11 ms·

I have two projects with a total of almost 7k stars. [0] It’s worth noting that GitHub stars truly don’t translate into anything worthwhile in the vast majorit

I have two projects with a total of almost 7k stars. [0] It’s worth noting that GitHub stars truly don’t translate into anything worthwhile in the vast majority of cases. You can have a massively popular project, but it doesn’t automatically translate into Twitter followers or newsletter subscribers. And those things don’t directly translate into wealth or happiness either. Just get a job and make friends and have a life. That route has the highest expected value. I have been chasing GitHub stars for a long time, and it has never been fulfilling. I wouldn’t recommend it. [0] https://github.com/colinhacks/zod https://github.com/colinhacks/zod

BeFlatXIII 5y ago
How do you think the cash-in rate is for GitHub stars compared to Reddit karma? Somehow better or approximately the same?
- kingforaday 5y ago
  Probably the same as the ratio of Stanley Nickels to Schrute Bucks.
byteface 5y ago
easy to say when you got thousands. I had to really grind for my 43 stars over 18 months and each one really made my day. (python): https://github.com/byteface/domonic/ https://github.com/byteface/domonic/
- susam 5y ago
  Have you tried doing a "Show HN" post for your project? Creating a "Show HN" post is often a good way to get some attention and feedback for your project provided your post receives a few early upvotes in the first 30-40 minutes and reaches the front page.
  - byteface 5y ago
    I had considered but it's not quite good enough yet. I posted on reddit once and got 1 upvote and 1 comment. aha. Think it's as I did it really late on a sunday. Timing is everything. But it hepled me a lot with not stressing too much about posting.
    - kristopolous 5y ago
      For this project and content on the net in general, You should generally show a compelling answer to the following questions within a few seconds: What is this? Why do I care? Why is this exciting? Do I like this? At least for me I can't answer those questions when I see your project. Maybe I'm stupid or ignorant and you simply don't want to reach me, alright fine. Also some projects simply cannot fit into this box. Sometimes reader enlightenment is required to see value. Those are the hardest ones. Essentially your task is to convince the reader that you have an answer to things they never thought to question or connect together and your proposed way of doing things fixes problems they thought were just the way of the world. That's why my more sophisticated projects do much worse than my simpler fun ones and why silly things do so well and hard things do so poorly. There is value to solving hard problems but as the new patterns form, people forget so the appreciation of great achievement is often fleeting. So I dunno, people suck and life is hard. Whatever
      - byteface 5y ago
        I think you're right. The project changed direction several times. from being a tag generator and a general wrapper before settling on trying to port the DOM. I still need to take it beyond being a curiosity. In ways I avoid wokring on those aspects that make something 'useful' as for me it kills the drive so I work around that aspect doing all the other bits first. And end up picking up on lots of tits bits that others don't. But I should probably fill in more of the expected functionality. It's a habit I got into to keep me engaged on a project.
- alfiedotwtf 5y ago
  Just a question... what are you actually grinding for? You get more stars, but then what?
  - byteface 5y ago
    I enjoy what I'm making and would do it for no stars. But a star can take the edge off a bad day. Also it could lead to users, feedback, contributers.
hehetrthrthrjn 5y ago
> Just get a job and make friends and have a life. That really is a narrow, normie view. Obviously it didn't work out for you but for others (and I'd put myself in the category) stars can be very meaningful, especially for work which you're proud of. In a small way you're being judged by people who understand, or at least use, what you've created and that can be more rewarding than other work, money or social interactions. (Also, I'd rather kill myself than get a job and friends are generally not that stimulating)
- NikolaeVarius 5y ago
  Its funny since I find this comment to be the most normie way of living ever, being under the boot of people who don't give a shit about you.
  - hehetrthrthrjn 5y ago
    Wow! Where did that come from? Especially the boot. Living life however you feel regardless of societal norms seems to be the opposite of living under a boot, doesn't it? And who are these people exactly? It really does sound like you're projecting there.
- zapita 5y ago
  > That really is a narrow, normie view. What does “normie” mean in this context? Is it the new “square”?
  - yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
    Yes
  - rzzzt 5y ago
    It's hip to be square!
  - Accujack 5y ago
    I'm going to say it's used in the "derogatory shorthand for everyone who isn't like me" sense.
susam 5y ago
I have a bunch of small projects[1] that have a total of about 6k stars (with the top one having about 2k stars). Except for a few donations to my Buy Me a Coffee page, I agree that they don't translate to anything else. All of my projects are tiny, minimal, and try to solve a small problem I encountered while doing something else. All of these tools were written for myself or my wife or just for fun! But I shared the code on the web anyway just for the joy of sharing! The joy of sharing code is something I discovered with my first encounter with computers while learning to write programs using IBM/LCSI PC Logo.[2] The joy of sharing is the real reason for making my projects open source. In case it turns out to be useful for others, that's a bonus! If someone cares about it enough to star it, fork it, contribute to it, or send a donation, that's an additional bonus! However, my primary objective is to have fun and share the fun with others. In my opinion, computing should be fun[3] and open source is one way of the ways that computing remains fun for me. [1] https://github.com/susam?tab=repositories&sort=stargazers https://github.com/susam?tab=repositories&sort=stargazers [2] https://susam.in/blog/fd-100.html#a-lasting-effect https://susam.in/blog/fd-100.html#a-lasting-effect [3] https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-3.html https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/sicp/full-text/...
brabel 5y ago
I wonder why anyone would want to have a popular project in the first place. Do you think you'll get famous? Rich? Have higher status? Well, perhaps you will get some status in a few niche circles, like when applying for conference talks perhaps?! But other than that, all you'll get is a load of entitled users complaining about bugs, usually filling low quality bug reports, and very few actual meaningful contributions. Most people are just like you and want THEIR PROJECT to be popular, not to contribute almost anonymously to some other random guy's popular project. Those who are more likely to contribute are usually junior devs trying to learn new skills, so expect their contributions to require lots of reviews and help from you.
- susam 5y ago
  > But other than that, all you'll get is a load of entitled users complaining about bugs, usually filling low quality bug reports, and very few actual meaningful contributions. I agree that entitled users can be a real problem. I have had my share of dealing with entitled and impolite users complaining about "issues" that eventually turn out to be something that is already easily addressed by the README. Interacting with such users can indeed be disappointing. However, except for the occasional discourteous user, most users of my tiny projects have been quite supportive. Most of them are polite while submitting bug reports. Some even leave comments to express their appreciation for the project![1] So it's not all bad! > Most people are just like you and want THEIR PROJECT to be popular, not to contribute almost anonymously to some other random guy's popular project. Wanting one's own project to be popular and contributing to other projects need not be mutually exclusive. Many people write their own projects as well as contribute to other projects. For example, I got into open source first by contributing[2][3] to other projects before I began publishing my own projects. [1] https://github.com/susam/uncap/issues/9 https://github.com/susam/uncap/issues/9 [2] https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/NUTCH-559 https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/NUTCH-559 [3] https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/NUTCH-601 https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/NUTCH-601
  - brabel 5y ago
    > Many people write their own projects as well as contribute to other projects Yeah, I know, I do the same thing myself! The question still remains: why would you want to have a popular project? It makes no sense to desire that... Desiring that a project exists that solves a problem well... that yes, we should all desire that, but who created it doesn't really matter... if I create a project these days, it's to solve a problem I really can't find anything else to solve, not because I want to write something popular... TBH if it becomes popular, I might see that as a problem rather than a good thing given what comes with it: feature requests, bug reports, PRs that you need to spend time on while sometimes just not wanting to accept the change, self-awareness that you can no longer just change stuff at will if you want it... I have a few slightly popular projects, but the ones I like the most are the obscure ones I use by myself :)
ngokevin 5y ago
I've done a 10K+ one which did translate to followers, but keep in mind those followers are following the project, not you :) While people are grateful and supportive, do what makes you happy inside, because chasing clout and JSConf stages gets old.
reidjs 5y ago
It’s a lot easier to get a job if you have started a popular open source projection. It will at least get you an interview at most companies.
Nezteb 5y ago
For what it’s worth, I love `zod` and use it for almost every TypeScript project I work on. Most coworkers I show it to agree with me that it is incredibly useful and powerful. Thank you for all of your hard work.

BeFlatXIII 5y ago

How do you think the cash-in rate is for GitHub stars compared to Reddit karma? Somehow better or approximately the same?

kingforaday 5y ago
Probably the same as the ratio of Stanley Nickels to Schrute Bucks.

byteface 5y ago

easy to say when you got thousands. I had to really grind for my 43 stars over 18 months and each one really made my day. (python): https://github.com/byteface/domonic/ https://github.com/byteface/domonic/

susam 5y ago
Have you tried doing a "Show HN" post for your project? Creating a "Show HN" post is often a good way to get some attention and feedback for your project provided your post receives a few early upvotes in the first 30-40 minutes and reaches the front page.
- byteface 5y ago
  I had considered but it's not quite good enough yet. I posted on reddit once and got 1 upvote and 1 comment. aha. Think it's as I did it really late on a sunday. Timing is everything. But it hepled me a lot with not stressing too much about posting.
  - kristopolous 5y ago
    For this project and content on the net in general, You should generally show a compelling answer to the following questions within a few seconds: What is this? Why do I care? Why is this exciting? Do I like this? At least for me I can't answer those questions when I see your project. Maybe I'm stupid or ignorant and you simply don't want to reach me, alright fine. Also some projects simply cannot fit into this box. Sometimes reader enlightenment is required to see value. Those are the hardest ones. Essentially your task is to convince the reader that you have an answer to things they never thought to question or connect together and your proposed way of doing things fixes problems they thought were just the way of the world. That's why my more sophisticated projects do much worse than my simpler fun ones and why silly things do so well and hard things do so poorly. There is value to solving hard problems but as the new patterns form, people forget so the appreciation of great achievement is often fleeting. So I dunno, people suck and life is hard. Whatever
    - byteface 5y ago
      I think you're right. The project changed direction several times. from being a tag generator and a general wrapper before settling on trying to port the DOM. I still need to take it beyond being a curiosity. In ways I avoid wokring on those aspects that make something 'useful' as for me it kills the drive so I work around that aspect doing all the other bits first. And end up picking up on lots of tits bits that others don't. But I should probably fill in more of the expected functionality. It's a habit I got into to keep me engaged on a project.
alfiedotwtf 5y ago
Just a question... what are you actually grinding for? You get more stars, but then what?
- byteface 5y ago
  I enjoy what I'm making and would do it for no stars. But a star can take the edge off a bad day. Also it could lead to users, feedback, contributers.

hehetrthrthrjn 5y ago

> Just get a job and make friends and have a life. That really is a narrow, normie view. Obviously it didn't work out for you but for others (and I'd put myself in the category) stars can be very meaningful, especially for work which you're proud of. In a small way you're being judged by people who understand, or at least use, what you've created and that can be more rewarding than other work, money or social interactions. (Also, I'd rather kill myself than get a job and friends are generally not that stimulating)

NikolaeVarius 5y ago
Its funny since I find this comment to be the most normie way of living ever, being under the boot of people who don't give a shit about you.
- hehetrthrthrjn 5y ago
  Wow! Where did that come from? Especially the boot. Living life however you feel regardless of societal norms seems to be the opposite of living under a boot, doesn't it? And who are these people exactly? It really does sound like you're projecting there.
zapita 5y ago
> That really is a narrow, normie view. What does “normie” mean in this context? Is it the new “square”?
- yjftsjthsd-h 5y ago
  Yes
- rzzzt 5y ago
  It's hip to be square!
- Accujack 5y ago
  I'm going to say it's used in the "derogatory shorthand for everyone who isn't like me" sense.

susam 5y ago

I have a bunch of small projects[1] that have a total of about 6k stars (with the top one having about 2k stars). Except for a few donations to my Buy Me a Coffee page, I agree that they don't translate to anything else. All of my projects are tiny, minimal, and try to solve a small problem I encountered while doing something else. All of these tools were written for myself or my wife or just for fun! But I shared the code on the web anyway just for the joy of sharing! The joy of sharing code is something I discovered with my first encounter with computers while learning to write programs using IBM/LCSI PC Logo.[2] The joy of sharing is the real reason for making my projects open source. In case it turns out to be useful for others, that's a bonus! If someone cares about it enough to star it, fork it, contribute to it, or send a donation, that's an additional bonus! However, my primary objective is to have fun and share the fun with others. In my opinion, computing should be fun[3] and open source is one way of the ways that computing remains fun for me. [1] https://github.com/susam?tab=repositories&sort=stargazers https://github.com/susam?tab=repositories&sort=stargazers [2] https://susam.in/blog/fd-100.html#a-lasting-effect https://susam.in/blog/fd-100.html#a-lasting-effect [3] https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-3.html https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/sicp/full-text/...

brabel 5y ago

I wonder why anyone would want to have a popular project in the first place. Do you think you'll get famous? Rich? Have higher status? Well, perhaps you will get some status in a few niche circles, like when applying for conference talks perhaps?! But other than that, all you'll get is a load of entitled users complaining about bugs, usually filling low quality bug reports, and very few actual meaningful contributions. Most people are just like you and want THEIR PROJECT to be popular, not to contribute almost anonymously to some other random guy's popular project. Those who are more likely to contribute are usually junior devs trying to learn new skills, so expect their contributions to require lots of reviews and help from you.

susam 5y ago
> But other than that, all you'll get is a load of entitled users complaining about bugs, usually filling low quality bug reports, and very few actual meaningful contributions. I agree that entitled users can be a real problem. I have had my share of dealing with entitled and impolite users complaining about "issues" that eventually turn out to be something that is already easily addressed by the README. Interacting with such users can indeed be disappointing. However, except for the occasional discourteous user, most users of my tiny projects have been quite supportive. Most of them are polite while submitting bug reports. Some even leave comments to express their appreciation for the project![1] So it's not all bad! > Most people are just like you and want THEIR PROJECT to be popular, not to contribute almost anonymously to some other random guy's popular project. Wanting one's own project to be popular and contributing to other projects need not be mutually exclusive. Many people write their own projects as well as contribute to other projects. For example, I got into open source first by contributing[2][3] to other projects before I began publishing my own projects. [1] https://github.com/susam/uncap/issues/9 https://github.com/susam/uncap/issues/9 [2] https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/NUTCH-559 https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/NUTCH-559 [3] https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/NUTCH-601 https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/NUTCH-601
- brabel 5y ago
  > Many people write their own projects as well as contribute to other projects Yeah, I know, I do the same thing myself! The question still remains: why would you want to have a popular project? It makes no sense to desire that... Desiring that a project exists that solves a problem well... that yes, we should all desire that, but who created it doesn't really matter... if I create a project these days, it's to solve a problem I really can't find anything else to solve, not because I want to write something popular... TBH if it becomes popular, I might see that as a problem rather than a good thing given what comes with it: feature requests, bug reports, PRs that you need to spend time on while sometimes just not wanting to accept the change, self-awareness that you can no longer just change stuff at will if you want it... I have a few slightly popular projects, but the ones I like the most are the obscure ones I use by myself :)

ngokevin 5y ago

I've done a 10K+ one which did translate to followers, but keep in mind those followers are following the project, not you :) While people are grateful and supportive, do what makes you happy inside, because chasing clout and JSConf stages gets old.

reidjs 5y ago

It’s a lot easier to get a job if you have started a popular open source projection. It will at least get you an interview at most companies.

Nezteb 5y ago

For what it’s worth, I love `zod` and use it for almost every TypeScript project I work on. Most coworkers I show it to agree with me that it is incredibly useful and powerful. Thank you for all of your hard work.