Download Count Accuracy
Friday, January 23, 2004 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize News
One of the things WinCustomize prides itself on is the accuracy of its download counts. While some sites seem to intentionally or unintentionally inflate their download counts (massively) to give the perception of popularity, we have refrained from that tempation because we feel it is very important that authors have an accurate gauge of roughly how many people are actually using their work.
For example, if you download Author X's skin and then come back and download it again, the download count is only incremented by 1 total (not 2). While no system is perfect, we believe WinCustomize's download counting system is amongst the most accurate counts out there.
But since download counts are important to skin authors, we want to make sure they are aware that WinCustomize's download statistics are accurate and that a considerable amount of work has gone into making sure that they are accurate.
Anyway, this is an announcement that in the next few weeks we will be providing a lot more statistics to skin authors about their downloads. So on their downloads there will be a link. The skin author will be able to click on that link and see a lot more data. We won't provide who specifically downloaded the skin (since that's private information) but pretty much anything else is open for discussion.
What we are interested in knowing is what data you would like to see about downloads on your skins. Let us know here what data you'd like to see.
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Old Sapphire
Reply #22 Sunday, January 25, 2004 12:31 AM
Reply #22 Sunday, January 25, 2004 12:31 AM
Well I think the whole "resetting your downloads to 0" idea has pretty much been ruled out, so I won't touch upon that and just repeat what others have said. Nor will I complain about WinCustomize's uplaod or rating system...
But I will have to agree with a couple of suggestions that go along with the original intent of the post to this announcement (what data should be added to downloading info).
Showing who's viewed your download from different countries would indeed be interesting and kind of cool, but not very beneficial. I think I most agree with the suggestion to show what rank of superiority has downloaded your submission (Citizen, Apprentice, and so on).
As far as showing what UserID numbers have downloaded, I see that somewhat pointless. It could be added to go along with the rank idea, but not instead of; because honestly, if we say the sixth person that signed up with WinCustomize downloaded your skin, it doesn't mean he/she reigns in the community in either submissions and/or administration.
But I will have to agree with a couple of suggestions that go along with the original intent of the post to this announcement (what data should be added to downloading info).
Showing who's viewed your download from different countries would indeed be interesting and kind of cool, but not very beneficial. I think I most agree with the suggestion to show what rank of superiority has downloaded your submission (Citizen, Apprentice, and so on).
As far as showing what UserID numbers have downloaded, I see that somewhat pointless. It could be added to go along with the rank idea, but not instead of; because honestly, if we say the sixth person that signed up with WinCustomize downloaded your skin, it doesn't mean he/she reigns in the community in either submissions and/or administration.
mooshoo
Reply #23 Sunday, January 25, 2004 1:01 AM
Reply #23 Sunday, January 25, 2004 1:01 AM
I agree with leaving the download count the way it is - but perhapse giving the author such information as brazen has said. And I think the person who mentioned resetting teh download to zero meant only that the 'updated count' should be reset to zero - not the entire thing.
which ever way it goes, I still believe the current way of counting is the best way and should be included as the default sorting/featuring method... if other counts are included to either users or authors then that would be nice too I suppose.
which ever way it goes, I still believe the current way of counting is the best way and should be included as the default sorting/featuring method... if other counts are included to either users or authors then that would be nice too I suppose.
JDGray456
Reply #24 Sunday, January 25, 2004 6:39 AM
Reply #24 Sunday, January 25, 2004 6:39 AM
I hardly ever even download wallpapers. I just click on the preview and then set it as a desktop. I change my wallpaper too often to be bothered with downloading every one I use. I know I can't be the only person who does this, so the download count may not be as accurate as you think. unless, of course it counts every preview as i download, which i doubt.
I.R. Brainiac
Reply #25 Monday, January 26, 2004 12:27 AM
Reply #25 Monday, January 26, 2004 12:27 AM
Thats why I now make my wall previews 800x600 and put the larger resolutions in the zip. 
pinchecl
Reply #26 Monday, January 26, 2004 3:46 AM
Reply #26 Monday, January 26, 2004 3:46 AM
it's all numbers I see. Well, to be hounest, I don't care about them. All I'm interested in is the comments. What about a skin do people like, which part is nice/ugly. That's what I need to get ideas and grow as an artist. Those numbers are just an indication if a lot of people like it or not.... 
paxx
Reply #27 Monday, January 26, 2004 10:38 AM
Reply #27 Monday, January 26, 2004 10:38 AM
I totally disagree that updated skins should count over again people who downloaded it already. A skin is still the same skin even when updated.
If an author feels that his updates are major enough to warrrant the count of past downlaoder, then he could either upload the updated skin as a separate file, or we could implement an OPTIONAL "Reset download count" checkbox, and then previous downloaders would count as new downloads but the download counter would be reset to 0. Another solution would be for author to just upload the file as a separate upload.
If an author feels that his updates are major enough to warrrant the count of past downlaoder, then he could either upload the updated skin as a separate file, or we could implement an OPTIONAL "Reset download count" checkbox, and then previous downloaders would count as new downloads but the download counter would be reset to 0. Another solution would be for author to just upload the file as a separate upload.
Old Sapphire
Reply #28 Monday, January 26, 2004 1:39 PM
Reply #28 Monday, January 26, 2004 1:39 PM
Well, paxx, the only problem with uploading the file as a seperate upload would be that if there was a major major update in the skin, then people who may be searching around on the site, and come across the old one, might not know there's a new one, and then they'd have the old version that apparently had something wrong with it.
No, not a good idea at all.
And I have to agree with pinchecl on the topic of comments. If only more people would comment on skins
I dont think there's really any reasonable way to force users to comment on skins, however 
but he is right that download counts really aren't terribly important (or at least they shouldn't be to the best of the skinners out there).
But I guess it's whatever helps you as an artist improve your skills. Be it download numbers determining you to work harder, or comments influencing you to change one thing about your technique to the other. It's all in the eye of the designer
No, not a good idea at all.
And I have to agree with pinchecl on the topic of comments. If only more people would comment on skins
I dont think there's really any reasonable way to force users to comment on skins, however 
but he is right that download counts really aren't terribly important (or at least they shouldn't be to the best of the skinners out there).But I guess it's whatever helps you as an artist improve your skills. Be it download numbers determining you to work harder, or comments influencing you to change one thing about your technique to the other. It's all in the eye of the designer
EventHorizon
Reply #29 Tuesday, January 27, 2004 2:04 AM
Reply #29 Tuesday, January 27, 2004 2:04 AM
To me, the # of downloads is more important than the comments...Though, the latter comes in a close second.
The whole point of having a skin or wallpaper here is to have other people use and enjoy it, and thats pretty close to what the download count shows. If I get 14k downloads on a wallpaper (such as Sailors' Delight)...that tells me that 14k people have thought that my wallpaper is good enought to download and possibly use as a desktop background...
Comments can 'add a few more colors to the spectrum'...but usually consist of 'thats kewl' or the like.
Even the worst of skins/wallpapers can get numbers of people that think the work in question is 'neat' (or whatever word/phrase you would use)...but if you dont get a good number of d'loads, that tells you that the majority of people dont think it was worth their time to take a look at.
However, Im sure everyone here (including me) likes to have someone comment on their work...good or bad, and it can help quite a bit if people leave constructive criticism.
Id personally like to see a graph with the ranking of the people who downloaded the skin/wall. (As mentioned before)
The whole point of having a skin or wallpaper here is to have other people use and enjoy it, and thats pretty close to what the download count shows. If I get 14k downloads on a wallpaper (such as Sailors' Delight)...that tells me that 14k people have thought that my wallpaper is good enought to download and possibly use as a desktop background...
Comments can 'add a few more colors to the spectrum'...but usually consist of 'thats kewl' or the like.
Even the worst of skins/wallpapers can get numbers of people that think the work in question is 'neat' (or whatever word/phrase you would use)...but if you dont get a good number of d'loads, that tells you that the majority of people dont think it was worth their time to take a look at.
However, Im sure everyone here (including me) likes to have someone comment on their work...good or bad, and it can help quite a bit if people leave constructive criticism.
Id personally like to see a graph with the ranking of the people who downloaded the skin/wall. (As mentioned before)
Z71
Reply #30 Tuesday, January 27, 2004 3:09 AM
Reply #30 Tuesday, January 27, 2004 3:09 AM
My earlier comment, I meant a new DL count. Like an update count.
I can see, from the comments, that at least 90% of the people are more worried about DL counts than learning and growing as an artist.
Do you upload to see your skin as the #1 download or do you want to share and hope people will enjoy your skins well into the future?
Do I like to see my skins in the top DL section? Sure, but I would also want to know why. (Hence, the comments).
This is a good thread, but it's like the old saying, "You can't please everyone".
I can see, from the comments, that at least 90% of the people are more worried about DL counts than learning and growing as an artist.
Do you upload to see your skin as the #1 download or do you want to share and hope people will enjoy your skins well into the future?
Do I like to see my skins in the top DL section? Sure, but I would also want to know why. (Hence, the comments).
This is a good thread, but it's like the old saying, "You can't please everyone".
Skarny
Reply #31 Tuesday, January 27, 2004 5:51 AM
Reply #31 Tuesday, January 27, 2004 5:51 AM
I know it might be hard, but can I have my '# of downloads yesterday' count actually be yesterday for me? ie. take into account timezones?
EventHorizon
Reply #32 Tuesday, January 27, 2004 12:54 PM
Reply #32 Tuesday, January 27, 2004 12:54 PM
^ For the word it would take to implement it, and the amount of 'good' that would come out of it...I dont think it'd be worth it.
josephcrowell
Reply #34 Sunday, February 1, 2004 3:20 AM
Reply #34 Sunday, February 1, 2004 3:20 AM
Actually, that wouldn't be all that hard using active server pages.
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Reply #21 Saturday, January 24, 2004 11:56 PM
.limiting the number of times you can update something or resetting the count to 0 is not a good idea.My first skin has been updated 3 times already(the reasons should be obvious,hehe,it was a mess),that would mean I couldnt add toolbar icons or animations or any other improvements they come up with.
.registered and unregistered dl count might be interesting tho.
.would make more sense to me if the ratings got reset after a major update(tho this is easily abused)I have a skin in the top 150 that still has a 6 because initial reception was poor and updates had little effect on the rating.(people dont re-rate much)