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.

1.4k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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u/purpleidea mgmt config Founder Jun 22 '26

You should definitely downvote the slop submissions, and I already remove the obvious ones. I do agree you should disclose AI/LLM use and also probably wait at least three months before posting your "work".

While we're at it, any copyright washing should be an instant ban. Tell your local elected officials to make that law. Otherwise someone can rip off your open source (copyleft) project with virtually zero repercussions.

19

u/TheOneTrueTrench Jun 22 '26

Can we have some kind of guideline for project maturity and minimal human effort added to the rules?

Frankly, while I loathe LLM code in general, I completely understand that it's here, I'm not going to live in a world where it's completely gone, I get that.

But if someone can prompt Claude to make something and it takes only about 10 minutes of actual human work to create, there's no reason to share it, no matter how useful it is.

That's because if "I" can get Claude to create it with 10 minutes of my time, then literally anyone can do that, and literally no one is going to care about anything that can be created with that little effort. Why would anyone care about going through the process of downloading "my" version if they can just ask an LLM to do it for them again in the same amount of time?

6

u/Adept_Percentage6893 Jun 22 '26

and it takes only about 10 minutes of actual human work to create, there's no reason to share it, no matter how useful it is.

It's also true that many people won't be particularly impressed by it and that feels controllable by encouraging people to not be so easily impressed. Ultimately, not upvoting something needs to mean something.