[RFC] Revamp Send Statistics

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MichaelC
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[RFC] Revamp Send Statistics

Post by MichaelC »

Problem:
At moment, except on inital installation, rarely are statistics sent. When they are sent the information they provide us with, is, for the most part, quite useless.

Suggestion:
  • Add more items that are helpful such as the list of activated (or installed) styles, the default style and the list of uploaded (or installed or enabled) extensions to the send statistics
  • Remove many un-needed config values
  • Offer the cron to send statistics
  • Send the board start date
Why - Styles & Extensions Information:
It would enable us to see the usage of how many sites use custom styles other than prosilver, how many sites still use subsilver2 despite being decapreated, how popular extensions are proving to be, as well as providing us with information like the most used extensions/styles and a host of other reasons that can be utilised once its been added.

Why - Offer cron
This means stats are sent often (as the content may be updated often). It also means that it isn't just run at installation which most likely happens for most installs.

Why - Board Start Date
To give an indication on if its a new board (just been installed) and therefore settings won't have been set yet and extensions/styles not installed.

Why - Remove un-needed config values
To remove the clutter and items that might confuse the board admin as to what data is being sent.
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Senky
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Re: [RFC] Add extension/style information to statistics

Post by Senky »

+1
I think it is not invasion of privacy, so why not? However most users send statistics just after installation of board. Or do you think of another statistics?

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EXreaction
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Re: [RFC] Add extension/style information to statistics

Post by EXreaction »

The board should automatically, periodically, send statistics if the user allows it. Otherwise I do not think this would be too useful.

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MichaelC
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Re: [RFC] Add extension/style information to statistics

Post by MichaelC »

EXreaction wrote:The board should automatically, periodically, send statistics if the user allows it. Otherwise I do not think this would be too useful.
Well, they are redirected to it after an update but I do see your point. They probably don't send them often. Maybe have it so when they send statistics it adds a cron that will send it every 3 months and add a mention of this?
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EXreaction
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Re: [RFC] Add extension/style information to statistics

Post by EXreaction »

They should be explicitly asked if the cron can periodically send statistics and what those statistics will exactly contain. Right now the details are a little bit fuzzy for inexperienced users and I think a lot more information is being sent then what is actually needed.

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MichaelC
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Re: [RFC] Add extension/style information to statistics

Post by MichaelC »

EXreaction wrote:I think a lot more information is being sent then what is actually needed.
+1. It sends most of the config table by the looks of it.

EDIT: Updated the RFC to be a bit broader.
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Vinny
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Re: [RFC] Revamp Statistics

Post by Vinny »

+1

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imkingdavid
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Re: [RFC] Revamp Statistics

Post by imkingdavid »

IMO any sent information should be done on an opt-in basis. Perhaps a setting like "Automatically send anonymous usage statistics" would let us bypass having to ask the admin each time we want to do it, but I do not agree with sending such information sans explicit consent.

EDIT: Also,
Why - Board Start Date
To give an indication on if its a new board (just been installed) and therefore settings won't have been set yet and extensions/styles not installed.
Just remember that the start date can be reset; in fact, I did so on my forum when I first opened it to the public even though it had been installed for a while during the preparation and setup process. As such, we should not put too much weight on this information.

EDIT 2: And,
Why - Remove un-needed config values
Such as?
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MichaelC
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Re: [RFC] Revamp Statistics

Post by MichaelC »

imkingdavid wrote:EDIT 2: And,
Why - Remove un-needed config values
Such as?
I'll just copy and paste the list of phpBB Stuff that is sent and I think my point becomes relatively obvious. Barely any of this stuff anybody cares about. My guess (without looking at code) its that it dumps the config table removing any sensitive information:
phpBB
config_active_sessions
0
config_allow_attachments
1
config_allow_autologin
1
config_allow_avatar
0
config_allow_avatar_local
0
config_allow_avatar_remote
0
config_allow_avatar_upload
0
config_allow_bbcode
1
config_allow_birthdays
1
config_allow_bookmarks
1
config_allow_emailreuse
0
config_allow_forum_notify
1
config_allow_mass_pm
1
config_allow_name_chars
USERNAME_CHARS_ANY
config_allow_namechange
0
config_allow_nocensors
0
config_allow_pm_attach
0
config_allow_pm_report
1
config_allow_post_flash
1
config_allow_post_links
1
config_allow_privmsg
1
config_allow_quick_reply
1
config_allow_sig
1
config_allow_sig_bbcode
1
config_allow_sig_flash
0
config_allow_sig_img
1
config_allow_sig_links
1
config_allow_sig_pm
1
config_allow_sig_smilies
1
config_allow_smilies
1
config_allow_topic_notify
1
config_attachment_quota
52428800
config_auth_bbcode_pm
1
config_auth_flash_pm
0
config_auth_img_pm
1
config_auth_method
db
config_auth_smilies_pm
1
config_avatar_filesize
6144
config_avatar_max_height
90
config_avatar_max_width
90
config_avatar_min_height
20
config_avatar_min_width
20
config_board_dst
0
config_board_email_form
0
config_board_hide_emails
1
config_board_timezone
0
config_browser_check
1
config_bump_interval
10
config_bump_type
d
config_cache_gc
7200
config_captcha_plugin
phpbb_captcha_nogd
config_captcha_gd
1
config_captcha_gd_foreground_noise
0
config_captcha_gd_x_grid
25
config_captcha_gd_y_grid
25
config_captcha_gd_wave
0
config_captcha_gd_3d_noise
1
config_captcha_gd_fonts
1
config_confirm_refresh
1
config_check_attachment_content
1
config_check_dnsbl
0
config_chg_passforce
0
config_cookie_secure
0
config_coppa_enable
0
config_database_gc
604800
config_dbms_version
5.5.24-log
config_default_dateformat
D M d, Y g:i a
config_default_lang
en
config_display_last_edited
1
config_display_order
0
config_edit_time
0
config_email_check_mx
1
config_email_enable
0
config_email_function_name
mail
config_email_package_size
20
config_enable_confirm
1
config_enable_pm_icons
1
config_enable_post_confirm
1
config_feed_enable
0
config_feed_http_auth
0
config_feed_limit_post
15
config_feed_limit_topic
10
config_feed_overall
1
config_feed_overall_forums
0
config_feed_forum
1
config_feed_topic
1
config_feed_topics_new
1
config_feed_topics_active
0
config_feed_item_statistics
1
config_flood_interval
15
config_force_server_vars
0
config_form_token_lifetime
7200
config_form_token_mintime
0
config_form_token_sid_guests
1
config_forward_pm
1
config_forwarded_for_check
0
config_full_folder_action
2
config_fulltext_native_common_thres
5
config_fulltext_native_load_upd
1
config_fulltext_native_max_chars
14
config_fulltext_native_min_chars
3
config_gzip_compress
0
config_hot_threshold
25
config_img_create_thumbnail
0
config_img_display_inlined
1
config_img_imagick
config_img_link_height
0
config_img_link_width
0
config_img_max_height
0
config_img_max_thumb_width
400
config_img_max_width
0
config_img_min_thumb_filesize
12000
config_ip_check
3
config_jab_enable
0
config_jab_package_size
20
config_jab_use_ssl
0
config_limit_load
0
config_limit_search_load
0
config_load_anon_lastread
0
config_load_birthdays
1
config_load_cpf_memberlist
0
config_load_cpf_viewprofile
1
config_load_cpf_viewtopic
0
config_load_db_lastread
1
config_load_db_track
1
config_load_jumpbox
1
config_load_moderators
1
config_load_online
1
config_load_online_guests
1
config_load_online_time
5
config_load_onlinetrack
1
config_load_search
1
config_load_tplcompile
1
config_load_user_activity
1
config_max_attachments
3
config_max_attachments_pm
1
config_max_autologin_time
0
config_max_filesize
262144
config_max_filesize_pm
262144
config_max_login_attempts
3
config_max_name_chars
20
config_max_num_search_keywords
10
config_max_pass_chars
100
config_max_poll_options
10
config_max_post_chars
60000
config_max_post_font_size
200
config_max_post_img_height
0
config_max_post_img_width
0
config_max_post_smilies
0
config_max_post_urls
0
config_max_quote_depth
3
config_max_reg_attempts
5
config_max_sig_chars
255
config_max_sig_font_size
200
config_max_sig_img_height
0
config_max_sig_img_width
0
config_max_sig_smilies
0
config_max_sig_urls
5
config_min_name_chars
3
config_min_pass_chars
6
config_min_post_chars
1
config_min_search_author_chars
3
config_mime_triggers
body|head|html|img|plaintext|a href|pre|script|table|title
config_new_member_post_limit
3
config_new_member_group_default
0
config_override_user_style
0
config_pass_complex
PASS_TYPE_ANY
config_pm_edit_time
0
config_pm_max_boxes
4
config_pm_max_msgs
50
config_pm_max_recipients
0
config_posts_per_page
10
config_print_pm
1
config_queue_interval
60
config_require_activation
0
config_referer_validation
1
config_search_block_size
250
config_search_gc
7200
config_search_interval
0
config_search_anonymous_interval
0
config_search_type
fulltext_native
config_search_store_results
1800
config_secure_allow_deny
1
config_secure_allow_empty_referer
1
config_secure_downloads
0
config_session_gc
3600
config_session_length
3600
config_smtp_auth_method
PLAIN
config_smtp_delivery
0
config_topics_per_page
25
config_tpl_allow_php
0
config_version
3.0.10
config_warnings_expire_days
90
config_warnings_gc
14400
config_num_files
0
config_num_posts
1
config_num_topics
1
config_num_users
1
config_record_online_users
1
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nickvergessen
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Re: [RFC] Revamp Send Statistics

Post by nickvergessen »

all the allow_* can be used to determinate good default values, if we want to change them once?!

num_* values give feedback about the board size and are therefor very handy to see, if big boards configure different and more.
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