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by sfritz 1021 days ago
I haven't seen "on crack" used in a positive light, but apparently it is sometimes? Usually I'd say "they must have a crack team on incident response", meaning a highly functional, smooth-running team.
4 comments

I love when people say "like crack" when they've obviously never done crack. - Ryan, The office.
Huh, I swear I heard in a positive context before. But English in not my native language, so my feel on the nuance of this expression is probably a bit off.
There's a subtle distinction. "Like ... on crack/steroids" means a really good / fast version of something (I think steroids is probably the more common variation) e.g. "an e-bike is like a bicycle on crack". "They're on crack" means "They are crazy".
I’ve heard “on crack” used similarly to “on steroids,” as an American English speaker.

For example, it would not be out of the question to say something like “when the iPhone launched it was amazing. Like a palm pilot on crack.”

So, when used positively, “on crack” is generally a modifier(in my experience). When used alone it does seem to have negative connotations.

I think it's used like that for products rather than humans. "X is like Y on crack."
Yeah "on crack" usually means they're not right in the head.

In this context though, OP is referring to the drug where the Github engineers are being quick/energetic about fixing the issue because they're "boosted" by the drug's effects.

Yes, they obviously meant the more common, positive associations related to methamphetamines like, "great job on that quick PR, Kim. You must be on meth!" :)
Or “gee, Hunter Biden is a swell son, he sure got to Vegas really fast! He must be on crack!”
Its pretty unusual, I think it has to do with their local time coupled with a presumed enthusiastic and swift response on the part of github.

I'm more used to 'on crack' meaning like 'delirious, over confident'.