$500 Write like lsusr competition

lsusr22 Dec 2025 20:09 UTC
29 points
43 comments3 min readLW link

It’s been a while since I hosted a competition. This time there is prize money! $500.

Do you think you’re a better writer than me? Now is your chance to prove it.

I want to know whether human beings can pass for me. Your mission, should you choose to participate, is to write a Less Wrong post that is indistinguishable from one that I would write.

Schedule [Tentative]

  • December 22 (today): Competition is announced. You may begin posting entries.

  • December 28: Last day to submit entries.

  • December 31: Prediction markets resolve at exactly the new year, Berkeley timezone, when 2025 becomes 2026.

  • January 4: Last day for winners to claim prizes.

All timezones are Berkeley Time (UTC−12).

This schedule is tentative because I often encounter technical difficulties when running competitions like this.

About your entries

  • Create a new Less Wrong account. This way nobody will be able to figure out who you are just from the account name. (You may submit multiple posts from a single Less Wrong account. However, each account is only eligible for a single cash prize.)

  • From that same account, create a comment on this post with a link to your post so others can read it and so I know to create a prediction market for it.

  • AI slop will be disqualified. Any entry written by a well-intentioned human being is permitted. To my knowledge, people have abided by the honor system in my previous contests. If you want to be certain whether a post counts as “AI slop”, then you can DM me privately to ask.

  • AI is allowed for research, spellchecking, and asking questions like “Does this thing I wrote sound like something lsusr would write?” Having it correct a word or phrase on occasion is fine. Just don’t have it write the thing for you.

  • All of your entries’ post bodies must start with must start with “[This is an entry for lsusr’s write-like-lsusr competition.]”. Example:

Lorem Ipsum

[This is an entry for lsusr’s write-like-lsusr competition.]

Dolor sit amet.

About lsusr’s entries

  • Lsusr will enter an integer number of posts into this competition. That number might be zero.

  • Lsusr entries (if they exist) will not be posted under the username lsusr.

  • Lsusr entries (if they exist) will not cheat by doing things like filming a video of myself or using a ghostwriter. My entries are allowed to embed old videos from my YouTube channel.

  • Lsusr entries (if they exist) will follow my usual ethical guidelines, which means they’re things I believe are true and I believe they are valuable. By “valuable” I mean that I feel posting them on Less Wrong makes the world a better place.

  • Lsusr entries (if they exist) will be no less than 500 words.

  • Lsusr entries (if they exist) will use AI for no part of the competition other than research, fact-checking and spell-checking.

  • Lsusr entries (if they exist) will start with “[This is an entry for lsusr’s write-like-lsusr competition.]”.

  • Lsusr entries (if they exist) will be written by me, lsusr.

  • I will not intentionally manipulate the prediction markets.

If you violate these constraints, then you will be disqualified because it should be obvious to everyone that the entry was not written by lsusr. (Except the AI constraint, which is largely honor system.)

Evaluation

The judging of this competition will be done by prediction markets. I have created a Set of Yes/​No questions on Manifold. I have a budget of ~10,000 mana which I might use to boost the question prior to resolution.

You may notice that 10,000 mana is worth significantly less than the $1,000 prize pool. You may wonder whether arbitrage via deliberate manipulation of the prediction markets is permitted. Yes, it is permitted. Does this mean that that you are allowed to buy a bunch of YES or NO right before the prediction markets expire? Yes it does.

Does this mean you are allowed to run a propaganda campaign in the comments? Yes, but please keep it contained to this competition. Feel free to keep your misinformation compaign confined to the comments section of posts (including this one) that have voluntarily opted into the competition.

Anticipated Questions

  • Q: I have a post idea that I don’t think would be mistaken for an lsusr post, but it’s valuable and human-written. May I enter it in the competition?

  • A: Yes.

  • Q: I want to win by manipulating the prediction markets without writing a post myself. What do I do?

  • A: Maybe team up with someone writing a real entry? There are no rules against collaboration. Plots are fun!

  • Q: Who funded this?

  • A: Me.

  • Q: Can I volunteer to help with this competition?

  • A: Yes! Creating, managing and resolving the prediction markets is a hassle I’d rather someone else deal with. If you’d like to volunteer for this duty, please message me. (If you are the one managing the prediction markets, then you are disqualified from participating in the competition and manipulating the markets.)

Prizes

The winner will be whoever has the highest % likely “written by lsusr”. The 2nd place will be whoever has the second-highest % likely “written by lsusr”. (Assuming there are <100 entries.)

  • 1st prize: $250

  • 2nd prize: $100

  • 3rd prize: $50

  • ?????: $100

Prizes will be distribited by Venmo. If you don’t want to receive money via Venmo, then I can instead donate 110% of your prize to the charity of your choice or 120% to Partners in Health. You may request prizes in kind in lieu of a cash payment.

Potential Changes

I don’t anticipate changing the rules, but just in case something goes horribly wrong or I made a mistake somewhere, I reserve the right to revise the rules over the next 48 hours.

[link to the prediction market]

lsusr22 Dec 2025 20:09 UTC
29 points
43 comments3 min readLW link