{"slug": "born-against-or-why-hobby-programming-communities-are-aggressively-against-llm", "title": "Born Against, or why hobby programming communities are aggressively against LLM usage", "summary": "Hobby programming communities such as OSDev, LangDev, and the demoscene are increasingly hostile toward LLM usage, viewing it as a form of cheating that undermines the hard-fought process of mastering difficult fields. The author argues that in these communities, the learning process itself is the product, and LLMs function best as a force multiplier for experts rather than a surrogate for genuine understanding.", "body_md": "2026.08.04\n\nI came across a [GH thread related to\nchess engine development](https://github.com/adamtwiss/coda/issues/15) that made me think of why hobby programming\ncommunities are increasingly hostile toward LLM development. While the\nthread doesn’t give a lot of insight into answering the question, it\nprompted me to think about it a bit. I’ve seen similar sentiments\nexpressed in other niche hobby programming communities like OSDev,\nLangDev, TxtDev, EmuDev, RLDev, the demoscene, and code golfers. The\ngeneral consensus seems to be that the knowledge that these communities\nwork in is hard-fought and the use of LLMs is a form of missing the\npoint entirely. In these communities (keep in mind that there is an\nimplicit “not all…” throughout) the process of mastering a difficult\nfield itself is the product, and something that runs is generally a\nnice-to-have.\n\nFurther, I’ve noticed that even in the instances where there was earnest early engagement with LLMs in some of these niche communities, the well was quickly poisoned by a combination of a lack of a deep understanding by the LLM practitioners, and a vitriolic subset of those communities that view the LLM enterprise as a form of cheating. Granted these communities have, in general, historically been characterized by feverish gatekeeping and painstakingly slow progress, so it makes sense that there might be a desire to grab some easy cachet by bursting onto the scene like the Kool-Aid man. OH YEAH…. OH NO!\n\nIn traditional niche dev circles, respect is earned slowly through\nyears of activity in their respective fora, sharing elegant code,\ndisplays of genuine curiosity, and through sharing deep domain knowledge\nalong the way. At the end of the day, these communities don’t care if\nyour code works at all, but instead care that you know why and how it\nworks. To me, an LLM functions best as a force multiplier, not a\nsurrogate. In the hands of an expert who already understands a domain\ndeeply, it could act like a lever.[ 1](#fn1) But in these niche\ncommunities, the entire exercise is in the learning. Using an LLM to\ngenerate the finished piece doesn’t make us craftsmen; it just robs us\nof the craft.\n\n:F\n\n*This is the latest in my evolving thoughts on LLMs. Also see: LLMe and Mind the van\nEmden Gap*\n\nThat said, expertise offers no natural immunity against\nbeing fooled by LLMs.[↩︎](#fnref1)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/born-against-or-why-hobby-programming-communities-are-aggressively-against-llm", "canonical_source": "https://blog.fogus.me/llm/born-against.html", "published_at": "2026-08-04 20:24:33+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-04 22:24:56.496341+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["large-language-models", "ai-ethics"], "entities": ["OSDev", "LangDev", "TxtDev", "EmuDev", "RLDev", "demoscene"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/born-against-or-why-hobby-programming-communities-are-aggressively-against-llm", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/born-against-or-why-hobby-programming-communities-are-aggressively-against-llm.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/born-against-or-why-hobby-programming-communities-are-aggressively-against-llm.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/born-against-or-why-hobby-programming-communities-are-aggressively-against-llm.jsonld"}}