b3de26aMay 20, 2025
mcc

Discovery: The "copilot" bot user that Microsoft will soon be flooding your github repos with garbage content from is implemented in some sort of special way that exempts it from the "block" feature you would normally be able to block other users/bots with

https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/159749

Allow us to block Copilot-generated issues (and PRs) from our own repositories · community · Discussion #159749

Select Topic Area Product Feedback Feature Area Issues Body I find the following two news items on the front page: https://github.blog/changelog/2025-05-19-creating-issues-with-copilot-on-github-co...

GitHub
May 19, 2025 at 9:40pmWeb
Show threadOwen NelsonMay 19, 2025
@mcc get me outta here
Show threadDelta SierraMay 19, 2025
@mcc gross gross gross.
Show threadmmbyMay 19, 2025

@notthatdelta @mcc

vampires used to have to ask for consent to be let into your house, now when they come best you can tell them is "ask me later" or opt out

Show threadbswolfMay 19, 2025

@mcc I tried to navigate to the user profile for "copilot" to see if I could block it from there and it gave me an error cause it tried to sign me up for copilot (!) and I'm not yet allowed.

Ick.

Show threadmccMay 19, 2025
@bswolf yeah the user profile url for copilot is like a redirect to some marketing page
Show threadZach DeLongMay 19, 2025
@mcc is gitlab still not cool? Might be time for a non Microsoft platform
Show threadmccMay 19, 2025
@zachery_delong I am looking at Codeberg. It seems good although I'm kinda worried about the narowness of the range of open source licenses they allow.
Show threadtechnomancyMay 19, 2025

@mcc @zachery_delong gitlab is ... uh, less malicious than microsoft, I guess, but also very, very buggy and slow

I feel like the fact that gitlab is the first thing people think of when they consider moving off github has set back progress in a big way, because they go try it out and run into bug after bug, and then they assume all the github alternatives must be just as bad

but codeberg is really quite good; I highly recommend it for people who don't like sourcehut's minimalism

Show threadZach DeLongMay 19, 2025
@technomancy @mcc I will check out codeberg! I’m woefully out of date on the source control space. The only free one I’ve used other than GitHub and Gitlab was Stash (Atlassian) and that’s been defunct for years.
Show threadtechnomancyMay 19, 2025
@zachery_delong the cool thing about codeberg is that it's a user-owned cooperative, so not only can you contribute to the code that makes the site run, you can also become a member and participate in its democratic decisionmaking process!
Show threadZach DeLongMay 19, 2025
@mcc I will check it out; thank you for the suggestion!
Show threadmccMay 19, 2025
@zachery_delong One thing I'll note is if anything about Codeberg makes you go "??" the administrators are VERY approachable and are plugged into open-sourcey tools like Matrix
Show threadMuhammadFree🇵🇸May 21, 2025

@mcc @zachery_delong I was reading their terms just now, they allow any license approved by FSF or OSI, there are a lot of licenses to choose from

https://codeberg.org/Codeberg/org/src/branch/main/TermsOfUse.md#2-allowed-content-usage

Making sure you're not a bot!

Show threadmccMay 21, 2025
@MuhammadFreeSoftware @zachery_delong yes, however i do digital art projects and on occasion release content under Creative Commons licenses. in informal conversation with a codeberg administrator, I was told that CC "ND" licenses are definitely not compliant with their notion of open source (maybe reasonable) and they weren't as strong about NC but didn't seem to consider it compliant. If I wished to publish CC-BY-NC on codeberg I'd need to apply for a ruling through their exceptions process.
Show threadmccMay 21, 2025
@MuhammadFreeSoftware @zachery_delong Additionally, I often publish WIPs under a "No rights are granted, please email me if you want some" so that I may defer deciding whether I want to publish the code as GPL, BSD or public domain. Codeberg has a maximum time limit of 1 month for such unlicensed WIPs, which I sometimes violate. I find this very reasonable on Codeberg's part, but it is still inconvenient for my typical use pattern.
Show threadMuhammadFree🇵🇸May 21, 2025
@mcc @zachery_delong For my use it's pretty good. What about gitea (https://about.gitea.com/)? it has a really nice UI and you can self-host it
Gitea Official Website

Gitea - Git with a cup of tea! Painless self-hosted all-in-one software development service, including Git hosting, code review, team collaboration, package registry and CI/CD

Show threadmccMay 21, 2025

@MuhammadFreeSoftware @zachery_delong if i trusted my ability to reliably self-host in a long term fashion i could just put a mercurial repo in a directory.

also i recommend forejo over gitea (forejo is the codeberg fork of gitea) the gitea org got iffy

Show threadFederico Damián SchonbornMay 19, 2025
@zachery_delong @mcc depends on how much you like Lockheed Martin, they're very proud of being one of their trusted partners

Also, they have their own shitty overenginereed markov chain (Duo)
Show threadZach DeLongMay 19, 2025
@federicoschonborn @mcc oh I didn’t realize the Lockheed Martin connection. I am very out of the loop 🫠
Show threadalysMay 19, 2025
@zachery_delong @mcc GitLab is also positioning itself as an AI coding platform, so if you're trying to avoid LLMs, it may not be that much better long-term.
Show threadcmars 🅅May 20, 2025

@zachery_delong @mcc Gitlab is a collaborator.

"Brian Robins, finance chief for San Francisco-based software maker GitLab, said GitLab is aligned with the goals of DOGE, because the company’s software tools aim to help people do more with less."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/03/09/doge-companies-warnings-sec-filings/

Companies warn investors that DOGE’s federal cuts might hurt business

As earnings season begins, filings to the SEC point to uncertainty from the current administration as potential trouble for business.

The Washington Post
Show threaddoll!May 19, 2025
@mcc you can't block bots in general; I just tried to block the codecov bot to check and it doesn't show up. Microsoft sucks but they're not special-casing themselves here
Show threadPhilip Mallegol-HansenMay 19, 2025

@mcc I entirely agree with your conclusion, but I think there’s one detail where I’d be a bit more charitable in my view as far as their malice simply being incompetence:

I doubt they’ve explicitly stopped you from “blocking” the bot, and instead I’d bet it’s only sort of a “user” across backend services, but not really. And so it just doesn’t support being blocked.

Show threadmccMay 19, 2025

@philip I feel you are putting words in my mouth I did not say.

EDIT: Wait, I guess I said "special-cased" on github, but I didn't say it here.

Show threadPhilip Mallegol-HansenMay 19, 2025
@mcc Yeah, I was referring to the “special cased” mention on your feedback item :)
Show threadmccMay 19, 2025
@philip Well, it seems to me "we didn't implement it as a user but rather as a backend service that sometimes appears as a user" just seems like an unusually elaborate form of "special cased".
Show threadAshley CaveMay 19, 2025
@mcc I accidentally hit the Copilot button on the mobile app while reading this issue; I backed out immediately, and now I've got an email "Welcome to GitHub Copilot. Here’s how to get started....” 🤢
Show threadAshley CaveMay 19, 2025
@mcc you cannot disable it... Only some options to hide it 🙃
Show threadmccMay 19, 2025
@AHollowedHunter right, so here we need to distinguish "disabling" it in the form of hiding it so I don't accidentally activate it, and "disabling" it in the sense of protections to keep people from using it "against me"
Show threadAshley CaveMay 19, 2025
@mcc if me trying to disable copilot for my own use isn't simple, I fear preventing it's spread by others won't be either. Just look at the situation with curl :(
Show threadAndré-LA 🎀 gamedevMay 19, 2025
@mcc glad I already stopped using GH for my projects, using codeberg and donating to them when I can
Show threadAlgoCompSynth by znmeb 🇺🇦May 19, 2025
@mcc Did Microsoft hire some of Elon Musk's DOGE hackers?
Show threadMorgan ⚧️May 20, 2025
@AlgoCompSynth @mcc capitalists own all corporations I fear
Show threadwbftwMay 19, 2025
@mcc omg, what fresh gross hell is this. I still can't quite believe they are doing this. I wonder if a zero-tolerance policy towards LLM-generated bug reports/issues/PRs is a way to go for projects that stay with gtihub.
Show threadmccMay 19, 2025
@wbftw i'm already putting such a policy in the contributor guide for my new projects. but also my new projects are on Codeberg.
Show threadGlitchy May 19, 2025
@mcc gotta code a bot to block the bot smh
Show threadKrampus 🌰May 19, 2025
@mcc they've been putting marketing emails about copilot in my inbox nearly daily the last two weeks and the unsubscribe link is broken, so this tracks
Show threadrelogiMay 20, 2025
@mcc
codeberg anyone?
Show threadGoing T. MaineMay 20, 2025
@mcc typo - probably want to save effort not waste effort?
Show threadGraham Sutherland / PolynomialMay 20, 2025

@mcc this spurred me to write a human content policy and apply it to most of my repos.

https://github.com/gsuberland/altium_js/blob/main/HUMAN.md

altium_js/HUMAN.md at main · gsuberland/altium_js

altium.js - Altium SchDoc parser and renderer, in the browser. - gsuberland/altium_js

GitHub
Show threadGraham Sutherland / PolynomialMay 20, 2025
@mcc btw if you (or anyone else) want to use this text feel free; consider it public domain
Show threadJulien ColombMay 27, 2025

@gsuberland @mcc

Thanks for sharing, I love it!

Show threadBinksMay 20, 2025
@mcc It would be hilarious how often AI bros recognize that they need to /force/ people to use AI because it's garbage if not for the fact that they actually have the power to do that in so many places :/
Show threadNicole ParsonsMay 20, 2025

@mcc

Coercive Capitalism strikes again.

Forcing unwanted AI into code bases.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captive_market

When did Tech get the power to pick its customers like Republicans pick their voters?

Captive market - Wikipedia

Show threadb3de26aMay 20, 2025
@mcc @bagder this one might strike a nerve with you
Show threaddaniel:// stenberg://May 20, 2025
@varyxa @mcc we will ban everyone who wastes our time with AI slop. Independent of which AI or their motivation.
Show threadEarthshineMay 20, 2025
@mcc RIP github
Show threadKirinn B.May 20, 2025

@mcc Copilot spam into github repos - unpleasant, if not unexpected.

The best time to move all projects out of github was when micro$oft bought them; the second best time is now. 🙂

Show threadmmphosisMay 20, 2025
@mooncorebunny @mcc When they were bought, I moved my repos out. When they forced multi-factor authentication, I stopped logging in. At the risk of projects being extinguished, mirror. https://github.com/mmphosis
mmphosis - Overview

https://about.gitea.com/ https://radicle.xyz/ https://codeberg.org/ https://gogs.io/ https://onedev.io/ https://bitbucket.org/ https://gitlab.com/ - mmphosis

GitHub
Show threadsumanthvepaMay 20, 2025
@mcc Did I understand correctly that a GitHub bot will automatically submit pull requests to my repo? WTF?
Show threadmccMay 20, 2025
@sumanthvepa if a user asks it to, yeah
Show threadsumanthvepaMay 20, 2025
@mcc Hmm. This is not good.
Show threadmccMay 20, 2025
@sumanthvepa I agree
Show threadtbodtMay 20, 2025
@mcc @sumanthvepa i think that user has to be a repo committer, since that's the permission you need to assign issues? i could be wrong
Show threadsumanthvepaMay 20, 2025
@tbodt @mcc Ah ok. If that's the case, then it's just a tool to help committers create PRs easily. I can live with that.
Show threadtbodtMay 20, 2025
@sumanthvepa @mcc and for the issue feature - it looks like @gsuberland got an answer already (https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/159075#discussioncomment-13200678) the issues are posted as if they came from the person using copilot and you can't tell the difference..
Speed up your Issue Creation with Copilot: Feedback · community · Discussion #159075

To help you create higher quality issues with greater ease, you can now create issues by chatting with Copilot. This experience is currently in public preview. Key Features Prompt to create an Issu...

GitHub
Show threadmccMay 20, 2025
@tbodt @sumanthvepa what about for PRs
Show threadsumanthvepaMay 20, 2025

@mcc @tbodt
I'm okay with a developer using AI to generate a commit message or a PR. I use a custom built auto-committer myself. I follows the commit message guidelines we have and uses an LLM to generate message in the our preferred commit format.

If a dev wants to use GitHub copilot generated commit messages and PRs (we don't really use PRs -- all devs have commit rights.) I'm fine with it.

What I don't want is an AI *automatically* generating them, without being initiated by a dev.

Show threadtbodtMay 20, 2025
@mcc @sumanthvepa this is for PRs. if i'm reading the docs right, you make a copilot PR happen by assigning some issue to the bot
Show threadJob DestroyerMay 20, 2025
@mcc at this point there are plenty of git services available, i don't know why anyone would use github