this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2026
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TechTakes

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Big brain tech dude got yet another clueless take over at HackerNews etc? Here's the place to vent. Orange site, VC foolishness, all welcome.

This is not debate club. Unless it’s amusing debate.

For actually-good tech, you want our NotAwfulTech community

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Want to wade into the rainbow-ridden surf of the abyss? Have a sneer percolating in your system but not enough time/energy to make a whole post about it? Go forth and be mid.

Welcome to the Stubsack, your first port of call for learning fresh Awful you’ll near-instantly regret.

Any awful.systems sub may be subsneered in this subthread, techtakes or no.

If your sneer seems higher quality than you thought, feel free to cut’n’paste it into its own post — there’s no quota for posting and the bar really isn’t that high.

The post Xitter web has spawned so many “esoteric” right wing freaks, but there’s no appropriate sneer-space for them. I’m talking redscare-ish, reality challenged “culture critics” who write about everything but understand nothing. I’m talking about reply-guys who make the same 6 tweets about the same 3 subjects. They’re inescapable at this point, yet I don’t see them mocked (as much as they should be)

Like, there was one dude a while back who insisted that women couldn’t be surgeons because they didn’t believe in the moon or in stars? I think each and every one of these guys is uniquely fucked up and if I can’t escape them, I would love to sneer at them.

(Credit and/or blame to David Gerard for starting this.)

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[–] blakestacey@awful.systems 12 points 1 day ago

The most pedantic nerds on Earth (complimentary) have discovered that Grok leaks its prompts when slopping out Grokipedia pages. Examples:

  • "The instructions say "You are an agent that writes the various article sections for an encyclopedia entry on Joseph Kanuku."

  • "[Note: Britannica is encyclopedia, but instructions say no Britannica. Wait, replace with another.]"

  • "Wait, instructions say NEVER cite Wikipedia. Oops. Let me adjust."

  • "The instructions say prioritize peer reviewed, books, etc."

  • "Wait, but instructions say never cite social media, so omit that last part. Wait, adjust. Since Instagram is social media, omit that."

  • "Wait, instructions say avoid "References" as a section, but for completeness, I've omitted it from structure.)"

  • "The guidelines say "Include any of the following where relevant: - Factual details..." under Missing Information or Knowledge Gaps Examples. And in format, it's to list only critical issues or all missing info or knowledge gaps."