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.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 17 points 4 days ago (4 children)

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.

[–] lemmyingly@lemm.ee 4 points 4 days ago (2 children)

And if the developers were to give up on the project, how likely it would be for someone to fork it and continue.

[–] logging_strict@lemmy.ml 0 points 3 days ago

An experienced developer could easily step in. The hold back is getting compensated for the effort rather than being forced to turn tricks on the local street corner (aka work a job).

This is why devs are walking away.

Companies offering jobs to maintainers rather than directing funding at them is nonsense. Gov'ts and companies will wake up as cracks start snowballing in their tech stack.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 0 points 4 days ago

Ya, that's a really good point as well.

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

If you’re trying to peddle malware then it’s a way to fake popularity

[–] logging_strict@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 days ago

I was pointing out a use case

[–] minyaen@lemmy.ml 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Yeah, this is a pretty good gauge of what an honest star rating should represent.

[–] Dnb@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Tbh I never look at stars, but do at prs and issues

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 1 points 4 days ago (3 children)

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?

[–] Dnb@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 days ago

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

[–] B0rax@feddit.org 2 points 4 days ago

Really does depend on what we are talking about. Some random software that is not critical? Sure. Some system breaking library that would take down my servers in case of malfunction? No bueno.

[–] logging_strict@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 days ago

Initially, the stats will reflect amount of marketing effort put into the project.

The marketing will attract both users and a flow of issues and PRs.

I've done zero marketing for my packages. And it shows ;-)