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I've seen tons of this. People forking popular projects and making minor pull requests to correct spelling or change formatting, probably so they can pad their

I've seen tons of this. People forking popular projects and making minor pull requests to correct spelling or change formatting, probably so they can pad their github profile (which we're told is the new resume) and make it appear as though they're highly-active and are contributors to major projects.

rudolf0 11y ago
If someone were forking my project to even fix a single tiny whitespace issue or typo, I'd be happy! They generally do nothing though. It seems like 90% or more of forks result in absolutely no changes whatsoever. I kind of wish a fork wouldn't even trigger notifications or be listed on any pages until at least one commit is made to it.
- githubsceptic 11y ago
  Yes, I've noticed a lot of do-nothing forks too.
- rubiquity 11y ago
  Most GitHub forks are because people don't understand how git refs work. I used to work at a company that required us to fork every repo we depended on and lock our dependency to the fork rather than using a package manager and git refs.
  - cballard 11y ago
    This prevents you from getting _why'd, so it's pretty reasonable.
    - mendelk 11y ago
      For those that don't understand the reference: > On 19 August 2009, why's accounts on Twitter and GitHub and his personally maintained websites went offline. Shortly before he disappeared, why the lucky stiff tweeted, "programming is rather thankless. u see your works become replaced by superior ones in a year. unable to run at all in a few more." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_the_lucky_stiff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_the_lucky_stiff
  - johnmaguire2013 11y ago
    On the other hand, you're now safe from users who don't understand how `git push -f` works.
Killswitch 11y ago
Eh, 1 character or 1,000 lines of code, contributions are contributions and should be acknowledged.
eevilspock 11y ago
The nature of the contribution is fully transparent in the commit history, so not a problem. Anyone employer who doesn't bother to look...

rudolf0 11y ago

If someone were forking my project to even fix a single tiny whitespace issue or typo, I'd be happy! They generally do nothing though. It seems like 90% or more of forks result in absolutely no changes whatsoever. I kind of wish a fork wouldn't even trigger notifications or be listed on any pages until at least one commit is made to it.

githubsceptic 11y ago
Yes, I've noticed a lot of do-nothing forks too.
rubiquity 11y ago
Most GitHub forks are because people don't understand how git refs work. I used to work at a company that required us to fork every repo we depended on and lock our dependency to the fork rather than using a package manager and git refs.
- cballard 11y ago
  This prevents you from getting _why'd, so it's pretty reasonable.
  - mendelk 11y ago
    For those that don't understand the reference: > On 19 August 2009, why's accounts on Twitter and GitHub and his personally maintained websites went offline. Shortly before he disappeared, why the lucky stiff tweeted, "programming is rather thankless. u see your works become replaced by superior ones in a year. unable to run at all in a few more." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_the_lucky_stiff https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_the_lucky_stiff
- johnmaguire2013 11y ago
  On the other hand, you're now safe from users who don't understand how `git push -f` works.

Killswitch 11y ago

Eh, 1 character or 1,000 lines of code, contributions are contributions and should be acknowledged.

eevilspock 11y ago

The nature of the contribution is fully transparent in the commit history, so not a problem. Anyone employer who doesn't bother to look...