[JohnFen]

I've been seeing an uptick on these sorts of "shaming" essays lately. They always make me wonder... if those who have issues with genAI are so wrong that it will doom them in the future, why is it necessary to spend so much energy telling them so? Why not just let them find out?

Why is the manipulative high-pressure sales tactic necessary?

[jcstk]

One thing I find interesting about reading is that it's done in the voice of the reader, not the writer. Shame and manipulative high-pressure sales tactics... interesting perspective. Personally, I write to inspire people to get curious and try things. If this pushes their path forward, perhaps we will meet again down the road and find ways to help each other?

[JohnFen]

I read it that way because the essay doesn't actually contain any "carrot" -- it's not explaining why people should start using this tech or inspiring curiosity. It just takes a bit of a scolding tone and makes unflattering assumptions about why there are devs who aren't eager to jump onboard. That's the manipulative high-pressure sales tactic I mentioned: "jump on the bandwagon or be left behind" is one of the most basic of such tactics.

I'm not really intending to single out this essay for this, it's just another in an increasing stream of similar essays. I find it odd because I'm hard-pressed to think of another tech that devs had to be strong-armed into using. In my experience, when devs find value in a thing, they just start using it naturally.