Are 'em dashes' a put off simply because AI uses it a lot?

[HarryGarland]

What do you think of em dashes in a novel's text?

Personally, I find em dashes quite stylistic. It adds variety to the punctuations we already know: periods (.), commas (,), question (?) and exclamation marks (!), colons (:), semicolons (;) and the simple dash (-). A paragraph with multiple compound sentences that were punctuationed with just periods and commas are... Not as aesthetically pleasing as one with dashes.

What do you think?

 

[foxoftheasterisk]

I refuse to let "AI" change how I write.

Besides, "AI" only uses them a lot because writers use them a lot. That's very much how it works.

 

[Corty]

Yes. I specifically stopped using them because of AI.

 

[Macha]

I think em-dashes are lazy. You can use them to replace other punctuations so you don't have to think which ones to use.

 

[Eldoria]

Well, you could instruct the AI not to use punctuation marks like "-" or similar, generate text, and it would become a chapter.

Conversely, a writer might have a habit of using "-" marks, write a narrative, and it would become a chapter.

So, can you distinguish AI-generated or not simply based on the use of "-" marks or similar marks?

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

I use them for certain things, but others times I ignore the suggestions

Eighty-three. Sure why not
Good-looking. Why Grammarly? Why do you think that is necessary?

 

[L1aei]

I believe there are three different types of dashes? One is the regular "-" dash and then we have "—" emdash and finally the "⁠–⁠" endash.

I'll use them if I think they're required, but before 2018, I never knew they existed, so... yeah. I guess I never needed them before?

 

[Macha]

I believe there are three different types of dashes? One is the regular "-" dash and then we have "—" emdash and finally the "⁠–⁠" endash.

I'll use them if I think they're required, but before 2018, I never knew they existed, so... yeah. I guess I never needed them before?

It's 2012 for me.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8060650/1/Incident-Report

 

[Nevafrost]

"The Hobbit" has a lot of em-dashes. So, if people think that any writing containing em-dashes is written by AI, then it's just sad.

 

[Louhi]

It's 2012 for me.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8060650/1/Incident-Report

Aren't you and MoonClaimed the same person? This is a shameless self-promotion.

 

[Macha]

Aren't you and MoonClaimed the same person? This is a shameless self-promotion.

This is what a real shameless self-promotion looks like:

Feedback
Title.

Rinse and repeat until the mods yeeted you from starting too many feedback threads at once.

 

[Louhi]

This is what a real shameless self-promotion looks like:

Feedback
Title.

Rinse and repeat until the mods yeeted you from starting too many feedback threads at once.

Don't forget to add em-dashes to your first post on the threads—like this. And emojis ??

 

[Macha]

Don't forget to add em-dashes to your first post on the threads—like this. And emojis ??

You are correct
Em-dash usages aren't signs of AI-usage—Em-dash usages are signs of my superior writing skills.

 

[HarryGarland]

Well, you could instruct the AI not to use punctuation marks like "-" or similar, generate text, and it would become a chapter.

Conversely, a writer might have a habit of using "-" marks, write a narrative, and it would become a chapter.

So, can you distinguish AI-generated or not simply based on the use of "-" marks or similar marks?

So far I can only distinguish ChatGPT generated stories. CGPT tends to use short, punchy sentences with repetitions.

I believe there are three different types of dashes? One is the regular "-" dash and then we have "—" emdash and finally the "⁠–⁠" endash.

I'll use them if I think they're required, but before 2018, I never knew they existed, so... yeah. I guess I never needed them before?

Oh yeah, I totally forgot about the endash. There was a time when Microsoft Word or LibreOffice Writer could automatically correct my dashes to either one or them. But seriously, I have no idea how to differentiate the em and en dashes.

I think em-dashes are lazy. You can use them to replace other punctuations so you don't have to think which ones to use.

??? Lazy? How so?

For me, it takes more effort because it's one extra decision to make, like do I simply sandwich this small bit of info to my main sentence with two commas or two dashes?

And funnily, I can't type em-dashes on my Android keyboard. I had to find one and copy paste it... Or just do a double/triple dash (---)

 

[Macha]

??? Lazy? How so?

For me, it takes more effort because it's one extra decision to make, like do I simply put sandwich this small addendum with two commas or two dashes?

You use it to skip the decision making. Select dashes every single time you are presented with a choice.

 

[Eldoria]

So far I can only distinguish ChatGPT generated stories. CGPT tends to use short, punchy sentences with repetitions.

You're absolutely AMAZING, if you can truly accurately distinguish between AI-generated narratives and human-made ones.

Even AI text detectors don't dare claim to be accurate... their developers openly warn that AI text detectors are highly biased and should not be used as decision-making tools.

After all, AI text detectors are built from models with training data of millions of stories. Your abilities are truly extraordinary, surpassing even the most advanced AI text detectors.

 

[L1aei]

Oh yeah, I totally forgot about the endash. There was a time when Microsoft Word or LibreOffice Writer could automatically correct my dashes to either one or them. But seriously, I have no idea how to differentiate the em and en dashes.

Yeah, I think endashes are mostly utilized for numbers, but I could be wrong; I've never used them for anything.

 

[Macha]

You're absolutely AMAZING. If you can truly accurately distinguish between AI-generated narratives and human-made ones.

That's racist. What if the author is a cat like Hoshino-nya.

Even AI text detectors don't dare claim to be accurate... their developers openly warn that AI text detectors are highly biased and should not be used as decision-making tools.

After all, AI text detectors are built from models with training data of millions of stories. Your abilities are truly extraordinary, surpassing even the most advanced AI text detectors.

AI text detectors are scams. They are made to sell AI humanizers.

 

[NotaNuffian]

Since I only read TL EN to JP light novels, Alex Rider books, and then CN webnovels, I never seen em dashes that frequent, or even at all.

So I can't really say anything about it and had mistook it for long pauses instead of the semicolon.

 

[foxes]

Technically, there is no hyphen on the keyboard, so I use a minus sign. But for lovers of variety, I can recommend:
Short dash (-) - the key next to the number 0.
Medium dash (–) - Alt + 0150 (on the numeric keyboard).
Long dash (—) - Alt + 0151 (on the numeric keyboard).