In thinking some more about this, the following is probably how I would design a like/popularity system for Rack:
- Introduce a new menu item in Rack: “Library → Opt in to popularity ratings”. It’s a boolean checkmark that is unchecked by default, because some people are paranoid about telemetry systems.
(Actually, given that Rack is open source, and it is very easy for people to verify that only “local-counter-database” is uploaded, it might in this instance be easily defendable to have it opt-out instead, to give good numbers.)
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Have the first tooltip on first Rack start be something like: “Help fellow Rack users find good plugins and modules by opting in to popularity ratings in the Library menu”, and promote turning it on, on e.g. the Rack download page.
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If a user has opted in to participate, then every time they actively place a module in a patch, Rack updates a counter for the module and the plugin, in a little, slightly obfuscated, internal database. The user ID/token is NOT part of the counters database, and all ratings are anonymous.
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When a user starts a new patch, the modules and plugins in the new patch, which is a result of the content of their template, are also counted.
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A plugin and a module is only counted once per patch, no matter how many instances of it they place.
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On a regular basis, if a user has opted in to the popularity ratings, Rack will upload the internal database with plugin and module counters to the library backend. It will then reset/delete the local counters and start counting afresh.
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Now the library backend knows which modules and plugins are actively used by actual users.
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It can now surface and present those numbers in a relevant way on the library web page.
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The counters only cover a period of say one year, so that it reflects the current usage, and not artifacts of history. Of course the library page can choose to display historical graphs and data as well, if that seems like a good idea, and possibly make them available for download.
Thoughts?