I'd say there isn't really a better general option. Some people may want to target the largest amount of people right out of the gate, some people might want to be a big fish in a (growing) small pound. Some projects might have so many (possibly non core) dependencies that it's too hard to start from scratch without already existing mature tools, some projects you might want to start from scratch anyway so might as well use a more modern language that will give it some edge.

I think the only globally optimal option in hobby open source projects is doing whatever seems more fun for you, and for many people is using that language that no one uses (or making your own language that no one uses).