[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 joostdevalk):

 I agree with @markzahra that this should be brought back ASAP. Plugin
 developers rely on this data to see whether they're doing the right thing
 for their customers. If there are reasons to want to replace this data
 with something, I'd suggest:

 - bringing back the data until the alternative is available;
 - opening a discussion with the community of plugin developers about
 whether the alternative suits their needs;
 - developing out in the open, as befits an open source project, and being
 very specific about what these stats represent.

 I understand @johnjamesjacoby's need to defend the Meta team and try and
 be nice to everyone involved. I don't disagree that they should not get
 shit for this personally. Which doesn't mean that this decision should not
 be challenged, loudly, with project leadership.

 So, @matt, @chanthaboune, while I hope and want to believe this was not
 done for anti-competitive reasons, the optics are against you. The fact
 that we don't have open numbers about installs, like literally every other
 Open Source project does, seems in itself a weird decision.

 I've heard two reasons mentioned in the past for not showing them:

 * Security
 * The data is invalid

 **The security argument**
 Obfuscating plugin install numbers for security reasons, which is what's
 often mentioned, is honestly reasoning I personally disagree with. You can
 get data on large plugins quite easily through other sources, if you want
 to decide which plugin to hack. WordPress not showing plugin install data
 doesn't help security, but it does make it harder to ascertain how many
 sites are still at risk when something ''is'' happening. What's needed for
 plugin developers is this data which shows direct feedback without lag.
 Security through obscurity is not the way.

 **The data validity argument**
 The fact that these numbers might not be entirely valid (because they
 contain loads of test installs, and perhaps a dozen or so other reasons)
 is something that we could (and probably ''should'') just add in a note in
 the interface. The ''trends'' in this data are **super** important for
 plugin developers, as seen by the many many people that have responded to
 [https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02QB8GMM/p1664525003424199 this in
 Slack].

 So: I implore you to open up this data. First by bringing it back, and
 then potentially by building something even more open for plugin
 developers to look at.

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Ticket URL: <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/6511#comment:6>
Making WordPress.org <https://meta.trac.wordpress.org/>
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