GitHub stars are a weak signal
- YT :: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLuOTWkfqpk
- Original title :: @Tsoding on GitHub stars
Short clip of Tsoding reacting live to a well-known GitHub author he doesn't recognise, ending in a throwaway but pointed remark about what star counts actually measure.
The bit starts with Tsoding being shown someone described as famous and admitting he has no idea who they are. Looking at their work he finds a lightweight text editor written in Lua, likes it, and then realises he had already starred it himself and had completely forgotten doing so.
That accident is the punchline. His takeaway: when a project has a lot of stars or likes, remember that half the people who gave them don't even remember doing it — starring is a reflex, not a considered endorsement. Star count is therefore a poor proxy for how much a project is used, valued, or even remembered.