[maemo-community] maemo.org Products karma

[From: Andrew Flegg]

On Tue, Aug 18, 2009 at 11:45, Niels Breet<niels at maemo.org> wrote:
> On Tue, August 18, 2009 11:59, Andrew Flegg wrote:
>>
>> Right, since this is "app karma" (rather than "user karma" or "news
>> karma") I'd include 't' = time since last release (this information is in
>> the midgard db for an app). I'd also have it change slightly more
>> frequently, so that a new release of a popular app quickly floats to the
>> top, but so that the top 5 is changing relatively recently (there's no
>> point showing the same 5 apps all the time).
>
> There is some value in time since last release, for instance to spot if
> the app is not being worked on anymore.

Yup, and to promote a new version of an old and popular app.

> But there is also another side to this. There is no value in rapid
> releases for applications. If somebody uploads a new version every day, I
> would see that as a bad thing. Users getting notified about new updates
> for an application every day is certainly not what we want?

Good point. Perhaps it should be something like
$time_since_last_release / $mean_time_between_releases? That requires
more data to be captured though. Hmm.

The problem with just going off downloads is that a few apps which are
always popular will dominate, leading to the same problems outlined
here with the iPhone App Store:

    "The bulk of consumers use iTunes’ Top and front page listings. Since
     placement on the top lists is derived entirely from unit sales, there
     is a disturbing skew towards the $.99 applications."
    http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/08/15/the-35-best-iphone-apps-of-the-year-so-far/

-- 
Andrew Flegg -- mailto:andrew at bleb.org  |  http://www.bleb.org/
Maemo Community Council chair