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Show HN: Hacker News em dash user leaderboard pre-ChatGPT

(www.gally.net)
358 points tkgally | 3 comments | 30 Aug 25 03:40 UTC | HN request time: 0.538s | source

The use of the em dash (—) now raises suspicions that a text might have been AI-generated. Inspired by a suggestion from dang [1], I created a leaderboard of HN users according to how many of their posts before November 30, 2022—that is, before the release of ChatGPT—contained em dashes. Dang himself comes in number 2—by a very slim margin.

Credit to Claude Code for showing me how to search the HN database through Google BigQuery and for writing the HTML for the leaderboard.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45053933

1. wiradikusuma ◴[30 Aug 25 04:26 UTC] No.45071922[source]▶
I'm actually one of the people who use em dash regularly. I treat it like a pause—like sighing. It's very easy to type it on a Mac it becomes muscle memory: Opt+Shift+Dash.
replies(2): >>45072125 #>>45072417 #
2. readthenotes1 ◴[30 Aug 25 05:34 UTC] No.45072125[source]▶
Wow! ChatGPT is really good here--passes as human.

J/k:)

3. bee_rider ◴[30 Aug 25 06:42 UTC] No.45072417[source]▶
It is like a slightly more flowing alternative to a comma, or a parenthetical that retains a little more excitement.