dee-licium

Dingbats have come after our buddy John Scalzi, over the last twenty-four hours, giving him grief for not being AI-friendly.* (eyeroll) So John has had to spell out his feelings about this in more depth.

The same dingbats have also confused him with our old friend Charles Stross (which is deeply funny in all kinds of different ways, but never mind that). So Charlie, too, has had to spell out his feelings about this.

So why not join in? Here's my take, expressed some while back, and a little amplified to reflect the day's business.

TL:DR; Leaving aside all other considerations for the moment, I will not use technologies trained with material stolen from my colleagues. "Lie down with pigs, get up with mud," the saying has it. "Lie down with thieves..."? Fill in the blanks for yourselves. ...Me? I refuse to handle stolen goods. Period.

And—not naming some of the colleagues, but some of you will know who I mean—this excerpt (in which I also speak for @petermorwood, because I know damn well what he'd say):

We do not use, and will not use, ChatGPT, Claude, or any similar tool. Ever. ...Not even "just for research." Not even "just for outlining." Not even "just for brainstorming." You need a brain to brainstorm. "Generative" "AI" has none. As by-choice "brain-only writers", we decline collaboration with the non-brained.

And that's that.

(sigh) Meanwhile: look here! Books written by the honestly, organically brained. And on sale, too!

(Please do consider a purchase... or reblogging this for the sake of the gossip, if nothing else.)

“there’s a restaurant two miles from my house called—” nope

“today I learned [celeb] went to my high school—” nope nope nope nope nope

these are all real posts I’ve seen on the internet that allowed me to identify a user’s hometown instantly. if it’s a small town, that’s doubly dangerous, because a bad actor could trace you just by a unique first name or selfie you once posted. in an age where doxxing and stalking are some of the worst I’ve ever seen it, you HAVE to think twice about what you’re posting online.

i once saw a 13-year old post an image they noted as being “a few miles from their house.” it had a theater in the shot with a unique enough name to be local. one google maps search, now everyone knew not only what city they lived in, but the possible neighborhoods in that radius too. and they had a HUGE following…who all knew this was a 13-year-old child.

so yeah. not to sound like a 90s internet safety PSA…but I’m gonna be that PSA for a minute.

if you’re posting an image, there is NO need to say that you live there. you could just be traveling. “saw this in Montana” is better than “saw this by my house!”

before you post about a venue, especially a restaurant or small store, check and see if it’s local—CRUCIALLY if it has only one or two locations. people might travel to arenas or convention centers, but they’re far less likely to be traveling to Bartleby’s Fish and Chips. if it’s an anecdote and you still live nearby, you can honestly just leave the name out entirely.

if you’re sharing a news story, it can just be a story you found and wanted to share. you don’t have to clarify “it happened in my town,” because even if you don’t mention your town name, an easily-googled news article will.

if you’re seeing a concert or meeting a celebrity on a tour that’s stopped locally, wait until they’ve hit a few more venues before you post about it, or at the very least wait until you get home. this is honestly a smart move for any event you attend: unless you’re marketing yourself, there’s no need to advertise your location in real time.

check your selfie backgrounds for anything identifying. this includes city names on venues, school names, street signs, and house numbers.

this stuff is flexible if you no longer live in your hometown, or if your city is particularly big, but there’s STILL no reason to tie yourself to your school, your workplace, or your street. you can call it paranoid, but as someone who’s seen my friends get literal death threats over fictional characters before, the last thing I want is someone willing to act on those threats finding out where they live.

I once had a friend post a photo while visiting me with both a unique local business and a set of street signs in the background, while they knew I was being stalked by someone who knew and potentially followed their account. I wasn't in that photo, but other posts from that weekend made it obvious they were staying with me. They hadn't yet been in a position where they regretted having that information publicly available, so it didn't occur to them to avoid sharing it.

And then I get legions of people who are like "Ah, so you're okay with people DOING BAD THINGS?" No, I'm explicitly against that

"Ah but if they DID THE BAD THINGS, it's because they were THINKING ABOUT IT and WANTING TO DO IT." Correct. The problem is the doing

"Oh, so you think NO ONE who EVER thought about doing bad things has EVER done a bad thing??" No. I'm sure many of them did think about it beforehand. I'm sure many also did not. It's the doing that's the issue

"So you want me to be COOL with PEOPLE DOING BAD THINGS" No. The doing is the problem. I also don't expect you to be cool with anything, I don't know you or care about you and nobody is owed any particular emotional reaction

"YOU WANT ME TO LOVE PEOPLE WHO DO BAD THINGS" Not really no

"YOU WANT ME TO KISS PEOPLE WHO THINK HARMFUL THOUGHTS ON THE MOUTH" Not really no

Rocky: Grace come here. Rocky show Grace magic trick

Grace: You figured one out Rock? That’s great, show me!

Rocky: Trick is called ‘52 card pickup’

Yesterday, WIRED learned that Madison Square Garden was suing us for our accurate reporting.

We stand by our reporting. That's why we're removing the paywall from two of the MSG stories they don't want you to read, making them free for everyone.

Eridians dance and try to impress potential mates much like a jumping spider would

Hey, friends! There are only two days left (it ends Thursday, July 30th at 8am) on the OUTLAW'S APPRENTICE: BROKEN BLADE Kickstarter campaign, and if you're thinking about getting the book sometime down the road, I'd recommend getting it through the kickstarter, because if you do, you'll get a whole bunch of extras with it.