Ask HN: The most useful LLM agents aren't allowed?

by thimkerbellon 10/8/2025, 7:38 PMwith 9 comments

I hope I am wrong on this: where LLM agents seem like they'd be really useful right now would be doing better search filtering and then initial contact/negotiation Q&As on platforms that match e.g. buyer and seller, like Craigslist. But CL for one has (had?) terms of service that prohibit building stuff that scrapes it, and doesn't seem to have improved its search interface for decades. So how do you legally & respectfully get agents to do the work that you need them to do?

by techblueberryon 10/8/2025, 7:41 PM

How do you legally and respectfully do something someone has explicitly outlined in writing they don't want you to do?

by JohnFenon 10/8/2025, 8:34 PM

Personally, I'm happy that there are platforms that prohibit this. It means that there are places for people who object that sort of thing.

I'm sure that we'll see analogous services starting up that actively embrace this sort of thing, and that would be good as well. Choice is a great thing.

by wmfon 10/8/2025, 9:08 PM

If an AI is doing work on your behalf it isn't scraping.

by toomuchtodoon 10/8/2025, 7:56 PM

You don’t.