Dark0ne Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Hi folks, It came to our attention last week, in a random forum post unrelated to the topic, that the unique file download stats have been broken for quite some time now. I honestly had no idea this was the case. The unique download stat you see on file pages is supposed to tell you how many individual members have downloaded a file. Irrespective of how many times that user comes back to download that file (or multiple versions of a file on the same page) the unique download counter should only go up once per user who downloads from a file page. As an example, imagine a new user goes to the SkyUI file page for the first time. There are currently 14 files available for download for SkyUI. The first time the user downloads SkyUI the unique download counter will go up by 1. The second time the user downloads that file, or any other file on that page, the unique download counter should not increase by 1 again. On top of that, each individual file uploaded to the file page (in SkyUI’s case, 14) has its own unique download counter as well. These are file specific. So if I download SkyUI 1.0 a total of 5 times, and SkyUI 2.0 a total of 5 times, then the unique download counter for SkyUI 1.0 will go up by only 1, the unique download counter for SkyUI 2.0 will go up by 1, and the unique download counter for the SkyUI file page as a whole will go up only by 1. In contrast, the total download counter for SkyUI 1.0 will go up by 5, the total download counter for SkyUI 2.0 will go up by 5, and the total download counter for the SkyUI file page as a whole will go up by 10. As a result, you end up with two markedly different figures; unique downloads tells you how many individual members have downloaded the mod. Total downloads tells you how many times the file has been downloaded overall, unique or not. The disparity can go some way to showing you how many users like the mod enough to update it through multiple versions, among other things, though you take that with a pinch of salt, of course. Users who download the file without being logged in (any files under 2MB can be downloaded without an account) do not count towards the unique download counter at any time, but will count towards the total downloads. This is because we cannot accurately track unique download statistics for non-logged in users due to the prevalence of dynamic IP addresses. As such, unique downloads are only based on registered members downloading files. That is how it was supposed to work. That is how I actually thought it did work. However, that’s not how it was working up until today. To explain how it was wrongly counting the figure before I’ll go back to the SkyUI example. Before, if I download SkyUI 1.0 a total of 5 times, and SkyUI 2.0 a total of 5 times, then the unique download counter for SkyUI 1.0 will go up by only 1, the unique download counter for SkyUI 2.0 will go up by 1, and the unique download counter for the SkyUI file page as a whole will go up by 2. As a result, if I were to download all 14 files on the SkyUI page then the unique download counter for the SkyUI file page as a whole would have gone up by 14. This meant that up until now, the unique download counters for file pages were incorrect and not accurate. The unique download counters for the individual downloadable files themselves (e.g. SkyUI’s 14 individual files available from the “files” tab on the file page) were correct, just the overall total unique downloads for the file pages were wrong. Over the past four days we’ve been running a script in the background to go through all 1.4 billion downloads we’ve logged to date in our file database and recalculate the correct unique download counters. We’ve also patched out the error in our calculations to ensure the correct counting method is used. The figures you now see on the site are the correct, fixed figures. Initial comparisons show a 30%-50% change downwards for most file page’s unique download counters. I understand that it can be disheartening to log on to your file pages today to find your unique download counts revised down, a lot. I’m sorry about that. However, I’m sure everyone would rather the correct, accurate figures were shown rather than sticking with the incorrect figures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jokerine Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Oh no, now I can no longer boast about alll of those downloads I had! :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renthal311 Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Hello, yes, a very good change and a solution, thanks!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renthal311 Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 In response to post #35413700. Jokerine wrote: Oh no, now I can no longer boast about alll of those downloads I had! :(do not worry my friend, everyone knows that you have a wonderful work!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disi30 Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 I usually keep exactly one version up and always only saw the 1:1 translation :) Why would someone need to download an old version of a mod anyway... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunik Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 In response to post #35413700. #35413810 is also a reply to the same post.Jokerine wrote: Oh no, now I can no longer boast about alll of those downloads I had! :(renthal311 wrote: do not worry my friend, everyone knows that you have a wonderful work!)Don't worry, you can still boast about total downloads. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoyBatterian Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 In response to post #35413280. Dark0ne wrote: Hi folks,It came to our attention last week, in a random forum post unrelated to the topic, that the unique file download stats have been broken for quite some time now. I honestly had no idea this was the case.The unique download stat you see on file pages is supposed to tell you how many individual members have downloaded a file. Irrespective of how many times that user comes back to download that file (or multiple versions of a file on the same page) the unique download counter should only go up once per user who downloads from a file page. As an example, imagine a new user goes to the SkyUI file page for the first time. There are currently 14 files available for download for SkyUI. The first time the user downloads SkyUI the unique download counter will go up by 1. The second time the user downloads that file, or any other file on that page, the unique download counter should not increase by 1 again.On top of that, each individual file uploaded to the file page (in SkyUI’s case, 14) has its own unique download counter as well. These are file specific. So if I download SkyUI 1.0 a total of 5 times, and SkyUI 2.0 a total of 5 times, then the unique download counter for SkyUI 1.0 will go up by only 1, the unique download counter for SkyUI 2.0 will go up by 1, and the unique download counter for the SkyUI file page as a whole will go up only by 1. In contrast, the total download counter for SkyUI 1.0 will go up by 5, the total download counter for SkyUI 2.0 will go up by 5, and the total download counter for the SkyUI file page as a whole will go up by 10.As a result, you end up with two markedly different figures; unique downloads tells you how many individual members have downloaded the mod. Total downloads tells you how many times the file has been downloaded overall, unique or not. The disparity can go some way to showing you how many users like the mod enough to update it through multiple versions, among other things, though you take that with a pinch of salt, of course.Users who download the file without being logged in (any files under 2MB can be downloaded without an account) do not count towards the unique download counter at any time, but will count towards the total downloads. This is because we cannot accurately track unique download statistics for non-logged in users due to the prevalence of dynamic IP addresses. As such, unique downloads are only based on registered members downloading files.That is how it was supposed to work. That is how I actually thought it did work. However, that’s not how it was working up until today.To explain how it was wrongly counting the figure before I’ll go back to the SkyUI example. Before, if I download SkyUI 1.0 a total of 5 times, and SkyUI 2.0 a total of 5 times, then the unique download counter for SkyUI 1.0 will go up by only 1, the unique download counter for SkyUI 2.0 will go up by 1, and the unique download counter for the SkyUI file page as a whole will go up by 2. As a result, if I were to download all 14 files on the SkyUI page then the unique download counter for the SkyUI file page as a whole would have gone up by 14.This meant that up until now, the unique download counters for file pages were incorrect and not accurate. The unique download counters for the individual downloadable files themselves (e.g. SkyUI’s 14 individual files available from the “files” tab on the file page) were correct, just the overall total unique downloads for the file pages were wrong.Over the past four days we’ve been running a script in the background to go through all 1.4 billion downloads we’ve logged to date in our file database and recalculate the correct unique download counters. We’ve also patched out the error in our calculations to ensure the correct counting method is used. The figures you now see on the site are the correct, fixed figures. Initial comparisons show a 30%-50% change downwards for most file page’s unique download counters.I understand that it can be disheartening to log on to your file pages today to find your unique download counts revised down, a lot. I’m sorry about that. However, I’m sure everyone would rather the correct, accurate figures were shown rather than sticking with the incorrect figures.I would argue that patch files on the mod page are also unique files, however they are put there mostly to avoid confusion and cluttering up the database. If they had their own dedicated page it would count as a unique download. *shrug* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandriel Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 (edited) Edited October 2, 2021 by Alexandriel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elianora Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Thank you for the extra work you put in to fix this! I don't care about endorsements at all, but the unique downloads was always something I kept my eyes on as I thought like you that it works like it should. It's also interesting to see how many users come back to redownload / update. Much appreciated Robin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhowington Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Does this hold the same for total views? Like, why would a mod be viewed two hundred thousand times with only eleven thousand unique downloads? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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