I pointed this out because I've seen this over and over again with the single theme of "I was working on some silly project using AWS and I pushed my credentials to github".
I don't think I've ever seen a professional team push AWS credentials (or any other credentials for that matter) - and if they did it's very rare to the point where I don't remember.
As far as mixing credentials with code - that happens all the time. I'm not saying it's right but I have much bigger concerns - such as why people keep silly projects to github with their credentials. The first time I saw an article about it - I found out that there are bad people who are monitoring github for exactly that - and they will use it even before you realize it what you did. And not just AWS credentials mind you - MySQL, SSH, anything they can get their hands on...
I think my comments are getting lost in translation -
I'm not saying I'm against people pushing their silly projects. Push your 1 line GPL code projects all day long - I don't care. That's why github is there. What I find puzzling is not that people want to create new projects - but they feel like they must create a git repo for EVERYTHING they do and push it up to a public github like it's going to change the face of computer science as we know it or something. I've seen people keep documents and even bash profiles as public repos. I'm not saying it isn't a good idea to use git for those purposes - but I wouldn't want my bash profile common knowledge (especially if it contains commands or functions that I use at my day job).
One reason why I like to publish even frivolous things to Github is because it forces a bit of rigor upon whatever I'm publishing. I'm more likely to clean it up and keep it tidy, and I can use the same workflow for it that I use for everything else, like using Github Issues as a TODO list.
But I suppose that might be more of a backsplanation.
More likely is that I do it as a backup strategy, because I have limited private repos, and because I'd rather just keep everything on Github than use multiple services.
It turns out that unless you commit AWS creds, nobody cares about your repos.
Why does it matter? I think your mistake is assuming that people believe the "change the face of computer science" bit. And perhaps this person had a particular reason for putting this up (wanted to show someone), and doesn't actually feel the need to push every line of code they write. I feel like very few people are as obnoxious about it as you describe, but even then - again, so what?
You're more guarded about your code, that's perfectly fine, but not everyone feels that way. Code that's shared has the potential to benefit and inspire others (even stuff some might see as trivial or silly), code that's hidden doesn't. I see nothing wrong with erring on the side of openness (except with account credentials of course!).
I don't think I've ever seen a professional team push AWS credentials (or any other credentials for that matter) - and if they did it's very rare to the point where I don't remember.
As far as mixing credentials with code - that happens all the time. I'm not saying it's right but I have much bigger concerns - such as why people keep silly projects to github with their credentials. The first time I saw an article about it - I found out that there are bad people who are monitoring github for exactly that - and they will use it even before you realize it what you did. And not just AWS credentials mind you - MySQL, SSH, anything they can get their hands on...
I think my comments are getting lost in translation -
I'm not saying I'm against people pushing their silly projects. Push your 1 line GPL code projects all day long - I don't care. That's why github is there. What I find puzzling is not that people want to create new projects - but they feel like they must create a git repo for EVERYTHING they do and push it up to a public github like it's going to change the face of computer science as we know it or something. I've seen people keep documents and even bash profiles as public repos. I'm not saying it isn't a good idea to use git for those purposes - but I wouldn't want my bash profile common knowledge (especially if it contains commands or functions that I use at my day job).