Group projects are just wonderful

Two people playing dead[^playdead] —haven’t messaged me once since the deadline

Two more, after I poured enormous effort into guiding and communicating, just fed me AI-generated garbage

One genius in particular even rearranged the original text’s order —probably figured Hugo’s literary skills weren’t quite up to par while copying

I set a new personal best of 0.000001 seconds in the not-tilting[^tilting] challenge, you should try it too

When the group project started, to maintain cohesion and with the competition coming up, I drafted an outline myself

Then spent two evening self-study[^selfstudy] sessions on background reading and completely restructured the whole outline

Made documents about work principles and division of labor, the Virginia incident, excerpts from Les Misérables, all materials distributed and ready

If the documents weren’t clear enough, coming to ask was fine —but after teaching people like middle schoolers what summarizing means, what the difference is between facts and arguments, after all that communication cost, what I get back is logically flawed, content-vague AI slop

Even though I clearly spelled out in the documents and conversations to avoid exactly this, some people still don’t get it. The communication cost alone would’ve been enough for me to finish everything myself, without having to send it back for revisions

At this point, why did this even happen?

In the end, joining the group means happily becoming the leader —no matter how much you put in, there’s no return. It’s only natural to become a beast of burden[^beast], feeling excluded —how is this not a form of bullying

💬 Comments

  • LoulanRE (2024-11-03 00:25): Warning everyone —either find responsible members, or make the lazy dogs buy indulgences[^indulgences] to escape labor. There is no third path.
    • Ji reply @LoulanRE (2024-11-03 00:58): I’m the one who voluntarily buys indulgences, mainly covering plagiarism check fees
    • LoulanRE reply @Ji (2024-11-03 01:06): Good kid, come join the group, you’ve done great already
    • Ji reply @LoulanRE (2024-11-03 01:07): Turns out our school doesn’t even have requirements for plagiarism check websites, Xuexitong[^xuexitong] welcomes him. Wanted to buy indulgences but couldn’t spend the money
    • Ji reply @LoulanRE (2024-11-03 01:07): Actually this also depends on the team’s strength —if plagiarism rates are always too high it’s ruined
  • optional (2024-11-03 00:47): How can they be so disrespectful of others’ effort…
    • LoulanRE reply @optional (2024-11-03 01:07):
  • Anonymous (2024-11-03 01:16): Poor Weipeng
    • Qi reply @Anonymous (2024-11-03 01:36): Weipeng?
  • Zhang (2024-11-03 09:45): What a legend

[^playdead]: “Playing dead” (躺尸) —literally “lying like a corpse” —is Chinese internet slang for doing absolutely nothing, vanishing without contributing. Much stronger than “slacking,” it implies complete non-existence in group work.
[^tilting]: “Tilting” (红温) —literally “red-temperature” —is Chinese gaming slang for becoming so furious your face turns red and heats up. Equivalent to being “tilted” or “losing your cool” in English gaming culture.
[^selfstudy]: Evening self-study (晚自习) is a mandatory supervised study period common in Chinese universities and high schools, typically running from 7–10 PM. Attendance may be tracked.
[^beast]: “Beast of burden” (牛马) —literally “oxen and horses” —is Chinese internet slang for someone who is exploited and overworked, akin to “wage slave” or “drudge.”
[^indulgences]: Indulgences (赎罪券) —here used humorously, borrowing the Catholic concept of selling indulgences to atone for sins. In the group project context, it means paying money to opt out of labor.
[^xuexitong]: Xuexitong (学习通) is a widely used Chinese online learning platform, often associated with its plagiarism detection system that many universities require for submitting assignments.