If the alternatives are better, then devs will choose those solutions and "request" will fade over time. It doesn't have Promise support, so new projects will likely not choose it.

request is very simple and straightforward library that solves a very common issue.

Deprecating it causes a lot of work for every project out there. Either using request directly or indirectly.

I have a lot of respect for the maintainer, and he can choose to do whatever he wants with this module. That's his privilege.

However, the fact that he got "bored" with this solution, doesn't mean he needs to deprecate it. He can just stop working on it, and give ownership to someone else.

If it had a security issue and he is not going to ever update it, then that would deserve the deprecation so people should be warned.