What's worse is when an author abandons their project, when it has active users, AND when it has active problems. Some projects just need a big sign that says, "DO NOT USE."

I learned for myself a few key signs that show when a project is abandoned:

* The author never comments on or closes issues.

* Issues continue to be opened, but users begin to report bugs in more basic functionality as time goes on.

* The author has a Twitter feed or blog (or other source of life signs) which he updates. This provides a signal which shows that the author is actively focusing his efforts elsewhere. A lack of public activity is not a signal, because it leaves room for speculation. Activity elsewhere likely means the author has moved on.

All of these signs taken together indicate that a project is abandoned. Here's an example of such a project: Brian Noguchi's everyauth [1]. There are 163 issues open, and all recent ones have no trace of comments from Brian (sign 1). One of these issues is mine. The example code in the repository is broken, and one of the OAuth modules has a showstopper bug (sign 2)[2]. Brian's Github activity shows he is working on the admittedly more important derby.js project (sign 3)[3].

I am not focusing on Brian because I want to shame him, but everyauth is a good example of an abandoned project, and all of its users should pack up and move on.

[1] https://github.com/bnoguchi/everyauth

[2] https://github.com/bnoguchi/everyauth/pull/367

[3] https://github.com/bnoguchi?tab=activity