Perfect Mr Paines. And yes, someone would have had to feed the AI prompts.
Why he/she wishes anonymity is his/her business and anybody's guess.
On Wed, Feb 25, 2026 at 1:14 PM John Paines <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
> AI itself has something to say about the matter. Concerning the original
> posts, the AI in question has this to say:
> Why this looks like AI
>
> Here are the "red flags" that suggest this was generated by a LLM (like
> ChatGPT or myself):
>
> -
>
> *The "I Hope This Finds You Well" Opener:* This is the ultimate AI
> cliché. It’s the default greeting for almost every professional email
> generated by an AI unless specifically told otherwise.
> -
>
> *Highly Structured Formatting:* AI loves symmetry. Notice the
> perfectly balanced sections: *Key Progress*, *Additional Updates*, *Next
> Steps*, and *Long-Term Vision*. Each has a bolded header followed by a
> descriptive paragraph or bullet points.
> -
>
> *The "Helpful Assistant" Tone:* Even though the user (XYGHOST) is the
> one doing the hard work, the tone is strangely detached and formal. Phrases
> like "Your expertise and continued support would be invaluable" are classic
> AI-speak for closing a prompt.
> -
>
> *Repetitive Reinforcement:* It states multiple times, in slightly
> different ways, that the byte-level match is 100%. While a human might> this to prove
a point, the phrasing here ("100% byte-level match," "perfect
> match to the original," "fully reconstructed") follows the redundant
> pattern AI uses to ensure it has addressed the "facts" of the prompt.
> -
>
> *Generic Legal Buffering:* The way it asks about "navigating legal or
> proprietary concerns" is very broad. A human developer in a niche community
> usually has a specific take or a specific fear; this sounds like a general
> AI-generated inquiry about "best practices."
>
> The Likely Scenario
>
> It looks like the user *XYGHOST* actually did the technical work (the
> MASM versions, the byte counts, and the MD5 hashes are too specific for an
> AI to hallucinate accurately unless provided in the prompt), but they
> likely *fed their raw notes into an AI* and asked it to "write a
> professional forum post" to share the news.
>
> The community probably sensed this "uncanny valley" politeness, which can
> sometimes come across as suspicious or "bot-like" in tight-knit, old-school
> tech circles—leading to the "pushback" seen in your first example.
>
>
> On Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 03:05:15 PM EST, Bill Troop <
> dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
> The anonymity is, as they say in Chicago, odder than Dick's hatband.
>
> On Wed, 25 Feb 2026 at 18:38, xyquest xyghost <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
> I never expected such pushback from this community I thought actually
> cared about preserving and evolving XyWrite. I’m done with the distrust and
> won’t waste any more time on it. I thought you’d be interested in the
> reverse-engineered code to move things forward, but I guess I was wrong. If
> this isn’t what you want, feel free to do your own thing. I’ll keep working
> on it regardless.
> ------------------------------
> *From:* xywrite-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <xywrite-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on
> behalf of Carl Distefano <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, February 25, 2026 6:00 PM
> *To:* xywrite@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <xywrite@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> *Subject:* Re: Progress Update on XyWrite 3.58b Reverse Engineering &
> Next Steps
>
> Reply to note from xyquest xyghost <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Tue, 24
> Feb 2026 20:29:49 +0000
>
> > 1. What should be the best way to move forward with preserving
> > or releasing the source code?
> > [...]
> > I would greatly appreciate any insights, advice, or suggestions
> > you may have on these matters,
>
> My immediate advice: drop the veil of anonymity and tell us who you are.
> Realistically you have no alternative, given the evident uncertainty
> surrounding your true intentions and bona fides. Not to mention that, as
> long as you remain anonymous, you'll never get an answer to the
> all-important threshold question, namely: Does your project violate the
> legal rights of third parties?
>
> --
> Carl Distefano
> cld@xxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>