Blog Post: GitHub Was Never About the Source Code

content/2026/github-was-never-about-the-source-code/index.md

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+title="GitHub Was Never About the Source Code"
+date=2026-08-17
+draft=false
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+With GitHub down once again, I decided to write this long-overdue blog post.
+
+{{ figure(src="github-down.jpg", alt="GitHub's unicorn error page during an outage") }}
+
+This was the [top comment on Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49330987) when I started writing this:
+
+> For a variety of reasons, we had a centralized place where everyone of a
+> particular set of persuasions could connect, and this had outside benefits for
+> the community as a whole. That place is becoming untenable, and with the loss
+> of goodwill and stability, the community’s started to dissipate. [...] But
+> those emergent features like **a core community and default expectation of
+> where you can find someone will fade**.
+> And that is a very real loss for all of us.
+
+That resonates sooo much with me. GitHub has never been about the source code. It's where I hang out with friends, see what they've built, and discover all the cool projects they star. It's the only "Facebook" I still visit. There is no other place like it anymore.
+
+GitHub is on its way out, and the community around it is starting to crumble.
+My feed basically consists of the same two people starring repos and being really "active."
+The rest is just noise. (I wish I could show you a screenshot, but, well, GitHub is down.)
+
+"AI" has only accelerated this trend.
+These days, you're lucky to get a pull request from a real human being.
+Discussing changes is no longer fun when you're talking to a bot 90% of the time.
+
+**I hope someone builds a community for developers; we need one now more than ever.**
+
+The way I see it, our code could live anywhere. We could share stars, comments, and project updates through a common network, similar to [Keybase](https://keybase.io/) or [Mastodon](https://mastodon.social).
+
+Send me an email if you like the idea.