The poster formerly known as "waxpancake". I make @Waxy.org and @xoxofest.com. Also: Skittish, Upcoming, Supercut, Playfic, Kind of Bloop. Helped build Kickstarter.
WWW: https://waxy.org
Mastodon: https://xoxo.zone/@andybaio
Andy Baio
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I wrote about how I discovered that a new site for The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, John Koenig's long-running Tumblr project-turned-book, was a bootleg made by a marketing agency. They published the complete book verbatim, then added AI-generated art and new AI words, entirely without permission.
Andy Baio
Without permission, a marketing agency republished the entirety of John Koenig's Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows book, replacing its art with AI slop and adding new AI words. Their unauthorized site now ranks higher than the real one everywhere.
There's so much to dislike here, it's hard to know where to start. The "Submit Your Sorrows" feature is particularly galling, in which you describe an emotion or feeling and an AI generates a word, definition, and slop art for it.
Without permission, a marketing agency republished the entirety of John Koenig's Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows book, replacing its art with AI slop and adding new AI words and definitions. Their unauthorized site now ranks higher than the real one everywhere.
I confirmed from Koenig himself that he wasn't involved, and found Simon & Schuster issued DMCA takedowns to Google with little effect. The AEO/SEO-optimized site dominates every search related to the book, including the book title and author's name. ChatGPT and Gemini say it's the official site.
Waxy.org
I love this so much. See my reply to Cabel's post if you want to try it yourself!
Last chance to get the XOXO merch before we shut it down forever!
@snell.zone do you know when a new episode of Upgrade will be out
FaceID never recognizes me when I wake up in the morning and, every time, it feels like a personal insult.
This is incredibly charming. I highly recommend using it on desktop, where you have a real cursor.
