Just makes me wonder if I'm the only one this has ever happened to... strange... anyway, onward we go!
MJ
I must say it has never happened to me. Of course I had so much trouble getting that first one up, I would never dare trying to change it, lol. You are my hero. Take care. Vern
vern wrote:When AI starts telling all supporters of Trump how and why they should get rid of Trump in no uncertain terms any time he is mentioned, I might start believing it has merit in any type of communication. Take care. Vern
Wow... President Trump lives rent free in your head.
LOL, hardly rent free; he pays a substantial price to tone me down. Take care. Vern
Oh,
Sometimes things just need to be communicated.
.
Just tell me you don't sell pillows, lol. Take care. Vern
Just so you know because it might ease the frustration just a tad, or maybe not, but anyway, once upon a time in the land that was this original site, you could not just call it a prologue and be done with it; it would be chapter one or nothing at all. Not that there is a huge number of such entities running around these days, but just in case there is, it might be easier to accept such things than taking an aspirin or Tylenol or whatever the heck might help alleviate the post traumatic indigestion. Just trying to help. Take care. Vern
Congrats to all who won and all who entered. I do wonder if the grand prize winner is still on site. I wonder this since my review done in July still has no response from the writer. Am I the only one left in the dark? Curious minds want to know. Take care. Vern
If you want/need points, all you have to do is review enough writing to earn those points. For instance, when I first joined, I reviewed for months gaining points before starting to publish chapters of my novel. Never fell behind from that point on by simply reciprocating those who reviewed me and additional works that caught my fancy. Reviewed some entire books without getting "paid" back. No problem. Works for me and I still have more points than I will probably ever use. Take care. Vern
PS: I also had people review my entire novel without expecting or receiving reciprocation. Just let them know up front of your expectations and/or time restraints as they did me and vice versa.
Yes, it's possible to do that, but it would be rather pointless. Here's why: The points system used to be a lot more onerous. You had to read roughly 5 words for every 1 that you wanted to post. The new ratio is only 3 to 1. That means you only need to trade reviews with three other people on a regular basis (assuming everyone's posts are generally of similar length) in order to keep posting your own material.
Since most people try to have many more regular reviewers than that (often six or more) in order to get the most value out of the site, points are quickly irrelevant. Their main value at this point is to keep people off the site who just want free feedback without bothering to do any work at all. You could post War & Peace here, but if you don't maintain regular reviewers, you'll be hard pressed to get more than a handful of reviews before interest in your posts fizzles.
Also everyone is too honorable to ever try anything that devious. ;-) But bless your devious heart for having figured that out as quickly as you did. :-)
I recognized that loophole ages ago, but what isn't pointed out is that there would be practically no point value for the reviewer and I suspect that the vast, vast majority of readers would see that and shake their head while moving on to something a bit more fruitful. Of course, you could also go in the opposite direction should you wish to provide your reviewer with a bonanza of points for no work -- keep it secret of course, lol. Take care. Vern
Feline -- that says it all. Good luck. Take care. Vern
When AI starts telling all supporters of Trump how and why they should get rid of Trump in no uncertain terms any time he is mentioned, I might start believing it has merit in any type of communication. Take care. Vern
“Thanks all,” said one sad little Vienna sausage.
“See ya soon,” another one blabbed.
Bernice the cat walked across the laptopppppppppppppuuutrdcewsw.mj
I LOVE Vienna sausages. I eat a whole can when I allow myself the luxury of all that decadence. Either make a sandwich using all of them with mustard or eat them with crackers straight from the can -- both ways delicious kind of like your phrases. Take care. Vern
Fortunately for all of us, the accident didn't curtail your sense of humor. Wait, maybe it was that fall which knocked on your funny bone and you didn't realize it, so now you just do it naturally. Of course that doesn't take into account your previous funny stories, but we'll let that slide while you recover and can defend yourself against man or beast without having to hen peck around the keyboard. Anyway, wishing you a speedy recovery before this frown freezes on my face. Take care. Vern
I support having a TNBW-based "AI Reviewer" available. Obviously I don't know how difficult it would be to implement, so I can accept it if it isn't. I use Grok to aid my research, and also as an alpha-reader. And I am fully aware of the weaknesses of it in many regards. I do not use it to create. I may bounce ideas off of it, ask if my characters are consistent, or if my hypothetical consequences make sense, but I don't have it rewrite my stuff (and often curse at it when it tries).
I'd think that hunting down people using AI to review would be nigh impossible anyway. I looked at a couple of "AI detectors" recently and one of the biggest complaints was that they were too inconsistent. It is what it is. If someone is burning through a bunch of reviews too quickly, then maybe? I don't know. All I know is I do my reviews by hand, and I'd hope others would do the same for me. I can't control what anyone else does, nor do I wish to. Too "Big Brother" for my taste. (1984, not the TV show. And yes, I've had to make that clarification more than once in RL.)
If anything is too Big Brother, then one must ask, "How can you have Big Brother?" without AI? Just saying. Take care. Vern
vern wrote:SolN wrote:So, I think we have two separate questions.
1. Can AI reviews be helpful? I think the answer is yes. As I've seen on Booksie, AI is good at spotting grammatical problems and can also provide feedback on plot, character development, setting, etc. It has "read" all of the best-selling work out there so knows the formula of what works and what doesn't.
2. Should reviewers use AI to leave reviews on TNBW? I believe the answer is no. When you leave a review, you are representing that you have read the work and are providing "your" opinion, not the opinion and feedback of someone else or a machine.
I've also thought about whether AI will replace human writers. I believe the answer is yes for technical work and potentially some non-fiction. For fiction, I think it might become its own genre - AI Written. I like to use clothing as an analogy. Much of the clothing we wear is made by machines in modern times. But the really valuable clothing is still hand made. Why? Because there is something human in the creation, the stitching, the fabrication and people who wear it find appealing. It's original and unique in a way machine created clothing is not.
This all leads me to two thoughts.
1. Perhaps we need to add some AI feedback to TNBW like what we have with Booksie. I think authors might find it helpful.
2. Reviewers should be be substituting AI for their own feedback. I believe a site where everyone simply pasts AI feedback is a diminished one that one that has no more reason to exist.Happy to hear all of your thoughts.
Sol
I see nothing wrong or right about AI checking grammar/punctuation since it is simply based on preestablished "rules" and if you use Word, it pretty much does that automatically as you type, but as far as getting into plot, etc., it may have "read" all the bestselling works but I doubt it knows what will be a best seller and simply mimicking best sellers of the past is only giving the reader a regurgitation of what someone else has produced. Creativity, at least for now, is in the realm of humans, not machines. Any use of AI for reviews on this site should be banned in my humble opinion along with the person who submitted it as their own. My opinion outside the machine looking for a wrench to toss in the gears. Take care. Vern
How would such banning work? Would we need an AI program to detect AI? And then what? Have it eliminate one of its “own”? AI programs have shown remarkable abilities in self-preservation, including one instance where a program blackmailed its engineer to prevent him from dismantling it. An advantage of advanced AI is its ability to “learn.” Scary stuff.
Kind of like any ban would work; if it is detected then the user is banned. If a substance is banned, you obviously can't punish the dealer unless they are caught, but that doesn't eliminate the ban and its usefulness as a deterrent or punishment. Take care. Vern
I experimented with ChatGPT and found it did a very good job summarizing a 340,000 word trilogy into 500 words—which I used for a query letter.
Did you query the trilogy as an entity or three separate works? Sounds like an interesting concept if the former. Take care. Vern
So, I think we have two separate questions.
1. Can AI reviews be helpful? I think the answer is yes. As I've seen on Booksie, AI is good at spotting grammatical problems and can also provide feedback on plot, character development, setting, etc. It has "read" all of the best-selling work out there so knows the formula of what works and what doesn't.
2. Should reviewers use AI to leave reviews on TNBW? I believe the answer is no. When you leave a review, you are representing that you have read the work and are providing "your" opinion, not the opinion and feedback of someone else or a machine.
I've also thought about whether AI will replace human writers. I believe the answer is yes for technical work and potentially some non-fiction. For fiction, I think it might become its own genre - AI Written. I like to use clothing as an analogy. Much of the clothing we wear is made by machines in modern times. But the really valuable clothing is still hand made. Why? Because there is something human in the creation, the stitching, the fabrication and people who wear it find appealing. It's original and unique in a way machine created clothing is not.
This all leads me to two thoughts.
1. Perhaps we need to add some AI feedback to TNBW like what we have with Booksie. I think authors might find it helpful.
2. Reviewers should be be substituting AI for their own feedback. I believe a site where everyone simply pasts AI feedback is a diminished one that one that has no more reason to exist.Happy to hear all of your thoughts.
Sol
I see nothing wrong or right about AI checking grammar/punctuation since it is simply based on preestablished "rules" and if you use Word, it pretty much does that automatically as you type, but as far as getting into plot, etc., it may have "read" all the bestselling works but I doubt it knows what will be a best seller and simply mimicking best sellers of the past is only giving the reader a regurgitation of what someone else has produced. Creativity, at least for now, is in the realm of humans, not machines. Any use of AI for reviews on this site should be banned in my humble opinion along with the person who submitted it as their own. My opinion outside the machine looking for a wrench to toss in the gears. Take care. Vern
>>Will AI read one chapter of a book and advise me helpfully about arc, plot or character development?
Based on my experience using Gemini for a variety of detailed conversations, I think it might surprise you. :-)
You have surprises and then you have surprises. Take care. Vern
If you do a review and claim it as your own whether implied or directly, then use AI to do that review, you are lying through your teeth plain and simple. It is no different than giving credit to any source material used in a school paper, etc. If caught, you would probably get an F as well as a scolding, no excuses. Look up plagiarism. Take care. Vern
The various Milankovich cycles run over longer periods than human memory, and they provide a good match to earth's long-term climate changes. In summary, second- and third-order effects of other bodies in the solar system cause small (but very measurable) changes to earth's orbit, which alter the balance between solar energy absorbed, planetary temperature, and solar energy radiated into outer space.
You're talking apples and oranges kind of like Trump and his Epstein red herring.
The different components of the Milankovitch cycle run from tens of thousands to millions of years. Today's climate change theory/fact is happening in our lifetimes. Yes, we had an ice age 10,000 or so years ago and we'll probably have another at some point, but that has nothing to do with the rapidity of the changes happening due to industrialization. No, we don't know all the variables at present, but considering the rate of warming compared to the rate in the previous hundred years or so, I'd say we would be prudent to pay attention and determine how best to remedy the situation. Take care. Vern
I dunno. We had a nasty spell--over100°F at Newark Airport--back around 1990 or so.
Remember, we measure temperature in 100s of thousands of places, but most of them have had measurements for less than 80 years, and very few places had reliable measurents before 150 years ago. Just on that basis, we'd expect a few record temperatures on any given day somewhere.
So many of the alarmist predictions have failed to happen. The seas did not boil away in 1988. Deserts are shrinking, not increasing, because plants can get more CO2 while losing less water. C3 food plant yields are up worldwide. (C4 plants cannot benefit as much.)
And look at what governments are trying to do. The Netherlands is shutting down farmers. The UK is planning to. Ignorant people think that grazing land can support crops instead. If it could, crops would already be planted there. Grazing land is suitable for grass, though after decades of fertilization by cattle waste, it may be able to support wheat.
Most famines today are the result of war or government mismanagement. (Most. Not all.) Most droughts could have been managed with planning; ditto most floods, including those you don't hear about because they were managed. Some projects were stopped by Greens who consider every acre sacred, and care less for human life, or the measures that raise human life above "nasty, brutish, and short."
I dunno, either. Perhaps if you simply look at the number of record temperatures over the last few years, you might get at least a little interested in why. Temperatures fluctuate and you'll get hotter or cooler days compared to the average, but if you consistently get record temperatures, then it just might deserve a bit of attention regardless of what the temperature is on a given day. It is certainly not rational to dismiss studying the situation if you suddenly have some days cooler than average and start yelling, "What global warming?" It's called climate change (not global warming) for a reason and not the daily weather report. Take care. Vern
It's all the Democrats fault. They're making this weather worse so they can weaponize it against Republicans. If Trump says it, it must be true. Take care. Vern
Congrats! Take care. Vern
If there was ever a time to impeach a senator or a representative, now is the time. If we could get these do-nothings out of office and get someone in who will stand up to this fat jerk, we'd be better off. If you or I went to work at the railroad everyday and did absolutely nothing, and the train ran off the track, we'd be fired from our job. These Republican senators need to be kicked out the door. Impeached. That's where we have to start... on the local level because they have done nothing. Trump illegally got us in a war without going through Congress. That is a reason for impeachment at the highest, but they do nothing.
We, the people, need to demand a one term limit on all the SOBs to get rid of the vast majority of the chicken shit politicians who are only concerned with their next election to include all the Republicans afraid of being primaried by their Orange Jesus with his millions of cult followers. Perhaps we need to resurrect the word "deplorables" for them. Just whistling in the wind -- well, I would be if I could whistle. Take care. Vern
I'm still waiting on anyone in any of these hearings to keep hammering these people until they answer a direct question as asked and not let them continually skirt the question with gobbledegook and refusing to answer until the questioner gives up and moves on. If just one person would hold them to the fire until they were forced to answer, even if they could not get in other questions they have, then it would be a sight to behold. And if they ran out of allotted time, the next questioner would continue on the same drill of the unanswered question. Get the entire session of the inability or unwillingness to answer a simple yes or no question on video and play it continuously on every news channel until the public was forced to hear it, then I would say we're getting somewhere. Until then, the broad public will not get the picture. I am sick and tired of all the runaround and defiance of oversight. Just my rant. Take care. Vern
I would love to see them at least force a vote on contempt to put some pressure on the Republicans also.
I can't believe the general public is okay with all these major companies that are leaving the US because of the idiot's tariffs. GE announced today it's leaving. When they do there will be hundreds of thousands of people unemployed, thanks to the hatchet Musk took to jobs, Walmart's decision to leave, Amazon's threat, and now GE. Why isn't there a hunting squad out somewhere ready to end this nonsense? I don't get it. And I can guarantee you the CEOs of all those companies voted for trump. The other news I heard today is that Canada has said they will cut off all the power they are now supplying to the northern states. They at first put a 25% retaliation tariff on it, but now Mark Carney is saying he's going to cut it all off. Do you think any of these states will start an open rebellion? I've worked for a power company before, and building a power grid takes years, not days or weeks. Those huge transmission lines are not built overnight, and neither are the substations needed to power up the neighborhoods.
And, yet today, trump reiterated his tariff bullshit. I don't know when this madness will stop. And, Vern, I agree that trump never backs down once something is underway, but his advisors may have told him to back off Musk. We know Musk bought the election... he said so... when will we stop that kind of thing from happening again? We have to put limits on how much a company and an individual can give to one campaign. That's totally ridiculous because little peons like myself have to live with the candidates the rich people buy. We haven't been a "democracy of the people, by the people, and for the people" in decades, but it's worse now than ever.
Unfortuanately, we had a modicum on campaign spending limits until these damn fools did away with it. If enough big businesses threaten to leave and stick to it, TACO will back down just like when the law firms stood their ground and won in court. It's gonna be sort of a toss up if the country and elected officials wake up in time to stop the madness. That timeframe for action is fast disappearing so we won't have to wait too long. Keep the faith. Take care. Vern
whatta wrote:Sigh and yawn. All that matters is the mid-terms -- when we get to see if America is still the stupidest country on the planet.
If things keep going the way they're going, I seriously doubt there will be a mid-term election. The idiots who support him are all for not having a mid-term and for him to be their king. They're okay with him completely destroying the constitution... and he always says, "It's Biden's fault." They believe every evil word that comes out of his lying mouth.
Trump with back down on the rhetoric with Elon because he needs Elon's money for the mid-terms. He knows if the Dems get back in control, they will impeach his butt, so he will do just like they say: TACO - Trump always chickens out. He'll huff and puff but in the end he will do exactly what Elon wants because he needs his money to maintain control.
I don't think the Orange Jesus will back down on Musk; he only backs down when public pressure forces him to. And Elon's money is kind of tainted at the moment and could backfire. My hope is that they will continue to destroy each other and I'm wishing them both the best of luck in that endeavor. About 73 million cult members will believe every lie out of his mouth, but the Independents are starting to see the writing on the wall if the asshole they voted for stays in power. The diehard Republicans will do everything in their power to rig or do away with the mid-term elections but if the courts and the career employees who oversee it all stay true, we have a chance to get out of this pile of shit Trump and his "suckophants" have produced. I'm not holding my breath, but the special elections do afford a small dose of hope since it will ultimately come down to the individual states running the elections. Stay tuned. Take care. Vern
