[wp-meta] [Making WordPress.org] #1692: Plugin search quality improvements

[Making WordPress.org]

#1692: Plugin search quality improvements
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 Reporter:  tellyworth                           |       Owner:  tellyworth
     Type:  enhancement                          |      Status:  assigned
 Priority:  normal                               |   Milestone:  Plugin
Component:  Plugin Directory                     |  Directory v3.0
 Keywords:  dev-feedback needs-docs 2nd-opinion  |  Resolution:
  needs-testing                                  |
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Comment (by gibrown):

 @sethshoultes

 > opening the doors wide open to favoritism and politicization of the
 search results

 I certainly understand the concern, and that is a big part of the reason I
 am going into such depth on this ticket with my thinking. The search query
 is all out in the open  for folks to see it (which was a big discussion
 because we are worried about people trying to game it).

 >  pay-to-play search system

 Do you mean the count of contributors active installs in particular? I
 agree with your concern there. That signal should probably not be weighted
 super heavily, and I haven't experimented with it enough to decide if it
 is a good idea or not. What I am trying to address here is the long tail
 of niche plugins (and niche searches they are serving). If there are a
 bunch of plugins that match but are only installed on a few 100 or 1000
 sites, how should we separate them out? Pointing users at plugin authors
 who have been active in the community for years and have other successful
 plugins is a potential way to improve that.

 Maybe that is a bit of favoritism, but I often have heard that developers
 will select plugins from people in the community that they know write good
 plugins. I've done this myself. I'd like to find a signal that helps a new
 WP user get that benefit even if they don't know the ecosystem.

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Ticket URL: <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/1692#comment:96>
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