Does github need a cartoonish cat with 5 octopus-like legs to be its logo? Of course not, but it makes it memorable and funny. And besides, anime is extremely mainstream these days.

I would likely be just as put off by a picture of Spongebob or Goofy or Goku in a readme as Anya, fwiw.

maybe you should evaluate whether arbitrary societal norms of "professionalism" or something else are leading to you miss out on cool stuff

Wouldn’t quite go that far. I’ve only met one anime fan in my entire career.

Do you ask everyone you meet?

Then you must be old. Even in western countries Spy x Family (which the character is from) has sold millions of copies, while most people read mangas online and won't be counted. In the country I am from I frequently see people wearing merch of it, mostly because Uniqlo has had a successful line of it. And that is just one manga/anime out of hundreds of popular ones.

Using anime characters is similar to boomer nerds referencing Marvel/DC comics , Star Wars etc.

I wouldn't have prepared information this way, but judging by the immense popularity of _why in his day, I'm forced to assume that many prefer to have the cartoons

Those cartoon foxes secured his legacy, and to a significant extent, that of Ruby itself.

Does Docker need this "cartoon" of an otter to get the point across? https://github.com/docker/docs?tab=readme-ov-file

or this "cartoon" of an octopus? https://github.com/docker/compose

This seems to really just be "oldman-yelling-at-clouds-syndrome"

I for one welcome anime girls in readmes and hope to see more of it in the future if only because it seems to bother some of the old hoagies in the world for some reason.

I'm glad you enjoy anime girls but surely you can see why it's different than a project's logo?

One is directly related to the project, the other isn't. It's not even contextually related.

Python (the language) is named after "Monty Python's Flying Circus" simply because Guido was reading the scripts at the time:

> When he began implementing Python, Guido van Rossum was also reading the published scripts from “Monty Python’s Flying Circus”, a BBC comedy series from the 1970s. Van Rossum thought he needed a name that was short, unique, and slightly mysterious, so he decided to call the language Python.

The cartoon is literally pointing at contextually relevant information, and it's far more pleasant to follow than yet another big red arrow. That said, I would have enjoyed my reading a bit more if the author utilized a more diverse cast of characters.

Why does github use an octocat as its logo? It's unrelated to software development

Is 29 considered old hoagie?

Old hoagie is more of a mindset. Anyone of any age can be an old hoagie if they like, all one has to do is practice getting upset when one sees anime girls, believe in the coming AI apocalypse and use Emacs.

Don't see how Emacs fits into this. At least I can sort lines there without another proprietary addon.

I would agree putting a cartoon character in readme, without any good context is definitely unprofessional. But would not go as far as offputting.