Re: AI generated mails

On Tue, Aug 25, 2026, at 10:25 AM, Derick Rethans wrote: >> > As I'm expecting more and more generated mails on this list: What is >> > the feeling on the mailing list about how to handle this? >> >> Since this isn't the first time this has come up, I'd like to ask >> whether it's time internals discussed an AI-usage policy? > > Yes, this is long overdue. > > For now, I will talk about this mailinglist first (and only). > > With that, we end up with drivel like this: > https://externals.io/message/132300#132332 (au contraire the > acceptance > to not do this, as per > https://externals.io/message/132300#132317). > > This is a list for *people* to discuss the PHP language, its features, > and its policies. > > Therefore, a policy for this list ought to be that you *have* to write > the content yourself. If that means writing it in non-English and > feeding it through a *translating-LLM* only, that that seems reasonable. > > What does not seem reasonable is to ask a tool to write the text for > you, and then copy and pasting this as a reply to this list — especially > because it doesn't deal with the trimming and quoting (as per our > guidelines at > > https://github.com/php/php-src/blob/master/docs/mailinglist-rules.md > ). > > cheers, > Derick I agree with Derick. Using a translator to assist with a language barrier is reasonable, and these days they've all been replaced with LLMs (justified or not). But I would still prefer to have that explicitly stated, so we know what we're dealing with. (And can use simpler English in replies, potentially, to aid with understanding.) Beyond that, I want to talk to humans, not slop machines. If someone's diplomatic skills are not up to the task of discussing on the list without filtering through a chatbot, then they need to work on their diplomatic skills before subjecting us to slop. --Larry Garfield