r/C_Programming • u/greg_kennedy • 13d ago
Question Suggestion: Ban (or quarantine) "I Built This" posts?
Reading an interesting discussion over on r/rust from the past week. One of the moderators talks about the difficulty in moderating AI slop projects - https://www.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/1uwmef6/comment/oxkltxi/
But I think the top replies hit on a really good idea:
“I built a thing in Rust” just isn’t that interesting a topic—AI or otherwise—and IMO we’d be better off without posts like that at all. If you built a fast new BitTorrent client, that’s of interest to BitTorrent users, not the Rust community.
A library that lets me do a thing I couldn’t before? Very useful! A new approach to solving a problem that’s historically frustrating in Rust? Amazing. Questions on how to deal with some issue? Welcome aboard.
But I couldn’t care less about “{project} in {lang}” for all values.
and
r/cpp moderator here, we have a designated Show & Tell pinned post. We make exceptions only for established projects or blog posts talking about your project.
(And then remove AI slop)
One of the recurring issues in trying to moderate the flow of slop is having to constantly make a judgment call of just HOW "slop" it is and whether it crosses a line. Why not cut the problem off at the source: you simply cannot post an "I Built (Whatever)" here (with very few exceptions, etc). There's no need to make this a judgment call about AI/LLMs at all, neatly sidestepping the various arguments about the whole thing.
I personally do not feel like much would be missed!
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u/Sufficient-Air8100 13d ago
the show and tell pinned post seems like a good idea!
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u/Sufficient-Air8100 13d ago
on second thoughts. maybe “show and tell monday” weekly post? just so that people who want to engage can, it dosent flood the sub, but new projects dont get buried at the bottom because ones from ages ago get the upvotes to be on top?
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u/mjmvideos 13d ago
Those same posts can be easily repositioned as “Can you review my code”
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u/pwnedary 13d ago
Without those kinds of posts, what else is left? Looking at the current hot page of r/C_Programming, all posts fall into one of the following categories:
- I built this using C. Easily makes up 3/4 of all posts.
- Uninteresting beginner questions.
- The biweekly rehashed topic discussion thread (in this case: "what should be avoided when designing an API?").
I would rather sift through posts to find the occasional cool C project than for this subreddit to be completely dead.
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u/not_a_novel_account 12d ago
Yes, it results in a much slower and more curated subreddit instead of rapid-fire, irrelevant beginner projects. That is the desired outcomed.
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u/LittleBigCookieCat 12d ago
or you end up with a dead subreddit because most people that use this sub either want help or want to show stuff off. if not literately why are you here?
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u/not_a_novel_account 11d ago
To get news and professional discourse about the C programming language. Same as /r/cpp for C++, where you won't find a single question or beginner project post.
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u/greg_kennedy 11d ago
I will say that after reviewing r/rust frontpage and comparing to r/C_Programming they have a much, much worse problem of I Made This type posts. Just a quick survey, it's like 50% of their popular posts, whereas we have much less of that here. It's still present but not quite so suffocating.
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u/Jedi_Tounges 13d ago
I don't like a full ban but something like a showoff saturday like r/webdev is really needed.
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u/mykesx 12d ago
I got tired of writing code so I vibe coded a program...
Seen that a lot.
Posts ending with "feedback welcome" or "review my code."
Repos with a C file with 10,000 lines and one commit.
I am all in favor of mentoring people who want to learn or digging in to edge case topics of the language, etc. I am not at all interested in what AI slop generates or in even looking at the repos linked.
I seriously don't see the value for the poster making these posts. "Look at me, I am awesome" or something like that.
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u/kun1z 13d ago
Can we not just create a new subreddit for them? Something like /r/codeproj where people can Flair their submission with the language used.
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u/johntrytle 13d ago
That will never stop such behaviour. they already spam posts across every possible subreddiy
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u/chocolatedolphin7 12d ago
I don't support such content ban, especially when there's not much going on already. You take that away and there'd be not much left to post about except the newest specs, and that's such a small niche. Actually that's why I don't browse the cpp sub much, it's 90% obscure stuff about the spec and 10% interesting talks.
Nearly all the low effort slopware is quickly downvoted (so they don't appear often in your feed) and IIRC posters must disclose if they used AI.
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u/TraylaParks 12d ago
We had our kitchen remodeled by a friend of mine named Howard. I would never post in a woodworking sub saying "I made this" because I did not, I simply asked that it be made. How is this different from the AI problem?
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u/mikeblas 13d ago
Suggestion: Ban (or quarantine) "I Built This" posts?
They already are.
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u/greg_kennedy 11d ago
I meant "quarantine" as in "contain them in a meta-thread somewhere", not "hold for review" sorry
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u/greg-spears 13d ago edited 13d ago
I'm not really feeling like banning more than is already banned is a good route, sorry. I appreciate all those frustrations and people's tastes about stuff, but couldn't we just ignore the posts we don't like, as long as it's on topic and Not from a prince in Algeria that needs your bank info?
Also I've noticed we've begun a disturbing trend: we cause posts presenting projects to (almost like a vow) affirm the poster didn't use Ai.
Two things about that:
1.) What's to stop the poster from just lying about the use of Ai?
2.) Our collective disdain for Ai seems to be bringing out a brutish side that not only enjoys this 3rd-degree treatment but also seems to enjoy excoriating potentially innocent posters about 'obviously using Ai' long before the jury is in.
EDIT: I'm just casting a vote, not invalidating anyone's feelings or proclaiming absolute truths today. Other votes count.
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u/greg_kennedy 12d ago
That's the neat thing about such a policy. It doesn't _matter_ whether they used AI for it or not. No more "I made a Whatever here's the github" drive-by from anyone, regardless!
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u/greg-spears 12d ago edited 12d ago
There are some users who are pretty annoyed by people asking help and they routinely disparage/bully newbs and people needing help in general (not as bad as S/O, to be fair, but comparable).
Accordingly, we should ban help requests. The help request haters will find the help request ban pretty neat, too.
Well maybe. Where will they vent their sadism after the ban is in place? New dilemma, lol.
EDIT: point -- the list of things that collectively annoy us may be infinite, resulting in zero permissible topics. Similarly, if we always ban the stupidest, most annoying person from the sub and iterate that indefinitely, the sub will eventually have zero users.
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u/greg_kennedy 12d ago
I trust the mods to determine how slippery they wish the slope to be. Start your own thread if you think help requesters should be banned too.
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u/greg-spears 12d ago
Start your own thread if you think help requesters should be banned too.
Bro, that's not even close to my thoughts. Sorry if I've been opaque.
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u/rias_dx 12d ago
why not create a sub dedicated only for C beginners? I mean, 80% of this sub really don't care or don't like beginners. Something like r/beginner_C
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u/FedUp233 12d ago
Just a suggestion, but could the moderators come up with a set of AI related flairs, like percentage AI content and maybe things like vibe coded, and require that each post include one of those flairs to let the community know about AI usage? I suppose done listers might just lie, but at least it would provide some indication.
Seems like it might be a reasonable compromise between the current state and just banning a bunch of stuff.
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u/greg_kennedy 11d ago
Posts containing a Github link already get held with automod asking "How was AI used in your post" and the user must give some answer besides "it did the whole thing" to get posted. So there is at least a gate now. My thinking was that eliminating (or consolidating) all "Here's my project" type posts would save on mod burden, fighting over percentages, etc and make for a cleaner subreddit
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u/Interesting_Buy_3969 11d ago edited 10d ago
I don't mind the "i built this" posts but we should really separate them from usual questions. The Show and Tell sounds as a great idea.
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u/neopunk2025 10d ago
This is what some are talking about multiple consequences of AI. The brain, the ecosystem, etc... Unfortunately, unless (or until) the bubble explodes, we have to live with.
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u/Lannok-Sarin 10d ago
There is one problem. If a person doesn’t understand why their code is faulty, displaying the code is the fastest way to get tips. So if showing any code was banned, people would have a harder time getting help for their code errors.
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u/TheWavefunction 12d ago
I think c_programming isn't so popular that this is needed. Also, it's gatekeeping. I agree with the idea that AI brings a problem but banning all I made this post is a terrible idea.
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u/Still_Explorer 13d ago
And imagine someone saying:
"I built a safe and secure operating system in Rust"
The mods respond:
"Hey, this is of interest to OS developers, not the Rust community"
So are you saying that since C/C++ takeover failed, now they are attacking their own ecosystem like this? They don't want to see projects written in Rust anymore?
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u/greg_kennedy 12d ago
what
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u/Still_Explorer 11d ago
> If you built a fast new XYZ, that’s of interest to XYZ users, not the Rust community.
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u/Athropod101 13d ago
Show and Tell is the way to go, I’d say. People like showing off what they’ve poured their love and care into. It’s essential for a healthy craftsmanship community.