The issue is that this model of opensource is different than the Linux distribution model of opensource.
In the Linux distribution model, Debian, Red Hat, etc maintain older libraries in maintenance mode. Patching them for security or other less glamorous fixes and adjustments.
In the Github, NPM model of opensource, the original author also controls the default means of distribution. There is not 3rd party like Debian in the middle to maintain it when the original authors leave. So many thousands of projects will still point to an abandoned distribution channel as opposed to simply an abandoned project.
There are likely solutions, and this is not to say that the second model is better or worse. It is only to describe that it is not as simple as a project being considered "done".
In the Linux distribution model, Debian, Red Hat, etc maintain older libraries in maintenance mode. Patching them for security or other less glamorous fixes and adjustments.
In the Github, NPM model of opensource, the original author also controls the default means of distribution. There is not 3rd party like Debian in the middle to maintain it when the original authors leave. So many thousands of projects will still point to an abandoned distribution channel as opposed to simply an abandoned project.
There are likely solutions, and this is not to say that the second model is better or worse. It is only to describe that it is not as simple as a project being considered "done".