I got banned from r/java today for posting a Swing WebView component that I made. A lifetime ban.

The offence was that I had broken rule #9, which I hadn’t noticed, and was new since the last time I posted there. This rule forbids sharing any software that involves AI at all.

I used AI extensively to develop this library, so, based on the wording of the rule, I definitely broke the rules, and the consequences are a lifetime ban.

This makes me feel a lot of things. I’m not so upset by the banning. I don’t think I’ll notice inclusion or exclusion from that forum, but it brings to the surface some of the internal struggles that I’ve been feeling since late 2025 regarding changes to the software development process. Late 2025 is basically when AI became better at coding than humans — and I suppose it isn’t a coincidence that that is approximately when r/java adopted their No AI policy.

In 2026, if you are still writing code “by hand” without AI assistance, then either you haven’t tried using AI, or you are just coding for fun — without any desire to be productive. However, if you have a goal in mind to build something, then you would be foolish to do it “by hand”.

Don’t get me wrong, I do miss the high of coding — spewing out algorithms line by line, riding the flow state through a day without any concern, or notice for the time that passes. It is fun, and exhilarating, but the only compelling reason to code that way anymore is for personal enjoyment, or to exercise your “coding muscles”. Those are valid reasons, but you have to weigh them against the vision in your head of the finished product that you want to realize. Insisting on hand-coding a project for these reasons is akin to choosing a shovel over an excavator because you want to build muscles and get a farmer’s tan. If you need to dig the foundation for a house, you should use the excavator — especially if you’re getting paid to do it. If you want to exercise your shovelling skills, then you can do that on your own time.

If I write code without AI anymore at all, it will be just for my own indulgence and learning. I would never actually ship any code anymore without using AI to review it, or to help write it, because that would be inefficient, wasteful, and produce a worse result.

But I understand the sentiment that leads to No-AI policies like this. AI is better at coding than we are now — after we’ve spent our adult lives building up these coding skills. Our identity is built around all of the coding skills we’ve developed, and now, all of a sudden, some guy off the street can type a prompt into AI, and produce better code than we could. It’s not fair. All of the time we spent practicing, learning, and honing our skills; hard-fought lessons that left us bloodied and bruised. Now a 12-year-old instantly has all of the same skills — nay better skills — without any work, or discipline. It’s not fair.

So, let’s try to level the playing field by making safe spaces where AI is not welcome. Maybe then we will be free to practice our hand-coding skills with others who appreciate the importance of hard work, persistence, and discipline — where my lived experience has value.

Unfortunately, that’s a fool’s errand. The genie is out of the bottle. Every piece of software that matters, going forward, will be coded by an agent, with humans guiding them, and reviewing them. Projects like the OpenJDK almost certainly already have substantial amounts of AI-assisted code. So a strict No-AI policy in a sub like /r/java, if we follow the letter of the rule, should disallow sharing even links to OpenJDK. But that’s absurd.

At some point in the future, I’m sure this irony will become too obvious to ignore and they’ll need to move the goal posts.

For me, it’s a little bit sad. I’ve been developing in Java since 1998, and I plan to continue developing in Java for the foreseeable future, but it has changed. I don’t think I’ll ever be writing it by hand anymore. I’ll be getting agents to do it for me, and guiding and reviewing them. There is something lost in that, and more than just my ability to participate in /r/java.