A reminder and clarification about The Ubuntu Counter Project

Fri Jul 28 13:17:48 UTC 2006

Am Fri, 28. July 2006 13:30 schrieb Melissa Draper:
> Greetings,
>
> The Ubuntu Counter Project ( http://ubuntucounter.geekosophical.net )
> has now been running for almost 9 days. I am aware that there was brief
> mention of it on this list, and this message is intended as a reminder
> and some clarification.
>
> The project was initially an initiative to provide Ubuntu users a way to
> display their Ubuntu pride in a nice, neat, recognisable form on blogs
> as well as in forum and email signatures. Since then, worthwhile
> statistics have been gathered about user preferences and habits.
>
> Contrary to some people's belief, the project is not and never was
> intended to replace or detract from The Linux Counter (
> http://counter.li.org ). Rather, it was intended as something fun
> exclusively for Ubuntu users. As far as I know, there is no such
> initiative for any other specific distribution family. Ubuntu has such a
> variance and range of choice in that is not matched by any other Linux.
> The counter will catalog this in a way The Linux Counter does not.
>
> What does it have that The Linux Counter does not? As mentioned above,
> the point of The Ubuntu Counter was never to compete with or replace The
> Linux Counter. The Ubuntu Counter does not collect as much refined data
> as The Linux counter, however it does have things that The Linux Counter
> does not. The Linux Counter does not have a pre-set Kubuntu, Xubuntu,
> Edubuntu, Fluxbuntu or Nubuntu choice. Data submitted via the 'other'
> field can vary in terms of case and mis-spelling. The Ubuntu Counter
> also has novelty buttons for blogs, forum sigs and email sigs. What the
> heck is the point of this? You may ask... I shall demonstrate with
> statistics:
>
> -------------------------------------------
>
> Windows    350186    51.2 %
> Linux      274969    40.2 %
>
> These figures are extracted directly from awstats (an apache log
> statistical analysis package) minutes before posting this message.
>
> What do they mean? Windows refers to that other operating system that
> still has market share. Linux refers to *any* linux. The numbers refer
> to the number of times *any* file from the website has been viewed. So
> far, more Windows people have seen the site and or the buttons, than
> linux people have. Cool, isn't it.
>
> Below, are the top viewed files from the entire website.
> These also happen to be the files that generate the little buttons. Once
> again, the numbers are the number of times the images have been viewed.
>
> /img/ubuntu-blogger.php    164375
> /img/ubuntu-user2.php      117009
> /img/ubuntu-user.php       75393
>
> -------------------------------------------
>
> Lastly: Why not just advertise The Linux Counter? My honest opinion? I'm
> pretty sure that >> 88680 Unique Visitors << seeing the link to
> http://counter.li.org on the front page is a pretty darn good
> advertising effort. In the past week, I've had lots of people tell me
> that this counter has told them about, or reminded them about, the
> original counter.
I would suggest to place this link more visible, e.g. in bold-italic or by 
having a couter.li.org button. I recognised it only after a closer look 
beeing a link.

>
> I hope this clears up some confusion, apprehension and distaste some
> people seem to have about the project.
>
> --
> Sincerely
> Melissa Draper
>
> http://www.meldraweb.com
>
> Phone: 0404 595 395
Hhhm 040x is the German area code for Hamburg...
International area code is missing.
>
> P.O Box 1412
> Lavington, 2641
Country?

Hi Melissa

I don't think that it is a good idea to have another counter.
Under strategical aspects this may open a new battlefield Ubuntu-counter / 
counter.li.org as we have it with Ubuntu / Debian. And I dont think that 
anyone will have this.

So what would be a much better attempt here in my eyes is to offer 
counter.li.org your assistance to enforce and enhance their service.
At least you should offer them to forward your counter data to counter.li.org 
so that a user which is registered in ubuntu-counter will get an Ubuntu-user 
number _and_ a counter.li.org Linux-user number. This will bring benefit to 
both counters. I think that it shouldn't need much of coding. A user who is 
verified at one of the counters can be seen as trusted so there is no need 
for another verification. And not to forget by doing this you may have the 
chance to catch the registered ubuntu users at counter.li.org.

There is no verification of new users as it is done by counter.li.org. So in 
the end the numbers acquired by your survey may be seen very weak.

I had no problem to add:
user: oerks
email: oerks at mailtonowhere.net
Cluster name: false
Variant: Xubuntu
Machines: 1000
Distribution: edgy
(I deleted this registration, but you may find it in the logfiles.)

regards,
thomas