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Should GitHub Implement a Downvote/Flag System?

5 points by JamesTheHacker ↗ HN
I propose that GitHub introduces a feature that lets users either down vote, or flag a repo.

The reason is because there's many repos that exist that are no longer maintained but this isn't made known to the user viewing the repo.

This a problem for high starred repos that are linked from other places on the web and continue to get traffic, and clones.

It's not always possible to see if a repo is no longer maintained by looking at things like last commit, or issues. This doesn't indicate a repo is no longer maintained or neglected. There's also a demographic that consume repos but don't necessary understand much about GitHub, or how it works (I've worked with them!).

This is a problem for user who clone and invest any amount of time into using something they don't know is no longer maintained.

For example, I had to submit a pull request on the Compass CSS framework to make users known it was depreciated. It wasn't listed anywhere on the repo, and was still being used. Issues were still being fired but left most unanswered at the time.

I'm not sure how this could be implemented to avoid competition abuse. But i feel it's something GitHub should consider.

What do you think?

7 comments

[ 4.9 ms ] story [ 25.3 ms ] thread
ringe
Any developer with some decent skill will look at time of last commit and/or number of unanswered issues.

No. We don't need a more prominent way to express negative feelings about a repo.

Raed667
Maybe an "active" flag in the search results would be useful? It would be based on the frequency of commits and the date of the last commit.
dbg31415
Downvotes are toxic. Let's not Reddit-ify the internet any more than it has been. Stars, and clones are good enough to see if a repo is any good. Now... arguably we should have more insight into how many people have "liked" the repo in the last month... that'd be useful.

Check the issue log... see what activity has been going on lately. Lots of issues, and lots of issues closed... that's probably a good thing. Lots of issues, and no issues closed... that's not great. No issues created recently... forget it, it's dead.

nness
I would resist any features which have the effect of punishing people for the very real constraints of maintaining OSS work.
hoodoof
Terrible idea - it will bring all the negativity and toxicity of StackOverflow.
detaro
If you care about it being maintained, you should invest the time to check if it is. Maintained code can be crap, unmaintained code can be perfectly usable.

I wish clear markings for the project status were more common, and maybe standardized as a feature in Github, but I'm not sure any mechanism that reminds of "punishment" for the author is a good idea.

stephenr
Right because if there's one thing we know, it's that people voting on things online will be objective.