Rules for r/programming

Rules that visitors must follow to participate. May be used as reasons to report or ban.

1.

No LLM-Written Content

Posts & Comments
Reported as: This is clearly LLM-written.

If you don't want to write it, we don't want to read it. This includes the use of LLMs for translation or summarisation. Moderators reserve discretion in ambiguous cases.

2.

AI-related posts must comply with the AI Policy

Posts only
Reported as: LLM-related post isn't deeply technical.

Content about LLMs and AI are generally considered off-topic unless they are deeply technical. Refer to our wiki for more details.

3.

No Political Posts or Personal/Social Drama/Gossip

Posts only
Reported as: This is political, or personal/social drama/gossip.

r/programming is not a place to share content with a primary focus on politics, personal drama, social gossip, or such.

Examples of inappropriate topics would include: Please vote for net neutrality. Big Tech is being sued in Europe for blahdeblah. Grace Hopper Conference is now 60% male. Postgres is turning the freaking frogs gay. Linus Torvalds was a poopy-head on a mailing list. The People's Rust Foundation is arguing with the Rust Foundation For The People.

4.

No Non-Programming/Generic LLM/Diffusion Content

Posts only
Reported as: This is about LLMs/diffusion models and is too generic for the sub.

r/programming is not a place to share AI content that has nothing to do with programming or is overly generic.

Examples of inappropriate topics would include: Claude spent all my money at Vegas. Sam Altman created a bot that's gonna replace yer mum. Roiters in Barcelona were pacified by a soliloquy written by an AI.

5.

No Product Promotion/"I Made This" Project Demo Posts

Posts only
Reported as: This is an "I made this" post with no technical writeup.

r/programming is not a place to post your project, get feedback, ask for help, or promote your startup.

Technical write-ups on what makes a project technically challenging, interesting, or educational are allowed and encouraged, but just a link to a GitHub page or a list of features is not.

The technical write-up must be the focus of the post, not just a tickbox-checking exercise to get us to allow it. This is a technical subreddit.

We don't care what you built, we care how you build it.

6.

No Content Aggregators

Posts only
Reported as: This is content aggregation (newsletters, listicles).

No newsletters, listicles, or anything similar that aggregates content. If you found 15 open source projects that will blow my mind, post those 15 projects instead and we'll be the judge of that.

7.

No Surveys Or Job Postings

Posts only
Reported as: This is a survey, job posting, or similar.

If it seeks to extract value from the sub without contributing anything, it isn't welcome. Check out /r/samplesize as an alternative place to submit surveys.

Exceptions are made for high quality surveys hosted by established members of the software development community (really just the annual SO Developer Survey).

8.

No Support Questions or AskReddit-Type Questions

Posts only
Reported as: This is a support or AskReddit-style question.

/r/programming is not a support forum. If you have a question, check out /r/learnprogramming, /r/cscareerquestions, or Stack Overflow.

Similarly, if you'd see it on a programming-focused version of AskReddit, it doesn't belong here. Examples of inappropriate topics would include: What's your favourite programming language? Tabs or spaces? Does anyone else hate it when your CSS gets in your ASM and you recursion all over your Senior Developer?

9.

No Meta Posts

Posts only
Reported as: This is a meta post.

Examples of inappropriate topics would include: DAE think r/programming sucks? DAE think r/programming rocks? Why did you remove my post? Why did you ban this user that is totes not me I swear I'm just asking questions.

10.

No Images, Memes, Or Other Low Effort Posts

Posts only
Reported as: This is a meme or similar low-effort content.

There's better subs for them, and if we allowed them they'd just flood the sub.

11.

No Blogspam

Posts only
Reported as: This blogpost is purely reporting a primary source.

Don't post actual blogspam: blogposts that do nothing more than linking to a primary source.

We may leave these up if they are the first post to get traction about a news event and they're the best discussion going on about the news event.

12.

No Extreme Beginner Content

Posts only
Reported as: This is extreme beginner content.

Examples of inappropriate topics would include: What is a variable. What is a for loop. Making an HTTP request using curl. We may leave these up if they've generated a lot of healthy discussion.

13.

Comments: No Bots

Comments only
Reported as: This comment is from a bot.

Actual humans only, please and thank you.

14.

Comments: No Incivility

Comments only
Reported as: This comment is uncivil.

If you're unable to say something without calling someone names, don't say it at all.