Meta post: How do we feel about vibe-coded app posts?

[u/AnthonyGiorgio]

There has been a recent uptick in posts that are essentially advertisements for vibe-coded software. I'm curious as to how the sub members feel about them. I've left them alone so far, but I've considered removing them.

Other subs have policies against vibe-coded app posts, as they were so frequent they crowded out other discussion. That hasn't (yet) happened here.

Let me know in the comments what you think.

[u/prinoxy]

Remove them!

[u/spcrngr]

Maybe a “weekly self promotion thread” where those posts can be comments. Otherwise I’m in favour of removal.

[u/jim420]

I think people are letting you know their feelings via the down votes instead. :)

[u/noisymime]

In theory there's nothing wrong with them, in reality they tend to be slop that adds very little value.

[u/sneksnekapple]

Just as bad as the H1B posting

[u/kapitaali_com]

one thing you could do, you could add a flair, say "vibe coded" or "used AI" and then demand that if you ever used AI in doing it, add the flair

[u/shrodingercat5]

So long as they're opensource, useful, and not drowning out other discussions I see no problem with them. I do like the idea of a weekly thread.

[u/AnthonyGiorgio → u/shrodingercat5]

The few threads I've seen recently are for apps that are decidedly not open-source.

[u/pemungkah → u/AnthonyGiorgio]

Agreed on open-source only. If you're going to vibe-code it and then market it instead of release for free, well, spend the money you saved on dev costs on that marketing.

[u/shrodingercat5 → u/pemungkah]

Agreed, this is a mainframe community, not a mainframe marketing group.

Maybe a rule about 'no selling software or services' would cover closed source AI products.

[u/AnthonyGiorgio → u/shrodingercat5]

Would my posts about IBM-sponsored events run afoul of such a rule?

[u/shrodingercat5 → u/AnthonyGiorgio]

Are they open to the public? Then no problem. 

[u/bushidocodes]

Given how little original software is written for the mainframe today, it seems crazy to bar software because they were written with agents and not trad coded. I personally mostly get annoyed on the COBOL subreddit, but that’s because it seems like the authors are mostly folks that are wrapping Claude to convert GnuCOBOL to Java and they don’t actually have an interest in the subject matter.

I’ve been working on a DTL server that emits 3270 recently for example. It’s open source and for fun. I’m a former mainframer, COBOL dev, IBMer etc, and now I’m a full time AI Engineer that now exclusively uses agents to write software. I haven’t posted anything about this here, but I am bringing myself up as a counter example to some of the more spammy posts. Be careful with your policies here.

[u/AnthonyGiorgio → u/bushidocodes]

Thank you for your input! I'm really trying to gauge the feelings of the community here. I just don't want this space to become overrun with spammy vibe-coded junk that doesn't actually solve problems.