What's in a GitHub Star? Understanding Repository Starring Practices in a Social Coding Platform.

•Developers star repositories mainly to show appreciation or to bookmark projects•3 out of 4 developers check the stars metric before using or contributing to projects•But developers also evaluate other factors, such as code quality and documentation•Fast growth in the number of stars is often a result of promotion in social sites•When ranking projects, we should check whether stars are result of active promotion