If a project helps you, please give it a star

I often notice interesting but not very useful projects getting a lot of stars because they generated some discussion on HN. I think reviews would be better. I've used the reviews, both the number of reviews and the average, on the WordPress Plugin Directory to decide what plugin to install, and find them to be reasonably accurate. Something like this for other platforms besides WP would be great.

Do stars really "help" that much? This sort of reads like projection more than anything.

Personally I use the stars as a kind of bookmarking system, rather than purely a like system, given they reside and are searchable in the starred section of one&#x27;s profile. I&#x27;ll link a project to others if I find it useful.<p>If I&#x27;ve created something I usually appreciate written praise&#x2F;thanks from users and peers more but I also understand how even little gestures can make a difference.

I have a project with over 2000 stars[1], but I don&#x27;t maintain it any more and it&#x27;s not indicative of how I code at the moment. I guess it&#x27;s nice to have, but what really is the worth of the stars?<p>[1]<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;minikomi&#x2F;Bootstrap-Form-Builder" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;minikomi&#x2F;Bootstrap-Form-Builder</a><p>edit: and, 1060 forks..

This type of problem falls on what I call the &quot;conversion&quot; problem.<p>Having a customer where I did some work with e-mail campaigns with several products and different populations, it was almost constant for these values:<p>10-15% open the e-mail.<p>1-3% Convert or create an action.<p>And I do extrapolate these numbers for the whole population. It come to be the 1-3% that &quot;do something&quot; and that 10-15% who reads and leave for later.<p>Parents and teaching meeting? 10-15% will think about going...1-3% will go and take some action (volunteer, raise). Same on other activities. I am not blaming or judging, but we can&#x27;t always be on 1-3% every time all the time.<p>So expect 1-2% of visitors giving stars for you.

Maybe I&#x27;m weird, but stars are never a motivation in themselves. They show someone <i>may</i> be using the project, but that&#x27;s it. Admittedly I haven&#x27;t received many star ratings, but even a single issue filed is more motivating than all the stars I ever got.

It’s crazy how stars can really boost ones career.

I don&#x27;t star projects if they help me or if I use them. I star if I like them.