Maybe we should just stop commenting about whether or not something is AI generated. It doesn't add anything to the discussion, and is a waste of time.

An apology (in advance or afterward) doesn't absolve you of responsibility. And if you feel the need to apologize for something in advance, that's a huge clue that maybe you should stop yourself from doing the thing you've just apologized for.

Finding oneself with the need to apologize in advance is an excellent hint to examine extra hard if you really should do what you're apologizing for. Apologizing when necessary is good, not having to apologize is much better.

It's a great level-up for characters of most alignments.

I’d recommend giving your own goodwill in the future instead of accusing commenters and then asking for goodwill in response.

> it probably wasn't, but "nothing" is an overstatement.

No, "nothing" seems perfectly accurate to me. I don't see even a single indication in tone, phrasing or punctuation that is a classic LLM giveaway.

It's offensive to standards of decency to question the authenticity of someone's speech, and it doesn't matter if you phrase it as a question or preface it with "excuse me if not". Unless there is really a strong reason to suspect something, which is absolutely not the case here. It's offensive when it's not warranted.

> but "nothing" is an overstatement

Absolutely not. There was genuinely nothing in their thoughtful and informative reply that seemed AI generated to me. Have you never seen people on HN write detailed, articulate answers? This was one of them.

Asking a question, getting a helpful response, and then implying it was written by AI is quite rude. Saying, "Excuse me if not, $SOMETHING_VERY_OFFENSIVE" does not make "$SOMETHING_VERY_OFFENSIVE" any less offensive! It's disheartening to see someone take the time to write a great answer only to be met with such a rude question. Please don't do that here. It's frustrating and discourages genuine contributors.