That's because it works very well, and the main developer is super active (I've contributed and made some plugins so have interacted with them a fair bit)

[–] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I doubt that amount of stars can be achieved naturally in this short time, especially from a developer previously unknown.
the program is certainly not used by likehappy common people, this would seem complicated and scare them away

[–] _hovi_@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

To be fair this is a terminal file manager... only a certain kind of person will be interested in the first place, and those people are likely to be more inclined to leave a star on GitHub.

Personally I believe the stars were achieved naturally but of course there's no way to know and it never hurts to be skeptical.

[–] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 month ago

To be fair this is a terminal file manager... only a certain kind of person will be interested in the first place,

that's the point

and those people are likely to be more inclined to leave a star on GitHub.

I don't see that connection. But you know what, here is an example.

Broot is a similar program. It has been there for longer, has been loved by many, yet it has fewer stars.
If I would know more of those like this, I would probably have more examples.