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PR spam today looks like email spam in the early 2000s

greptile.com

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Re: PR spam today looks like email spam in the early 2000s

#11

Post by morkalork »

fecal_henge wrote: post #5

Can I ask what the motive is to create agents to do this? Where is the profit?

Every single job application form that has a field for your github profile is at fault for this. Juniors trying to break into the industry are trying very hard to check every box.

Re: PR spam today looks like email spam in the early 2000s

#12

Post by bluefirebrand »

Retr0id wrote: post #2

Maybe we should cut out the middle-man and make it easy for people to donate token credits to open-source projects, and let the maintainers decide how to use them.

Unfortunately "I donated money/tokens to open source" doesn't land interviews as well as "I'm a big contributor to open source"

People spamming Open Source repos with AI PRs aren't trying to help Open Source, they're trying to build a brand, some kind of credible online presence with their username on it, or whatever else. It's purely selfish and completely opposite to the spirit of Open Software imo

Re: PR spam today looks like email spam in the early 2000s

#15

Post by Retr0id »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #13
Retr0id wrote: post #2

Maybe we should cut out the middle-man and make it easy for people to donate token credits to open-source projects, and let the maintainers decide how to use them.

Like this? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48621645

Yes!

Re: PR spam today looks like email spam in the early 2000s

#16

Post by pengaru »

kridsdale1 wrote: post #7
fecal_henge wrote: post #5

Can I ask what the motive is to create agents to do this? Where is the profit?

I think there are a lot of “tech schools” overseas that require students to show proof of contribution to open source.

it's externalizing the real work all the way down

Re: PR spam today looks like email spam in the early 2000s

#17

Post by dakshgupta »

fecal_henge wrote: post #5

Can I ask what the motive is to create agents to do this? Where is the profit?

Apart from the job-related stuff others have already said, there is a bit of novelty/bragging rights in landing a PR into a major open source project.

Re: PR spam today looks like email spam in the early 2000s

#18

Post by bluGill »

j2kun wrote: post #4

In my main project we added a new requirement that all new contributors meet a maintainer in a non-textual format before their first PR is merged. Seems to work well for a small project.

Only if you have maintainers everywhere. I live in a small city in the middle of the US - how far is it to a maintainer? 4 hours to Kansas City, or fly to San Francisco? Either way the burden seems far too high.

Re: PR spam today looks like email spam in the early 2000s

#19

Post by bluGill »

boredatoms wrote: post #14
j2kun wrote: post #4

In my main project we added a new requirement that all new contributors meet a maintainer in a non-textual format before their first PR is merged. Seems to work well for a small project.

Like a video/phone call?

I'm not sure if AI can do those today, but they probably can in the near future. (probably we will be able to see obvious "that can't be human" for a while longer)

Re: PR spam today looks like email spam in the early 2000s

#20

Post by nemomarx »

bluGill wrote: post #18
j2kun wrote: post #4

In my main project we added a new requirement that all new contributors meet a maintainer in a non-textual format before their first PR is merged. Seems to work well for a small project.

Only if you have maintainers everywhere. I live in a small city in the middle of the US - how far is it to a maintainer? 4 hours to Kansas City, or fly to San Francisco? Either way the burden seems far too high.

Isn't the burden being that high the point? It keeps a small team who all know each other working on it, and everyone who does get on the team has some high investment in the project.
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