It's hard to remember, but as soon as gitlab showed up, GitHub went from a "maybe someday if I make it" site to a "let's just use GitHub for everything" site.

Prior to gitlab ratcheting up the usability, features, and cost effectiveness, I preferred hosted git for 99% of use cases.

I just started using git, can you give me some advice?

Use it everyday, preferable with a porcelain such as magit in emacs.

Alias commands help.

Run your own git server instead of using one of the big names.

Use git hooks. (https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Customizing-Git-Git-Hooks)

When starting out, looking at visuals of how git works can help a lot I've found when training others. (https://www.junosnotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/basic-...)

Is that why Gitlab doesn't innovate anymore? No point if GitHub just steals the features?