Discussion
So: you started vibecoding your FOSS project? And now you don't really understand your codebase anymore *without* asking agents what's happening? And you basically outsourced all your favorite part of your passion project to managing a robot that doesn't care? And you're more burnt out than ever?
I have to say that it's very difficult for me to feel sympathy for this. I see more people reporting on this, but it feels fairly predictable. But it also feels like it was clearly where it was going.
@cwebber I made something for work using Blender, and a higher-up suggested using AI.
sure, take away the most fun parts. Why don't you kick my robot dog
@cwebber just to be clear, Mastodon is all in on anti-Ai?
@scottytrees I'm not affiliated with Mastodon
It gets a little wearying; "Mastodon is [thing]" as a synonym for "thing that jumps out at me when a Mastodon poster does it". Yeah, might be a you thing, feller, not a Mastodon thing.
(One can freely substitute "Bluesky" for "Mastodon" there as well. See also "Portland".)
@cwebber I uh ....
I kinda went the other direction.
I'm taking my time engineering the shit out of the simplest piece of software ever: a contact form server. I was burned the fuck out. Now I'm having fun again :)
I'm still baffled and hurt that the people who thought xor with hard coded "password" is "encryption" were seen as more valuable than me, but I'm enjoying this again and enjoying the progress I am making.
I don't need AI to spam reviewers with working and fully tested code
@cwebber on one have this is awful, was completely preventable, and now the commons is riddled with sloprot including many critical projects that will take decades to rebuild and this hurts *everybody*
on the other hand, [nelson from the simpsons voice] HAW HAW
@cwebber Unfortunately, a lot of FOSS now is career checklisting.
Just like high school students know to add volunteering to their college application -- to look like they want to help others, show leadership, and are exposed to different life experiences...
CS grads know to have a GitHub account with activity -- to look like they have passion for the field, do something clever, and have that added experience.
That started before AI, and AI homework cheating culture makes it worse.
@cwebber Sounds exactly like drugs. Seems to be helpful, puts most users ever deeper into trouble.
The ones that might be able to mange it don't need it.
@cwebber You're being far too gentle on the latest scourge of humanity. These same folks, a few of whom will _get away_ with vibe coding this or that, will go on to inflict it on the world. There's already enough shitty software. A whole generation things needing to periodically reboot a computer is "just how computers are." We don't need more shitty software but faster. #Vibecoders are "management" aspirants, DHHs in the making, people that never wanted to learn how the sausage is made, and still never want to be in the kitchen where it's made. They just want an "easy button" with which they can "make it" declaratively, by fiat, the same way #AgentOrange claims to be a "builder" by throwing currency at actual builders.
@cwebber wdym they ask the agents, how would the agents even know? They have no analytical skills.
So you wrote a good spec and your humans won’t abide by it…
Like when the little baby alien tunnels into your ear...
@cwebber@social.coop don't forget the agents becoming more expensive 😁
@cwebber This is definitely a sustainable future.
Install bonfire.cafe
Get the full app experience
@cwebber I've had luck with getting the robot to only work on a tiny section of the code and not look anywhere else. It helps in the sense that the robot can type faster than me and runs tests automatically. I'm not sure what more folks expect from it.