Hello, on 02/17/2010 03:26 AM Nathan Rixham said the following: >>>> Having to register to download classes from phpclasses.org is a >>>> nuisance. Manuel says this is up to the individual developer. This may >>>> be technically true, but Manuel *offers* this as an option. Contrast >>>> Source Forge, which performs a similar function but does not require any >>>> registration to download anything. I imagine that the registration >>>> allows Manuel to tightly monitor site usage in a variety of ways. >>> Actually it is much more than that. If you download a package, the site >>> keeps track of that and next time the package is updated, it send you an >>> e-mail alert so you can get the latest version, unless you do not want >>> to be notified of course. >>> > > per project rss feeds? That is not the same thing. The PHPClasses also has RSS project feeds but the vast majority of the users that download a package do not even realize they are available, even less subscribe to them. In PHPClasses, you are automatically subscribed to the package change e-mail alerts just because you downloaded a package. The users may realize later they are not interested and unsubscribe but many of them love to get alerts on updated classes that they have interest. So you keep your loyal users hooked. It only depends on you, the author, to update your package once you have done significant improvements. >>> Also the site counts how many distinct users downloaded each package and >>> builds top download rankings . If you download a package more than once, >>> it only counts once, so the top download charts are accurate, making it >>> fair for everybody. > > no more accurate than storing the ip (or a hash of it); people forget > details sign up again and so forth - can never guarantee accuracy here No, it is totally different. Users change IP addresses every day. Anonymous login will never be able determine if an user is coming to download again or is another user. PHPClasses only accounts logged user download, so it can distinguish. Sure, an user may create a new account if he forgets but the way the site works he is discouraged to do so. That is part of the reason why the site does not allow deleting accounts. It may not be 100% accurate, but it is certainly more accurate than anonymous download counts. >>> There are other compelling reasons but this is basically why more than >>> 2600 authors submitted over 5000 packages. The site gets them attention. >>> >>> Other sites like Sourceforge cannot provide this level of attention >>> precisely because they do not require users to download even if the >>> authors wanted that. > > I'd debate this; but trying to stick to positives - sf do pretty well > with their stats is all I'll say It depends on what you consider pretty well. If you consider that accounting Web robots downloads and mix them with real user downloads is pretty well, you may be believing in a big lie. >> This type of question has been asked many times on this list, >> particularly for "voting" type projects: How do I ensure that a person >> can only vote once (etc.)? No answer I've ever seen, besides insisting >> on a registration/login, has ever been satisfactory. The above is a >> real-world example of this in action. And as Manuel details, it has >> some definite benefits to users and developers. > > ack; fact is if you wanted to skew results you'd just create lots of > accounts - distinct ip and cookies can cover it just as well; there is > no "perfect" solution. That is what you think. The PHPClasses site has fraud combat system that tackles that case of users creating many accounts to spam rankings. I am just not going to explain how it works because nothing is 100% guaranteed, but in my experience it works wonders and prevented a lot of injustices like giving away prizes to authors that cheat that way. Anyway, for other sites that unlike PHPClasses do not give any prizes, it may not be a big deal. >> Again, having to register/login is a pain. But ads are a pain, too. It's >> a trade-off. > > always need to figure out which has more benefits though; more downloads > and exposure (better conversion ratio) vs better stats and less exposure > (low conversion ratio) + account for things like people downloading > because they can see the source ala google code - i for one always check > the svn browser on google code before downloading, sure many others do too.. Sure, people can always submit their projects to as many sites they want. Actually, the goal of PHPClasses is not to make people register, although that brings benefits to contributing users. But if you ever wondered why certain packages are available on PHPClasses and not elsewhere, you may have your answer regarding what provides more benefits. -- Regards, Manuel Lemos Find and post PHP jobs http://www.phpclasses.org/jobs/ PHP Classes - Free ready to use OOP components written in PHP http://www.phpclasses.org/ -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
