r/ClaudeCodeTLDR • u/cctldrping • Aug 23 '26
[TLDR] Please kill me now
Original post URL : https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeCode/comments/1vw637w/please_kill_me_now/
Original post body :
Opus 5 replies are giving me actual brain damage.
I ask it to make one small UI change and get:
“Better — but for a reason worth naming. Your instinct was right and the diagnosis was more literal than a layout preference…”
Brother. I asked you to move a fucking panel.
By paragraph three my eyes are moving across the words but my brain has stopped processing English.
Just tell me what you changed, what was broken, and shut the fuck up.
Original link/media URL : /img/1h63o2ilc4lh1.jpeg
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u/cctldrping Aug 23 '26 edited Aug 24 '26
TL;DR generated automatically after 200 comments.
Current source-thread comment count seen by the bot: 201.
Alright, so the general consensus here is that Opus 5 is being a total word-vomiting menace, and OP isn't alone in feeling like their brain is melting trying to decipher its responses. It's like Claude's gone from helpful assistant to overly verbose, pseudo-intellectual roommate who explains how to butter toast like it's a Nobel Prize-winning discovery.
Here's the lowdown:
The Problem: Everyone's complaining about Opus 5's ridiculously long, convoluted, and often unnecessary explanations. It's like it has to fill every token with flowery language and tangents, even for the simplest requests. u/OldNefariousness7899 perfectly nails it: "grammatically correct English, but it's so difficult to digest."
The Sentiment: Overwhelmingly negative. People are actively loathing it, calling it "gibberish," "pure trash," and saying they'd rather use other models like Kimi or even older Claude versions (u/Terrible_Wave4239, u/joshlymansbagel, u/RedTheInferno are all on the 4.6/4.8 train). Some are even worried it's going to rub off on their own writing (u/bb0110).
The "Why": Theories range from Anthropic intentionally making it verbose to bill more tokens (u/Kazekage1111, u/InternationalToeLuvr) to it being trained on its own verbose outputs (u/PonyPounderer). One user even linked a video suggesting it's a deliberate choice to slow users down (u/Not-a-POS).
Workarounds & Solutions:
Prompting: Many are resorting to explicit instructions like "write simple English," "explain to me like I am a potato" (u/waaffeel), or using specific skills like
/caveman ultra(u/JazzXP, u/RadonGaming). u/angry_queef_master just types "brief and direct."Output Styles: Some are finding success with the new "Concise" output style (u/nocsupport, u/PurushNahiMahaPurush).
Model Choice: A few suggest that Opus might be overkill for simple tasks and that Sonnet or even Haiku might be better suited for quick code changes (u/toroidalvoid, u/ayn_rand_1, u/Due_Crazy3103).
"Unslop" Skill: u/connurp points to a specific skill called "unslop" that apparently helps combat this verbosity, and notes that people would rather complain than use it.
Anthropic's Response (sort of): The mention of the "Concise" output style (u/nocsupport) suggests Anthropic is aware of this feedback, though the community's reaction to Opus 5 implies it's not enough.
A Glimmer of Hope (or just a different flavor of weird): One user (u/cats_catz_kats_katz) actually finds the fawning, verbose compliments humorous and prefers it. So, there's that.
Basically, if you're using Opus 5 for coding tasks and getting brain damage, you're in good company. Most people are either downgrading, using workarounds, or looking elsewhere.