[joshstrange]

The restrictions are dumb not because they're lower than any of us want them to be, but because they're unclear. Every time Claude comes up on Hacker News, someone asks this question. And every time people chime in to agree that they also are unclear or someone weighs in saying, no, it's totally clear, while proceeding not to point at any official resource and/or to "explain" the rules in a that is incompatible with official documentation.

Example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47737924

[stavros]

There's another part that's bullshit: If you've paid for an annual subscription, for a given number of tokens, welp, now you're getting fewer tokens. They've decreased the limits mid-subscription. How is it not bait-and-switch to pay for something for a year only to have something else delivered?

[mcmcmc]

It is, but good luck getting the FTC to care. Maybe the EU will do something about it.

[taytus]

You are arguing something different. My point is that they must apply these restrictions. Do I think they could have calculated their growth a little better? Yes, of course, but hindsight is 20/20.

[joshstrange]

We might be talking past each other, I promise I'm not just trying to argue.

> My point is that they must apply these restrictions.

I fully understand and respect they need restrictions on how you can use your subscription (or any of their offerings). My issue is not there there _are_ restrictions but that the restrictions themselves are unclear which leads to people being unsure where the line is (that they are trying not to cross).

Put simply: At what point is `claude -p` usage not allowed on a subscription:

- Running `claude -p` from the CLI?

- Running `claude -p` on a Cron?

- Running `claude -p` as a response to some external event? (GH action, webhook, etc?)

- Running `claude -p` when I receive a Telegram/Discord/etc message (from myself)?

Different people will draw the line in different places and Anthropic is not forthcoming about what is or is not allowed. Essentially, there is a spectrum between "Running claude by hand on the command line" and "OpenClaw" [0] and we don't know where they draw the line. Because of that, and because the banning process is draconian and final with no appeals, it leads to a lot of frustration.

[0] I do not use OpenClaw nor am I arguing it should be allowed on the subscription. It would be nice if it was but I'm not saying it should be. I'm just saying that OpenClaw clearly is _not_ allowed but `claude -p` wouldn't be usable at all with a subscription if it was completely banned so what can it (safely) be used for?

[JyB]

Restrictions don’t have to be confusing, they can be clear. You are missing the whole point.