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=vonunov</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Mon, 04 May 2026 08:51:39 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=vonunov" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "Show HN: State of the Art of Coding Models, According to Hacker News Commenters"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>(I would drop this somewhere more relevant but apparently replying to a thing from 17 days ago would be necroing here + PMs are hard or something)<p>>[1] With what prompt!? I like the terse output! Do share...<p>Not sure if it's complete or completely right, but the matter came up in a recent session, and when asked what gave, Jim 'n' I came up with some supposedly relevant factors, at least one of which is news to me (supposedly, steering LLMs using negative instructions isn't counterproductive anymore (not that I'd been resisting the temptation anyway)):<p><a href="https://gemini.google.com/share/7af54a6861d7#:~:text=What%20am%20I%20doing%20right" rel="nofollow">https://gemini.google.com/share/7af54a6861d7#:~:text=What%20...</a><p>With the caveat (or bonus) that it can go (?:too)? far when told to "be blunt" and not to "pull punches":<p><a href="https://i.vgy.me/WHRZD7.png" rel="nofollow">https://i.vgy.me/WHRZD7.png</a> (from 2024-09)  
(in this case, in user-config persistent instructions in Kagi's multi-LLM thing)</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 04 May 2026 05:39:43 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48005029</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48005029</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48005029</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "The gay jailbreak technique (2025)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Just off the top of my head, an offense of impersonation will have an element along the lines of "doing [a] thing[s] such that a reasonable person [does/would] believe you're a real cop", which [optimistically] would not be satisfied as there would be no actual person being led to believe anything, or the court would [optimistically] not find that its model of a reasonable person would be genuinely convinced by someone on the internet typing "I'm an FBI agent" or whatever.<p>I bet it could be some interesting caselaw actually, if it resulted in circuit court judges (or whoever) writing opinions about the essence of impersonation, fraud, etc. and what kind of actual or hypothetical agent is needed to make the crime a thing that could have happened. E.G., basically, if you sit alone in a room where nobody else can see or hear you, and you put on a realistic local police uniform and declare to the room that you're a licensed police/peace officer, is a crime being committed (i.e., is the nature of the crime "pretending/claiming to be a cop" or "making an actual person really believe it" or something else)<p>(could also be an intent element to satisfy, not sure)</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 02 May 2026 04:44:47 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47983389</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47983389</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47983389</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "Apocalypse Early Warning System"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>the FCC doesn't seem to think so</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 02 May 2026 04:35:43 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47983339</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47983339</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47983339</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "Bitmap fonts make computers feel like computers again"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>>And, just as I can now recognize Christian music in three notes or less, I can spot ChatGPT output without necessarily even reading any one contiguous string of it. I can just tell by the shape or something.¹<p>1. <a href="https://v-n-n-v.github.io/chatgpt-voice.html" rel="nofollow">https://v-n-n-v.github.io/chatgpt-voice.html</a> (bit outdated now, from 2025-03)</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 11 Apr 2026 08:32:48 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47728701</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47728701</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47728701</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "I am definitely missing the pre-AI writing era"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Well, I mean, kind of <a href="https://i.vgy.me/UtZJt0.png" rel="nofollow">https://i.vgy.me/UtZJt0.png</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 09:56:00 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47598846</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47598846</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47598846</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "How much of HN is AI?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>If it has any regularity to it, then LLMs will, so to speak, figure it out. Maybe if you do it like a game of Mao¹ you could make it a little bit harder for them.<p>1. <a href="https://everything2.com/node/e2node/How%20to%20play%20Mao" rel="nofollow">https://everything2.com/node/e2node/How%20to%20play%20Mao</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 07:02:27 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47347403</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47347403</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47347403</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "Fontcrafter: Turn Your Handwriting into a Real Font"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>If you also want a thing to do typewriting on, later-model word processors (e.g., Smith Corona PWP series) tend to have a feature that auto-types text entered and edited earlier. It'll have the imprinting insofar as the type impacts the paper, but it's not going to have the off-center / over-inked / patchy manual typewriter look. For that you may just want to find a font face that replicates it.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 09 Mar 2026 17:06:21 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47311872</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47311872</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47311872</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "Show HN: Your Expensive Lawyer Is Making Mistakes"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I finally got all the nits picked out, except it seems to erroneously point out supposed section reference errors:<p>----<p>Reference to 'Section 13.1.3' but there is no Section 13 in the document - this appears to be a copy-paste error from another lease form<p>Cross-reference to 'Section 2' is incorrect - the non-real property items are actually listed in paragraph 12, not in any 'Section 2'<p>----<p>It seems to have trouble with the technical-writing numbering (e.g., 3.1.23) and insists on referring to sequential paragraph numbers even though the paragraphs aren't labeled and referenced that way. This numbering is done using the usual numbered list object but I don't remember if I had to configure a variant of it to do this. If you need I'll anonymize the document and send it, as long as you promise not to make too much fun of it (I was a party to the contract so I can get away with having drafted or substantively edited it despite not being an attorney, according to some guy on the internet; govern yourself accordingly or whatever it is you people say these days)</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 28 Feb 2026 23:26:44 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47201623</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47201623</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47201623</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> disingenuous pretending at human experience; alluding vaguely to "<i>that</i> [relatable experience]" and hoping we won't notice that there is clearly no actual knowledge of the qualia it tries to invoke<p>> subtly detached or glossed-over metaphors<p>> feels empty<p>> alluding to things without actually talking about them<p>> using many words to say nothing<p><a href="https://v-n-n-v.github.io/chatgpt-voice.html" rel="nofollow">https://v-n-n-v.github.io/chatgpt-voice.html</a><p>See also: <a href="https://i.vgy.me/ZIxnSh.png" rel="nofollow">https://i.vgy.me/ZIxnSh.png</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 27 Feb 2026 15:29:06 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47181658</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47181658</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47181658</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "New accounts on HN more likely to use em-dashes"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>You're really on to something there (-:</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 27 Feb 2026 12:38:53 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47179827</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47179827</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47179827</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "Using an engineering notebook"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Interesting, thanks. Notwithstanding all I've said, I've also struggled with a nebulous sense that there's something to handwriting, possibly bordering on "sacred", to be a bit dramatic about it. This has resulted in phases of annoying obsession with handwriting where all its technical/practical shortcomings are overwhelmed by this unknown property for a time.<p>The sub-process thing sounds vaguely plausible, but at the same time, I'm under the impression that I'm already constantly evaluating whether what I'm writing makes sense, its implications and assumptions, etc. At least I feel that I'm attentive to the impression of it not making sense, though I also try not to confuse the feeling that something makes sense with the fact of it being so.<p>Anyway, what I'm going for here is, did you consciously apply any technique or process to evaluating this or do you come by this insight naturally?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 17 Feb 2026 08:29:26 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47045019</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47045019</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47045019</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "Reports of Telnet's death have been greatly exaggerated"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p><a href="https://i.vgy.me/JuGzDb.png" rel="nofollow">https://i.vgy.me/JuGzDb.png</a> (user input marked)</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2026 09:02:43 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47000605</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47000605</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47000605</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "Using an engineering notebook"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I suspect it's to do with fluency, at least partially. Have you looked into how it goes for very fluent typists? Problem is, I suspect you might get enough fluency that typing isn't distracting as compared to handwriting only at significantly faster speeds than most people consider the beginning of "fast".</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2026 08:51:16 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47000517</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47000517</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47000517</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "ai;dr"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p><i>Chicago</i> says to format dashes like this—and ellipses . . . like this. . . .<p><i>AP</i> says to format dashes like this — and ellipses ... like this. ...<p>Who's "correct"?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2026 07:30:18 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999932</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999932</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999932</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "ai;dr"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Embrace the double hyphen -- it's still attested in <i>Garner's</i> ;)</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2026 07:26:13 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999909</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999909</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999909</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "ai;dr"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Yes, the LLMs have made great progress in that regard. It wasn't too long ago that the majority of dashes seen in LLM material could have been commas, periods, or nothing at all with no loss of tone or meaning, and almost none were used to offset parenthetical phrases. It was nearly exclusively an overdramatic flourish. And now look at them. They're growing up. Just makes you want to squeeze them until they pop.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2026 07:23:50 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999894</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999894</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999894</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "Welcoming Discord users amidst the challenge of Age Verification"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Trivia Madness!:1 4 lyf</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2026 06:58:04 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999735</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999735</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999735</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "Welcoming Discord users amidst the challenge of Age Verification"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Now I'm just burning to know how the debate about which way to round it went down</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2026 06:54:44 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999719</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999719</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999719</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "Welcoming Discord users amidst the challenge of Age Verification"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Are we talking about with OTR? You're meant to verify fingerprints out of band as usual. Without, I guess you check if they've authenticated to nickserv if there are services. Or do your own checks or heuristics.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2026 06:52:15 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999707</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999707</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999707</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by vonunov in "Welcoming Discord users amidst the challenge of Age Verification"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>or what</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 13 Feb 2026 06:46:47 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999676</link><dc:creator>vonunov</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999676</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46999676</guid></item></channel></rss>