[wp-meta] [Making WordPress.org] #6511: Bring back the active install growth chart

[Making WordPress.org]

#6511: Bring back the active install growth chart
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 Reporter:  markzahra         |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  enhancement       |      Status:  new
 Priority:  high              |   Milestone:
Component:  Plugin Directory  |  Resolution:
 Keywords:                    |
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Comment (by johnjamesjacoby):

 Replying to [comment:4 markzahra]:
 > Replying to [comment:3 johnjamesjacoby]:
 > What is this confirmation based on? Were you part of the group or are
 aware of who formed part of that group, or is your confirmation based on
 something else?

 I independently reviewed all of the related code.

 I saw what had happened, and wanted to better understand the problem so I
 could participate in the conversation with some education, much like you
 and everyone else who is feeling uneasy about it.

 > Again I must ask - is this your personal opinion or something that's a
 fact and based on your knowledge from internal discussions that were not
 made public to the community of plugin developers?

 It is my opinion, and also from discussions that were probably public and
 not intentionally private 14 or so years ago.

 > Can you please confirm where you've identified this so that the rest of
 us can have a look, please?

 Not exactly, because not all of the code responsible for keeping
 WordPress.org running is publicly available, and the part you want to see
 is outside of the Meta repository.

 > This comment implies that you weren't part of the decision-making
 process, so I come back to my first question above.

 See my first answer. 👍

 > What is wrong with being able to speculate about those factors exactly?

 See my paragraph for my answer. 🤣

 Personally, sure... speculating can be fun! Celebrating when I've guessed
 right and mourning when I've guessed wrong. I spent a lot of years at
 various poker tables, and what I learned about myself is that I enjoy
 inventing and producing more than guessing using incomplete or inaccurate
 information. 🃏

 > Knowing where you stand and how your product's changes are performing is
 healthy and positive since it leads to better quality products for
 millions of WordPress users around the world.

 Yes, of course this is true. I said as much re: BuddyPress early days 🧡

 But, see my next answer ⬇️

 > What is wrong with comparing that data across multiple plugins and
 themes?

 In my opinion, it does not really prove very much, because there are too
 many differences & variables.

 I.E. BuddyPress had 200k installs, but that does not prove it is better
 than BuddyBoss; and BuddyBoss growing does not alone validate any one
 thing to help BuddyPress grow too.

 > What are the potentially harmful aspects? And who would it be
 potentially harmful to?

 @joostdevalk recently suggested that Automattic has an unfair competitive
 advantage because they have access to more accurate stats. I will go one
 step farther and say, that if a goal with any data is to be fair to each
 other with it, that includes a responsibility to serve up the same data
 with the same interface to everyone, and to ''prevent people from
 accessing it in anyway that is unintended or unfair''.

 ...which is essentially what has happened, here.

 > Seeing the number of developers that have confirmed how these stats
 helped them grow and improve their plugins during the past couple of days,
 this statement seems contradictory to what the community is actually
 saying.

 I know how it feels when you ship a new feature and you see the numbers
 change. It's rewarding, fun, and it's just a really cool experience
 overall to validate that you are making a difference.

 Consider the reasons why YouTube, Instagram, etc... are experimenting with
 hiding or limiting the way that they display engagement in their apps &
 websites – because they've seen the human side when users only feel
 increasingly negative self-worth while they're stuck in a loop comparing
 themselves to everyone else – and it is the most likely outcome of
 implementing Stats wrong.

 > What's the feature being referenced here? And what was Matt announcing
 about it?

 Active installs for plugins. Again, I might be wrong. That happens a lot.
 😆

 > We all ''hope'' for that, but the lack of communication is not
 comforting.

 When a security issue is identified in one of your plugins, you work
 privately to deploy the best fix as quickly as you can.

 That privacy is not intended to hurt your community of users, but you are
 intentionally excluding many people to protect them from some people.

 I understand how unannounced changes may not feel good, but they almost
 always feel less bad than had that change not happened and whatever was
 broken had stayed broken.

 ----

 I feel as though this discussion format is not ideal, and is not how Trac
 is intended to be used.

 I've also inserted myself into the middle of a thing where it is not
 appropriate to share all of the facts, while also feeling obligated to
 utilize the tools I have available to independently asses the situation
 and report back what is safe to share.

 Sincere apologies in advance again if I'm only mucking things up. 🙏

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Ticket URL: <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/6511#comment:5>
Making WordPress.org <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/>
Making WordPress.org