I'm genuinely upset about something that happened to me on Reddit, and I'd like to hear the perspective of people who understand how moderation works.
I wrote a fan theory about two characters from a TV series. It was based entirely on my own observations, interpretations, arguments and references from the books and the show.
I was really excited to post it. People started commenting, discussing the theory, disagreeing and sharing their thoughts. It was exactly the kind of discussion I had hoped for.
But English isn't my first language, so I used ChatGPT to help me with the wording. The ideas were mine. The arguments were mine. I didn't ask it to invent a theory or write a post for me. I just wanted to express myself more clearly in English.
The moderators removed my post under their rule against AI-generated content.
I contacted them and explained the situation. I tried to make them understand that there's a difference between asking AI to create something and using it as a language tool. But they weren't interested.
And honestly, it really hurt.
I've spent my own time thinking about this topic, putting my thoughts together and getting excited about sharing them with other fans. And suddenly my work is labelled AI-generated simply because I needed help with English.
Does this mean that people who aren't native English speakers have to choose between writing imperfect English and risking having their original thoughts dismissed as AI-generated?
I understand the frustration with low-effort AI content. I don't want to read posts where someone just asks ChatGPT a question and copies the answer either.
But shouldn't there be a distinction between AI creating the content and helping someone communicate their own ideas?
I'd really like to hear what moderators think. Am I being unreasonable here?