# A personal account of how GitHub star counts affect a project maintainer's mental health

DevFeed: [A personal account of how GitHub star counts affect a project maintainer's mental health](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/github-stars-is-ruining-my-mental-health-need-help-advice-38867.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://dev.to/vestrel00/github-stars-is-ruining-my-mental-health-need-helpadvice-bag>)

Author: Vandolf Estrellado

Published: 2022-03-01T02:02:11Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Vandolf Estrellado](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/vandolf-estrellado.md>)

Topics: [GitHub](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/github.md>), [Android](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/android.md>)

Tags: [coding](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/coding.md>), [community](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/community.md>), [development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/development.md>), [engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/engineering.md>), [github](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/github.md>), [inclusive](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/inclusive.md>), [mental-health](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mental-health.md>), [opinion](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/opinion.md>), [software](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/software.md>)

## AI overview

A developer describes how GitHub star counts have affected his mental health and social and professional life. He explains that a project he has worked on for three years has fewer stars than a newer project with only a fraction of its features, and reflects on whether stars indicate project quality.

## Source excerpt

Hi, my name is Vandolf and I have some internal problems. With disasters happening all around the world for the past several years, I really have nothing to complain about. I know that this internal "problem" is laughable and makes me really ashamed that it is even affecting me at all. Yet, for the past six months, this "thing" has been eating me up inside. It has been affecting my social and professional life. If you'd rather read about real problems happening around the world, please click away. Otherwise, stay and you might get some amusement out of it if nothing else. The thing is, I know hardships. I was born and raised in the slums of the Philippines. I know what real hunger is like. I know the feeling of helplessness and acceptance of having no future. I was luckily able to immigrate into the US. I am now living in Hawaii with my wife, son, dogs, and cat with a view of mountains and oceans. I take nothing for granted. I am truly grateful for the life that Android made possible. ❓ So, why is GitHub stars bothering me so much? It's just a number, right? This article is NOT an attempt to get stars. I really just want to discuss what I have been "suffering" from for the past half year. I will NOT provide links to the projects or mention any names. I want this article to be on topic. I want it to be anonymous, yet personal. Please don't dig deeper. I will not answer any comments about specifics. Though, feel free to send me a DM. Maybe we can talk privately. You can even tell me how pathetic I am. GitHub stars. How much does it matter? There have been many articles and discussions that have been written about this topic. This article is not about the value of stars but rather a personal story about it. Anyways, here are some of the good stuff that I've read... Do Github stars matter? Should the Quality of GitHub Projects Be Evaluated by Their Star Count? "GitHub Stars" is a very useful metric. But for what? TLDR; The opinion is split. To some, stars are just publicl