I have observed an ongoing pattern. People who create a thing (that becomes somewhat popular) in some sense get credit for it. They are mentioned as the creator

I have observed an ongoing pattern. People who create a thing (that becomes somewhat popular) in some sense get credit for it. They are mentioned as the creator of it, forever. It becomes part of their resume, their online reputation. Perhaps they go on to create another thing. This happens to a far lesser extent for people who adopt a project later to become an ongoing maintainer. A project might have an originator who works hard for six months, and rewarded forever, and some maintainers who work hard for six years and gets very little reward. Out of respect for many people who do great work, I will not name names. :-)