I believe option A is the best. One thing you might consider as a premium option for developers is reporting showing which crashes are more prevalent than others. I know Microsoft does this internally for application crashes reported via Watson.
--Sean Calendar: http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=darkmane%40gmail.com Livejournal: http://darkmane.livejournal.com Every 5 minutes you spend writing code in a new language is more useful than 5 hours reading blog posts about how great the language is. On Sat, Sep 18, 2010 at 10:34 AM, Prakash Iyer <thei...@gmail.com> wrote: > I have thought along similar lines. I think it should just be option a. > Don't confuse the user with options. In fact don't even allow user to reply > back directly. > > On Sep 18, 2010 1:19 PM, "Brad Gies" <rbg...@gmail.com> wrote: > > This is a bit long winded (sorry, but I need to explain what I'm doing > before I can ask the question). > > Just wondering if I could get a few (hopefully few hundred) opinions on > this : > > I developed an Exception Handler for my first Android app (released the > first month the market opened), which logs all uncaught exceptions to my > server, and since then I have gradually refined it and improved. I'm now > using it in my 4th public Android app and a few private apps, and I find it > extremely helpful to find bugs that don't happen to me when I'm testing. > > One thing I added that is proving to be extremely useful is an AlertDialog > when the exception occurs asking the user if it is OK to contact him/her if > I need more information to be able to fix the problem, and a box for them to > enter their email address if they agree. I don't have good numbers for you > on the acceptance rate because most of my public apps already have the users > email address and for the private apps the company enforces their compliance > (or supplies the emails for me to use). BUT... it looks like about 20% of > users do enter their email address if asked, and that is more than enough to > be very useful. > > I think I can increase the percentage of users that do supply their emails > addresses, and that is what my question is about :). (I will ask it soon) > > First, It has occurred to me that my Exception Logger might be even more > successful for me if other developers were also using it because users might > have seen it before and trust it when they first see it in my apps. That > obviously would only happen if quite a few developers were using it. > > Anyway... sorry it's already getting long, and I AM trying to keep it from > becoming a book. I have repackaged my Exception Logger and will release it > in the next couple of days for other developers to use (the price is the > good one - FREE). I will host the thing on my server (FYI it's a Cloud based > server so we can increase capacity if needed) and any developers using it > will be able to log in and view the exceptions their app has generated, and > sort by time/date, user, and other fields. > > NOW.. the question: I think the Exception Logger would be more successful > getting the users to agree to be contacted IF their email addresses were > kept confidential. Actually, I don't think there is much doubt that would be > the case. BUT, there is a tradeoff. Obviously, most developers would prefer > to see the email addresses so they can manage the contacts a bit more > effectively without using my website to do it, BUT if the email addresses > are not confidential, fewer users will give them. > > So here are what I think are the options: > > a) keep the email addresses confidential, but developers can send the > user an email using my website, include both a reply address which goes to > my website and then forwards the email to the developer, and also the > developers email address so the user could respond directly to the developer > if they choose. I'm sure this would have by far the highest success rate for > getting contact info .... but means devs have to use my website to send the > first email at least. > > b) give the user a choice of keeping the email address confidential or > just giving it to the developer. This should also have a fairly high > acceptance rate by the user, but complicates the process for them because > they would actually have to read the instructions to figure out how it > works, and quite possibly a few users would think they asked for their email > addresses to be confidential, when they actually checked the other option, > and would be upset if they found out later. It's also a bit more work for > me, for maybe very little benefit. > > c) Don't bother keeping the email addresses confidential. All my own > apps work this way, and it is useful, but I'm sure either of the other two > options would have a better success rate of obtaining the email addresses, > and therefore would be better for most devs to get information about > problems in their apps. > > I don't try the a) or b) options for myself because obviously I could see > the email addresses in my log files if I wanted to look, and it would be a > little deceitful to tell the user their email would be confidential in that > case, even if I did use them properly ... BUT, I can do that for other > developers without stretching the truth at all, so I think it's worth the > effort if other devs want to use it. > > So, please let me know what your opinions are. > > I'm also hoping to get some idea of how many developers might want to use > this. I've already done almost all the work, so it will be released even if > nobody wants to use it. It freaks me out a little to open up my server to an > unknown amount of use, but I am well setup to increase server capacity > quickly if needed, and I don't think the cost of doing this will be too > horrible (I hope). ... > > > Sincerely, > > Brad Gies > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > Bistro Bot - Bistro Blurb > http://bgies.com > http://bistroblurb.com > http://ihottonight.com > http://forcethetruth.com > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Everything in moderation, including abstinence > > Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can > change the world. Indeed. It is the only thing that ever has - Margaret > Mead > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Android Developers" group. > To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<android-developers%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Android Developers" group. > To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<android-developers%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com> > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Developers" group. 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