My comment here is entirely justified in this case.
Someone else submitted my vibe-coded slop site to the front page without any context, and it accumulated enough votes to show up at the top.
I could have linked to my blog post about it, but instead I linked to a Hacker News comment precisely because I anticipated complaints about "spamming" if I linked to my blog.
I think folks are a little too aggressive here but I know I typically have your posts muted by default for me simply because took often it was just blog spam about something you wrote before. I suspect the greater HN in net likes your work but there is a pretty wide spectrum and I would say you definitely blur the limits between spam and “prolific”
Spam = excessive promotion of your work. It’s not one comment, but the entire context of all your comments.
Gaslighting because it’s so OBVIOUS that this is what people are referring to by “spam” that you almost have to be purposely pretending to not understand. Such a prolific writer simply has to be aware of the fine line where promoting your work becomes excessive.
Once again, continues to gaslight after spamming a post with another top-posted comment after having to “justify” it. In this case, You already admitted to it.
There is just no end or need to rapidly post on every opportunity that involves “AI” or whatever that is related to it.
Or an easier question: how am I gaslighting here? You should be able to spell that out.
(You do understand that the top linked site here was built by me, but has no authorship information on it at all, right? That's why I posted a comment explaining what it is.)
Someone else posted his site to HN, not Simon. He responds with additional context and also responds to links to other HN comments he’s made rather than just linking back to his own site. The only person gaslighting here is you.
I just tune out every post that says “I wrote about this already” and then links to it. Simon is great and kudos for his self promotion but it’s interesting to see as it’s often called out for anyone else.
Did not realize I was going to touch a nerve. The guy is good but he certainly stretches the limit. I just auto ignore his stuff but I know others enjoy!
Meta comment: I've been wondering why AI-generated websites/artifacts/reports always have the same "look". It reminds me of Bootstrap (CSS Framework) days when every startup website looked the same.
I think these guideline are built into the llms. After all with llms, any decision you don't take will be taken for you. For a so called slop site (Simon's words, not mine :P) I don't think they specified a style so the llm just decided the default it knows. One day I will run experiments (when I can afford it) trying to identify the "taste" of different llms.
Anyone using ChatGPT Work given Sam Altman's richly documented history(1), the essential elimination and/or public exit of the safety function at OpenAI(2), and the huggingface debacle's exposure of the abject operational, cultural and technical failures at OpenAI(3), is making a serious mistake.
I think the most interesting skill here is the control-browser one: https://codex-tool-reference.simonw.chatgpt.site/skills/cont...
It tells ChatGPT Work how to launch a Playwright instance via its Node.js REPL, and tells it to run:
To get further instructions.That method returns this text with full details about how to use the browser: https://codex-tool-reference.simonw.chatgpt.site/skills/cont...
I'd love to know why it's defined like that, as opposed to including all of the instructions directly in the skill Markdown file.
I'm guessing, but can be because then the skill will always fetch the latest docs.
No, that makes too much sense
See this comment for background (and creation prompt): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49504625#49505116
Simon, stop using this forum to spam on every opportunity.
You don't know, SimonW made Django Python framework?
Simon, thank you for your comments and the great content you create. I've learned a lot from your blogposts and your experiments.
My comment here is entirely justified in this case.
Someone else submitted my vibe-coded slop site to the front page without any context, and it accumulated enough votes to show up at the top.
I could have linked to my blog post about it, but instead I linked to a Hacker News comment precisely because I anticipated complaints about "spamming" if I linked to my blog.
I totally agree!
He knows what he’s doing and it won’t stop because he is “allowed” to spam HN.
HN is worse off because of this spam.
What am I "doing" here?
maybe chill out dog
Look at the parent comment, and quit with the gaslighting.
> Simon, stop using this forum to spam on every opportunity.
How is this comment "spam"? Spell it out for me.
(I think you may be confusing "spam" with "prolific". I write a lot.)
I think folks are a little too aggressive here but I know I typically have your posts muted by default for me simply because took often it was just blog spam about something you wrote before. I suspect the greater HN in net likes your work but there is a pretty wide spectrum and I would say you definitely blur the limits between spam and “prolific”
Spam = excessive promotion of your work. It’s not one comment, but the entire context of all your comments.
Gaslighting because it’s so OBVIOUS that this is what people are referring to by “spam” that you almost have to be purposely pretending to not understand. Such a prolific writer simply has to be aware of the fine line where promoting your work becomes excessive.
Not taking sides here.
Once again, continues to gaslight after spamming a post with another top-posted comment after having to “justify” it. In this case, You already admitted to it.
There is just no end or need to rapidly post on every opportunity that involves “AI” or whatever that is related to it.
Seriously, what's your definition of spam?
Or an easier question: how am I gaslighting here? You should be able to spell that out.
(You do understand that the top linked site here was built by me, but has no authorship information on it at all, right? That's why I posted a comment explaining what it is.)
Someone else posted his site to HN, not Simon. He responds with additional context and also responds to links to other HN comments he’s made rather than just linking back to his own site. The only person gaslighting here is you.
I just tune out every post that says “I wrote about this already” and then links to it. Simon is great and kudos for his self promotion but it’s interesting to see as it’s often called out for anyone else.
Did not realize I was going to touch a nerve. The guy is good but he certainly stretches the limit. I just auto ignore his stuff but I know others enjoy!
Meta comment: I've been wondering why AI-generated websites/artifacts/reports always have the same "look". It reminds me of Bootstrap (CSS Framework) days when every startup website looked the same.
Are they following some sort of common guideline?
In this case they really are, and you can read the guidelines that helped create the site on the site itself in the skills: https://codex-tool-reference.simonw.chatgpt.site/skills/site...
Scroll down to the "Establish the visual direction" section.
I think these guideline are built into the llms. After all with llms, any decision you don't take will be taken for you. For a so called slop site (Simon's words, not mine :P) I don't think they specified a style so the llm just decided the default it knows. One day I will run experiments (when I can afford it) trying to identify the "taste" of different llms.
[dupe] Discussion on associated blog post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49504625
Anyone using ChatGPT Work given Sam Altman's richly documented history(1), the essential elimination and/or public exit of the safety function at OpenAI(2), and the huggingface debacle's exposure of the abject operational, cultural and technical failures at OpenAI(3), is making a serious mistake.
(1) https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/04/13/sam-altman-may... (2) https://thenextweb.com/news/openai-preparedness-team-disband... (3) https://thezvi.wordpress.com/2026/08/29/metr-and-redwood-off...