Wednesday, 2026-10-21

Radical centrism, or the lobste.rs Comité de Salut Public

The “vibecoding” tag has been a bone of contention on lobste.rs since it was instituted in April 2025. Originally described as “AI/LLM coding tools; don’t also tag with ai”, it was gradually expanded by the user base to apply to anything remotely connected to GenAI use. For some, it was a neutral marker that allowed users not interested in reading about GenAI in relation to software development to filter out submissions so tagged; for others, it was a literal badge of shame stamping their hard prompting work with disapproval.

Various fixes were proposed, at least 5 contentious “meta” discussions held. The final one, It’s enough - vibecoding tag crossed from useless to harmful resulted in an official statement Updates to site guidelines and AI/LLM tags authored by mod 355E3B. In it, the following changes were made:

  • the vibecoding tag was retired
  • the ai tag was retitled to “Developing artificial intelligence, machine learning, LLMs.”
  • a new tag ai-tooling was introduced, titled “The design, ux, development of AI/LLM-powered tools.”

(Update Monday, 2026-11-02: on <>, the tag ai-tooling was renamed to building-ai-tooling, with the title The design, ux, development of AI/LLM-powered tools (excludes use).)

Further official comments by mod pushcx clarified that any discussion regarding whether a submission was primarily authored with the help of GenAI was to be seen as off-topic “purity-testing”, and removed.

So if we designate the pro-GenAI faction within lobste.rs as the Royalists and their opposition as the sans-culottes, it seemed to be a clean sweep of victory for the Royalists.

However.

In the following days, some worried Royalists could see that submissions that touched on GenAI use in a positive way were removed by mods with the reason “Article is about (not) using LLMs.”. A clarification by 355E3B confirmed that

The litmus test I’m using for this tag is if the body of work still makes sense if I were to replace any instance of LLM with consultant and it still hold up, it’s more likely than not outside of the bounds of topicality for the site.

So “ai-tooling” was not actuallya straight-up less derogatory replacement for “vibecoding”. Instead, a careful reading of the tags showed that anything outside the definitions

The design, ux, development of AI/LLM-powered tools
OR
Developing artificial intelligence, machine learning, LLMs

is, in fact, off-topic.

At the same time, mods have aggressively removed any comments with even a hint of notice that a submission was authored with the help of GenAI.

Also implemented around this time was a subtle change in how users can “flag” a submission, thereby both alerting the mod team to potential infractions and lowering the submission’s effective score, and thus visibility. Previously, to lower the score, a user had to both flag and hide the submission. Hiding a submission prevents it from turning up in most views on the site. Crucially, it removes it from the /comments view.

Now however, setting a flag automatically hides the submission. Flagging is therefore a much stronger signal than before, as well as being a more final “I don’t want to see this” move. A submitter might be surprised or upset that their submission is flagged, but any followup comment to this effect will more likely than not not be seen by the flagger, thus removing a possible conversation that was in fact possible when a quorum of users had suggested the old “vibecoding” flag.

All this points to a situation where the mod team is aiming to instill quietude by enforcing rules against both extremes while discreet policemen and informers wield the denunciations of flags against the Republic’s enemies.

Who knows what the future brings. Hopefully not a new Thermidor.

Posted at 18:10, in the comm category.

Thursday, 2026-10-01

Taking a stab at quantifying AI sentiment on lobste.rs

Update Monday, 2026-10-19: the vibecoding tag has been retired.

I was inspired by recent comments about the tag “vibecoding” being derogatory to try and figure out how popular or unpopular submissions tagged thus are.

Context: tags on lobste.rs define both topicality and allow users to filter out submissions based on the tag. Before GenAI was widespread, there was already an established tag “ai” that covered the development of AI as a computing system. When GenAI took off, the tag was repurposed to include discussions about GenAI, as well as the use of GenAI in software development. A decision was made to use the tag “vibecoding” for such submissions.

Here is a list of all tag combinations from 2026-02-25 to 2026-09-25 with at least 5 submissions.

Each line lists

  • the rank and tag combination
  • the number of submissions with that combination
  • the percentage of this tag combination
  • each combination’s min and max scores across submissions
  • the percentage of submissions with a score of 0 or below
  • the median score
  • min, max comments
  • percentage of submissions with no comments
  • median comments

Some observations

  • “vibecoding” is the tag with most submissions
  • both “vibecoding” (rank 1) and “ai” (rank 9) have a notably higher percentage of negative scores compared to other tag combinations with similar volume
  • similarly, these tag combinations have a markedly lower median score compared to other combinations

Caveats

This information is gathered close to the submission time. I don’t update the dataset with submissions that have been removed, which might skew the data in some cases.

I am working on getting the full dataset available so others can run their own analysis.

Update Monday, 2026-10-05: here’s a Google sheet with all submissions in the time frame below.

Tag combinations by popularity from 2026-02-25 to 2026-09-25

RankTag combinationsCountPercentageMin scoreMax scorePercentage zero or negativeMedian scoreMin commentsMax commentsPercentage no commentsMedian comments
1 vibecoding4516.2%-521011.8%7.0019228.6%3.0
2 security1682.3%-2261 1.8%16.0011428.0%3.0
3 programming1632.3%-5231 4.9%12.0013431.3%3.0
4 hardware1261.7% 0135 0.8%15.505733.3%2.5
5 web1241.7%-3381 2.4%16.0014619.4%5.0
6 databases1131.6%-2149 1.8%8.004042.5%1.0
7 rust1121.5%-5172 2.7%27.009117.9%4.5
8 linux1121.5%-4188 3.6%15.5011126.8%4.0
9 ai 981.4%-514018.4%3.003958.2%0.0
10 practices 971.3%-1219 3.1%10.006528.9%2.0
11 security, vibecoding 861.2%-2149 4.7%12.5011134.9%3.0
12 practices, vibecoding 821.1%-516111.0%13.005620.7%4.0
13 linux, security 771.1%-2146 5.2%6.0010345.5%1.0
14 plt 771.1% 1 87 16.005228.6%4.0
15 ask, programming 731.0% 4172 17.0625035.0
16 networking 691.0%-2121 2.9%9.007133.3%2.0
17 c++ 680.9% 0 79 1.5%7.006644.1%1.0
18 culture 650.9%-1495 9.2%11.0047523.1%4.0
19 vcs 650.9%-4206 4.6%32.0020713.8%9.0
20 retrocomputing 480.7% 2119 16.002131.2%1.0
21 python 470.7%-4152 4.3%15.005942.6%2.0
22 graphics 450.6% 0196 2.2%12.005348.9%1.0
23 haskell 410.6% 2 70 11.003358.5%0.0
24 release 410.6%-1192 2.4%26.006222.0%6.0
25 nix 410.6%-1108 4.9%26.004219.5%5.0
26 go 390.5%-1187 5.1%18.0030228.2%4.0
27 performance 380.5% 1 77 12.002847.4%1.0
28 distributed 360.5%-5 46 8.3%4.004158.3%0.0
29 emacs 350.5% 1 96 19.007517.1%5.0
30 design 330.5%-2108 9.1%26.007524.2%4.0
31 cryptography 320.4% 1 76 6.506046.9%1.0
32 c 310.4%-3 60 3.2%16.00409.7%3.0
33 culture, vibecoding 300.4%-312410.0%6.007140.0%1.5
34 ruby 290.4% 1 56 5.004941.4%1.0
35 math 290.4% 0 69 3.4%9.002827.6%1.0
36 devops 290.4%-1 77 3.4%6.003251.7%0.0
37 osdev 280.4% 0 93 3.6%10.505832.1%2.0
38 games 270.4%-5 6314.8%7.001829.6%2.0
39 compsci 270.4% 1112 15.005518.5%2.0
40 historical 260.4%-1124 3.8%27.006426.9%3.5
41 law 250.3%-1289 4.0%34.00878.0%14.0
42 rant, vibecoding 240.3% 6152 35.5011312.5%11.5
43 performance, rust 240.3% 3102 24.501633.3%1.0
44 lisp 240.3% 2 75 12.002125.0%1.5
45 unix 240.3% 3150 23.506120.8%8.5
46 compilers 230.3% 2 79 15.003326.1%4.0
47 databases, performance 220.3% 2 69 6.001745.5%1.0
48 javascript, web 220.3%-5 64 4.5%12.001827.3%2.0
49 math, vibecoding 220.3% 0 96 9.1%14.504913.6%5.5
50 programming, vibecoding 220.3%-3 48 4.5%12.002422.7%5.5
51 javascript 210.3% 1 45 6.001338.1%2.0
52 zig 210.3% 6164 51.00559.5%4.0
53 linux, release 210.3%-1127 4.8%27.003723.8%5.0
54 css 210.3% 3 96 9.005447.6%1.0
55 privacy 210.3% 1179 42.0019419.0%8.0
56 browsers 190.3% 4213 35.00895.3%9.0
57 linux, vibecoding 190.3% 0154 5.3%16.0014410.5%14.0
58 plt, rust 190.3% 4 88 33.00405.3%6.0
59 rust, vibecoding 190.3% 1163 14.005410.5%4.0
60 satire 170.2% 1161 11.001629.4%2.0
61 editors 170.2% 1 91 31.003217.6%6.0
62 gleam 160.2% 0 69 6.2%13.501643.8%1.5
63 hardware, linux 160.2% 1165 7.003562.5%0.0
64 browsers, web 150.2% 0 81 6.7%21.005526.7%3.0
65 person 150.2%-530113.3%49.0019926.7%11.0
66 vibecoding, web 150.2%-1 8213.3%6.00596.7%6.0
67 hardware, vibecoding 150.2%-1 2720.0%4.001353.3%0.0
68 a11y 150.2%-1 88 6.7%5.00606.7%3.0
69 cryptography, security 150.2% 0105 6.7%7.003226.7%3.0
70 windows 140.2% 0145 7.1%27.505821.4%8.0
71 apl 140.2% 1 17 7.50178.6%0.0
72 philosophy 140.2%-111514.3%10.004735.7%3.5
73 css, web 140.2% 1 64 8.002935.7%1.0
74 mac 140.2%-3 6914.3%10.505028.6%4.0
75 release, vcs 140.2% 5119 57.503421.4%12.5
76 practices, security 130.2% 1104 5.005538.5%1.0
77 meta 130.2%-449515.4%10.003127.7%18.0
78 linux, networking 130.2% 1 62 12.004330.8%3.0
79 assembly 130.2% 2 58 16.001746.2%1.0
80 logiclangs 130.2% 0 53 7.7%9.001723.1%3.0
81 vcs, vibecoding 120.2%-2 4816.7%8.003041.7%1.5
82 hardware, video 120.2%-2 17 8.3%5.00666.7%0.0
83 practices, video 120.2% 1 43 5.501350.0%0.5
84 go, performance 120.2% 2 29 13.50841.7%1.0
85 vibecoding, video 120.2%-1 2525.0%3.00783.3%0.0
86 python, vibecoding 120.2%-1 19 8.3%6.501725.0%1.0
87 security, web 120.2% 4115 19.504916.7%3.5
88 reversing 110.2% 1 31 12.00545.5%1.0
89 a11y, web 110.2% 1 86 31.00699.1%10.0
90 netbsd 110.2% 3 64 10.001954.5%0.0
91 release, rust 110.2% 2 82 66.002018.2%10.0
92 testing 110.2% 0 3218.2%5.001545.5%1.0
93 culture, practices 110.2%-211118.2%17.005218.2%4.0
94 distributed, web 110.2%-9 92 9.1%15.007327.3%2.0
95 law, privacy 100.1%-222030.0%4.504220.0%2.0
96 hardware, reversing 100.1% 3 81 7.501440.0%1.5
97 linux, performance 100.1% 1111 17.005840.0%1.0
98 satire, vibecoding 100.1%-211710.0%11.504630.0%2.0
99 practices, vcs 100.1% 9 49 20.503410.0%15.5
100 formalmethods 100.1% 3 50 8.50940.0%1.0
101 networking, security 100.1% 4 52 14.003110.0%3.5
102 formalmethods, vibecoding 100.1% 2 16 7.001720.0%1.0
103 rant 100.1% 2 46 6.004530.0%2.0
104 databases, vibecoding 90.1% 0 3422.2%7.007111.1%8.0
105 ai, philosophy 90.1%-313322.2%1.007333.3%2.0
106 freebsd 90.1% 6 84 45.002311.1%8.0
107 android 90.1%-216811.1%40.002511.1%10.0
108 art 90.1% 4151 66.003422.2%2.0
109 philosophy, vibecoding 90.1%-117822.2%19.005011.1%4.0
110 practices, programming 90.1% 1 61 25.002055.6%0.0
111 email 90.1% 5 64 9.01647.0
112 wasm 90.1% 8 55 24.00533.3%2.0
113 design, web 90.1% 3147 10.003922.2%2.0
114 python, security 90.1%-2 4611.1%18.002122.2%4.0
Updated on Monday, 2026-10-19.
Posted at 09:30, in the comm category.