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

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358 points tkgally | 5 comments | 30 Aug 25 03:40 UTC | HN request time: 0.863s | 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

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PUSH_AX ◴[30 Aug 25 06:40 UTC] No.45072409[source]▶
It might be more fun to see users who’s emdash usage increased after the release.
replies(6): >>45072489 #>>45072739 #>>45072901 #>>45073019 #>>45073342 #>>45074025 #
Moru ◴[30 Aug 25 06:56 UTC] No.45072489[source]▶
Maybe the HN crowd is the wrong group for such statistics, a higher percentage here probably knows how to use their keyboard and OS.
replies(4): >>45072523 #>>45072595 #>>45072971 #>>45073083 #
1. dns_snek ◴[30 Aug 25 08:31 UTC] No.45072971[source]▶
I think they meant after the release of ChatGPT. If someone never used them before and now uses them all the time it might indicate that they're using ChatGPT... or it might just mean that they learned how to use them after widespread discussions about it.
replies(2): >>45073595 #>>45074993 #
2. withinboredom ◴[30 Aug 25 10:48 UTC] No.45073595[source]▶
I use em-dashes now more than ever — mostly just to mess with people.
replies(1): >>45074403 #
3. brookst ◴[30 Aug 25 13:19 UTC] No.45074403[source]▶
Certainly, it’s great fun to trigger the AI skeptics.
replies(1): >>45081717 #
4. ◴[30 Aug 25 14:30 UTC] No.45074993[source]▶
5. Moru ◴[31 Aug 25 09:13 UTC] No.45081717{3}[source]▶
It's not AI skeptics, it's users that does not know how to type — and is vulnerable to hype.