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douglee650yesterday at 3:42 PM3 repliesview on HN

Know the rules, fight the rules, I guess. More readable, but I’ve since regressed as tooling comes into play. Maybe it’s a good way to still use ems and differentiate from AI.


Replies

msisk6yesterday at 3:54 PM

Looks and readability matter in writing. I always uses spaces on either side of the em-dash; looks too crowded otherwise to my eye.

I've been doing doing it that way for so long I still often use the "--" construct from way back in ascii email days.

At least I've gotten past the two-spaces after a period I learned from the typewriter. Most of the time, anyway.

show 2 replies
98codesyesterday at 4:52 PM

Every AI response I've seen that uses em dashes also includes spaces around them.

polynomialyesterday at 4:17 PM

DFW famously put spaces around his em dashes. That being said I've noticed at least one major model seems to have started putting spaces around its em dashes.