Re: [Audacity-quality] [Audacity-devel] Plug-in Download Counters.

[Gale A. <ga...@au...>]

| From Steve the Fiddle <ste...@gm...> 
| Wed, 5 Feb 2014 15:45:49 +0000
| Subject: [Audacity-quality] [Audacity-devel] Plug-in Download Counters.
>> On 5 February 2014 03:48, Gale Andrews <ga...@au...> wrote:
> >
>> > | From Martyn Shaw <mar...@gm...>
> >> | Wed, 05 Feb 2014 01:11:01 +0000
> >> | Subject: [Audacity-quality] [Audacity-devel] Plug-in Download Counters.
> >> Hi Steve
> >>
> >> This sounds like a good idea, if somebody has a use for / interest in
> >> the data gathered and doesn't mind Google having their hands on it as
> >> well.
[...]
> > The other idea I had was to count by hosting the downloads on the
> > Forum, so the counts could be kept out of Google's hands if deemed
> > preferable. The zip downloads still exist on the Forum for plug-ins
> > listed on Wiki.
> >
> > This would be more work for existing plug-ins than just creating the
> > short URL, and obviously only give us number counts. However it
> > would include in the count any clicks that still come from the
> > Forum-archived copy of the plug-in.
> 
> I don't think that it needs to be much more work. It could just be one
> page on the  forum with all of the hosted plug-ins.
> 
> It has some advantages, notably that it makes the plug-ins more
> visible to forum visitors.
> 
> If we did that, what would happen if, for any reason, that page got
> "lost" (corrupted or whatever)?
> Would we be able to find them all again?

We can always query the Forum database, just as we could query
the Wiki database, except it's inconvenient. 

I was assuming when transferring a plug-in to Wiki, we'd retain its
archived Forum discussion as now, so the count will still be available 
on the archived page.

Then create a new Forum page which is just a list of plug-in links
with their downloads counted automatically. 


> Wouldn't the plug-ins be mixed in with every other attachment
> that has ever been posted to the forum?

If we lost both the page that counts Wiki plug-in downloads and the  
plug-ins archive, then we're relying on the file name to identify 
plug-ins.

I think implementation and viewing the counts may be slightly 
easier with a URL shortening service, but there is still the risk 
of that service folding (whoever runs it). 

BTW Google's service seems to have no way to give a descriptive
name to the link, but Bit.ly allows that - which makes it a little 
easier to scan the plug-in names in a long list. 



Gale 
  

 


> >> On 04/02/2014 21:43, Steve the Fiddle wrote:
> >> > Not sure of the most appropriate list. Posted here as developers will
> >> > probably be more knowledgeable about the technical details and
> >> > implications. Cc: to QA as it is related to documentation and "market
> >> > research".
> >> >
> >> > A while ago it was suggested that it would be useful if we had
> >> > download counters for the plug-ins on the wiki. The difficulty in
> >> > doing so was that we have not been able to find a safe download
> >> > counter for MediaWiki.
> >> >
> >> > I've recently come across Google's URL Shortener.
> >> > http://goo.gl/
> >> >
> >> > In its simplest form, you post the URL of the actual download location
> >> > on the Google page and are given a short URL for that download. The
> >> > short URL is then used as the download link. Google then count each
> >> > time the short URL is used, including geographic and user agent data.
> >> >
> >> > The service can also be used in more sophisticated ways via the Google API.
> >> >
> >> > Steve