Forem (Dev.to) is slow, so I del...optimized it.

This is a submission for the DEV April Fools Challenge

Disclaimer: This post is very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very satire. Although you already know this based on context clues, I just want to let you know before hand just in case if somehow you miss the "clues". Forem is great and @ben, @jess and @peter did nothing wrong to me or anyone in this community! :)

What is happening

I notice that Forem has been receiving a lot of traffic lately and it is slowing down my Windows 7 PC. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea Ben is creating for Forem and allowing communities to come together. However, I notice it is very slow on low ended computers and I feel like Forem is not really accessible for those who does not have a powerful PC. How can you have an empowering community if that community is using a low ended PC?

It's hard to show what it is like for me to use Forem since I can't record using OBS since you know...OBS is slow and Forem is slow which equals Slower so here is an accurate representation of using Forem on an everyday basis.

{% embed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUzswiwbOhk %}

To be fair, the best thing about Forem is that it is Open Source! I can contribute to my needs and express my wants! I heard Ben is a wonderful person and he loves to take community ideas! Besides, Jess mentioned in her "A Year of Change and Persistence" post where Dev.to was created by @ben, @jess, and @peter which they are known as PBJ, like the sandwich. This shows me that they are nice people and they are definitely the type of people where you can joke around with!

{% embed https://dev.to/jess/a-year-of-change-and-persistence-19cf %}

Their inclusiveness and kindness inspired me with this Pull Request that I did and I believe it will optimize their platform to great extent and I believe this Pull Request will be the next best thing to AI in my opinion based on the solution I have.

What I...Built?

I heard people are building this and building that to make the project better, but it's never about deleting. I recently read a post by the @the_nortern_dev on the skill of coding:

{% embed https://dev.to/the_nortern_dev/the-most-valuable-skill-in-2026-isnt-writing-code-it-is-deleting-it-53j1 %}

It is true! You learn the skill as a dev by deleting it, so I took that inspiration and optimize the code by removing redundancy and refactoring the code where it can speed things up for Forem. I have learn a lot from this such as learning a new technology and using GitHub!

I also heard AI is mainstream so I use Google Gemini to help me with this Pull Request. One of the things it helped me is figuring out how to make it O(1) constant time for Forem and this is what it gave me:

Based on this response, I edit the code base and made the Pull Request!

The Pull Request that ends all Pull Requests

I am so happy to share my PR, which I included below!

{% embed https://github.com/forem/forem/pull/23110 %}

Note: Please @ben I need this. Forem is kind of slow. I optimize the code, so please check it out! I emailed the Forem Team and they tried not to laugh man. They sent me this and I feel like this is a mockery to the Dev.to community! {% embed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJdCpltq-_k %}

Code in Detail

This is the solution I did.

and that's how I optimized it. Pretty straightforward.

How I Built It?...

Like any other open source, you edit the code base, the solution I had was unique. Instead of typing letters/characters/symbols, I just press "Backspace" on my keyboard and it did the magic. It reminds me of Vibe Coding. Different approach, same solution or something.

I heard there is a Prize Category, so I guess honorable mentions?

I like to shout out to Google Gemini for this process since it helped me in the Pull Request. I treat AI as I treat my car.

Anyway, before making the Pull Request, I had to make sure Forem was slow to begin with and here was its response:

With this answer, I can confirm 100% that Forem is Slow since AI is always right. Google Gemini gave me motivation to make a difference to Forem and I am glad to make this Pull Request to the Official Forem Repository.

Also a shout out for me giving an Ode to Larry Masinter. Not sure or something but I heard he likes tea 🫖

Also also, I shout out to this community since I believe we all agree that this change will make a significant impact to the community on the daily basis!!! I encourage the community to like/comment/share/and spam ping the Dev Team (please don't actually) so we can get this change implemented ASAP!!

Prize Category TLDR: Best AI, Teapot, Community.

Take a look at the new Forem!

If you would like to see a faster Forem for empowering communities, check it out here where I did a video demonstration on the differences.