I’ve been using GitHub since I was eleven years old. To be fair, I didn’t really understand git at the time, but I was able to fumble my way through it (barely). I do remember getting banned because eleven year old me decided to tell the internet my age on GitHub, and the ToS prohibited me from using the service until I was at least thirteen.

Anyway.

GitHub and I have had some nice times together. And I think it’s time for me to say goodbye.

Way back when, young little Ersei was learning Python. I made a little program that extracts the Exif geolocation data from pictures and puts them on a map. The source code is available here. I needed a way to distribute that app, and I don’t remember how but I found GitHub.

My memory is a little fuzzy, so bear with me.

I remember uploading the .exe for the Windows-only PyInstaller app to the GitHub releases of the original repository. I remember going through that first “create your repository” setup for the first time. I can just upload what I’ve made and the whole world can use it!

Every time I found a repo there that I enjoyed, I gave it a star. Every time someone liked one of my repos, they give it a star. There was discovery of new programs, libraries, things I would’ve never found without GitHub. There was magic in that discovery, that starry-eyed time where I could explore and learn and grow.

I feel like GitHub has lost that magic.

Before, what felt like an interesting and independent website, has gone to shit. Yes, the Microsoft acquisition changed things, but I was willing to give things a shot. Hopefully, not much will change, right?

And not much did. Everything kept chugging on. I don’t remember any grievances. Everything kept goin