[wp-meta] [Making WordPress.org] #1155: Plugin API should include active installs

[Making WordPress.org]

#1155: Plugin API should include active installs
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  Reporter:  McGuive7    |      Owner:
      Type:  defect      |     Status:  closed
  Priority:  normal      |  Component:  api.wordpress.org
Resolution:  worksforme  |   Keywords:
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Comment (by Otto42):

 1. Misinterpreted in that there is considerable day-to-day variation. A
 drop of, say, 300 installs over one day doesn't necessarily mean 300
 people deactivated the plugin.

 The reporting and data gathering methods are not perfect, and without
 understanding the potential issues inherent there, giving exact counts
 would be misleading. In other words, our "exact" count is not "exact" at
 all.

 2. The number is rounded to the first significant digit. 300+ = 300-399.
 10,000+ = 10000 - 19999.  The displayed number maxes out at 1 million.

 The reasoning is that at each point in that curve, you're less concerned
 about individual installs and should be concerned more with the overall
 health of the ecosystem you're creating. There really is not a lot of
 difference between 10000 and 19999, actually. It's over 10k people using
 your plugin. When it gets to 20k, then that's good to know, but knowing
 when it hits 15k is not really significant. Growth is what you're looking
 for, and seeing that early rapid growth is helpful, but that falls off in
 usefulness as the number grows larger. Or maybe not. Depends on your ego,
 I'd say. ;)

 3. When we have no active install data for a plugin, as in zero reported
 active installs, then it shows the download count instead.

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Ticket URL: <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/1155#comment:7>
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