NO! I just prompt normally, and if that fails, hand-code or restart from scratch instead

Yes, but hardly ever at Astra, because it usually gets the job done. Definitely at worse models when you give them very clear instructions and goals to follow and they respond telling you that the job has been completed perfectly, verified byte-identical, all tests pass, etc etc and you look at it and it’s a pile of garbage.

All the time. Whenever Claude proposes some pansy-ass half-measure, I'll respond "F___ THAT," and Claude immediately knows I'm not playing.

I do very sparingly, same as with humans.

I also give them praise, and sometimes give them pep talks. Like, hey, I know you can do this. Stop asking me for feedback, make good decisions, and let me know when you're done.

Fuck yes, I do. Not the most effective way to get things done, but a bit cathartic. And no, the stochastic parrot does not have emotions. And yes, it sometimes does worse after being cursed at, but you’re generally better off forking/rolling back the convo to a point before it screwed up anyway. And other times strong language manages to provide the emphasis you need to get it to actually pay attention.

Anyway, why are you ashamed of it?

I felt ashamed because it fooled me into believing it had feelings like a living thing.

Ah.

I feel free to curse at it precisely because I’m confident it doesn’t have feelings, and it’s like swearing out loud at an inanimate object like when a shoddy screwdriver breaks, or strips a screw, or whatever.

Sometimes upstream providers swap in lobotomized aggressive quants in order to shed load or cut costs. In that case the user is not to blame. And the agent is not so much to blame, either. Same as how you wouldn't blame a child for crashing a car.

It's the fucking provider who took your dollars and handed you back a shit sandwich in return.