Michael Stone writes ("Re: duplicate popularity-contest ID"): > I guess the question is what is the point of the popcon statistics. > Insofar as they're used to determine defaults, skewing them toward > custom images (which likely do not care about defaults) is probably a > mistake.
popcon is a really bad way to determine defaults because it is so heavily skewed by existing defaults. More useful uses of popcon include: estimating the downside, if some package is (or may become) broken or removed; and, maybe, estimating the user preferences between different non-default leaf packages. For me, if I were doing (say) RC bugfixing and was considering asking for a removal, even a moderate popcon figure would give me pause. Conversely, a low popcon figure would encourage me to consult on removing the package. Ian. -- Ian Jackson <ijack...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> These opinions are my own. If I emailed you from an address @fyvzl.net or @evade.org.uk, that is a private address which bypasses my fierce spamfilter.