I didn't mean to imply (and don't think I did) that there would be a *demand* for personal information, purely a polite request to volunteer their email. I realise that Emilian's approach did specify the questionnaire as a condition. However, this need not be an all or nothing approa of course. It could be as simple and unobtrusive as a checkbox (for those already authenticated to Google) or a link like 'join our mailing list'. Hopefully such a soft non-draconian approach would be positioned lower down on your Richter scale. :)
On 2/19/09, David Anderson <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 17:54, Darren Pearce <[email protected]> > wrote: >> I would like this sort of feature as well for the same reason as Emilian. >> I >> have software that is hosted on Google Code but only downloadable from a >> site that asks for an email address before giving access to the download >> link. Of course, anyone so inclined would be able to generate a download >> from the open source repository but I expect very few people would do >> this. >> At present, asking for an email address is a pre-requisite but, as you >> say, >> Ben, once someone has downloaded the software, there is nothing to stop >> them >> giving copies to other people without us knowing. This is fine since we >> only >> want a rough idea of the spread of the software. > > I'm speaking here as a user/developer of open source software, not as > a Google employee. > > I find this kind of thing *extremely* annoying. It's one level below > popup ads on the Richter scale of annoying things. Demanding that I > surrender personal information before graciously allowing me to > download your software is certainly your choice, but it's stretching > the definition of open source quite a bit. Why do you need this > information for me to have access to the downloads? > > Usually, when an "open source" project tries to pull this kind of > stunt, I close the browser tab and never return. I'm pretty sure I'm > not the only one who reacts like this. > > Of course, it's a free world and all that, you do as you please with > your creation (and I do as I please as a user and walk away), but I'm > curious as to why you think it's necessary that I give you information > before I'm allowed to touch your code. > > - Dave > >> On a related note, are there any plans to integrate a mailing list for >> each >> piece of software? One could imagine an opt-in approach whereby when >> someone >> downloads from a Google Project, they are asked whether they would like to >> join the mailing list to receive updates, etc. >> It would be nice to have a 'forum' per project maintained automatically by >> Google Code. >> Thanks, >> :Darren. >> >> On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 2:10 PM, emilian.pascalau >> <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> The idea is that I would like to know where the project is used, by >>> others, of course if they want to complete such a questionnaire. >>> >>> >>> On Feb 19, 3:04 pm, Ben Collins-Sussman <[email protected]> wrote: >>> > We have no such feature, though you're certainly welcome to ask people >>> > to do it. Forcing them to do it as a "precondition" is pretty much >>> > against the spirit of the open source license, though... and once >>> > they've downloaded the source, they'd be free to distribute it to >>> > anyone else without your permission anyway. >>> > >>> > On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 7:45 AM, emilian.pascalau >>> > >>> > <[email protected]> wrote: >>> > >>> > > hello, >>> > >>> > > I am interested if there is the possibility to provide a >>> > > questionnaire >>> > > as a condition for project sources download. >>> > >>> > > thank you >>> > > emilian >>> >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> :Darren :Pearce >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> *** Shop & Donate: http://buy.at/campuskids *** >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> [email protected] >> Postdoctoral Researcher >> London Knowledge Lab, University of London >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> [email protected] >> Visiting Research Fellow >> Informatics, University of Sussex >> http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/users/darrenp/ >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> [email protected] >> http://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenpearce >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> > >> > > > > -- Sent from my mobile device ---------------------------------------------------------------------- :Darren :Pearce ---------------------------------------------------------------------- *** Shop & Donate: http://buy.at/campuskids *** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [email protected] Postdoctoral Researcher London Knowledge Lab, University of London ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [email protected] Visiting Research Fellow Informatics, University of Sussex http://www.informatics.sussex.ac.uk/users/darrenp/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [email protected] http://www.linkedin.com/in/darrenpearce ---------------------------------------------------------------------- --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Hosting at Google Code" group. 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