My guess is that I'm closer to a GitHub datacenter (or AWS region?) because they have an office here in Boulder.
I believe these "features" turn the site into a pseudo-social media outlet and allow vanity to creep into process by which communities develop software. It is something that I noticed quite a lot during my (recent) years in undergrad: where many individuals directly equated stars with software quality (in there own projects or the projects of others). I know that those features in particular are only part of the problem (if the problem does truly exist), but they personally made me uncomfortable with the platform and are one of the primary reasons I left GitHub a few years ago.
That's just my opinion though, so take it with a grain of salt.
I’ve never seen it as a competition not heard anyone and it would be foolish to think so as changing lots of lines has nothing to do with quality of my work. It would actually be nice to filter out contacts with idiots who might think that.
The stars are also something I just ignore and personally use it as a bookmarking tool.