[maemo-community] maemo.org Products karma

[From: Niels Breet]

On Tue, August 18, 2009 13:03, Andrew Flegg wrote:
> 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:
[SNIP]
Which is why I suggested using relative growth in downloads when we
started this.

If you know the average daily download rate for a package, you can
determine if today the number of downloads is X percent higher or lower
than normal.

This tells you a lot more than just the download number alone. It will
show you that an application suddenly became more popular because the
downloads spiked relative to the avg for that app.

For instance if app A has 1000 downloads on avg, a 1100 downloads day is
not that spectacular. If app B with 100 downloads on avg suddenly goes to
450 and 1200 the next day, it should bubble up to the top quickly. This
app suddenly became "HOT". Same can be said for ratings and comments. If
people suddenly start to comment or rate the app more, the app must be
more popular.


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

- Niels