Developers are not impressed with GitHub’s news feed, sparking concerns the platform is trying to be a social network more than a developer resource.
GitHub is one of the premier resources for hosting and managing software projects in the cloud, providing full version control support. Commercial and open software projects alike rely on GitHub. According to The Register, however, the platform has recently rolled out a news feed aimed at reccommending projects developers may be interested in.
The response has not been what GitHub hoped for, with developers complaining about what they see as unnecessary distractions.
“I do not need to see recommendations, nor activity of people I don’t follow,” wrote one developer. “It looks like github is trying to push “social” features but we’re here to work and get to the point. The current feed is all I need. The beta feed offers nothing of value. Don’t fix what’s not broken.”
“For many of us,” said another, “GitHub is part of our livelihood, and the gamification of it could lead to extra stress we could do without.
Still others voiced concerns the algorithmic feed could result in data collection and a loss of privacy.
Fortunately, The Register reports that GitHub plans to make the feature opt-out. It’s not as good as making it opt-in, but at least it’s something.