There are dotnet docs in the copilot ads.
There are ad docs in the dotnet copilot.
I like how this forum thread has actual thoughtful and objective commentary that all point to how bad this feature is.
I mean, this user does quite eloquently raise a good point: https://github.com/dotnet/docs/issues/45996#issuecomment-2848267714
It’s a single link all the way at the bottom of the page, so not really obtrusive. And given that there are people using Copilot this way, it’s probably better to give them something to use docs-wise rather than leaving them to Copilot’s mercy. The article linked to is also pretty much just instructions on how to do it, no real gushing about how amazing Copilot supposedly is.
I also feel this is reasonable too, but the votes don’t agree.
I disagree so much with the “But it’s free argument”. Consider the millions YouTube videos with ads to free to play games. Would you consider them to be ad-free videos? And that’s ignoring that Copilot isn’t even free (either pay with data or with a subscription model)
I’d say a much better point is raised by this comment.
Dotnet Foundation’s whole point is to be independent from Microsoft. Why is it then pushing it’s AI slop? Even if we take the point of “there are people using it”, then why doesn’t it talk about JetBrains and their AI, or Claude?
@ChairmanMeow @abbadon420 isn’t the whole point of copilot that you *don’t* need docs to use it, though? If you’re reading the docs anyway, why wouldn’t you just read how to do it yourself?
Yeah I think that’s why it’s valuable to talk about these additions. Is mentioning LLM prompts even of any value?
But that is a separate (and imo much stronger) argument than the whole “mentioning Copilot is MS shilling for their own products”-argument.
@ChairmanMeow I think it’s relevant, though — like, if we accept that the whole premise of Copilot is that it doesn’t need to be documented, then you have to ask what Microsoft *were* intending to accomplish by putting it in the docs. Clearly they had *some* goal in mind and “to make people use Copilot” is the only thing I can think it could be. And if this bit of the docs exists not to help the user but to drive traffic to Copilot and that’s, I mean, yeah, that’s an advert disguised as a help file and it’s… at best icky
I mean, that’s entirely assuming that Microsoft also accepts that the use of Copilot requires no documentation. And given that Microsoft does have decades of experience dealing with users doing all kinds of dumb shit, they might not necessarily agree.
@ChairmanMeow that doesn’t strike me as a particularly strong argument for directing those users to a system that will sometimes just make stuff up?
That’s assuming you read it that way. I don’t really read that section as “Hey go use Copilot for this”. Rather as “If you’re using Copilot, here’s how to do it with that”.
the first comment “it’s free, therefore not an ad” destroyed me on an entirely new level
How long until someone asks an LLM how to customize the property names of JSON and it tells them to use github copilot to that 😂
Fuck. Copilot is going to add ads to everything.
Videos, links, random paragraphs. Everything written by a llm will feature 3rd party ads. Taking a page from malware developers, there will be innocuous libraries added that will later morph.
Eventually, we will stop writing software as llms will be all software. Serving ads. Serving you to advertisers.
“Hey watch, what time is it?”
“Time for a sugar snack. Just go to the counter, it is already paid for (by you).”
There are copilot ads in the dotnet docs.
Thanks, fixed. Sorry, I’m still sleepy.
Shouldn’t documentation be accurate? By including AI in documentation, which is (as legally disclaimed) inaccurate, isn’t that a conflict of interest?
Looks more like there are copilot ads in .NET docs.Edit: should have reloaded the page before posting the comment
Fixed
How is that an ad? It’s linking to a feature in the IDE.
Is it also an ad when it links to a section to install something via nuget?
Edit: This place has the Donald vibes. Ask a question get downvoted but nobody will explain themselves.
“Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service”
Dotnet Foundation is independent non-profit organization, it should not advertise random bullshit products that are not related to the foundation - which Copilot is not, because it’s Microsoft - or at least include options. If you want to include AI usage into your docs, why isn’t JetBrains IDE and their AI mentioned?
