tropes.fyi
Hacker ApprovedWriting reference in Productivity & writing
A directory of common LLM writing tropes that people find solid and useful as a reference. Critics warn it is unreliable for spotting AI writing.
A directory of common LLM writing tropes that people find solid and useful as a reference. Critics warn it is unreliable for spotting AI writing.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Catalogues common LLM writing patterns
“I was literally just working on a directory of the most common tropes/tics/structures that LLMs use in their writing”
Comment from 19 Feb 2026 in “AI makes you boring” “has a pretty solid set of common patterns, and I like it a lot”
Comment from 25 May 2026 in “The bootstrapper's EU stack for under €10 per month” Good general writing advice
“it is largely a set of good writing advice for people in general”
Comment from 24 Feb 2026 in “AI-generated replies really are a scourge these days” “This contains a lot of advice about good writing in general.”
Comment from 8 Mar 2026 in “LLM Writing Tropes.md” Useful reference for AI writing
“implement a skill or something that does a second pass using this”
Comment from 10 Aug 2026 in “From 13.5M installs to 499 active devices” “This is a helpful resource your AI can reference”
Comment from 23 Jun 2026 in “Ask HN: How do you make AI writing usable?”
What people said
10 of the 13 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“implement a skill or something that does a second pass using this”
“This is a helpful resource your AI can reference”
“has a pretty solid set of common patterns, and I like it a lot”
“That’s bullshit. It’s very common.”
“This contains a lot of advice about good writing in general.”
“it is largely a set of good writing advice for people in general”
“I think it does what it’s supposed to do.”
“It quickly confirmed the sloppiness of a few titles that are currently sitting on the front page.”
“This is a very bad idea unless you have 100% accuracy in identifying AI generated writing”
“I was literally just working on a directory of the most common tropes/tics/structures that LLMs use in their writing”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.