this post was submitted on 31 Dec 2024
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I am not a programmer. But I have been using github as an end user for years, downloading programs I like and whatnot. Today I realized there are stars on github. Literally never even noticed.
The stars are more important when you're a developer. It indicates interest in the project, and when it's a library you might want to use that translates into how well maintained it might be and what level of official and unofficial support you might get from it.
Other key things to look at are how often are they doing releases and committing changes, how long bugs are left open, if pull requests sit there forever without being merged in etc.
If you’re trying to peddle malware then it’s a way to fake popularity
That's unfair. Throwing out FUD doesn't make it true.
Why be in a rush to judge? Might wanna watch some projects which have used this tactic.
Might be legitimate projects are willing to do whatever to attract eye balls.
Just for shiats and giggles, keep an open mind.
I was pointing out a use case
Tbh I never look at stars, but do at prs and issues
Closed PRs and Closed issues?
What if it's a side project with 1 star, 0 issues (because no one made any) and no PRs because no ones done work on it?
More so if spme software had dozens or hundreds of open issues/PRs for months that never get looked at I'll look elsewhere
Don't want unstable dependencies