I don't think this is true at all, though it may depend on what jobs you are seeking. When I look at github profiles I assume they are going to be forks and ga

I don't think this is true at all, though it may depend on what jobs you are seeking. When I look at github profiles I assume they are going to be forks and garbage, which is fine - the person still at least knows github exists and probably has some concept of the point of source control. But when I see a project with an actual purpose that they wrote, or some commit history to a project they forked, that is a big plus! That is strong evidence that the candidate has a passion for programming.