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orange2k
October 17th, 2007, 02:33 PM
Today I opened Distrowatch and was surprised to see their ranking list gone...
Have they moved them somewhere else or are they gone for good?

floke
October 17th, 2007, 02:50 PM
When PCLOS held all positions 1-100 they knew it was time to give up.

But seriously,

:shock:

Lozz
October 17th, 2007, 03:21 PM
It looks like it has gone. Personally though I always questioned how accurate an indication of uptake it was. I still have yet to meet one person who uses PClinux. Google trends is probably a better measure.

23meg
October 17th, 2007, 03:22 PM
are they gone for good?

Here's hoping.

angryfirelord
October 17th, 2007, 03:24 PM
Guess the PCLOS http bots were eating up too much traffic. :)

AlexenderReez
October 17th, 2007, 03:24 PM
It looks like it has gone. Personally though I always questioned how accurate an indication of uptake it was. I still have yet to meet one person who uses PClinux. Google trends is probably a better measure.

yea..it is seems so....


http://www.google.com/trends?q=Ubuntu%2C+Suse%2C+Fedora%2C+Debian%2C+PCL inuxOS&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0


http://ubuntuforums.org/g/images/167727/1_googlehits.png

Cannaregio
October 17th, 2007, 03:24 PM
Already a coupla days they have removed them.
Some PcLinuxOS fanboy heavily spammed the listings.
Not that PCLinuxOS is a bad distro, I tried it and it is not bad at all, but the spamming was really ludicrous. I mean, distros like Ubuntu or -say- Sabayon deserve their outstanding ranking, PcLinuxOs, didn't really deserve *that* much.

This said, the fanboy did manage (http://www.google.com/trends?q=PCLinuxOS%2C+Sabayon&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=3) to get some extra attention (http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/12816) indeed.

cogadh
October 17th, 2007, 03:26 PM
yea..it is seems so....
Interesting that PCLOS is pretty much a flat line on the graph...

bromix
October 17th, 2007, 03:27 PM
I like Google Trends. I also like Alexa for comparing page hits between distros. It's got a great and easy to use traffic comparison chart. Let's ya view the percentage of total traffic spent on separate pages of a website.

mybunche
October 17th, 2007, 03:32 PM
When PCLOS held all positions 1-100 they knew it was time to give up.



Brillant :) Ubuntu all the way!

greymongrey
October 17th, 2007, 04:27 PM
It would be nice to have an official word from DW as to why the rankings are gone.

wolfen69
October 17th, 2007, 04:50 PM
i say good riddance. all the rankings did was start flame wars. after all, they werent really "ranking" anything anyway. i wont miss it.

greymongrey
October 17th, 2007, 04:56 PM
I didn't care one way or the other about the rankings but I did like having a quick and easy way to get to a distro page.

Cannaregio
October 17th, 2007, 05:59 PM
I didn't care one way or the other about the rankings but I did like having a quick and easy way to get to a distro page.


You still have: choose the "news Filtering Options" masks and jump wherever.

Also I noticed that the "OSDisc.com" crap commercial column, on the right side, is still based on the spammed rankings.

Nano Geek
October 17th, 2007, 06:46 PM
Personally I wish they would put the rankings back.
I found them usefull to quickly look at a distros information.

Does anyone know for sure that PCLinuxOS fanboys really were cheating?

Thanks

vishzilla
October 17th, 2007, 06:58 PM
may be the Gutsy buzz has got their counters go fizzz

alchemyuk
October 17th, 2007, 07:03 PM
Great links. thanks very much

greymongrey
October 17th, 2007, 07:04 PM
.

Does anyone know for sure that PCLinuxOS fanboys really were cheating?



I doubt it. All we have are suspicions. :D

ahaslam
October 17th, 2007, 07:08 PM
I think it makes it harder to find the info you want.
It'd be nice to see an alphabetical list of the more active distro's in its place.

reyfer
October 17th, 2007, 07:18 PM
I think it makes it harder to find the info you want.
It'd be nice to see an alphabetical list of the more active distro's in its place.

Is it really that hard? I mean, if you're looking for info on XXXXX distro, it means you already know the distribution's name, just go to the drop-down menu at the top of the page or just type the distribution's name on the field that says "Type Distribution Name", and click go. Personally, I think the rankings thing had lost its original intention lately, and was being used by some as a measure of a distro's quality, not as what it was, just a counter of how many clicks a distro got (and as such it was easy to manipulate).

Sunflower1970
October 17th, 2007, 07:20 PM
Personally I wish they would put the rankings back.
I found them usefull to quickly look at a distros information.

I miss the sidebar with the names of all the distros. I used it to read about all of them. Rankings I really didn't care too much about.


Does anyone know for sure that PCLinuxOS fanboys really were cheating?

...I did raise an eyebrow or two when I saw when OpenSUSE 10.3 was released earlier this month and was second on the list instead of first...It seemed like at that point PCLOS was being artificially being pushed up to make sure it was first...

*shrugs*

ahaslam
October 17th, 2007, 07:45 PM
Is it really that hard? I mean, if you're looking for info on XXXXX distro, it means you already know the distribution's name, just go to the drop-down menu at the top of the page or just type the distribution's name on the field that says "Type Distribution Name", and click go. Personally, I think the rankings thing had lost its original intention lately, and was being used by some as a measure of a distro's quality, not as what it was, just a counter of how many clicks a distro got (and as such it was easy to manipulate).

Not hard, just not as easy as a single click. I agree on the ranking, that's why I suggested an alphabetical list of the more active distributions.

angryfirelord
October 17th, 2007, 10:38 PM
It would be nice to have an official word from DW as to why the rankings are gone.
I'm sure when Distrowatch Weekly rolls around, we'll get some news about it.

Ultra Magnus
October 17th, 2007, 10:56 PM
I think they should bring it back - Distrowatch was one of the first websites I found when I was looking for information about Linux, and the first thing you find out is that there are hundreds of Linux distrobutions - I had almost no idea what I should use - I knew the distro my University used was Fedora so that was a start, but the distrowatch rankings gave me a good idea of what would probably be good to look at - So for the sake of new users looking for information I think they should bring it back, even if its not that useful for deciding who's #1.

angryfirelord
October 17th, 2007, 10:56 PM
Well, looks like it's still there, just moved from the main page: http://distrowatch.com/stats.php?section=popularity

andrewabc
October 17th, 2007, 11:21 PM
They better explain why it was removed. The Distrowatch guy said he looked at the logs and there was no indication that pclinuxos was being manipulated.

I enjoyed those listings, even if they are meaningless.

greymongrey
October 17th, 2007, 11:25 PM
Well, looks like it's still there, just moved from the main page: http://distrowatch.com/stats.php?section=popularity
That is helpful. Thanks.

CaptainTux
October 17th, 2007, 11:26 PM
It was essentially an ongoing poll that some people took waaaaayyy too seriously.

Dimitriid
October 18th, 2007, 12:36 AM
They should just link those google trends graphics. :)

RAV TUX
October 18th, 2007, 12:41 AM
I am glad to see the rankings gone and hope they keep them off.

As for an alphabetical list of all active distros listed on DW go here. (http://distrowatch.com/search.php?category=All&origin=All&basedon=All&desktop=All&architecture=All&status=Active)

Another list can be found on Distropedia here (http://cafelinux.org/distropedia/?q=node/1)(This list includes distros not yet published on DW or Wikipedia).

Also the Wikipedia list can be found here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions).

GSF1200S
October 18th, 2007, 01:04 AM
Personally I wish they would put the rankings back.
I found them usefull to quickly look at a distros information.

Does anyone know for sure that PCLinuxOS fanboys really were cheating?

Thanks

I really highly doubt they were cheating. PCLOS is a very nice distro, and people (prolly more from the Linux community that anything else) were just curious. Its funny that its so popular on distrowatch, yet the forums arent very active though.. These forums are very active, and get more active everyday, and yet our "ranking" seems to steadily drop.

Whatever- they are both awesome distros with good merits.

How could you not like PCLOS? Apt4RPM, synaptic, KDE, nice repos, stable, fast- its a great distro! I dont use it because I prefer the DE choices, alternate CD install options, the debian base, aptitude, and the forums of Ubuntu- but thats what choice is about..

Lord Illidan
October 18th, 2007, 01:16 AM
Talk about bias.

When Ubuntu was top, we'd brag about our ranking..until finally we got jaded.

Then, PLOS overtakes Ubuntu, by hook or by crook, I honestly don't care...well, everybody starts saying : conspiracy!

Then, DW removes their ranking : Everybody says : finally, it's about time.

GSF1200S
October 18th, 2007, 01:17 AM
Talk about bias.

When Ubuntu was top, we'd brag about our ranking..until finally we got jaded.

Then, PLOS overtakes Ubuntu, by hook or by crook, I honestly don't care...well, everybody starts saying : conspiracy!

Then, DW removes their ranking : Everybody says : finally, it's about time.

agreed

icechen1
October 18th, 2007, 01:27 AM
Well they put it back,Ubuntu is back to be the 1st in the 7 days rating.

CaptainTux
October 18th, 2007, 01:48 AM
Well they put it back,Ubuntu is back to be the 1st in the 7 days rating.

Damn...well, back to conspiracy theories and flame wars.

Lemme get some popcorn to enjoy the show.:popcorn:

Lucretius
October 18th, 2007, 02:11 AM
The site administrator states that the figures were being "manipulated" by unspecified individuals and therefore the statistics became distorted and irrelevant.

They do not state who the culprits are, but it's probably not too difficult to hazard a guess :lolflag:

CaptainTux
October 18th, 2007, 02:13 AM
The site administrator states that the figures were being "manipulated" by unspecified individuals and therefore the statistics became distorted and irrelevant.

They do not state who the culprits are, but it's probably not too difficult to hazard a guess :lolflag:

Their stats are always irrelevant. ;)

andrewabc
October 18th, 2007, 02:44 AM
The site administrator states that the figures were being "manipulated" by unspecified individuals and therefore the statistics became distorted and irrelevant.

They do not state who the culprits are, but it's probably not too difficult to hazard a guess :lolflag:

Where did you read that?
In a previous DW weekly (when pclinuxos got to #1) he stated that he couldn't find any manipulation.

reyfer
October 18th, 2007, 02:52 AM
Oh God, back to "is this distro good?" "who cares if its good? It's #1 at DW"

SunnyRabbiera
October 18th, 2007, 02:56 AM
It looks like it has gone. Personally though I always questioned how accurate an indication of uptake it was. I still have yet to meet one person who uses PClinux. Google trends is probably a better measure.

Hello!

But I guess PCLinux is gonna get sniping here just because it got the top rank last...
Does it really matter???

Lucretius
October 18th, 2007, 02:59 AM
Where did you read that?
In a previous DW weekly (when pclinuxos got to #1) he stated that he couldn't find any manipulation.


counters. This was prompted by a continuous abuse of the counters by a handful of undisciplined individuals who had confused DistroWatch with a voting station. The counters are no longer displayed on the individual distributions pages, but all visits (on the main site, as well as on mirrors) are logged. Only one hit per IP address per day is counted.

http://distrowatch.com/stats.php?section=popularity

andrewabc
October 18th, 2007, 03:10 AM
http://distrowatch.com/stats.php?section=popularity

That was in May 2004. That has nothing to do with pclinuxos.

SunnyRabbiera
October 18th, 2007, 03:59 AM
uh huh, but please lets knock the sniping okay?

Bothered
October 18th, 2007, 07:39 AM
It's back up now - but quite a number of distributions seem to have a red arrow

Nano Geek
October 22nd, 2007, 02:34 PM
Here's the reason why it was down guys.

http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20071022#experiment

cogadh
October 22nd, 2007, 03:12 PM
Interesting. So basically, DistroWatch's ranking table was what caused the unusual rise in the PCLinuxOS position on that table. I can accept that it could be what kept it up at the top spot (everyone seeing the list thinks "What the heck is PCLinuxOS?" and clicks on the link), but all it does is make the rank table that much more meaningless.

wyth
October 23rd, 2007, 08:05 PM
Can someone explain this to me, then?

I have Tuxmachines on my rss feed. I see the top four stories. More than any other distro, I see headlines talking about how Ubuntu sucks (it's current the two (http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/21260) top stories (http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/21269)). Then I look over on the right side of the page, and there's a big ad for PCLinuxOS. And a while back, when PCLinuxOS took the top Distrowatch spot, there was all kinds of crowing on the interwebs about what a wonderful distro it was, often with the corollary of how awful Ubuntu was.

I'm really not trying to start something here. I used to use PCLinuxOS, even donated to the project, and thought for a long time it did KDE right, until I found myself getting more done on Gnome and switched over to Ubuntu. Tex is great. But the snappish spitballs at Ubuntu in that community in favor of PCLinuxOS, especially on a site that's promoting PCLinuxOS, seems a little slimey. Hey, people even help support PCLinuxOS on this forum, it's not like the Ubuntu people are out to crush Tex's project.

So what's the deal at Tuxmachines?

GSF1200S
October 23rd, 2007, 08:12 PM
Can someone explain this to me, then?

I have Tuxmachines on my rss feed. I see the top four stories. More than any other distro, I see headlines talking about how Ubuntu sucks (it's current the two (http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/21260) top stories (http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/21269)). Then I look over on the right side of the page, and there's a big ad for PCLinuxOS. And a while back, when PCLinuxOS took the top Distrowatch spot, there was all kinds of crowing on the interwebs about what a wonderful distro it was, often with the corollary of how awful Ubuntu was.

I'm really not trying to start something here. I used to use PCLinuxOS, even donated to the project, and thought for a long time it did KDE right, until I found myself getting more done on Gnome and switched over to Ubuntu. Tex is great. But the snappish spitballs at Ubuntu in that community in favor of PCLinuxOS, especially on a site that's promoting PCLinuxOS, seems a little slimey. Hey, people even help support PCLinuxOS on this forum, it's not like the Ubuntu people are out to crush Tex's project.

So what's the deal at Tuxmachines?

I dont even know.. it seems we have immaturity in both of the distros communities... It does seem that PCLOS really hates us, but Ive seen plenty of Ubuntu heads talking down on PCLOS as well.

Its a shame- they are both really nice distros. We compete with Windows, not ourselves. Thats one weakness of Linux.. we have a hostile community sometimes. I guess its a result of different philosophy's colliding.

ThinkBuntu
October 23rd, 2007, 08:41 PM
Comparing Ubuntu to PCLinuxOS is like comparing a full engine upgrade to a body kit. And comparing Debian to either would be like comparing the entire car to an engine upgrade, a body kit.

They exist in different worlds, and PCLinuxOS doesn't represent software innovation at any rate. The entirety of the OS is NIH.

GSF1200S
October 23rd, 2007, 08:54 PM
I think Ubuntu has done more on the innovation front, but its still just a fork of debian. PCLOS may not be very innovative, but alot of work has gone into making it a good, solid distro.

PCLOS deserves its kudos, just as Ubuntu does.

cogadh
October 23rd, 2007, 09:01 PM
Just stick it to Tuxmachines, they have a vote on the front page for the best recent release (OpenSuse 10.3, Mandriva 2008, Ubuntu 7.10, Puppy 3.0, PC-BSD 1.4), we can all vote for Ubuntu and then the opinions rendered by srlinuxx will be even more meaningless.

Billy_McBong
October 23rd, 2007, 09:19 PM
i don't see a poll
am i stupid or did it end in the last 15 minutes?

floke
October 23rd, 2007, 09:25 PM
Its on the left - scroll down...

cogadh
October 23rd, 2007, 09:25 PM
It's still there, left side of the main page, right underneath the "Navigation" section.

wyth
October 23rd, 2007, 09:27 PM
Scroll down -- it's half-way down the page on the left. I just found it. Surprisingly, PCLinuxOS isn't on there. Someone commented asking if the poll was to determine what the next version of PCLinuxOS would be based on. :)