weird popular

mmmm something weird

just needs arrows [ or something ] on each filter to say rising/falling

Quote
StevieJ wrote: what filters are "currently" being used the most.

I was right about that..... FF posted this.....

"Our list of popular filters has been stale for years, due to a rigid ranking algorithm. We're going to shake things up a little -- the new algorithm we're testing gives more weight to newer filters, so the list will be more dynamic. Check it out and let us know what you think!"

I have also been under the impression it has been broken all this time. Particularly "All filters by popularity" makes no sense when some have thousands of downloads, some tens. Even changing the heading to "All popular filters" would help clarify it. Better yet, the selection could be explained in some fashion -- "Most downloads in the last week", or some such thing.

Right, IT does behave as discussed but we naturally expect "Popular" to display something like "what got frequently downloaded this week" sort of thing. Key idea: naturally expect.

When I looked a few days ago, the third most popular filter had Usagerank: Low, that was very odd.

[QUOTE] GMM wrote: I suppose it's been working as designed all the time. Filters are sorted by usage rank on this page.[/QUOTE]

It almost sounds like it looks different at your end than ours. Here's what I see (see enclosed image). When I read "Filters by popularity" I expect to see the most popular filters in sequence of popularity. So, I get the first six filters being:

1. Usage rank: High, 1948 dowloads
2. Usage rank: High, 1532 downloads
3. Usage rank: Average, 94 downloads
4. Usage rank: Average, 62 downloads
5. Usage rank: High, 1675 downloads
6. Usage rank: Low, 1735 downloads

To my eye it looks completely random. I know there is logic behind it in that it is calculated in relation to how long the filter has been in existence. But since this is not explained anywhere on the page, it took me years to discover that, and only when I was finally going to write a bug report on it and searched the forum if it had already been reported and commented upon!

[QUOTE] ThreeDee wrote: changing the heading to "All popular filters" would help clarify it.
[QUOTE] GMM wrote: Just curious: how would your change help clarify anything? Isn't your version more general than the current one?[/QUOTE]

The key point there, althrough a very poor attempt at handling, was that the phrase "by popularity" is generally understood to mean "in descending sequence of popularity", so one would expect to see either the filters with A) most downloads OR B) just high-usage filters in the beginning, and neither is the case. So it is confusing. "All popular filters" would avoid some of the apparent confusion. But it is not a handling.

The page is not broken, it is just hard to comprehend. And, in my opinion, impossible for anyone who hasn't seen the explanation. That is why I suggest the ranking criteria on that page should be explained on that page.

TD

Why the reluctance to rename the section or add an explanation in order to more aptly describe the algorithm behind the choice of filters being displayed? Filter Forge Inc is doing itself a disservice by having a feature on their website that has the appearance of being broken. If the algorithm were changed tomorrow to feature only filters that contain the letter "I" in their name, the results would appear to be no less random.

Regarding the "rich get richer" aspect of featuring popular filters, the "Featured Filters" functionality might be a prime cause of this phenomenon. The same filters pop up again and again (maybe a filter has to be an editor's pick to be included). Nevertheless, this feature does a good job in highlighting the capabilities of the product.

I smell a mutiny !!! ha-ha.

jffe

No, it's just plain unexpected. Yeah ok, it's totally not broken. It's just unexpected.

In the end, the fact that it has to be explained on the forums is already silly. No, it's not broken. Technically not broken. But it broke people's expectations. And there's room for a second thought and improvement.