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MeshCore development team splits over trademark dispute and AI-generated code

blog.meshcore.io

141–150 of 190 posts

Re: MeshCore development team splits over trademark dispute and AI-generated code

#141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking as a person who works professionally in fcc part 101 licensed point to point microwave systems carrying IP data, I have less than zero patience for the BS and shenanigans of analog ham radio enthusiasts. They always want to posture as if they'll be some critical service every emergency responder comes running to in a major disaster and it rarely if ever happens. In the interests of not reinventing the wheel,…

That's unique to american hams. Most of the world just collects dx entities like pokemon, pota/sota locations, backpain complaints on nets and argue if ft8 counts or not for anything.

Collecting replies like pokemon seems like a real waste of time in my opinion. I can send an ICMP ping to something I know is in Svalbard Norway across the regular Internet and get a reply, but I don't pin a postcard to a cork board on my wall celebrating my amazing technical accomplishment.

Similarly, for all the effort that people put forth to do EME and get bidirectional traffic with some tiny data payload bounced off the moon, they could be engineering real world production systems that do something cool with real, existing LEO, MEO, geostationary two way satellite data systems, accomplishing some useful purpose. Or at least doing something like cubesat ham radio traffic relays to carry a useful payload.

A great deal of what analog ham radio enthusiasts seem to care about falls into the category of being a dilettante in my opinion and has very little bearing on building serious networks that carry traffic/payloads people will rely upon .

Re: MeshCore development team splits over trademark dispute and AI-generated code

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is it because amateur radio operators legally have standards they have to comply with?

Kinda, most hams are very rhadamanthine about following every tiny rule to the letter, or their even stricter interpretation of the spirit. The type of people who complain about young people not joining the hobby while insisting on maintaining strict licensing rules and tests. It's very much the polar opposite of hacker ethic.

Off topic but rhadamanthine? Is this word zeitgeist now?

Re: MeshCore development team splits over trademark dispute and AI-generated code

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is it because amateur radio operators legally have standards they have to comply with?

This + amateur radio is designed to be open, no encryption, anyone can talk with anyone, and if you're "being stupid" (to not use other terms), anyone can tell you so. The "secret, encrypted, private" chats correlate more with random "doomsday preppers", and younger non-hams (cheap, no need to get licenced). Many of those people buy (ham) radios too ("for emergencies", can't transmit legally anyway), but don't really…

You can legally transmit for any emergency, regardless of licensing status. The emergency definition is purposefully left ambiguous so as to apply to many situations. Lost in the woods? Go ahead, transmit; the FCC isn't going to knock on your door if you live. Every HAM should know this already.

Re: MeshCore development team splits over trademark dispute and AI-generated code

#144
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an amateur radio licence and I agree. One reason I rarely operate... I always found it interesting how many useful little apps hams write, keep them closed source and then...die.

Could it be because of the history of radio and early electronics being full of inventors getting ripped off by unscrupulous parties...?

That is certainly the myth that drives this.

There is also a fair bit of demographics at play. Many of the people writing these little applications grew up and imprinted before open source was much of a thing.

Re: MeshCore development team splits over trademark dispute and AI-generated code

#145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

is it because amateur radio operators legally have standards they have to comply with?

Kinda, most hams are very rhadamanthine about following every tiny rule to the letter, or their even stricter interpretation of the spirit. The type of people who complain about young people not joining the hobby while insisting on maintaining strict licensing rules and tests. It's very much the polar opposite of hacker ethic.

The two biggest ham people I've known both, independently and separated by years, discussed enjoying war driving looking for "pirate" radio signals that they can report to the FCC. Amusing to find this is a cultural aspect of ham radio licensees.

Re: MeshCore development team splits over trademark dispute and AI-generated code

#146
I came across this Andy Kirby guy on youtube, and his videos really came across as very sensationalized, exaggerated and clickbaity, which drew me away from meshcore, as I associated him with the project organization. This seems to validate my gut feeling.

Re: MeshCore development team splits over trademark dispute and AI-generated code

#147
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I use meshcore and have multiple repeaters setup. I don't care about people using ai assisted coding but I think it should be disclosed especially if its closed source. Now the trademark take over seems crazy especially given Andy hasn't contributed to the github project, only personal for profit add ons. I do also think that the meshcore core team have "tacked on" and tried to enforce a stronger narrative wi…

It wasn't ai assisted coding, it was vibe coding from someone with no real coding background. A communication protocol can't be vibe coded, how do you enforce security if the person is unable to understand what the tool created? Especially when they try to hide that they were using those tools in the first place

>It wasn't ai assisted coding, it was vibe coding from someone with no real coding background.

Can you elaborate on this?

I'd agree that is problematic. But that's not what the article said. The article just said he was using Claude Code a lot. It's ridiculous to equivocate those two things. That's what I have an issue with.

Re: MeshCore development team splits over trademark dispute and AI-generated code

#148

>We have always been wary of AI generated code, but felt everyone is free to do what they want and experiment, etc. But, one of our own, Andy Kirby, decided to branch out and extensively use Claude Code, and has decided to aggressively take over all of the components of the MeshCore ecosystem: standalone devices, mobile app, web flasher and web config tools. >And, he’s kept that small detail a secret - that it’s all…

Disagree: I applaud them for doing this. Anyone that says they've reviewed the 1000 lines of slop any AI has spit out is simply lying to everyone and even potentially themselves and has never done a single extensive code review in their life. Reading 1000 lines of text is one thing, reading and analyzing the complexity implications and edge cases in code - no chance. The "I've reviewed the slop" response is the reaso…

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Re: MeshCore development team splits over trademark dispute and AI-generated code

#149

>We have always been wary of AI generated code, but felt everyone is free to do what they want and experiment, etc. But, one of our own, Andy Kirby, decided to branch out and extensively use Claude Code, and has decided to aggressively take over all of the components of the MeshCore ecosystem: standalone devices, mobile app, web flasher and web config tools. >And, he’s kept that small detail a secret - that it’s all…

Disagree: I applaud them for doing this. Anyone that says they've reviewed the 1000 lines of slop any AI has spit out is simply lying to everyone and even potentially themselves and has never done a single extensive code review in their life. Reading 1000 lines of text is one thing, reading and analyzing the complexity implications and edge cases in code - no chance. The "I've reviewed the slop" response is the reaso…

>Disagree: I applaud them for doing this. Anyone that says they've reviewed the 1000 lines of slop any AI has spit out

You're assuming the thing in question - that it's just AI slop. They dont offer any insight on that - they merely say he used Claude Code a lot. It shows a real lack of understanding of AI tools to equivocate those two things.

Re: MeshCore development team splits over trademark dispute and AI-generated code

#150

>We have always been wary of AI generated code, but felt everyone is free to do what they want and experiment, etc. But, one of our own, Andy Kirby, decided to branch out and extensively use Claude Code, and has decided to aggressively take over all of the components of the MeshCore ecosystem: standalone devices, mobile app, web flasher and web config tools. >And, he’s kept that small detail a secret - that it’s all…

> Is the code bad? It sounds like they had no idea he was using AI. That seems to imply there was nothing wrong with the code as-is. Why not judge it on it's merits? Anyone that has used AI at all knows this isn't how it works. AI is extremely good at producing plausible-but-wrong outputs. It's literally optimised for plausibility, which happens to coincide with correctness a lot of the time. When it doesn't you get…

If the code is bad why not lambast him for pushing bad code? If he's pushing straight to main why have such shitty controls? If it got through review whats the problem? AI in-and-of-itself is not bad. They never substantiate beyond saying he used Claude Code a lot.
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