[wp-meta] [Making WordPress.org] #4661: W.org plugins directory displays wrong version in advanced view

[Making WordPress.org]

#4661: W.org plugins directory displays wrong version in advanced view
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 Reporter:  KestutisIT        |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect            |      Status:  closed
 Priority:  normal            |   Milestone:
Component:  Plugin Directory  |  Resolution:  wontfix
 Keywords:  needs-patch       |
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Comment (by Otto42):

 > I also disagree about 1 day of 6.0 or 6.1. It was almost 2 weeks. Not 1
 day. So I once again, ask at least to run a test. I'm not going to release
 6.2 soon to do the test again, but you guys have tools for testing there.
 It was definitely longer than 1-2 days.

 It is one to two days exactly. I'm not just making things up, I can see
 the data.

 Do not confuse "downloads" with "active installs". These are two entirely
 different numbers, from two entirely different sources, that have nothing
 whatsoever to do with each other.

 You're pointing to a plugin that has like 20 active installs, has only
 been listed for 9 days, and then are trying to make inferences from that.
 You simply don't have the data.

 WordPress installs check for updates. They do this asking
 api.wordpress.org "hey, I have plugin-x version 1.1, are there any newer
 versions available?" We look it up, and respond yes or no. Simple. We also
 record the version number and then at the end of every day make a count of
 all the installs that called home. The active installs is where the active
 install data comes from.

 Downloads are a simple hit counter. How many times the ZIP file was
 downloaded. Doesn't say who downloaded it, why, or for what purpose.
 Simple dumb hit counter. Download numbers count inactive installs too. Or
 people downloading the zip file. Or bots. These are all things that affect
 the numbers.

 Active install data also isn't guaranteed to be accurate. If nobody visits
 a website, then it doesn't do anything. It doesn't ask for updates. It
 doesn't load WordPress at all to do so. So the data varies from day to
 day. People also install plugins to test them, and then remove them. Or
 they deactivate them. Point being that there is a lot of variance in the
 data over time, so until your numbers are large enough, and you have a
 long enough baseline for comparison, you can't really draw any meaningful
 conclusions at all.

 Point being that this is a directory for hosting free plugins for free.
 It's not a storefront. We do try to make the numbers accurate and
 meaningful and useful, but we're not going to excessive lengths to verify
 or validate them. You shouldn't be relying on them for meaningful sales
 info because it's not allowed to sell things here in the first place.

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Ticket URL: <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/4661#comment:9>
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