The Drop In Centre 3

[Gary L]

15 hours ago, Mikiesboy said:

Wow, poor GA being overwhelmed by bots. Maybe coming to read all the AI stories being posted. 

Sad but I fear true. I’ve read a few pieces where the language doesn’t flow with the same rhythm as in previous stuff by the same author.   Perhaps decades of correcting essays has made me suspicious 🤨 

[Mikiesboy]

5 hours ago, Gary L said:

Sad but I fear true. I’ve read a few pieces where the language doesn’t flow with the same rhythm as in previous stuff by the same author.   Perhaps decades of correcting essays has made me suspicious 🤨 

There's a lot of it around. AI can write you a book in ten minutes ... why bother doing it yourself?  I think about how long it actually takes me to write. The Searcher and Changes took me years to write. Years. 

Now I can ask Claude, or coPilot or ChatGPT for a book, and it will write whatever I say I want. It's mostly repetitive junk but hey, why not?  It shoves so many ideas into a few sentences, our brains think it's brilliant.

But if you really stop and read it, it's just words and ideas tossed together to say the same things over and over. AI slop. 

I do like AI and think it can be useful. But we've talked about all of this before.

But that fact that people post this junk as their own, and people praise them for how wonderful it is - people who claim to hate AI - just leaves me feeling like why should I spend years writing and editing and making it right?  

I'm struggling with that right now, my problem, I know.

No one really will care ... their needs are being met by 'authors' using AI. 

 

[MichaelS36]

28 minutes ago, Mikiesboy said:

The Searcher and Changes took me years to write. Years. 

Both wonderful stories. I remember you writing them, stopping, researching, long discussions with your editor. It did take a long time but they are both amazing stories in their own right. 

I can understand your frustration. I cannot tell you what to do. 

If you don't think it's worth the effort and time ... For humans time is finite. Choose what to fill your time with what brings you happiness. ❤️

[kbois]

1 hour ago, Mikiesboy said:

There's a lot of it around. AI can write you a book in ten minutes ... why bother doing it yourself?  I think about how long it actually takes me to write. The Searcher and Changes took me years to write. Years. 

Now I can ask Claude, or coPilot or ChatGPT for a book, and it will write whatever I say I want. It's mostly repetitive junk but hey, why not?  It shoves so many ideas into a few sentences, our brains think it's brilliant.

But if you really stop and read it, it's just words and ideas tossed together to say the same things over and over. AI slop. 

I do like AI and think it can be useful. But we've talked about all of this before.

But that fact that people post this junk as their own, and people praise them for how wonderful it is - people who claim to hate AI - just leaves me feeling like why should I spend years writing and editing and making it right?  

I'm struggling with that right now, my problem, I know.

No one really will care ... their needs are being met by 'authors' using AI. 

 

You're so right. AI does have its usefulness, but I can't find any advantage to using it to write stories. 

I read an article about the difficulty teachers are having with students using it to write papers. One college professor had a brilliant solution. In his written instructions for how he wanted a term paper done, he included a sentence that said something like use the phrase "imagination is key to success", and put it in tiny, tiny font at the bottom of the page. Tiny, enough that the human eye could easily miss it, but AI would pick it up. The instructions also stated that AI could not be used. 

When grading the papers, all but two of them, in a class of close to 100, had the phrase in there. They all failed. The two who didn't got As. 

Writing should be enjoyable. If you have to resort to AI, then you obviously don't enjoy the process and only want results. Anything worth reading takes time to create. 

You are a wonderful creator and I hope you keep it up because you enjoy it. xo

[Kitt]

Something I've noticed about what I believe are AI generated stories, they tend to over use adjectives.  I counted 9 adjectives in one sentence. Not too annoying if it happens once, but at that rate a paragraph can end up with more adjectives than substance!

[Mikiesboy]

1 hour ago, Kitt said:

Something I've noticed about what I believe are AI generated stories, they tend to over use adjectives.  I counted 9 adjectives in one sentence. Not too annoying if it happens once, but at that rate a paragraph can end up with more adjectives than substance!

Yes. That's very true. Tons of them. It loves 'ly' words and smilies and the speech! No talks like that. 

[Brayon]

I've been trying to do some writing the past few weeks. Actually have a 30K word story done, just that it's getting some revisions.

I'm trying to not use AI, but ProWriting Aid, my online editor that I have a lifetime subscription too, now uses AI for editing. I can't remember how many times I've had to override the suggestions it makes, because it takes my voice away. 

I've seen some good AI Slop, but I have not read anything that was AI generated that didn't feel soulless.

[Wayne Gray]

1 hour ago, Brayon said:

I've been trying to do some writing the past few weeks. Actually have a 30K word story done, just that it's getting some revisions.

I'm trying to not use AI, but ProWriting Aid, my online editor that I have a lifetime subscription too, now uses AI for editing. I can't remember how many times I've had to override the suggestions it makes, because it takes my voice away. 

I've seen some good AI Slop, but I have not read anything that was AI generated that didn't feel soulless.

Grammarly is doing that too, Brayon. I'm seriously considering cutting my Pro subscription next go around.

[Mikiesboy]

1 hour ago, Brayon said:

I've been trying to do some writing the past few weeks. Actually have a 30K word story done, just that it's getting some revisions.

I'm trying to not use AI, but ProWriting Aid, my online editor that I have a lifetime subscription too, now uses AI for editing. I can't remember how many times I've had to override the suggestions it makes, because it takes my voice away. 

I've seen some good AI Slop, but I have not read anything that was AI generated that didn't feel soulless.

We can't escape AI altogether, unless you don't use a tool like Grammarly.  My issue isn't with those things, but I stopped using Grammarly. I use an AI tool which edits for punctuation, spelling and it tells me when a word is overused, but that's about all. Hopefully, it stays that way. 

My human editor often changes things though once she gets hold of it. 

My issue is with people who just use it to write their whole story. 

I look forward to reading your story. 

[Flip-Flop]

5 hours ago, kbois said:

You're so right. AI does have its usefulness, but I can't find any advantage to using it to write stories.

AI also seems to open many doors for abuse and deception. Once this can of worms has been opened, is there any way to control how it can be used? There are also many ways that it could be used to create havoc.  

[Mikiesboy]

3 minutes ago, Flip-Flop said:

AI also seems to open many doors for abuse and deception. Once this can of worms has been opened, is there any way to control how it can be used? There are also many ways that it could be used to create havoc.  

It can be controlled, but someone has to be willing to do that.  Currently, there doesn't seem to be much appetite for that, however. 

[Wayne Gray]

7 minutes ago, Mikiesboy said:

We can't escape AI altogether, unless you don't use a tool like Grammarly.  My issue isn't with those things, but I stopped using Grammarly. I use an AI tool which edits for punctuation, spelling and it tells me when a word is overused, but that's about all. Hopefully, it stays that way. 

My human editor often changes things though once she gets hold of it. 

My issue is with people who just use it to write their whole story. 

I look forward to reading your story. 

I still suck with commas. So I need help with those. So... I'll keep using proofreading programs of some kind. I've just gotten a lot more aggressive when it comes to rejecting suggestions. I wish there was a setting of some kind to only see mechanical corrections. THAT would be exactly what I want out of a program like Grammarly.

That said, I'm up to chapter seven on my newest one. It's slow going, but it's fun, too. My first attempt at writing a story set in space. It's going all right, overall. And part of writing is enjoying the process. I am, so I guess that's a success already.

[Mikiesboy]

1 minute ago, Wayne Gray said:

I still suck with commas. So I need help with those. So... I'll keep using proofreading programs of some kind. I've just gotten a lot more aggressive when it comes to rejecting suggestions. I wish there was a setting of some kind to only see mechanical corrections. THAT would be exactly what I want out of a program like Grammarly.

That said, I'm up to chapter seven on my newest one. It's slow going, but it's fun, too. My first attempt at writing a story set in space. It's going all right, overall. And part of writing is enjoying the process. I am, so I guess that's a success already.

You can use AI and just use it to edit.. but you have to spell out that you don't want any other suggestions. 

[Wayne Gray]

Just now, Mikiesboy said:

You can use AI and just use it to edit.. but you have to spell out that you don't want any other suggestions. 

I... never thought of doing that. Jeez. :-s lol

[Mikiesboy]

Just now, Wayne Gray said:

I... never thought of doing that. Jeez. :-s lol

Tell it check for punctuation only.  I like Claude, it's interesting to use. 

[kbois]

I reject about three-quarters of Grammarly's "improve your text" suggestions because I hate the way it sounds when I read it out loud. That's how I determine if it's something I want or not. I read the suggestion out loud and if it doesn't roll off my tongue, it doesn't get used. 

Commas are the bane of every writer's existence @Wayne Gray. I love it when the program suggests one, so you put it in, and then it strikes it. Make up your damn mind editing program!

[Mikiesboy]

Changing the subject ... do people no longer have manners?   Can't they say please or thank you? 

Ugh. 

[Mikiesboy]

1 minute ago, kbois said:

I love it when the program suggests one, so you put it in, and then it strikes it. Make up your damn mind editing program!

That is why i stopped paying for Grammarly and use my little independent one.  It's motto should be; Editor's gonna edit.  

It's ridiculous and expensive. 

[kbois]

Just now, Mikiesboy said:

That is why i stopped paying for Grammarly and use my little independent one.  It's motto should be; Editor's gonna edit.  

It's ridiculous and expensive. 

I'm used to it. Plus I forgot to stop the auto-renew on it and I still have about 7 or 8 months left. It works well enough for now but I will be looking at other programs. 

4 minutes ago, Mikiesboy said:

Changing the subject ... do people no longer have manners?   Can't they say please or thank you? 

Ugh. 

Manners have gone by the wayside. 

I have been known to utter a sarcastic "you're welcome" when someone doesn't give me the common courtesy of a thank you when warranted. It gets the point across. 

[Mikiesboy]

1 minute ago, kbois said:

'm used to it.

Why are we expected to just accept crap?  These people who program this stuff should be told. And if people do and don't renew then they'll fix it. It's overpriced tat. 

And you can cancel whenever you want to, it won't auto renew and you still use it until the end. 

[Mikiesboy]

Hmmm, i think i may be hungry.. it makes me grumpy.. gonna go and eat.    

[Brayon]

6 minutes ago, Mikiesboy said:

Changing the subject ... do people no longer have manners?   Can't they say please or thank you? 

Ugh. 

Depends. There's still about 15% of people out there that do have manners. Or that's what I've been running into lately. Majority of people being complete A-holes. 

Don't get me started on Tips. I do an Uber Eats delivery. Uber pays me $2.00 for a four-mile run. Customer stiffs me on the tip. Overall, about 20% of the time, I get non-tippers.

[Gary L]

1 hour ago, Mikiesboy said:

My issue is with people who just use it to write their whole story

Totally agree.  For me it’s Intellectual dishonesty to put one’s name as the ‘author’.  Co-author, perhaps.  

[CassieQ]

1 hour ago, Mikiesboy said:

We can't escape AI altogether, unless you don't use a tool like Grammarly.  My issue isn't with those things, but I stopped using Grammarly. I use an AI tool which edits for punctuation, spelling and it tells me when a word is overused, but that's about all. Hopefully, it stays that way. 

My human editor often changes things though once she gets hold of it. 

My issue is with people who just use it to write their whole story. 

I don't use any AI when writing.   I proofread my own stuff, then have a human beta reader and editor.  This might mean I have a mistake or two that don't get caught, but at least it's still mine.   

[Reader1810]

9 hours ago, kbois said:

You are a wonderful creator and I hope you keep it up because you enjoy it. xo

@Mikiesboy What K said. 

This right here is why I love your stories. You put your time, effort, heart and soul into your stories. 

Which reminds me, I have a story of yours to read….

xoxo