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Funny how usage of the the word moat simply exploded here on HN a few weeks ago.

This word has been part of the core vernacular of HN for as long as I can remember.

Looks like a real effect:

https://hntrends.net/compare/words?words=moat,castle,roi

Sure - right now there is a firehose of money being pumped into money-losing AI companies. The technology is revolutionary but a lot of us are wondering if the winners will be the early movers with big pockets or the late movers using newer/cheaper techniques. There's a gold rush and the question of "moat" is on everyone's mind.

But this isn't the first gold rush in the tech industry and folks have been talking about moats here forever.

That's the broad trend, but I think the spike that they're noting is specifically downstream of DeepSeek, as it peaks in late December of last year.

There's an initial peak in 2023 (haven't looked it up, but I'd bet that was when 'OpenAI has no moat' was on the front page for a while), and then it settles down a ways above the previous average. Since December it's been 1.5-2x more frequent than where it settled after that first peak.

It ebbs and flows, like every other circle jerk ping ponging around within an insular internet community.

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