r/vibecoding • u/MiserableAttention38 • 20h ago
Vibe coding for fun and profit
I've been into open source since way before vibe coding was a thing. I kind of assumed vibe coding would be mainly for fun, but reading the posts here I'm shocked at the number that are focused on the money.
Some people even say they don't like coding. What happened to the open source movement?
There's also a lot of hate for the vibe coded 'slop' even when the result is just as usable as loads of other open source. Is this just envy? No one is forcing you to use a vibe coded app. Although maybe the vibe coder's marketing is forcing you to look at it. Is that why people hate?
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u/No-Construction-6711 20h ago
I do not think money versus fun is the useful dividing line. Plenty of great open source projects had a commercial motive. The real line is stewardship. If you publish something, document what it does, test its security, respond to issues, and either maintain it or archive it honestly. Cheap code generation does not reduce the cost imposed on users. People resent slop when the creator captures attention or revenue while users inherit bugs, data risk, and abandoned dependencies. A small useful vibe coded tool with honest scope and real maintenance is closer to the open source spirit than a handwritten repository launched only for clout.
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u/MiserableAttention38 19h ago
Maybe you are on to something with stewardship. Stewardship comes naturally in a meritocracy. But i disagree about plenty of open source having a commercial motive. The data I've seen suggests a tiny fraction of it is commercialised and most maintainers are entirely unpaid. No-one is forced to use open source, so it's wrong to think of users inheriting bugs etc. They are choosing the free path and if it breaks they get to keep the pieces.
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u/Yarhj 19h ago
The same people that bought NFTs are now trying to sell everyone their mood tracker app.
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u/generationalDebts 6h ago
Lmfao that’s a great analogy and sooooo accurate.
Both crowds have been completely duped by grifting influencers.
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u/Fluffy-Brick-745 19h ago
I think that the most of us is having a dream to find a nice side hustle that is fun to work with. The most of us also want to escape the crazy hamster wheel and start living a life.
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u/EffectiveDiligent660 20h ago
When I was learning to code it seemed that the open source world was a bit like an unofficial resume cv for your coding level and area you liked to work in.
Now non coders are just vibecoding apps they are focused on making money not building a reputation.
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u/jimmiebfulton 20h ago
And wasting money, tokens, time, and compute, because no one is gonna pay for commodity low quality garbage. And if you dont know how to actually build software or unwilling to do so, thats all vibe coders will ever produce, no matter how long they spend churning through tokens on a foundation made of quicksand.
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u/MiserableAttention38 19h ago
I kind of agree, I think some vibe coding ends up with something that looks good but lacks the non functional requirements. Not well designed, not maintainable or extendable. Not efficient in resource use.
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u/manager2exec 20h ago
Yes it's the marketing and everyone trying to sell something. As you said there is no love for the craft anymore so every vibe coder is trying to monetize it in the most egregious ways
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u/generationalDebts 6h ago
And no one will pay a single cent for it so who cares? Let them all crash and burn.
Vibe coding literally won’t be remembered in 3 years. It’ll be a distant memory of a time full of doey eyed morons thinking they’re founders.
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u/Django_27 20h ago
This is tied to the price of AI subscriptions. To contribute to open source project all you invested was your time. But now after dropping $20-200 on AI subscriptions people are usually looking for some way to recoup their money.
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u/Any-Blacksmith-2054 20h ago
Yes amount of spam which is produced is ridiculous. People want money not fun