I hope you are finding this a cathartic process, Dave. ;-) I completely understand your perspective on not wanting any redundant mouse clicks when selecting to download a piece of software. It's an admirable aim. I am completely happy with your suggestion of prompting the user to join the mailing list after the download has finished. I realise that any kind of enforcement whether a requirement for an email or a requirement to traverse a prompt screen is against the ethos of open source to some extent and certainly violates the aims of Google Code hosting.
So, I suppose what this comes down to for me is the provision of forum/mailing list facilities within Google Projects. That said, there is of course no overwhelming need for this to be provided as part of Google Code hosting since any project can just use Google Groups instead to achieve most of the functionality. However, closer integration of the two would be nice so that (as mentioned above) a prompt could be given to the user post-download. It could also be indicated on the front page of the project. This could be as implemented simply by slightly revamping the 'discussion groups' section of the administer tab so that one can be identified as the 'group to prompt with'. :Darren. On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 5:44 PM, David Anderson <[email protected]>wrote: > > On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 18:23, Darren Pearce <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > 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. :) > > (again, speaking for myself, not my employer here) > > Fair enough. I'm still curious why you ask users to volunteer their > email addresses. Wouldn't it be more productive to invite those > interested to subscribe to a mailing list, if you want to contact > them? Something like [email protected], a low-traffic > list. > > And having a page stand between me and getting my download is still > pretty high on the Richter scale of annoying things, even if you can > click a link to say "sod off and give me my file". When the download > functionality of Google Code was being developed, one explicit design > decision was that when the user clicks on the file, the file should > start downloading, period. No mirror selection, no detail page with > "are you sure?", no "please wait while your download is being > prepared"... If the user wanted any of those, he wouldn't have clicked > the file. > > It's still one of the things that I positively love about Google Code > that few other services seem to get. When I say I want to download a > file, I really, honestly mean that I want to download a file, and not > fill in a questionnaire (offer it to me after the download has started > and I might consider it), select my mirror (don't you have load > information to determine the best choice for me? Why should I know > which mirror is best?), wait for my download (I didn't click your ads > when I wasn't annoyed by your stall tactics, why would I click now?), > register an account (I don't give a damn about your site, and your > arrogant assumption that I'll love to have an account there annoys > me)... > > Can you tell I've been annoyed way, way too many times by trying to > download files? :-) > > - Dave > > > > > 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 > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > > > > > > > > -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- :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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