podc-topic-selection
Use when deciding whether a distributed-computing result belongs at ACM PODC or should be routed to DISC, SPAA, OPODIS/SIROCCO/SSS, STOC/FOCS/SODA, a systems venue (ICDCS/DSN/OSDI/NSDI), a blockchain-theory venue (AFT/FC), or a journal (JACM / Distributed Computing) — and how to avoid the PODC-vs-PODS naming trap by reasoning about the distributed model and the cost measure.
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill podc-topic-selection --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# PODC Topic Selection Decide the venue before drafting. PODC — the ACM Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing — is the SIGACT-SIGOPS home for the **theory** of distributed computing. Reviewers read for a **provable guarantee in a precisely stated distributed model**: an algorithm with a complexity bound, an impossibility, or a matching lower bound. A technically strong paper whose real contribution is a *sequential* algorithm, a *measured system*, or a *database* result is respected and then rejected as out of scope. ## The naming trap, first **PODC is not PODS.** PODS is the ACM Symposium on **Principles of Database Systems** (SIGMOD week); its theory is query languages, dependencies, and database complexity. If your result is about data management rather than distributed processes, agents, or memory, you want PODS, not PODC. One letter, two communities — check before you submit. ## The routing question that matters most PODC, **DISC**, and **SPAA** overlap heavily in scope and share much of a reviewer pool, so the decisive question is rarely "is this distributed theory?" but **"which model, which cost measure, and which calendar fit this result now?"** Use the finer si
- The naming trap, first
- The routing question that matters most
- Sibling-venue routing table
- Contribution shapes PODC rewards
- The model-swap and re-label tests
- Evidence maturity, theory-style
- Cheap reconnaissance before committing
- Decision procedure
What does the podc-topic-selection skill do?
Use when deciding whether a distributed-computing result belongs at ACM PODC or should be routed to DISC, SPAA, OPODIS/SIROCCO/SSS, STOC/FOCS/SODA, a systems venue (ICDCS/DSN/OSDI/NSDI), a blockchain-theory venue (AFT/FC), or a journal (JACM / Distributed Computing) — and how to avoid the PODC-vs-PODS naming trap by reasoning about the distributed model and the cost measure.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills --skill podc-topic-selection --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills, a repository with 909 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.