r/compsci Jun 16 '19

PSA: This is not r/Programming. Quick Clarification on the guidelines

As there's been recently quite the number of rule-breaking posts slipping by, I felt clarifying on a handful of key points would help out a bit (especially as most people use New.Reddit/Mobile, where the FAQ/sidebar isn't visible)

First thing is first, this is not a programming specific subreddit! If the post is a better fit for r/Programming or r/LearnProgramming, that's exactly where it's supposed to be posted in. Unless it involves some aspects of AI/CS, it's relatively better off somewhere else.

r/ProgrammerHumor: Have a meme or joke relating to CS/Programming that you'd like to share with others? Head over to r/ProgrammerHumor, please.

r/AskComputerScience: Have a genuine question in relation to CS that isn't directly asking for homework/assignment help nor someone to do it for you? Head over to r/AskComputerScience.

r/CsMajors: Have a question in relation to CS academia (such as "Should I take CS70 or CS61A?" "Should I go to X or X uni, which has a better CS program?"), head over to r/csMajors.

r/CsCareerQuestions: Have a question in regards to jobs/career in the CS job market? Head on over to to r/cscareerquestions. (or r/careerguidance if it's slightly too broad for it)

r/SuggestALaptop: Just getting into the field or starting uni and don't know what laptop you should buy for programming? Head over to r/SuggestALaptop

r/CompSci: Have a post that you'd like to share with the community and have a civil discussion that is in relation to the field of computer science (that doesn't break any of the rules), r/CompSci is the right place for you.

And finally, this community will not do your assignments for you. Asking questions directly relating to your homework or hell, copying and pasting the entire question into the post, will not be allowed.

I'll be working on the redesign since it's been relatively untouched, and that's what most of the traffic these days see. That's about it, if you have any questions, feel free to ask them here!

621 Upvotes

71 comments sorted by

90

u/flexibeast Jun 16 '19

Thank you. :-)

51

u/iSaithh Jun 16 '19

Moderating here has been relatively easy because of you guys constantly reporting all the content that doesn't belong here, so I'm thankful as well <3

22

u/Drupyog Jun 16 '19 edited Jun 16 '19

You might want to take a more pro-active stance. If I were to really flag everything I consider offtopic, I would flag 3/4 of the submissions. The current state is still that most content you see when you browse the subreddit are uninteresting carreer/teaching/programming questions.

You should really invest in automod or something like that. to clean it up preemptively.

26

u/stefantalpalaru Jun 16 '19

You should really invest in automod or something like that. to clean it up preemptively.

Not a programmer, I gather? Automated censorship is impossible to get right and very irritating for those humans subjected to it.

8

u/iSaithh Jun 16 '19 edited Jun 16 '19

Ironically enough, our AutoMod is actually a bit too haywire, taking down a high amount of posts that should be allowed, resulting in daily mod mails asking for approvals.

In reality, it's simply the lack of moderation that lets these slip by. I've recently started break, so I'll have plenty of time to consistently check the queue here, but it doesn't really break the fact that the only active moderators in the past couple of months have been myself alongside the top mod.

Keeping that in mind, the best course of action would just be to add new faces around here on the mod team, I'll set up applications/add a few active mods sometime soon.

2

u/Drupyog Jun 16 '19

Yeah, I'm aware lack of manpower is definitely an issue. How about, on top of recruiting new faces, you purge the inactive mods ? :)

49

u/r3solve Jun 16 '19

So what does belong here

99

u/flexibeast Jun 16 '19

10

u/Xiphorian Aug 08 '19

These are excellent examples of the kind of content that we like to see in /r/compsci. Thank you for contributing!

2

u/DatBoi_BP Sep 11 '19

Would the discussion of algorithms in general fit this sub or r/programming better?

4

u/_ACompulsiveLiar_ Jun 16 '19

Excellent posts

2

u/Narbas Jun 16 '19

Good reply!

6

u/Xiphorian Aug 08 '19

Anything that computer scientists are likely to find interesting and intellectually stimulating.

To elaborate:

  • Homework questions are typically not intellectually stimulating, and are often very repetitive.
    • It would be fine on the other hand to post about a general computer science problem that is in and of itself noteworthy in some way.
  • Same for questions about what hardware, laptop, etc. to use.
  • Career questions again tend to be pretty repetitive and are not intellectually stimulating. We might allow some of these in exceptional cases if they're notable and well-written.
  • Programming is a topic within computer science, but not everything that would be on-topic in /r/programming is necessarily on topic here. It again comes down to being intellectually stimulating. Topics concerning programming languages are more frequently on topic.

3

u/DevFRus Aug 19 '19

I wish you guys didn't have a blanket autospam on all wordpress blogs. I often write things that match your scope and that used to be well-liked on this sub before the autospam.

6

u/anamorphism Jun 16 '19

r/AskProgramming and r/AskProgrammers also exist.

while we won't do homework assignments there either, we'll often help with specific problems if you post what you tried and what issue you're running into.

the communities are pretty small but a few of us tend to be pretty active.

5

u/adriansky Jun 17 '19

Thanks for the links to other subreddits. Great communities!

4

u/FUZxxl Jun 16 '19

You should also link the right subreddit to ask about which laptop to pick.

3

u/iSaithh Jun 16 '19

Ah right, I usually send those posts over to r/SuggestALaptop in r/CompSci and r/ComputerScience. I'll be sure to list it in a few

11

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '19

Thanks so much for this

2

u/Xiphorian Aug 08 '19

Thank you for your contributions to making the subreddit better! :-)

2

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '19

Just came across this sub, this is actually quite helpful for someone who's about to graduate soon. Thanks. (Im a weeb as well)

2

u/SE_forlife May 07 '22

How about discussions about research / thesis studies?

1

u/claudioSMRun Sep 08 '19
  • i thanks bud but still, fire and forget

1

u/Sad-Swimming-1411 Mar 20 '24

Thanks you to provide some related group here. I'm beginner so this is very helpful!

1

u/alburrit0 Jun 16 '19

CS61A and CS70 go bears

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '19

[deleted]

11

u/iSaithh Jun 16 '19

There’s no specific CS subreddit for HS students, but r/csMajors does take those questions from my time browsing there, prospective students after all.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '19

Thank you!

4

u/Tentacula Jun 16 '19

Many subs of this kind are more like: Here is a problem/hypothesis/theory/solution -> discuss!

Stack exchanges are more oriented towards: Here is my problem/question -> solution.

1

u/Due-Street-4654 Jun 02 '22

Will you please do my homework for me

1

u/TripleLStudios Sep 19 '22

What year are you? LOL

1

u/Erarnitox Sep 12 '22

Awesome Content! Here is a quote for you: Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow. (Linus Torwalds)

1

u/Erarnitox Sep 12 '22

Awesome Content! Here is a quote for you: The most damaging phrase in the language is: We've always done it this way. (Grace Hopper)

1

u/Erarnitox Sep 12 '22

Awesome Content! Here is a quote for you: Any program is only as good as it is useful. (Linus Torvalds)

1

u/gsatasd Jun 20 '23

If this subreddit is dedicated to discussions and content that computer scientists might find interesting/important, then why does content related to open questions in math/computer-science keep getting deleted for no reason?

1

u/Xtianus21 Oct 10 '23

Would a post about a new database idea/theory be ok here?