I don't remember source forge having stars, at least not during the time it was used to index some of the most impactful open source projects. So it's definite

I don't remember source forge having stars, at least not during the time it was used to index some of the most impactful open source projects. So it's definitely possible for OSS to do just fine without this feature. I really loathe these systems that insert themselves between users and the repos adding little value and look forward to their demise. The repo will tell you if something is still active and maybe I'm naive, but I doubt faking commits happens as often as fake 'stars'.