[alkonaut]

> spirit of open-source

> whole point of open-sourcing code

I don't think there is a single "spirit" or that open source in any way must necessarily include any collaboration at all. Perhaps a maintainer/project owner feels the work of even approaching other maintainers or delegating even a single unit of work to be unwanted. It's their choice. Putting code on github isn't an automatic invitation for contribution or collaboration, it's merely making it public. Top reasons I put code on github (I can't know, but I think this is pretty common):

1) To make it searchable and readable by others 2) To use the issue management tools (usually by myself, as TODOs) 3) To make what's built from the code usable by others who can build it themselves or download binaries. 4) To back up the code 5) To use CI tools 6) To get feedback like bug reports from users 7) As a portfolio