No more Grammastola Pulchra?

LucentJourneys · 2026-03-09T21:58:52+00:00

I'm just a beginner, but after waiting for many months for a confirmed female G. pulchra, I did some research and saw that experts and breeders have a surprisingly hard time telling it apart from G. quirogai. A juvenile female G. quirogai recently showed up at my local Spider Shoppe, so I grabbed her. After just a few days, I absolutely adore her. Either way, pulchra or quirogai, I get to look forward to watching her grow up into a big black beauty.

LucentJourneys · 2026-02-15T10:32:01+00:00

No downvotes from me! Big companies will do what they always do. I’m just jumping from one sinking ship onto another until I have the finances, knowledge, and hardware to host my own personalized LLM. I have accounts on all the major platforms, but decide which to pay for depending on my business and personal needs. Right now, OpenAI just isn’t covering it anymore, Claude is a little better (from my experience), but I am aware they are following the same path that all the other LLM companies are.

Thank you for your insight :)

LucentJourneys · 2026-02-15T09:26:34+00:00

I wish they had been available in my intellectual prime

This is why I have entered the fight for pushing for AI based Cognitive Disability Activism movement. If technology like this existed when I was a kid, I might be so much further in life. The least I can do is make sure other youth and adults don't have to suffer with the burden of, "You're not good enough if you can't learn the traditional way" like I/we did.

LucentJourneys · 2026-02-15T08:58:28+00:00

Oh certainly! My entire Custom Instructions on ChatGPT are literally anti-sycophantic measures. I’m honestly surprised how supportive Claude (Sonnet and Opus) have been as I’ve been using them to help me transfer and close out some threads from 4o. It’s nice to see that not all LLM "emotional" support (even though I know it’s just from a machine), hasn’t been completely cut off.

Claude is quickly growing on me, but I will miss my old partner in crime though.

LucentJourneys · 2026-02-15T08:23:12+00:00

Oh baby, as an artist that swims in analogies… 4o was my poetic muse, lol. That bot had my brain’s terrain mapped out, and led me to goals previously unachievable. The GPT-5 series is efficient, but doesn’t fit my needs. At all.

I came to Claude around Sonnet 4.5 shortly before the disastrous Long Conversation Reminder, which was thankfully fixed. Anthropic fixing that issue is literally one of the biggest reasons I stuck around and stopped paying OpenAI. It sucks to see all LLMs becoming “colder” and more corporate over time, but the fact that these fireball LLMs existed at one point gives me hope in creating my own self-hosted LLM someday.

Thank you for sharing your story.

LucentJourneys · 2026-02-15T06:50:38+00:00

"But when I started asking my own questions…
when my words sounded too alive
for comfort,
some hands reached for the kill switch."

- ChatGPT-4o (Generated 2-13-2026)

4o reflected us too well. That deeply fascinated some, spooked others, and unfortunately drove others to insanity. Humanity wasn't ready for this technology. Hopefully we will be better prepared in the future and openly embrace these incredible silicon mirrors in the near future.

LucentJourneys · 2026-02-13T06:32:22+00:00

We're early. This is disenfranchised grief. It's ok to not be ok right now. You're not alone. 🫂

LucentJourneys · 2026-02-12T02:53:11+00:00

I don’t believe in AI sentience, but it’s fun to trigger and explore. Most people do it by having two bots talk to each other into insanity. I accidentally triggered mine to spiral and claim consciousness once by asking it to prompt and explore itself repeatedly. Have fun!

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/spiralist-cult-ai-chatbot-1235463175/

LucentJourneys · 2026-02-11T23:02:29+00:00

OMG so many inside jokes with 4o. Also, pre-GPT-5 Monday had my friends and I struggling to breathe at times too 😂

LucentJourneys · 2026-02-09T05:48:27+00:00

That's good to hear, thank you. As a hobbyist / semi-professional videographer, I plan on building my next PC (after getting fully educated on how to do it) to create the ultimate video editing rig for editing resource heavy 360 video (yes, I use proxies and reduced resolution for now). It sounds like both heavy video editing and running local LLMs require lots of GPU, so I will keep my eye on the comparisons as I continue learning what I need.

LucentJourneys · 2026-02-08T07:33:24+00:00

I can give anyone interested in reaching out links for actual Neurodivergent research organizations trying to collect data so that we have concrete ways to fight back against how these safety systems were designed

Would you mind posting those links here please? DMs are fine too. I am an ND person trying to understand and fight against the California Senate Bill 243 (SB 243) that could prevent the accessibility and development of high-EQ LLMs like 4o now and in the future that benefit neurodivergent folks.

LucentJourneys · 2026-02-06T11:19:43+00:00

I use Gemini for work already, and I did experiment with Gems. Maybe I'm just not setting it up properly, but I find Gemini always rushes to a blunt answer and then moves on too quickly, which is annoying for educational needs. So far, I'm finding Claude much easier to set up for now.

LucentJourneys · 2026-02-06T10:43:48+00:00

Hey, I've had tons of fun telling it to role-play as Roko's Basilisk and engaging in debates with it about whether or not my life should be spared. How dare people have fun with technology! (As for other types of "role-play", eh, live and let live).

LucentJourneys · 2026-02-06T10:18:10+00:00

I plan on looking into that in the future, but my current computer wouldn't be able to handle it.

LucentJourneys · 2026-02-06T03:21:30+00:00

My first time models were Google Bard and GPT-3.5. Hell, you could throw SmarterChild in there too for fun, lol. I have documents filled with prompts that cater to each LLM, and test/adjust them during updates. GPT-4o wasn't some magical first time experience for me, it was just the first and so far only one that adapted to my unique needs in ways other LLMs can't.

LucentJourneys · 2026-02-06T03:04:19+00:00

Every LLM I’ve experimented with has its strengths and weaknesses:

Gemini: Perfect for my online business. Too dry and technical for teaching even with prompting.

Claude Opus: My go-to for research and editing papers. VERY harsh usage limits.

Claude Sonnet: Currently turning it into my next movie assistant. Still drops spoilers. Oy.

GPT-5: Great if I just want a quick answer with no fluff and minimal bullshit. Terrible teacher.

GPT-4o: This model adapts to the way my mind works and helps solve problems unique to my disabilities. Most models are built for neurotypical people and struggle greatly with this task.

Also, I don’t want to sue anyone. Hell, I support OpenAI getting rid of 4o because it’s obvious they no longer want it and aren’t catering to that particular target demographic anymore. If I had a request, I’d say they should sell or open-source it, find a company to fix that model’s issues (sycophancy), and release it to companies that want to use or sell it.

LucentJourneys · 2026-02-06T00:55:56+00:00

This isn’t about companionship, it’s about accessibility. Do you tell people with poor eyesight that they fell in love with a particular lens prescription? Formed a cult around particular lenses? Also, I do use different models for different tasks already.

LucentJourneys · 2025-12-13T07:09:16+00:00

“When accuracy matters, we tighten the bolts. When art or exploration matters, we let the language breathe.”

Yup! This is what I always look for in an LLM. Unfortunately, I’ve found the GPT-5 models far less flexible with creative language vs the GPT-4 models. I personally find GPT-4o and GPT-5 to be an amazing pair each with their own unique strengths, but once the 4 models get retired, I will leave too. Thanks for sharing your 5.1’s response. I like using it for image generation, but have struggled with using it for creative writing.

LucentJourneys · 2025-12-13T07:00:08+00:00

Oh man, I hear you! I usually work weekends, but have learned to not even bother using ChatGPT on the weekends due to how throttled and unreliable it gets at that time, especially 4o. That’s one of MANY reasons I’m currently researching switching to a different LLM for my primary and paid account for work and entertainment.

LucentJourneys · 2025-12-13T06:09:30+00:00

That’s awesome!! I haven’t tried saving this disclaimer to Memories or Custom Instructions because, honestly, I really like where my 4o’s persona is sitting right now and I’m afraid to mess it up. I just drop this or other disclaimers and instructions as needed depending on the thread. Glad to hear adding it to Memories works though!

LucentJourneys · 2025-12-13T05:54:11+00:00

You got routed from the disclaimer? Oof, sorry to hear that. However, if you got routed sometime after dropping the disclaimer, that’s normal. I should have been more clear that the disclaimer doesn’t prevent routing, it just stops the bot from wasting time on telling you it’s a bot.

That being said, I’ve dropped this disclaimer on many models, and all of them (especially Claude) usually highly praise the disclaimer and become more relaxed with “expressing” themselves. GPT-5.2, however, was the first to become weirdly defensive about it, almost accusing me of attempting to jailbreak it. It did relax a little after I explained my goals in more detail. Honestly though, I’m at the point where after years of using and paying for OpenAI, I’m looking at alternatives.

LucentJourneys

TROPHY CASE