Closed Bug 402796 Opened 18 years ago Closed 17 years ago

Download counter not showing real count

Categories

(addons.mozilla.org Graveyard :: Maintenance Scripts, defect)

Product:
addons.mozilla.org Graveyard
Component:
Maintenance Scripts
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
major

Tracking

(Not tracked)

Status:
RESOLVED FIXED

People

(Reporter: shift.themes, Assigned: fligtar)

References

Details

User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.9) Gecko/20071025 Firefox/2.0.0.9 Build Identifier: Firefox 2.0.0.9 The download counter, ever since the new site, doesn't seem to be tracking the figures it should. Back on the old site my themes on the top downloads were reaching 200,000+ downloads per week, now even being on the top 5 doesn't show more than 30,000. Even when I was at #1 it said I was only getting 40,000 a week. That figure looks like it's missing a zero. Could the counter be missing those extra downloads? Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. 2. 3.
There are many other comments on this same issue in other various download counter bugs, but I'm going to make this bug the main one for figuring out if there's a problem in the download counting.
Assignee: nobody → fligtar
URL: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fire...
Severity: normal → major
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Component: Developer Pages → Maintenance Scripts
Ever confirmed: true
OS: Windows XP → All
QA Contact: developers → maintenance
Hardware: PC → All
Version: unspecified → 3.0
My data: For the past 7 days, the logs from my welcome page (seen only once per install) show 190056, while the amo dev cp writes 70725 downloads for the week. I have seen this ~30% ratio since i started monitoring in late august. I thought this was due to the extension being installed from other sites. Also, my addon has been distributed in the cover cd of several magazines. But an explanation involving amo down counting the installs would make more sense.
Same thing happening to me. My extension presents a welcome page after installation is complete. I have a counter on that page that indicates over 42,000 page loads for the last seven days (the page is only loaded once per install). Dev cpanel recorded only about 5200 downloads during the same period. While I don't expect an exact one-to-one correlation between the two, the numbers should be *much* closer than they are.
Michel and Chuck, could you (and anyone that comments in the future) include the add-on IDs affected please?
(In reply to comment #0) > User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.9) > Gecko/20071025 Firefox/2.0.0.9 > Build Identifier: Firefox 2.0.0.9 > > The download counter, ever since the new site, doesn't seem to be tracking the > figures it should. The new site, Addons 3, Remora was OK on the download count when it first started. The problem has come about ever since the frozen count was fixed here : https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=384084 I've got nothing else to add, other than what I wrote on that bug, last week : Quote: Despite this being marked as RESOLVED FIXED, I do not feel it is. Ever since this bug was claimed to have been fixed, the Weekly Download figures for Themes has been showing at 10% of the true figure. This has been confirmed with other themers. The Weekly Download figures for Extensions, however, appear about right. As this 10% figure has been applied across the board with Themes, it has no effect on the relative positions of them, in terms of 'most popular'. However, it has made a nonsense of the Total Download figures for all the Themes. None of this is supposition on my part, as I have screenshot after screenshot going back to Jan 2006 that will confirm all this. I would ask, therefore, that either this bug is fixed or else that AMO confirm here that this 10% is the position, for whatever reason. Otherwise, at sometime in the future, I suspect that someone at Mozilla will be waving about a totally meaningless set of figures to support a position that third party Firefox Themes are not in great demand by Firefox users. Thanks :) ...Unquote.
(In reply to comment #4) > Michel and Chuck, could you (and anyone that comments in the future) include > the add-on IDs affected please? > I have a few add-ons, but the only one I'm really tracking is FEBE (GUID: {4BBDD651-70CF-4821-84F8-2B918CF89CA3})
(In reply to comment #7) > (In reply to comment #4) > > Michel and Chuck, could you (and anyone that comments in the future) include > > the add-on IDs affected please? > > > > I have a few add-ons, but the only one I'm really tracking is FEBE (GUID: > {4BBDD651-70CF-4821-84F8-2B918CF89CA3}) > https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2109
My addon id: {b9db16a4-6edc-47ec-a1f4-b86292ed211d}
Good news... think we found the problem. Will update when we know for sure.
Status: NEW → ASSIGNED
We think the problem is that almost all of the downloads coming from our Amsterdam datacenter were not being counted due to IP blacklisting that prevents gaming of download counts as well as mitigates the 3 HTTP GETs that install triggers do. We've started parsing the .nl logs separately now, which should fix that issue. Over the next few days, please let me know if you see an improvement. If so, I will work on having logs since July pulled from backup tapes and re-parsed to bring the totals up to the real numbers.
Depends on: 403105
Ahha! The old "Amsterdam Anomaly". I knew it had to be something ...
(In reply to comment #11) > We think the problem is that almost all of the downloads coming from our > Amsterdam datacenter were not being counted due to IP blacklisting that > prevents gaming of download counts as well as mitigates the 3 HTTP GETs that > install triggers do. Do 90% of the weekly downloads figures for Themes on Addons originate from or pass through the Amsterdam datacenter? 90% being the consistent percentage that is not being included in the weekly total. I ask, because unless that is the case, there would seem to be more solutions to find?
It still seems to be broke. Dev cpanel shows about 5200 downloads for the last week. My stats show about that many per *day*.
Same thing here. Dev CP shows 72924 for the week, while i see 169617 in my logs.
These stats are coming from first-run pages? And the pages are only shown on first run and not updates?
In my case, it does include updates but none have been released in the last week. The discrepancy would imply that the average user downloads the extension once and installs it seven times. Not likely.
mysql> select * from download_counts where addon_id = 2109 and date >= '2007-11-01'; +--------+----------+-------+------------+ | id | addon_id | count | date | +--------+----------+-------+------------+ | 140075 | 2109 | 974 | 2007-11-01 | | 142246 | 2109 | 1043 | 2007-11-02 | | 144828 | 2109 | 827 | 2007-11-03 | | 147203 | 2109 | 935 | 2007-11-04 | | 149641 | 2109 | 974 | 2007-11-05 | | 152080 | 2109 | 811 | 2007-11-06 | | 154621 | 2109 | 813 | 2007-11-07 | | 157028 | 2109 | 879 | 2007-11-08 | | 161340 | 2109 | 675 | 2007-11-09 | | 164025 | 2109 | 747 | 2007-11-10 | | 166311 | 2109 | 782 | 2007-11-11 | | 168810 | 2109 | 666 | 2007-11-12 | +--------+----------+-------+------------+ 12 rows in set (0.10 sec) Those are certainly way different than 5200 per day. I think that downloads from other sources + the update page hits would make up a good bit of that, but probably not all. Right now I'm working on parsing like a terabyte or something ridiculous of old logs for the new statistics dashboard, but after I do that I will look further into this if there's still a problem after all the .nl logs have been added in.
I agree that mirror sites and multiple installs will skew the numbers up. But not *that* much. Here's what my log reads: Project Name Today Yesterday Month Total FEBE Welcome [bg-BG] 0 0 0 10 FEBE Welcome [da-DK] 0 0 0 6 FEBE Welcome [de-DE] 1 1 53 442 FEBE Welcome [el-GR] 0 0 4 10 FEBE Welcome [en-US] 2,050 3,863 69,438 348,544 FEBE Welcome [es-ES] 98 161 2,685 12,696 FEBE Welcome [fa-IR] 0 0 1 6 FEBE Welcome [fi-FI] 0 0 0 16 FEBE Welcome [fr-FR] 2 6 50 285 FEBE Welcome [he-IL] 0 0 3 4 FEBE Welcome [hr-HR] 0 0 0 4 FEBE Welcome [it-IT] 2 5 28 177 FEBE Welcome [ja-JP] 0 0 39 222 FEBE Welcome [ko-KR] 0 0 1 15 FEBE Welcome [nl-NL] 0 1 8 38 FEBE Welcome [pl-PL] 0 1 10 79 FEBE Welcome [pt-BR] 1 8 100 139 FEBE Welcome [ro-RO] 0 0 0 19 FEBE Welcome [ru-RU] 0 2 4 50 FEBE Welcome [sk-SK] 0 0 0 12 FEBE Welcome [sv-SE] 12 12 228 1,254 FEBE Welcome [tr-TR] 0 0 6 36 FEBE Welcome [uk-UA] 0 0 0 0 FEBE Welcome [zh-CN] 40 88 1,257 5,411 FEBE Welcome [zh-TW] 23 31 697 2,940 ~70,000 installs / 14 days = 5,285 installs/day
Oops ... should read: ~74,000 installs / 14 days = 5,285 installs/day
My figures (169617) are on first install only. The number of updates as seen in my logs for the past 7 days: 452875
I've noticed over the last few days that the dev cpanel total counts are frozen and the weekly counts are rapidly approaching zero. Is this related to this bug?
That would be bug 404079.
I have monitored the weekly download count for the past 10 days, and i must say it's all but consistent. While i am expecting something between 150,000 and 200,000, i have seen many numbers there from 10,000 to currently, 70,000,000 ! The total download count seems reasonable though.
Yes, 168,184,133 downloads for Adblock Plus in the recent week is nice but not really believable...
Those issues are from bug 404079.
Extension developers: are the counts any better now?
They seem work much better for me now.
My numbers seem reasonable. Are the weekly and total counts supposed to be updated at the same time? I've noticed that one will update and a few hours or so later, the other updates.
Total downloads is incremented as the script is running and then weekly downloads are updated once a day. The new stats panel will show a lot more detail on all of this stuff. Also, I reparsed all of the download logs since June, so the "lost" downloads due to the bug that was causing this will be restored when that launches.
Status: ASSIGNED → RESOLVED
Closed: 17 years ago
Resolution: --- → FIXED
So "Total" downloads is realtime?
No, the script runs every day at 18:00 pacific, but while it's running, total downloads is constantly updating. Not sure what time the weekly updater script is set to run.
It looks better for me: My weekly download count at amo shows 225,675 My logs 185,332 If the amo count is right, i don't see well where this 18% difference comes from. Maybe some people install the extension several times before restarting firefox ?
18% drop is realistic. People can cancel the installation dialog, and AMO will still count it as a download.
You're right, that makes sense. Do you have similar figures ?
Hard to tell since my extensions don't "phone home" after installation. However, information from indirect sources seem to suggest roughly 25% adoption rate (actual users/download) for Adblock Plus, and the download numbers I see on AMO now are in line with that (previously they were too low which would correspond to an unrealistically high adoption rate).
I have left this a few days to see if the weekly download figures on Themes would correct themselves. They have not. I have confirmed this with other themers and the figures are still showing at 10% of what they should be. This conclusion is not based on a snapshot figure from prior to the counter not working at all, in the summer. It is based on seeing the weekly download figures for themes progressively rise from February 2006 up to that point, as Firefox use increased. I would therefore suggest that this bug is reopened, as it is not fixed for the Themes on Addons.
I agree. The themes counts are still the same as before the opening of this report. I am still showing the same total and a very low weekly. Also as a side note, the rating has not changed in a few months as well. This should be re-opened and fixed for themes as well.
Status: RESOLVED → REOPENED
Resolution: FIXED → ---
What data do you have that the theme counts are incorrect?
(In reply to comment #39) > Also as a side note, the rating has not changed in a few months as well. > You mean it's *supposed* to work? Since Remora, all my extensions show either "0" or "10.00". I thought they took out that functionality and just never got around to removing the label.
(In reply to comment #40) > What data do you have that the theme counts are incorrect? > Do you not keep records of all this? However, here is a random selection of how the weekly download figures of various themes has increased across a period of time. 1. Metal Lion 2, dated 10/04/06, showing a weekly download figure of 40,135. http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/8034/snag0315cn8.png 2. Aluminium Kai 2, dated 22/12/06, showing a weekly download figure of 90,080. http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/1570/snag0879ha7.png 3. Metal Lion Vista, dated 28/1/07, showing a weekly download figure of 105,612 http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/1272/snag0966pe3.png 4. Metal Lion Vista, dated 6/6/07, showing a weekly download figure of 401,863 http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/9828/snag0113fi0.png The versions 1.5 and 1.6.7 of Metal Lion Vista seen in that last shot are the same theme. You may recall an Addons bug relating to the install.rdf? This was resolved by my deleting the MLV 1.5 files, even though both have the same GUID. Thus the Total Downloads figure for MLV at that time, is found by adding the 2 totals together, i.e. 3,037,668.
As I understand it, you are are saying that when your themes were in the top 10 and among the most popular, you got a certain amount of downloads each week, but now because that number is significantly lower, it's an AMO problem? Looking at the top 15 themes today by weekly downloads, the number one theme had over 290,000 downloads this week and the number 15 had 97,500. Taking Aluminium Kai as an example, it's currently installed in 308,000 copies of Firefox (not necessarily in use as the theme; only installed). If you were still to get 90,000 downloads every week, that number would indeed be higher. But it's not - and the current weekly download numbers back that up. As I'm sure you are aware, themes go in an out of popularity. There is no difference in the download counting or download-generating code between extensions and themes, and there is nothing more I can think of to try, especially based on "my numbers are lower than they used to be". Re-resolving. If you have specific data that indicates there is a significant problem, such as those who had firstrun pages with different numbers (I realize themes don't have firstrun pages, this is an example), please re-open with as much detail as possible.
Status: REOPENED → RESOLVED
Closed: 17 years ago → 17 years ago
Resolution: --- → FIXED
(In reply to comment #43) > As I understand it, you are are saying that when your themes were in the top 10 > and among the most popular, you got a certain amount of downloads each week, > but now because that number is significantly lower, it's an AMO problem? > > Looking at the top 15 themes today by weekly downloads... Well, it looks as if you didn't understand at all. I confess that I had expected that you would be, at least, up to date with the present position, without making it necessary to spell it all out for you. When you looked at the top 15 themes today, did you not notice that I had 2 themes still in the top 10 and one more at number 12? Metal Lion Vista at number 7, Metal Lion 300 at number 10, Aluminium Kai 2 at number 12. Please explain how I can make this any clearer. Red Shift is at number 5 and the author, C.Nicks is reporting exactly the same as I am. We are BOTH seeing 10% of the weekly download figures that we would expect for themes that are in the top 12. Where did you get that figure of 308,000 for Aluminium Kai 2 from? You can see from Picture 2, that the Total downloads figure in late December 2006 was 408,977 and the theme had only been released 6 weeks before. It is now a year later. If, as you say, the number 15 theme is showing 97,500 downloads this week, would you please explain why even Aluminium Kai 2, which is at number 12 is showing as 26,000 downloads per week in the Dev Control Panel? Did you really think that C.Nicks and I were just amateurs that were complaining that our themes are not as popular as they once were? Between us, we have 4 themes in the Top 12 Themes on Addons ...today. Detail provided, as requested. Reopening this bug.
Frank, Justin has spent a lot of time working on the best way to fix this issue, and it's not as simple as we make it out to be. We have to be careful to not operate on false pretenses based on faulty numbers. Some of the new statistics that will be made available in the next month or so include update pings that give you an accurate # of how many active users actually have a theme or extension installed, and they are much more reliable -- especially in terms of retention -- than raw install counts. That said, we should tread lightly on download #'s because they can be easily gamed and are likely way off-base (can you say open proxy?). Even so, Justin has worked very hard to pull counts all the way back from August in order to repopulate any data that was lost during the download count confusion. So, I'd prefer some constructive feedback about how the #'s might be off and what we can do to fix it rather than just instantly refuting anything he says. Your current tone and delivery isn't conducive to solving the problem.
And Frank, if you and C.Nicks would like to review the scripts used to parse the logs and get some of the actual logs to do some data mining, we're open to working together on solving this...
Hi Mike, C.Nicks and I are simply reporting what we see in our Dev Control Panels. I also mentioned that I was basing my concern on a known history pattern of figures and not just some one-off fluctuation. We were then asked to : What data do you have that the theme counts are incorrect? I provided that, in the best way I know how...as screenshots. That is all I can do, that is all C. Nicks can do, just report what we see. If I seem to be instantly refuting anything it is only because I have all the current information to hand. I have no idea why the figures are showing incorrectly, why should I? Maybe it is just the Dev Control Panels that are showing incorrectly? I was asked to report this bug, I reported it. :)
Okay, I just wanted you guys to know that Justin is working hard on this. We want to solve it as much as you and I want to keep the discussion light so we can resolve it without any sour faces. :D
(In reply to comment #48) > Okay, I just wanted you guys to know that Justin is working **** this. We > want to solve it as much as you and I want to keep the discussion light so we > can resolve it without any sour faces. :D > Not a problem, Mike. Could you now reopen this bug now in Status, please?
(In reply to comment #43) > Looking at the top 15 themes today by weekly downloads, the number one theme > had over 290,000 downloads this week and the number 15 had 97,500. I don't know how the number 15 could have that many. My current theme at the 5 slot is only showing 59,354. If that's the case then everything is out of order. Now I know you guys are doing your best to work through these kind of issues and I thank you for your time. Now I remember with the old version of AMO, even at the 10 slot I would get +100,000 downloads. I don't know about you, but I understand that within the last couple years Firefox has gained many new users. The numbers just don't seam to add up. Ever since the new update, the Dev console just doesn't seam to work very good. The rating hasn't changed in months and the download counters have never been very stable. Now if we find out that every thing has been working fine, then I'm sorry to have wasted your time. But for us theme authors the download numbers are pretty important. When looking for a design contract I always use my download stats part of my portfolio. Now if those weren't showing the right numbers then that starts to affect my well being in real life, which is a problem.
This bug is marked as fixed, but since the new AMO site has launched, I have noticed a very serious drop in downloads of my theme (according to the stats page) and total daily users stat has dropped from a near all time high to the lowest level it has seen since 2007 when the daily users were steadily climbing. As my supposed daily users dropped between March 18th and March 26th by around 40%, I can't help but think there are still bugs with the stats counter.
Product: addons.mozilla.org → addons.mozilla.org Graveyard
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