[akerl_]

I get that part of GitHub's pitch for longevity is the social aspect, but this feature confuses me. 90% of the time I get to a new repo, I'm there because it showed up in my feed when one of the people I follow starred it, or because I saw it on HN. If it looks sweet, I pass on the love by starring it, which then makes it show up in the feeds of folks who follow me.

I'm likely not the Typical GitHub User, but "who do I know that likes this repo", is a question I can't remember ever asking myself.

As an Atypical GitHub User, I ask the rest of you: what benefit should I be deriving from this page, that I'm currently missing out on?

[burntsushi]

I'm not sure that it really applies to me (since I'm not following anyone), but I could imagine it being useful if you only follow people you respect. If someone you respect is using a library, isn't that a strong endorsement or a vote of confidence?

Of course, starring a repository doesn't mean you're using it...

And you said you see this anyway in your feed...

But maybe it'd still be useful as a thread to pull on or if you missed that event in your feed.

If anything, it does seem to increase the "networkyness" of GitHub. I think I kind of like that.

[Datsundere]

Github is going to be the next facebook, or rather tumblr.