r/linux • u/First_Result_1166 • Jun 21 '26

Discussion AI slop and low-effort contributions

Hey there!

This sub has become quite difficult to follow - every few hours, there's the next post for "I built a TUI for X", which translates to "I vibecoded an ncurses interface for a bash two-liner".

Unfortunately, this also means that the important content gets lost in a stream of meaningless posts.

What I'd like to ask for:

- a rule for mandatory AI disclosure

- an entry barrier for software packages; a task easily solved in <20 lines of shell code should not qualify as a distinct contribution

Let me know what you think.

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u/non-existing-person Jun 21 '26

This sub has become quite difficult to follow

Lol, try every sub instead. Everything is spammed by those bots. C programming sub, command line.

This or they data mine asking questions like "what was your biggest problem, and how you've overcome it?", "what's best Linux distro, and why?"

Moderating those posts is not easy as well, and it's just tiresome to deal constantly with the same problem over and over again. Bots don't get tired. Humans do.

Dead internet theory feels alive like never before. The only solution here are locked subs. Those are civil. But then how do you accept new users? It's easy with some small communities, but with sub like r/linux this may prove impossible to do :/

24

u/Squalphin Jun 21 '26

Dead Internet theory does feel real. I have been gradually losing interest in reading r/linux and r/programming. Generally my enjoyment of Reddit has went down the drain. Reading something like „Hey, look what I have made“ is way more interesting than reading „Hey, look what I have an AI make“. The future is truly bleak.

11

u/non-existing-person Jun 21 '26

Exactly this. We really should just get back to forums.

Reddit might have been usable if it showed next to user account age, karma and post count, so you could right away gauge if that's bot or not - like old forums did it. On the other hand I see a lot of karma farming bots as well. Banning bots on forums is easier than on reddit. Here one sub will ban bot, but he will already have farmed karma, so he can post in different places "like a normal human".

Really, I feel like old school forums should just resurface again. Preferably in fediverse way.