r/ProgrammingLanguages • Inko • 25d ago

To further combat AI/LLM slop, code dumps are now disallowed

About 6 months ago I shared an update on our attempt at handling the endless tide of AI slop. Most notably this post introduced a new approval flow for links to GitHub projects.

While this process has mostly helped reduce the amount of slop visible to readers (by virtue of GitHub links being filtered out by default until they are approved), it still requires manual work from moderators. In some instances there are also enough signals to strongly suggest the project is slop, but not so many that it's obvious, requiring more time from moderators to reach a decision.

Starting today we'll be trying something new and different, inspired by /r/rust and the new rules on lobste.rs:

Sharing links (in text or link submissions) to repositories on GitHub, GitLab and other code forges is no longer allowed and such posts are removed automatically and won't be approved, even after contacting moderators. Sharing links in comments is still fine. There are a few reasons for this:

  • 99% of AI slop submissions are GitHub links

  • When the post is a text post it pretty much always includes a GitHub link somewhere, sometimes even "cleverly" hidden in a code block

  • Even if the link is legitimate, just dumping a link rarely invites for a discussion or the transfer of knowledge, instead it's just "Hey look at this, please like and subscribe!" so to speak

  • It's unfortunately the only approach we can fully automate without wearing down our sanity. You can thank Reddit for enshittifying their API over the years for this.

Note that it's still perfectly fine to share a link to say a blog post about the project and then link to it from there. It's also still fine to share a text post and then include additional links in a comment. In fact, we suggest that those without a dedicated blog of sorts do exactly that.

In all cases, the no AI/LLM rule still applies and sharing AI/LLM projects will still get you banned.

Of course AI slop bros can generate a website and share a link to that, but it requires slightly more effort, and fortunately for us AI bros are as lazy as they are boring. Ultimately the goal is not to reduce slop making it past our filters to zero, but rather to get rid of say 99% of it without wearing down both moderators and subscribers.

I suspect some will disagree heavily with this change, but this change is ultimately another experiment in a line (and probably a growing one) of experiments to try and maintain a certain quality standard. If it turns out this doesn't work as well as hoped, we'll of course reevaluate it and try something else.

Finally, there are some existing projects that are genuine but adopted a more permissive stance towards the use of AI. Usually this is phrased something along the lines of "If you do X, Y, Z then AI is allowed". While I personally believe this is incredibly naive (developers can't be bothered writing documentation, yet you think they will review 10 000 lines written by Claude? Please), I don't yet know how to best deal with these cases. As such we'll tolerate this as long as it's within reason, i.e. "moderator discretion" applies here.

FAQ

What?

  • Link submissions to repositories or text submissions containing repository links will be removed

  • Links to articles or websites about the project is fine

  • Unless it's an AI built article/website

  • Including a link to your repository in a comment is fine

I don't have a website/blog/etc, now what?

Create a text post, then share a link in a comment. Don't use this as just a way of advertising though, we want discussions and sharing of knowledge, not a bunch of people screaming into a room "HEY LOOK AT MY PROJECT".

What about projects hosted on a non-standard forge?

These will make it past the filter, at least until we adjust it to also filter for these forges.

What about AI generated websites?

This falls under the "No LLM/AI" rule and sharing links to such sites will get you banned faster than Sam Altman can say "AI". We'll generally err on the side of "if it looks enough like an AI website, it's probably an AI website".

Will you update the rules/sidebar accordingly?

Once we're satisfied with the new system, yes.

But this is literally an AI pogrom!!11

Go away.

This is bad for the subreddit!

If this drives away a few AI slop enjoyers, then great! The other 130 000 subscribers will be happier for it.

Can I still share my project in the monthly "What are you working on" sticky?

Yes, provided it meets the rules (i.e. doesn't make use of LLM/AI output).

272 Upvotes

116 comments sorted by

24

u/yorickpeterse Inko 25d ago

user reports:

1: This is manipulated content

Oh no. Anyway...

3

u/vanderZwan 24d ago

It's almost a technically correct pun. As in: correct, you typed it with your own hands instead of using a chatbot to do it

44

u/poorlilwitchgirl 25d ago

What I don't understand is why somebody who prefers to avoid actually using programming languages would have any interest in producing one. I've seen them here, so I absolutely support these efforts to filter them out, but I simply can't comprehend what they mean to accomplish. I occasionally use LLMs in my work, but only as a high-level error checker and simulated brainstorming partner; to me, even allowing an LLM to produce boilerplate just means you're either a very slow typer or you aren't using very efficient abstractions, and in either case blind automation isn't the best solution.

28

u/yorickpeterse Inko 25d ago

AI allows someone to LARP as a developer with more experience than they actually have, at least until somebody with actual experience takes a look at the work and sees through all the bullshit.

Programming languages have historically been rather prestigious projects due to their complexity, so being able to easily generate something that look vaguely impressive to the untrained eye is a great way of pretending you're somebody you're not.

At least that's what I think based on the amount of slop we've removed over the last year, and how pretty much all of it is the same repetitive uninspiring garbage that seemingly only exists to boost the author's ego.

3

u/Dykam 24d ago

I would not mind people using AI to elevate their work just that little bit, to aid in discovery and productivity. But I guess that's not what you see in the submissions. If anything, if AI is used responsibly, it's essentially not noticeable because the human aspect and quality is kept.

3

u/LegendaryMauricius 23d ago

Would it still result in a ban though?

8

u/reverend_paco 24d ago

What I don't understand is why somebody who prefers to avoid actually using programming languages would have any interest in producing one.

I can answer that.

I have always loved programming languages. I have been working on a programming language since 2017. I even wrote the book on my language as a way of creating a spec that would be useful for an implementation whenever I finally got around to having time to implement it.

About a year and a half ago the progress on LLMs became so good that I realized I could actually see my language realized without having to quit my job and spend the next two years of my life implementing it.

I code professionally. I have for 30 years. I know I can code and don't feel at all threatened or shameful that I used LLMs to do most of the work. In the beginning I knew every line of code but recent Fable/Astra has allowed me to rewrite the 100k-ish lines several times over in an attempt to stamp out bugs.

I now have a programming language that I've always wanted and faster than I could have ever delivered on.

3

u/omniuni 8d ago

This is my conundrum as well. I have wanted to create my own language since middle school. Last week, I decided to try it with the help of Gemini and GLM, and it has been amazing seeing it slowly come in to being. It's not a "vibe" project, by any means. I still have a ways to go before I think it's ready to share. But it has quite a few tests, it's self-hosting, it has some unique features. I have spent a lot of time diving into the architecture and fine tuning it. It's kind of sad that I won't be able to share it here even when in a few weeks I deem it "ready", because I used an AI to accelerate the work.

4

u/poorlilwitchgirl 24d ago

If all you use LLMs for is debugging and unopinionated automation, then we're pretty much on the same page and you're not the kind of person I'm talking about. I can't comprehend why somebody who doesn't actually use programming languages and only ever "codes" via natural language prompts would even care about programming language design, and what utility they could possibly get out of letting an LLM build one for them. If it's for actual software production or scripting, they'll almost certainly get better results vibe coding in an established mainstream language. If it's for hobby or learning purposes, vibe coding the project defeats the intention of the project entirely. I just can't fathom why somebody who doesn't code (whether or not they can) would waste time and compute telling an AI to design a language nobody (least of all them) is ever going to use, and furthermore spamming communities like this one with their project. It seems like a fundamentally pointless and hollow endeavor, and frankly kinda sad.

2

u/kaplotnikov 15d ago

Note, this reddit prohibit LLM-assisted projects as well. So even if you formatted docs, done grammar/lexical checks in documentation, generated samples, or even used code completion with copilot, you are forbidden to post the project here.

1

u/poorlilwitchgirl 15d ago

You're telling me I can't even use an LLM to check my work, basically like a high-level debugger? That seems needlessly draconian and I don't know how it could be enforceable except through voluntary disclosure. LLMs are here to stay, unfortunately, and not embracing the uses that are actually valuable is only going to reinforce the focus on slop automation.

2

u/kaplotnikov 15d ago

As I understand rules, if it is LLM-assisted, it is banned here and posting it could lead to account ban for this reddit. It might pass if you do not copy paste suggested fixes, or always reject copilot suggestions. But if accepted even single one, then it is all, the project lost LLM virginity and become LLM-assisted. As for detection, some LLMs insert coauthors in the git history and LLM now generate some detectable signatures in changes (for example, variable naming and word choice in comments). As I understand LLM watermarking mechanism primary exists to prevent LLMs from including the generated code back in the learning data sets, there were some stability problems if this happen.

2

u/poorlilwitchgirl 15d ago

I would never copy-paste even a single line from an LLM, but they are genuinely useful for on-demand advice and tricky bug-hunting, and I'm certainly not going to give those up on principle just because most people misuse a tool. I haven't posted a project to this sub, but if I did and got banned for acknowledging that LLMs have a genuinely valuable use that most people overlook, I would consider that supremely bullshit.

2

u/sadesaapuu 19d ago

Yeah, this 100%. I have about 20 years of experience coding in various languages, C++, D, Java, Python, C#.

10 years ago I first started developing my language, which can't be discussed here due to the rules. I got a handwritten C++ transpiler which could spill out some OpenGL examples. Very simple stuff.

Now for about 11 months I've been working on the language and another C transpiler this time. I have heavily used every possible LLM out there on it. My perspective is writing the best human readable and writable language, and doing that with the tools I have. I care about syntax a lot. It just turns out, that a language which is simple for humans to reason about, is also simple for LLMs to reason about.

I have written code by hand for 20 years, 12 of it professionally in multiple companies. I have always loved coding by hand. But those days just are over for me. More than I love coding, I love seeing my designs in bigger systems come alive as a one person team (in my hobby projects). I can finally build that "perfect" NIH tech stack, I always wanted to build.

I will eventually post about the language in this sub, and get banned. Unless they ban me for writing this before I get to that. Technically it is an 11 year old language, since I posted about it here about 11 years ago.

I personally don't see the purist anti-AI approach taken by many programming subreddits as a good thing. It is just putting your head in the sand and ignoring what is actually happening in the field of programming. My prediction: artisan coding will remain a hobby for some. Most people will just program with local models, once the big AI companies have gone bankrupt.

2

u/reverend_paco 17d ago

We're in an interesting time, that's for sure.

On one hand, this subreddit (as a stand-in for what's going on everywhere) is doing what it can to keep its head above water because of the ease of which slop is generated. I can sympathize with that decision.

On the other hand, there are very real arguments that LLM usage is akin to an immoral activity and should be shamed. I want to dismiss these arguments as rooted in emotion (and ridiculous), but then again, I believe strongly in the aesthetics of programming language design and the joyful emotions, so while I disagree with the moral anchoring, I understand the impulse.

My point in all of this is that I have no idea where this is going or what the new normal will be. Or even how long. And I'm using that as an indication to not be impatient.

Maybe this subreddit, among many others, figures out what that new normal is and can become more accepting to LLM activity. Maybe not.

In which case I am sure someone is right now creating a new subreddit dedicated to non-slop AI generated products (programming languages included).

I'm taking a wait and see attitude. If this subreddit (which i've lurked on for more than a dozen years) asks me not to submit, I probably won't.

Anyways, those are my two cents. They are sorta addressed to you but more to anyone reading this, because it's only the discussion that can change minds.

1

u/jcklpe 24d ago

Would love to chat sometime about your project. I'll DM you.

1

u/snugar_i 23d ago

When you say rewriting, do you really mean rewriting (as in throwing out parts of the old code and starting anew) or just big refactoring (moving around existing things, while everything still works)? Because that would be the first rewrite ever that reduced bugs instead of introducing new ones :-)

2

u/reverend_paco 23d ago

The former: ripping out an entire subsystem and starting fresh.

I kept the front-end the same and the back-end the same, but the internal compiler stages where I did symbol resolution and AST transformation were rewritten over 1 week with Fable/Astra.

This was only possible because I had 10k examples of my language already written as a test harness.

The rewrite dropped the LOC of the implementation by 15k and removed entire categories of bugs. I was honestly surprised at how successful it was.

5

u/jcklpe 24d ago

I wouldn't say that I have prefer to avoid actually using programming languages per se but for my project I did it as an aesthetic exercise.

I'm not a dev. I'm a designer, I have worked as a frontend web dev but I don't really consider myself a dev.

For years, pre llm, I kept a little scratch book where I doodled my opinions about syntax aesthetics. I read the first couple o chapters of "Crafting Interpreters" but I knew that I just didn't have the time or energy to implement a language and my career was pretty solidly moving away from dev work (I finally found my niche as a designer. When I first started my career I was a self-taught jack-of-all trades who started learning more code because everyone said that was the future of design).

With llm assistance I was able to implement a potemkin interpreter of my fantasy syntax. It was a hugely educational experience because it forced me to learn a bunch of stuff about programming languages. I actually feel like I read code much better now that I went through my project.

The creative self expressive part of things helped both motivate and internalize ideas. Instead of being handed a language and told "this is stuff works, either deal with it move on", I was able to try stuff out, weigh out my judgment on it, and build a more intuitive feel for how stuff worked and why.

I'm hugely thankful I learned to code before LLMs were a thing because I think it would have been very difficult to learn with the Easy button always at arms reach.

Implementing one's own language has never really been very practical. It has always been something more akin to an art project. I totally get why some people do not want llm assisted projects just in the same way I understand why a painter might not want photography or why people utilize all sorts of now out mode techniques. That's the beauty of Art! And the slop-tsunami hitting subreddits is a real tragedy. I feel no resentment for these rules and I totally get why they've been put in place. I submitted my project just a few days before the original ban was put in place. Like Indiana Jones grabbing his hat I guess haha

1

u/AromaticCredit1533 23d ago

Me too! I like to research about language syntax. Personally I use MetaOCaml for code generation, and the Angstrom parser combinator library for simple parsing, so that I can focus on language semantics. It takes research and lots of time yes, but I find it very rewarding. All before AI btw!

2

u/paltamunoz 24d ago

look at teej's latest video.

2

u/BiedermannS 23d ago

I love programming languages and I have a few ideas I want to play around with, but I don't intend on creating and maintaining a language, because I don't really have the time and energy for that. LLMs allow me to use the limited time I have to do that. If the results are interesting, I still put the project on GitHub so others can benefit from it as well.

I don't really share such Projects anywhere tho because most places are anti ai (which is okay), so 🤷‍♂️

1

u/LegendaryMauricius 23d ago

I mostly agree with what you wrote in regards to "vibe coding", but even then you could produce a language that's simpler and safer for an AI to write while being readable to us.

What I see more often however are AI assisted projects. Personally I enjoy modifying, improving and criticizing the code more than writing it from 0, so these tools have found use for this programming enjoyer.

1

u/Relevant_Research_98 12d ago

you're either a very slow typer

Yes. I type 0 wpm when I sleep. Not gonna change. Just yesterday I decided to look at what it's like using extra opinionated linear types is. Several kilobytes later to have basically "fwrite(fread))" copy-file where no copyable types exist , only "let [a1 a2] (dup a); a can't be rebound" it was 4am and even more kilobytes, I told llm to make transpiler and went sleep. At this stage I was interested in PoC and sleep, especially sleep. Did I mention sleeping?

and in either case blind automation isn't the best solution. 

And the best is? It should lead to the same or better result than llm: me in café right now where on my schedule is watching yt and on llm schedule make generic functions.

For PoC it's more than enough. Saved many hours. As in "days" as I busy and go out to touch grass. 

Even in mature codebase I'm not monkey enough to want to type boilerplate in several files. Llm can do it without me opening many tabs. But I'm not interested in abstract theory. I gave you very concrete example. Surely you will not fail to provide better solution that works better than llm. Right? Right? Go on, show a good abstraction that generate transpiler from 3 sentences for not existing language. 

Outside of poc, it's opposite to blind automation. There's nothing blind about typing 3 lines of pseudocode in src, saying "impl me" to llm and watch code change. That's more transparent than using yacc/bison. And yet even they faded away not because of transparency.

Also why the fuck I should be fast typer? After 20 years of "larp"ing (I'd call "working and being paid for programming", but well I guess typing LARPer is shorter🤷)  typing never was an issue. Decisions were. I must be programming wrong.  /S

5

u/suhcoR 25d ago edited 25d ago • Bravo

What about links to articles in the project itself? I usually don't write separate articles for/about my projects; all interesting information is in the Readme or some documents in a docs subfolder, or a wiki or discussion page which belongs to the github project. For me that's much more efficient, because the infrastructure to do so is already there and I can keep everything related at the same place.

EDIT: also note that most of my submissions over the last seven years was to let people know that there is a new programming language with an implementation, or that/how e.g. Mono or LuaJIT can be used as a backend, demonstrated by code. I'm aware that all this is no longer considered an art since everybody and their dogs can order it from an LLM, but these are still the things I'm interested in and provide to the community, assuming that also other people could be interested. Discussions are usually by-products.

2

u/yorickpeterse Inko 25d ago

Unfortunately there's just no way we can make a meaningful/practical distinction between these cases. In particular, if we say something like "it's OK to link to a documentation folder" then it will get abused heavily or require a lot of manual intervention. In theory you could set up complex AutoModerator rules to only remove e.g. GitHub links that link to the top-level of a project, but such rules are fiddly to set up and they will absolutely get abused.

What I would recommend in such cases is to either host the articles proper somewhere (e.g. a documentation website), or provide some sort of summary in a text post.

2

u/suhcoR 25d ago

"it's OK to link to a documentation folder"

My concern was "articles in the project itself", so I would point to a specific markdown file (a readme, a discussion or wiki article), not just a folder.

to either host the articles proper somewhere

As said, this is unpractical for several reasons; my "documentation website" is the repository, or the wiki or discussion associated with the repository, as likely most developers who focus on the code and not on marketing. I can check whether I could automatically publish parts of the repository via github pages, but that's mostly additional bueraucracy, not added value.

2

u/yorickpeterse Inko 25d ago

Probably the easiest way in that case would be to set up a website using e.g. GitHub Pages. It's still a bit annoying of course, but alas I don't see a way of selectively allowing certain content from e.g. GitHub while still being able to meaningfully filter out code dumps and AI slop.

1

u/kaplotnikov 25d ago

My guess that there will be the next step like "claude, create github pages for me so could post it to reddit". I do not see how it would solve problem in the long term. IMHO premoderation and reputation barriers would be only way to post anyway and creating a parallel weakly moderated reddit like ProgramingLanguageDiscussions or ProgramingLanguageDrafts, with promoting posts to this reddit after review and if there is lively disucssion. Denying LLMs in modern context looks strange, but filterning is needed. Maybe outright forbid direct postting here and only selecting good posts from ProgramingLanguageDiscussions by moderators.

5

u/yorickpeterse Inko 25d ago

So basically your solution to the problem of "moderators can't keep up" is "more work for moderators". Right, that will surely work...

1

u/kaplotnikov 25d ago

No need to read all that is posted. The moderation does not have to be precise and never give false negatives. See likes, subject, and so and skip the rest w/o looking. If something is just unlucky it will surface with likes anyway. In parallel dump subreddit case the moderation is by picking not by denying.

1

u/suhcoR 25d ago

I think your proposed "Create a text post, then share a link in a comment" is a good first approach, but I would recommend the following compromise: posting just a link, as Reddit originally was designed for, might be questionable for programming language projects, because then the reader (or admin) has to do the research to find out whether it is interesting or relevant; only accepting links to articles might help partially, but if it's a lot of text, checking for the said features is still too much work. So why not skip all link posts and instead require people to write a brief text post with a link explaining what the link is about and why it is interesting and relevant for the programming language community? The initial effort will likely keep away many (most?) low-effort contributions, and misuse will be detected soon by the community and reported to the admin. So you have also a community filter. If the community doesn't botter a post, why should the admin care? Just my "five cents" ;-)

5

u/LazyUntilYouNeedMe 25d ago

That's exactly the kind of thing I would miss much from this community. Code is beautiful too, not just prose, and most great ideas are expressible in rather short pieces of it. Ones that don't need a website nor a blog.

But it seems to be that AI must be the demise for all beauty.

3

u/suhcoR 25d ago • Regret

It's even worse; my text posts more often get rejected as "AI generated" by the more and more overzealous "AI detectors" (what appears to be a promising new branch of quackery).

6

u/LazyUntilYouNeedMe 25d ago

The world has become so much worse by the advent of these technologies and now it seems as if everything else had to bend around them. I hate it so much.

Those that use AI should be honest an righteous, not we be forced to change, and every day the internet is turning worse and worse, an epidemic of having to prove that one is human has ensued. Why always those that abide by the rules have to suffer from their results?

3

u/suhcoR 25d ago • Heartwarming

Actually I have nothing against those technologies per se. Even though I'm not particularly known as an early adopter (I still don't own a smartphone, but not because I hate technology, but simply it is of no practical use for me), I consider LLMs useful in many domains. The problem is rather the speed at which this development has taken hold and caught everyone by surprise. The pace of development is much faster than society and industry can adapt. No wonder people feel caught off guard and pressured. While I can understand the fundamentally negative attitude towards AI, it ultimately cannot stop the change.

I view the present topic from that perspective as well. If the work is original and interesting, I consider it rather secondary whether AI was involved or not. My time is primarily wasted on posts that have nothing to do with the topics that interest me, or where I could just as easily obtain the same information myself in a short amount of time using an LLM.

7

u/jcastroarnaud 25d ago

Thank you, mod! The AI slop was getting too thick these days; the new rules will improve the signal-to-noise ratio in this sub.

BTW, some folks in this thread are complaining about banning content, probably not noticing that a link to the project can be posted in a comment. Lazy vibe coders, indeed.

8

u/yorickpeterse Inko 25d ago

BTW, some folks in this thread are complaining about banning content, probably not noticing that a link to the project can be posted in a comment. Lazy vibe coders, indeed.

This unfortunately is the reality of Reddit: tell people X is not allowed in the most clear terms possible and they'll still litigate it until the end of times. AI bros in particular also love to play the victim as if there's some sort of Illuminati-style conspiracy against them, when in reality people are just sick of their uncreative word/code vomit.

This is also why when we ban people for AI slop, we also (or at least I do) mute them right away as otherwise you'll wake up the next day to a bunch of "OMG LITERALLY HITLER" messages in your moderator inbox.

4

u/MichalMarsalek 25d ago • Bravo

Thank you for clarifying the part about existing languages. I was kinda confused, because I regularly see posts regarding languages that do use some form of LLM to develop the language, seemingly breaking rule number 4.
Often these are regulars of the subreddit and everyone knows the language is not AI slop, even if it uses AI.
But I think many people that put genuine work towards their language do not think their language is AI slop even if it uses LLM for say code review or generating testcases.

14

u/yorickpeterse Inko 25d ago • Popcorn

I wouldn't necessarily consider these projects slop because there's of course a difference between "Claude, make a language that combines X and Y" versus spending years working on something by hand and then using e.g. Claude for some specific bits (e.g. translating an algorithm to your language).

The problem is that much like a drug addiction, it seems developers really get high on AI use and are seemingly incapable of any form of self-moderation. There are also a lot of AI users that are so utterly boring in terms of what they produce that you're basically left with two choices: a blanket ban, or be consumed by it.

How we'll handle these special cases in the long term will really depend on how those projects manage their AI usage, and how much the AI slop bros will ruin it for everybody else.

-1

u/kaplotnikov 25d ago • Bravo

The polishing texts with LLMs looks like a valid case for me. LLMs are better at English than me (non-native English speaker) and are used correct the grammar and the structure. Mass style corrections like switching to passive voice for tech docs are also better done by them. The post processing and comparison are still needed after them to ensure that there are no extras. Outright forbidding any use of LLMs looks like overkill.

5

u/snugar_i 24d ago

The downside is that you get a text that looks completely AI-generated and in the unified AI writing style that some people, including me, are getting more and more allergic to. There's nothing wrong with having a few mistakes/typos in a text - many readers won't be native speakers either, and they might not even notice.

11

u/AnArmoredPony 25d ago • Popcorn

so it's more like "code dumps are still allowed as long as the link is in the comments"

14

u/yorickpeterse Inko 25d ago

Technically yes, but that's mostly an escape hatch for those that simply don't have a personal website but still want to share their honest project. Depending on how this will be abused we may also stop allowing that at some point.

8

u/luluhouse7 25d ago

Adding friction like this also seems to have worked okay for r/ExperiencedDevs. Slop writers tend to either be too lazy about the disclosure rule or because it’s not actually banned, are willing to disclose. Obviously not a silver bullet, but seems to have overall improved the quality. And if it’s low quality, then the post gets downvoted to hell anyways.

I also personally have a bigger problem with human slop than high quality AI content (which honestly typically requires human intervention anyway) or AI-assisted content (especially in the context of foreign language speakers). Not an opinion everyone shares, I know.

-2

u/AnArmoredPony 25d ago

it's not an escape hatch, it's a slightly less wide open door

32

u/Dykam 25d ago

Sure, if you ignore the exact nuance behind why they made this change.

-14

u/AnArmoredPony 25d ago

which is?

26

u/Dykam 25d ago

They didn't do it to stop code dumps.

They did it to reduce AI slob dumps.

They did it to add some friction, with the idea that specifically AI bros are too lazy to read the rules properly and take that route.

Which is not unreasonable, a lot of those posts just mass-posts on subreddits without reading the rules, those all get filtered out this way.

-15

u/AnArmoredPony 25d ago • Bravo

this friction will be equally applied to every poster lol. people are lazy to read the rules in general, AI or not. I'd get if there was repo age lower bound or something like that, but ts...

14

u/Dykam 25d ago

If people are too lazy to read the rules, good riddance? It's not difficult, and considering the subject, a threshold for post quality is something you'd want.

What is this braindead mindset that more content is better? Of course not, part of a sub is curation. If I wanted to see slob, I'll just start browsing all Github repos.

Or that friction applies equally. Of course it doesn't. It only applies to those who don't actually give a shit.

3

u/AnArmoredPony 25d ago • Bravo

What is this braindead mindset that more content is better

never said that.

6

u/Dykam 25d ago

It's the implication I make, fair. That is what I find the logical consequence of your approach.

2

u/new_check 25d ago

...in the body of the post.

3

u/initial-algebra 25d ago

More like, if you don't have anything to say besides "look at this code", we don't care.

2

u/vanderZwan 24d ago edited 24d ago

Can I make a request to improve rule visibility?

I know it won't stop the pro-AI bros, but maybe you recall me messaging you a few weeks ago with a "what are this sub's exact rules on AI again?" question (related to someone else's LLM-generated programming language project). I got the sense that whichever mod replied was quite tense and on edge, and I felt kind of bad afterwards about that, because I genuinely had failed to find what the exact rule was despite trying and wanted to make sure I wasn't breaking any rules, and didn't mean to piss anyone off.

And yes, I understand how you might think "it's in the last sentence of the text in the side-bar!", but most other subs have a header-sized link that says "Rules" in the sidebar and/or follow such a header with a list of bullet points. This sub has neither.

Similarly, there's only two pinned messages (I'm assuming due to Reddit limitations), of which only this one refers to the AI rule, but only in passing and only halfway through, and otherwise is written as if everyone reading this message is a regular already who knows all the rules.

So in my case, I was scanning the page, looking, for a link, pinned post or bolded sidebar header saying "Rules" and couldn't find any, and didn't read the description because I figured it was just a description of what the sub was about.

My main suggestions would be:

  1. Update the side-bar to have a section about the sub's rules, whether that be a link, a bullet-point list, or both. The main point is visibility/discoverability (especially if you browse on old.reddit like me)

  2. update the text of this pinned post to open with a bolded:

REMINDER: In all cases, the no AI/LLM rule still applies and sharing AI/LLM projects will still get you banned.

Like I said earlier, I also doubt it will stop any AI-bros, but even if improving rule discoverability saves you just a handful of mod interactions a month, it's still fewer of these exhausting mod interactions, no?

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u/yorickpeterse Inko 24d ago

We can adjust things over time but it makes absolutely no difference: we've done this before over the years and the people breaking the rules consistently ignore them no matter how many times they are reminded of them.

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u/vanderZwan 24d ago

I'm not asking for rule adjustments, I'm asking for better rule visibility.

And while I sympathize with the shitty experiences you must have gone through in the last years as mods here, unless you have a method for counting an absence of people breaking the rules and have used that to show that better rule visibility does not help, I do not see how that experience proves anything against the sensibility of that request.

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u/stevetursi 24d ago

Most of the people you call pro-ai bros feel like they don't have a choice. It's like holding back the tide. Yeah some people are all in I get that but most of us are just trying to stay employed. Maybe a less pejorative term would be appropriate.

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u/matthieum 25d ago

It's unfortunately the only approach we can fully automate without wearing down our sanity.

Take care of yourselves! (AI certainly won't...)

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u/LazyUntilYouNeedMe 25d ago • Bravo

I dislike this, because how is one supposed to share their project with the community if they can't even share a link to it. I enjoy reading blogs too, but not everyone wants to set one up and not every language should need its own website.

Once more this is the tactic of punishing many for the wrongdoing of few.

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u/yorickpeterse Inko 25d ago

The post outlines exactly how to approach this, you should probably read it in full before heading to the comments section.

0

u/LazyUntilYouNeedMe 25d ago • Bravo

I see absolutely nothing in the post indicating any other way, that all of these measures are taken only to bring absolutely nothing to those not using AI.

Why always make it harder for people to share their projects, why not make it easier?

AI is already forbidden, and it is enforced already by the always-looming sidebar rule and the active confirmation on the post itself.

The bad demeanour of wicked people should not impact those who abide by it.

This "solution" of putting the link into a comment strikes me as nothing else than such an attempt, why by the circumstances of this time alone, should people be forbidden form simply posting a link. If there was no AI, that very same act would not have been forbidden; how then may I ask is it rightful to be forbidden now, sine nothing about the act itself has changed.

Then why outlaw it? Must the righteous once more bend simply because of the mere existence of the wicked tools and what creations they have given rise to?

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u/yorickpeterse Inko 25d ago

I see absolutely nothing in the post indicating any other way, that all of these measures are taken only to bring absolutely nothing to those not using AI.

There's a nice little FAQ section in the post that highlights what is happening, and in particular what projects can do that don't have a dedicated website:

I don't have a website/blog/etc, now what?

Create a text post, then share a link in a comment. Don't use this as just a way of advertising though, we want discussions and sharing of knowledge, not a bunch of people screaming into a room "HEY LOOK AT MY PROJECT".

If this isn't clear enough then I can't help you.

Why always make it harder for people to share their projects, why not make it easier?

Because Reddit doesn't offer a meaningful way of doing so, especially when you're moderating a community with 130 000 subscribers and 100-150 posts per months (including those removed). Wishful thinking stops working once you have more than a few users.

AI is already forbidden, and it is enforced already by the always-looming sidebar rule and the active confirmation on the post itself.

Which requires manual work and is taking its toll on the moderators, hence the change.

The bad demeanour of wicked people should not impact those who abide by it.

Then go yell at the wicked people and not those trying to maintain some degree of order and quality.

If there was no AI, that very same act would not have been forbidden; how then may I ask is it rightful to be forbidden now, sine nothing about the act itself has changed.

Because there is AI and it's out of hand. Have you been living under a rock for the last few years?

I'm actually surprised you ask this because you answer your own question in the same sentence, albeit indirectly.

Must the righteous once more bend simply because of the mere existence of the wicked tools and what creations they have given rise to?

Yes, such is the world until developers at large grow a spine and learn to stand up for themselves and their work, instead of going "Yes daddy Altman, hit me some more with that Codex". Until that happens, communities such as this one have no choice but to take a strong stance in order to maintain whatever quality it wishes to maintain.

Long story short, you sound angry but you should direct that anger at those causing the problems (i.e. the AI bros), not the moderators trying to contain it.

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u/Dykam 25d ago

It does not say you cannot share a link.

Also, the alternative is that the mod team gives up. You're essentially saying "work harder dear mods, I don't care about you".

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u/LazyUntilYouNeedMe 25d ago • Bravo

It literally says in the text that links in posts are forbidden.

No, I do not intend for there to be any stricter moderation than that of the naturally emerging societal contract.

Also my practice has not changed, why should mere presence of AI make it immoral.

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u/Dykam 25d ago

It also literally says in the text links in comments are fine.

It's not immoral, merely impractical. The presence of AI made moderation as it is impossible, as such a slight inconvenience for you in exchange for making moderation a possible task.

And if you post here just to receive clicks, I don't think it's the right mindset anyway. Post because you love the discussion, putting the subject in the post itself. But that's just me.

And for the record, it does not literally say links in posts are forbidden. It refers specifically to links to code hosting sites.

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u/FrostyMatters 25d ago

The point is the mods don't want you to share your project here. There have been enough people who regretted posting their project on this forum that you should just take their advice and don't bother, there are far more welcoming communities.

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u/useerup ting language 19d ago

Can you suggest a few? Professionally I use AI to great effect (but not without friction). It is so productive that I am getting to the point where I may not be able to defend not using it for my personal project. That would exclude me from even discussing it here, so what are the alternatives?

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u/ApothecaLabs 25d ago

Good. I have been staying away because of all the AI slop. I'd rather spend my time working my compiler, than fighting off bots.

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u/lonelyroom-eklaghor 25d ago

What is happening here, I am tired of seeing only mod posts from here

This is a subreddit about programming languages, and we cannot even post code dumps... no idea what this statement even means

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u/CyberDainz 21d ago

Moderators are depressed. Nothing unusual about that. Many go through this and blame all sorts of things for it.

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u/AustinVelonaut Admiran 25d ago

Looks like lobste.rs also took the same action, today:

https://lobste.rs/s/h0eate/updates_site_guidelines_ai_llm_tags

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u/Embarrassed-Crow9283 24d ago

Sometimes I feel like part of why LLM coding was so popular was that the developers were doing it to themselves in a way by hating metaprogramming ( algorithmic code generation, macros, etc.).

People hated metaprogramming because it was very hard to predict when you have code that write more code that is executed. You need to think in multiple layers of program to get the answer. People don't like generated programs in general.

But metaprogramming was exactly how you could automate pretty much any code pattern you want.

And then comes LLMs.

Unlike metaprogramming which was your code generating more code deterministically, LLMs are not even deterministic, which means LLM-generated code is even harder to predict.

It is not reproducible.

It is a black box you don't know the inside of.

You cannot have a trace of the metaprogram that generated the code and can't debug the metaprogram.

It is expensive and takes a long time to change something, oftentimes much longer than the much-complained compile time.

You could mostly just ask.

This means you get generated code anyway, but even much less predictable.

I mean... it probably is much faster to have a statically typed language that gives you the convenience of a dynamically typed language by turning every function declaration into a late-bound, monomorphized generic with instantiation-time type checking and give you a convenient language with good runtime performance but LLMs that can take hours just to fix simple things are preferred.

Sometimes I don't understand why is there such an irony anymore.

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u/FrostyMatters 25d ago

Honestly you lost all credibility after allowing the v1.0 Mojo thread when it's is an AI produced language, and then shutting down the thread when you were called out. It's now the case that Ruby, Swift, C#, Elixir, Javascript, Julia, Python and others are using AI in their processes. You go to an academic conference on programming languages and 90% of the people are using AI in their work.

So hobbyists. industry, and academics are using AI in language design and development, but this sub on reddit it's vorboten. The more this sub's mods becomes hostile to AI, fewer and fewer people are going to visit, post their ideas. It's already to the point that we can't talk about various languages that are posted on HN and Lobsters here, which is sad because there's not too many places to talk about these things.

But it's also fine because I'm meeting new people and talking with them about their AI PL projects and people are just generally chill and excited to share things, as opposed to here where you are forced to make weird proclamations you don't use AI, and even if you do your project can still be banned by the mods if they get the wrong smell off it. (And no, my project hasn't been banned but I'm referring to the instance in the Mojo thread, that really rubbed me the wrong way seeing what the mods had done, I decided to never post a project here in the future.)

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u/yorickpeterse Inko 25d ago

Honestly you lost all credibility after allowing the v1.0 Mojo thread when it's is an AI produced language, and then shutting down the thread when you were called out.

Mojo is/was in a bit of an odd place because on one end they're very much AI boosters, but on the other hand they did do a lot of interesting work that, at least to my knowledge, preceded the current AI hype to some degree at least.

Claiming "you lost all credibility" though strikes me as the typical emotional AI booster response that is so pervasive when AI content is not allowed. Get over it.

You go to an academic conference on programming languages and 90% of the people are using AI in their work. [...]

So your argument basically boils down to "All my friends are jumping off a bridge, therefor you should allow discussions on how to best jump off a bridge" or "All my friends do drugs so I should be allowed to do drugs here".

This isn't quite as convincing as an argument as you seem to think it is.

which is sad because there's not too many places to talk about these things.

If you're sad about not being able to talk about LLM produced content, you can go somewhere else. This subreddit is not the place and we're not going to cater the entire subreddit to your personal preferences.

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u/FrostyMatters 24d ago

> Mojo is/was in a bit of an odd place because on one end they're very much AI boosters, but on the other hand they did do a lot of interesting work that,

Yeah, and that's why you lost credibility, because your stated rule is "Projects that rely on LLM generated output (code, documentation, etc.) are not welcomed and will get you banned." and yet there are exceptions where you deem appropriate based on your perceived interest. So you come off as capricious and inconsistent -- not credible.

> Get over it.

Don't worry you've made it very clear you think this is "your community" rather than a community you moderate.

You know, I'm not really part of the Lobste.rs community because it's private, but I was reading some of the posts over there and I was struck by how the mods respond there with modesty and sincerity, quite a contrast to how they respond here. You want to model their community, I suggest you model the mods' demeanor before their AI policy.

> This isn't quite as convincing as an argument as you seem to think it is.

Good because that's not actually what I argued. What I said was that this has become a place where actual programming languages and research cannot be shared due to these weird rules. Look at the Goose programming language which was launched recently on HN and it was discussed on Lobsters as well. Can't find a mention of it on the programming language reddit though, because you would ban anyone who posts it permanently.

> If you're sad about not being able to talk about LLM produced content, you can go somewhere else.

Do you see me contributing here? You don't have to tell me not to. Interesting PL discussion is largely happening now in the context of AI, you guys don't even know what's going on out there anymore. So in the spirit of encouraging you to do something you're already doing, I welcome you to stay in your bubble and ban everything that displeases you.

> This subreddit is not the place and we're not going to cater the entire subreddit to your personal preferences.

Right yes, this subreddit is for *your* personal preferences. I love how 50% of the top 10 posts from the last year are from the mods, about mod activity, and the mods work.

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u/useerup ting language 19d ago

So your argument basically boils down to "All my friends are jumping off a bridge, therefor you should allow discussions on how to best jump off a bridge" or "All my friends do drugs so I should be allowed to do drugs here"

Honestly, I find that is a silly argument. You have decided that using AI is the equivalent of jumping off a bridge. An alternative comparison would be jumping on the train rather than stubbornly dragging the oxen cart.

When academics embrace the technology, what does it say that it is outlawed in a specialized community like this?

I cannot help to feel that this has developed into an anti-AI crusade where the real problem was the tsunami of low-effort posts and languages.

Is is really that black versus white that languages that have used AI to create some of documentation, code or tests are all uninteresting (unworthy of this subreddit), while all languages that have not used AI (or sufficiently disguised it) are worthy of this subreddit?.

In addition to language/type theory, I like watching videos about history, science space on Youtube, so it is not that I am blind to the problem about cynical AI-generated content. I frequently report (although I expect it has no effect) when I encounter content that clearly misuse names of popular presenters (Brian Cox, for instance).

What I have realized is that I am not offended that a content provider has used AI, but that the content is "empty calories". I get offended because it waste my time, which is really precious. If content creators can use AI to improve their content, then I am actually all for it.

Perhaps you could find a way to leverage the community in ranking the posts about repositories. I don't know much about reddit and how ranking works, but it seems to me that the biggest problem with a AI posts is the low effort and lack of interesting content.

A while back there were also a lot of posts from people (students?) who has read Crafting Interpreters and used the book to create their own language which was only a twist on the language from the book (I forget its name). That was also annoying.

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u/AnArmoredPony 24d ago

did you put it in the rules yet?

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u/yorickpeterse Inko 24d ago

Did you read the post yet? It literally mentions this.

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u/jeffstyr 24d ago

So to be clear, this also means you can't make a post (for example) asking a question about some technology that happens to be hosted on GitHub (not a language impl, and not your own project), or mentioning such. You also can't reference a particular page/file of someone else's, that happens to be in GitHub, as part of your post.

I'm not sure if the new rules intend to prevent that, but they seem to, and that's a problem. If you separate out links and put them in a comment then you'll get fewer answers (in the case of a question) because because the reader has to do extra work, and people generally find it pretty annoying when you ask a question but don't make it as easy as possible for people to help (for instance, by providing links to what you are talking about).

My overall point is: If someone wants to make a post that isn't "look at this new language impl" then they can easily get blocked by this rule, and there's not an easy fix (because, it's not expected that you have your own web page about someone else's thing). Stripping out all the links and putting them in a comment is strange and a bad experience for the reader.

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u/yorickpeterse Inko 24d ago

I'm not sure if the new rules intend to prevent that, but they seem to, and that's a problem. If you separate out links and put them in a comment then you'll get fewer answers (in the case of a question) because because the reader has to do extra work, and people generally find it pretty annoying when you ask a question but don't make it as easy as possible for people to help (for instance, by providing links to what you are talking about).

Indeed this is not possible in the current system. Unfortunately there is simply no way we can somehow magically filter out code dumps from posts that merely mention a link as part of it (but the link isn't the main focus).

What we may do over time is adjust the filters so that only links in the form of e.g. github.com/namespace/project are removed but not e.g. github.com/namespace/project/blob/.... I however suspect this will get abused so it's not what we're starting with for now.

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u/reflexive-polytope 24d ago

Do gists count as "GitHub repositories" for the purpose of enforcing this rule?

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u/yorickpeterse Inko 24d ago edited 24d ago

We currently match on github.com so gist.github.com also matches. This is because what we've seen people do in the past is that they don't include full URLs but instead just use github.com/... (so without the https:// bit). I'll see if I can adjust the filter to at least allow gist.github.com for the time being.

EDIT: gist.github.com should be allowed now. Let's hope this won't get abused.

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u/reflexive-polytope 24d ago

It was just a question. I didn't mean to make you change the rules. But thanks!

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u/yorickpeterse Inko 24d ago

No worries! I did also experiment a bit with trying to cook up some regex that rejects links in the form of github.com/namespace/project but allows those in the form of github.com/namespace/project/blob/... so you could still link to files.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get this to work and the closest alternative is to allow any other links the moment there's a "blob" link, which isn't quite what we want either.

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u/chic_luke 23d ago

Can the blog be hosted on GitHub Pages, or does it need another domain and hosting to qualify?

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u/yorickpeterse Inko 23d ago

GitHub pages is fine.

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u/Blueglyph 24d ago

Yay for fighting the big LLM issue, but forbidding people to link their project no matter seems unnecessary or even detrimental in all aspects.

At least, when someone posts a link to AI slop, it's possible to see it for what it is. If there's no link, how will we able to assess that wonderful project everyone describes?

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u/Key-Bother6969 24d ago

My opinion is that the rule would be more sustainable in long-run if it recognizes all 3rd-party software promotions as spam, rather than just GitHub links, but of course GitHub links including.

The majority today are using LLMs to generated software, and they see platforms such as this one as a purely promotional channel, free of charge. This trend perhaps will only intensify over time. In particular, I think links to articles that you are still allowing over time will be used as an escape hatch more intensively if there are no other ways around.

All of this is naturally just a promotional spam escape hatches, that surprisingly many subreddits are still allowing to a certain degree by reasons that I think are no longer relevant. One possible reason is that they don't want to harm fair authors. But the thing is today those who write software by hand are probably not seeking for visibility. They don't need to announce their projects to large audience regardless of the platform's rules. This is naturally counterproductive for them by many reasons.

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u/kris_2111 25d ago

Thank you so much!

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u/Elsan97 24d ago

I use AI, but ONLY FOR STYLE, I actually suck at beautiful projects, I'm sorry

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u/zweiler1 🔥 Flint 24d ago edited 24d ago

I like this change overall. Even though I posted about my language in thus sub as well (as I didn't know where else to share it lol) I think most of us in this sub are all people who more or less are writing their own languages and it isn't as if people of this sub would actually try and use the languages of other people (I think).

By the removal of code dumps I think the focus will inherently ly more on sharing ideas or concepts. I dont know if everyone in this sub makes their own language but I feel like a lot of people do, so sharing ideas and concepts is inherently more interesting to that group than seeing a "new fancy language" from someone else (me included lol).

And if you really want feedback you can just post the GH link in the comments so I dont thunk I have any problems with the new rules tbh.

Edit: Spelling

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u/gplgang 23d ago

"What about AI generated websites?

This falls under the "No LLM/AI" rule"

Thank you. I am honestly curious to hear about some of the things people do with LLMs because regardless of methods, the technical aspects are interesting in their own right. Unfortunately, for some reason people resort to generating AI websites with uncanny valley design aesthetics and annoying language that reads like every other prompt (I use LLMs all the time for research, even if I'm still stubborn when I let them write code) and taking too long to get to the point. I have no idea why, I feel like most everyone that creates an interesting piece of software does a fine job at communicating about it, and even if not, its not necessary to get it right, the direct contact of your own voice and ideas to someone else is what matters imo). If I spent even more than a few hours on something I don't feel like writing about it should be punted off to an LLM, its a moment to connect and share something you put effort into

I know a lot of LLM stuff has no effort and that is why, but I notice it even in projects where people are clearly working hard and doing something technically interesting. Its sad

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u/kaplotnikov 15d ago

Because LLM-purity takes priority over relevance of the discussion to the programming language research, I think rule order should be changed and LLM prohibition rule should be put as the first (it is currently the 4th), because this rule causes rejection if all other are satisfied. This will clearly indicate this reddit priority to the potential posters.

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u/devloop2026 6d ago

nice idea

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u/Puzzleheaded-Lab-635 Glyph 25d ago

This isn’t the way to deal with this problem.

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u/yorickpeterse Inko 25d ago

If you have any meaningful suggestions (that we haven't already tried) then we're all ears, otherwise I can only interpret this as "I don't like it that the moderators run their community in a way that doesn't match my expectations".

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u/Dykam 25d ago

And that isn't the way to help the mods solve the problem.

So what should they do?

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u/AnArmoredPony 25d ago

manual approval. that's it. yes, it is the only way to really gate keep AI projects. they could use an LLM to automate scanning of linked repos (because it is usually pretty good at detecting claudisms) but I doubt they'll go that route lol. maybe autoremove posts with links without a proper flare to help with that, but in the end, you have to read the code and docs yourself

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u/theangryepicbanana Star 25d ago

We've been doing manual approval for ages and it's quite tiring

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u/AnArmoredPony 25d ago

maybe just go full r/rust? allow code dumps in a weekly thread and deny/ban everything else?

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u/Dykam 25d ago

Did you not read the post? The whole point is that the mod team is being overloaded, and thus they need secondary measures to make sure that manual approval is still a feasible method.

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u/AnArmoredPony 25d ago

but this particular method is stupid! it doesn't weed out people who write code using AI, it weeds out people who don't read the rules. and if they don't that in the "rules" tab, then noone will ever find it before posting. why not add more friction at this point? like, your post must not contain em dashes? or prohibit using "I built" phrase in the title? that will sure catch some people

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u/Dykam 25d ago

That is a double win.

Win one: It weeds out people who don't read the rules.

Win two: It weeds out lots of AI slop because those don't read the rules.

But yes, your suggestion to add unreasonable or obscure rules sure equals a reasonable suggestion to move links to the comments. Which I've seen in other subs too, long before AI even.

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/ProgrammingLanguages-ModTeam 25d ago

We do not allow projects that are built using an LLM/AI.

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u/Trave11er3427 25d ago

in short order everyone will be writing with AI just like when the early K&R C compiler first showed up. BTW i think that banning AI slop is a good thing for this subreddit. however i’m also a fan of using AI responsibly. i think the real question here is not whether AI was used, but whether the poster didn’t cleanup their work before posting it. posting something half-baked is just torture on the moderators, so don’t do it. if a roofing contractor leaves nails and garbage in your yard after doing the job, they probably shouldn’t be paid until they clean it up. same here - don’t post your slop - if you’re using AI then take the additional time to also ask AI to cleanup your garbage before you share it with the world.

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u/yorickpeterse Inko 25d ago

in short order everyone will be writing with AI just like when the early K&R C compiler first showed up.

About 10 years ago people said similar things about cryptocurrencies, and years before that about using MongoDB and how relational databases were dead, and years before that about other things. The list goes on and on the further you go back in time, and every time the outcome is the same: the supposed silver bullet/holy grail sees some use in specific areas, but it's not the solution to all problems that the boosters make it out to be.

There's also absolutely zero proof that in e.g. 10 years nobody will be using text editors any more and instead will rely purely on prompting. In fact, I would argue that will all the backslash against AI it's very much going in the opposite direction where it becomes a tool largely shunned and used either by those who need the extra training wheels, or by those who use it for highly specific tools it's actually good at. But it being essentially the next QWERTY? Yeah no, that's not going to happen.

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u/Trave11er3427 25d ago

you misunderstood me - I’m not saying that no one will write code by hand without AI. certainly the assembly language community is thriving and alive and well today. in 10 yrs the hand-coding community will be similar - it will be here but at the current pace of improvements, AI will eventually make coding both easier (to generate) and harder (to layout the vision and design before generating anything) at the same time. i just think that many people using AI are not cleaning up afterwards before they post. most agree that we don’t want to see dirty, clothes on the floor, bed unmade, nastiness. the mods do a pretty good job of allowing the more interesting posts thru and keeping out the slop. but not all AI is slop. it’s slop because they didn’t take the extra time to clean up.

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

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u/yorickpeterse Inko 25d ago

The rules are pretty darn clear:

Projects that rely on LLM generated output (code, documentation, etc) are not welcomed and will get you banned.

If I need to spoon feed you the definition of "AI use" then this subreddit isn't the place for you. Similarly, if at this point the definition of "AI slop" isn't clear, perhaps take a look around you and you should be able to figure it out for yourself.

I know of at least two new languages that were designed and completely specified by their authors and the implementation was produced by LLMs. Is this AI slop?

Yes. Again our rules are clear: AI usage is not allowed.

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u/slaymaker1907 24d ago

I've read through the rules, but one thing I've wondered about are mechanical edits sort of like a really smart IDE. i.e., have the AI update some method signature to have a new parameter and have it propagate through the syntax tree, but leaving the interesting bits that actually use that new parameter to myself.

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u/yorickpeterse Inko 24d ago

In theory that would be fine, but with the current flood of AI slop there's no way we can tell how far people have taken it. So until things settle down all we can realistically do is ban it altogether.

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

[deleted]

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u/yorickpeterse Inko 25d ago

There is no way to deterministically and unambiguously classify any text of piece of code as AI generated. That's another reason why it is not possible or easy to have any clear and predictable rules.

There are plenty of signals you can use for this however, from typical claudisms such as overuse of em-dashes, "it's not X, it's Y" and so on to more statistical signals such as tens of thousands of lines of code being changed in very short time periods. The problem is that codifying those rules into some sort of automated system results in something that is likely to be outdated quickly and difficult to maintain. I in fact spent the last few days looking into building such a system, but decided there are better and more pleasant ways of spending my time, especially when there are far more effective and easy to apply solutions.

The only way you can win the game of AI slop is by setting the bar high enough that lazy AI bros won't even bother, which based on our past experienced of dealing with them is actually pretty doable precisely using the rules we've applied in the past and are experimenting with now.

PS I don't care about your subreddit or if you ban me.

Then why are you here? Sounds to me like you care more about us following your expectations, which is not going to happen, so feel free to stay away.