Well...Github specifically has tools that allow people to fork stuff and then request feature merges - I have submitted fixes and features to various pieces of software this way, and I find it quite convenient for both parties: the original author only needs to review the code (which, I admit, is nontrivial quite in itself) and approve the merge. Although this is, technologically, akin to a project fork, it doesn&#x27;t have the emotional baggage attached to &quot;well I think that I&#x27;ll do better than the original&quot;, it&#x27;s merely a branch not pretending to replace the main thing.<p>As for people passing off things as their own - yes, &quot;that&#x27;s why we can&#x27;t have nice things,&quot; as the internet saying goes; and I know how infuriating that is. I don&#x27;t know what could be done about this, alas.