[ROARosen]

Just because you don't find any legitimate use case for this doesn't mean there is no use case. IMHO the more API coverage a platform can provide the better. Obvs only when it's possible to do so in a safe manner.

For instance I'm in the process of building a VScode and browser extension that would automatically star repo's of all npm packages and linked scripts used in your code (including dependencies). I think that's a basic gratitude thing for myself, and a tool some people might be interested in.

[wpietri]

> the more API coverage a platform can provide the better

This is a very common opinion of people who consume APIs, but people maintaining the APIs often feel differently. Every API endpoint is a promise, and it's also a constraint on future innovation. Firefox is a good example, in that their old API allowed extensions to "intimately intertwine" [1] themselves, which proved a huge barrier to improving the Firefox core.

[1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/08/mozil...

[ROARosen]

>Every API endpoint is a promise, and it's also a constraint on future innovation.

I'm not referring to keeping any particular API endpoint alive. The problem you raise can be easily mitigated with a correctly built-out API versioning system and - more importantly - API deprecation policy.

I'm referring to just API coverage of platform features. In that sense maintaining API's can be viewed as not much different than maintaining the actual platform features themselves. Obviously the more feature you provide the more maintenance/resources will be required. That goes for both API's and the features themselves.

[mh-]

Having seen some pretty deep npm trees, I worry what you're building could end up (accidentally) doing hundreds or thousands of stars.

I'd be careful to not make it recursive, at least - only look at direct dependencies.

[askiiart]

Sounds cool, except that people will get banned. I'd recommend making a menu where people can click on individual dependencies to star, or have a button to star all (but with a very clear warning about the possibilty if getting banned).

[ROARosen]

Great idea! will keep in mind.

[pydry]

Please dont. Your extension will probably get more people banned when they star 1200 repos.

[AdrianB1]

>> the more API coverage a platform can provide the better

The more attack surface, the better?