Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!wuarchive!mit-eddie!bloom-beacon!eru!kth.se!sunic!news.funet.fi!uwasa.fi!ts
From: ts@uwasa.fi (Timo Salmi)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: This week's download statistics of garbo, Vaasa, Finland
Message-ID: <1991Mar4.120739.15489@uwasa.fi>
Date: 4 Mar 91 12:07:39 GMT
References: <1991Mar3.232836.5706@terminator.cc.umich.edu>
Organization: University of Vaasa
Lines: 43

In article <1991Mar3.232836.5706@terminator.cc.umich.edu> sjr@m-net.ann-arbor.mi.us (Sander J. Rabinowitz) writes:
>KH> huopio@lut.fi (Kauto Huopio OH5LF)
>KH> Now, DO WE NEED WEEKLY DOWNLOAD STATISTICS??
:
>1) People want to know what programs are really popular (this would
>   especially apply to shareware authors).

Quite right.  Furthermore if one looks at BBSes for an analogy, they
very often have these TOP lists which make interesting reading on
the side of their recently uploaded files lists.  These two are
probably what many users of BBSes use to filter interesting files
from the plethora of files available and around.

>2) (From an int'l perspective): How many people in North America are
>   downloading programs from archives in Finland when said files are
>   available elsewhere?  (I say this, since there's a report talking
>   about which sites use garbo quite heavily.)
> 
>Perhaps Mr. Salmi can confirm this?

When you looked at the second of the garbo.uwasa.fi download
statistics, you saw that it also gives ftp contacts by sites.  One
has to draw the conclusions from there.  Dowloading by North
American sites from garbo.uwasa.fi seems quite significant, but one
would have to have a similar statistics from North American sites in
order to draw comparative conclusions. 

...
 In way of a general note: Obviously not everyone likes the
garbo.uwasa.fi show, and the frequency of my postings.  But the name
of the ftp-site game is not only having lots of files available, but
being able to convey information on what is potentially interesting,
and having the files well organized and documented.  It is not just
a simple question of a large harddisk capacity.  Nor should the name
of the game be striving for a maximum number of downloads (that
could easily be achieved by making dirty gif pictures available, as
some sites previously did).

...................................................................
Prof. Timo Salmi        
Moderating at garbo.uwasa.fi anonymous ftp archives 128.214.12.37
School of Business Studies, University of Vaasa, SF-65101, Finland
Internet: ts@chyde.uwasa.fi Funet: gado::salmi Bitnet: salmi@finfun