I would ignore anything cloned but never changed. I would think patches were someone who was slightly pro-active in fixing things. (More so with more patches.

I would ignore anything cloned but never changed. I would think patches were someone who was slightly pro-active in fixing things. (More so with more patches.) I would think original repos were someone that had ideas or wanted to learn things, depending on the nature of the repo. And I would examine actual code to see their style and ability. ... Pretty much like I'd evaluate a resume and code sample for an interview. Which is why I prefer to see GitHub account when applicants apply for a job.