Can We Solve Fake GitHub Stars?

GitHub stars were supposed to be a simple signal. A project with more stars should, in theory, be more visible, more trusted, and more likely to be useful. It is a clean mechanism: lightweight, social, and easy to understand. But like every visible reputation signal, it becomes valuable enough to game. And once a signal becomes valuable, people start manufacturing it. That is the core problem. Fake reviews were never just a marketplace problem. They were a reputation problem. GitHub stars are fa