We all know -- getting the user feedback is essential, but it's hard. At least I find it so.
For example, judging from data gathered from random Android app and game samples, on average:
about 10-20% of all users that have downloaded the app, have actually reviewed the app,
about 10% of those that reviewed the app also leave a comment (making the number of comments approximately 1-2% of all downloads),
about 1% of users communicate via in-app channels,
about 1% of users respond to social posts.
As I mentioned already, this is based on a random sample and the rather small sample size (10) may be biased by statistical error. Nevertheless, it "feels" right
Now, let's say that your user base is wide enough to get the accurate feedback about your product, but only if you could motivate more users to respond to Rate and Leave Feedback requests... but let's leave that for a separate discussion.
What I wanted to ask you all is:
Which questions would you ask your users if you knew they will answer truthfully?
Think survey!
Think user satisfaction!
Think best loved feature!
Don't think girl's/boy's phone numbers!
In the end, I'll try to compile the result in a single survey separated in categories (and based on the popularity of suggested questions) for the community to use.
Let's start asking
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Starter
To get us going, here're some example questions (courtesy of zoomearng.com):
What Features Can You Not Live Without? – Asking people what features they must have on your upcoming product is a great way to find out what is in the highest demand. In short, this online survey question shows you, overall, what features you cannot leave out.
What Is the Most You Would Pay? – Understanding your potential customer’s price range can help you better understand what you can realistically afford to include, and exclude, to hit those price points.
What Did You Like Best About Our Old Product? – If you had an older version of a product and are updating it, finding out what features your customers liked best. Use this online survey question to find out what you should not change in future versions of your product.
What Other Brands Would You Consider? – This online survey question helps you quickly locate and understand your possible competition. Knowing what you’re up against will help you better gauge where your energies should be focused for your product.
What Else Should We Know? – Let your online survey respondents have the floor. This question gives them the opportunity to sound off about things maybe your online survey questions missed. Find out all you forgot to ask about with this question.
One thing that I was not sure how to proceed is the personall, demographic questions. How deep to go and what are the limits?
I believe that the answer to this is in type of survey, but also in giving the user the possibility to opt-out or to make those questions non-mandatory.
What's the safe zone with demographic questions?
I think you can safely ask for:
Country
Age
Occupation
Service Provider(if any, or if necessary)
Another question that can be considered is "Do you primarily use this app for business or personal use?" Obviously only certain apps would use this.
Just a suggestion, but since a lot of questions could vary between apps(like between recreational or utility apps) maybe if you made a tool that allowed app developers to customize and then compile a survey which can then be added to their app with minimal effort it would be awesome. That way developers could ask more app specific questions alongside the more general ones you mentioned above. The hardest thing about that would probably be making it compile into a universal format that can be copy pasted into any apps code, but I'm sure it's not too hard. If the tool automatically created the proper classes along with each survey then it literally could be copy pasted into whatever part of the app the dev wants it in.
Just my 2 cents.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA
Good suggestions, AlanB412.
The Country and Service provider are quite well covered by Play Store statistics (though, should be considered in case app is not published on Google).
Other "personal" stuff, I compiled into one (multiple choice) question for the survey I'm creating for m-parking:
Please tell us something about yourself. Check all that apply.
• Female
• Male
• Younger than 30 years
• 30 years or older
• In school
• Employed
• Unemployed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The details of occupation, like industry and field of work, deserve a dedicated question, if needed, of course.
Ideally, the availability of questions should be dependent on previously made choices (e.g. occupation industry should be asked only if employment status "employed" or "self-employed" were previously selected). That kind of branching should make the survey more engaging as opposed to presenting the user with irrelevant questions.
The idea about the "tool" for developers sounds interesting.
How I'm looking at is a library project that has many out-of-the-box available questions, but that allows also for customizations and works dynamically with any question specified in standard strings dedicated resources.
The tricky part is actually not the inclusion of such Survey-library in apps or its dynamic handling of question-answer configuration. It's in (collecting) the reports part. For that to work seamlessly out-of-the-box, a third party "cloud" reporting service should be available -- to collect and provide access to reports.
Related
Hello devs & members, this may be long, but this pretty much sums up the issue on dev vs dev, members vs members. This is created for people who has a keen understanding of rules, regulations, etc. Therefore people without enough reasoning, critical thinking, sorry this is not for you.
The 'Fair Use' Rule:
When Use of Copyrighted Material is Acceptable
In some situations, you may make limited use of another's copyrighted work without asking permission or infringing on the original copyright.
Fair use is the right to use a copyrighted work under certain conditions without permission of the copyright owner. The doctrine helps prevent a rigid application of copyright law that would stifle the very creativity the law is designed to foster. It allows one to use and build upon prior works in a manner that does not unfairly deprive prior copyright owners of the right to control and benefit from their works.
Some factors to know about "Fair Use":
There are five basic factors to keep in mind when deciding whether or not a particular use of an author's work is a fair use:
Factor 1: Are You Creating Something New or Just Copying?
(the purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes)
The purpose and character of your intended use of the material involved is the single most important factor in determining whether a use is a fair use. The question to ask here is whether you are merely copying someone else's work verbatim or instead using it to help create something new.
One important consideration is whether the use in question advances a socially beneficial activity like those listed in the statute: criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. Other important considerations are whether the use is commercial or noncommercial and whether the use is “transformative.”
Noncommercial use is more likely to be deemed fair use than commercial use, and the statute expressly contrasts nonprofit educational purposes with commercial ones. However, uses made at or by a nonprofit educational institution may be deemed commercial if they are profit making.
Ask yourself:
Is the copyrighted material published or unpublished?
(Unpublished works have traditionally been accorded stronger copyright protection than published works.)
If you publish your work here at xda-developers.com, your work may lean towards to the "fair use" clause.
Is the copyrighted material factual in nature or creative?
(More fair use latitude is accorded to factual works.)
Factual works eg. scripts, mods, etc.; Creative may incorporate themes, graphics, wallpapers, bootanimation, etc.
Is the copyrighted material readily available for purchase?
(The fact that a work is unavailable for purchase through normal channels will favor fair use copying for educational purposes, though this may be mitigated if permission to copy may readily be purchased.)
This won't be an issue since custom roms are not for sale nor it is on monetary pursuit.
Factor 2: Are Your Competing With the Source You're Copying From?
(the nature of the copyrighted work)
Without consent, you ordinarily cannot use another person's protected expression in a way that impairs (or even potentially impairs) the market for his or her work. In custom roms, there is no declaration of contest nor any criteria for the "best" rom.
Whether the work is published or unpublished, and how creative the work is, are the two main considerations. Unpublished works are accorded more protection than published ones, as the author has a strong right to determine whether and when his or her work will be made public.
When it comes to fair use, unpublished works are inherently different from published works. Publishing an author/developer's unpublished work before he or she has authorized it infringes upon the author's right to decide when and whether the work will be made public.
Works that are factual and less creative are more susceptible of fair use than imaginative and highly creative works eg. if you use chobits original themes/graphics/bootanimation,etc. may constitute to infringing, but personally I do not mind if someone use my work solely based on factor 1. This is in keeping with the general principle that copyright protects expression rather than ideas or facts.
Factor 3: Giving the Author Credit Doesn't Let You Off the Hook
Some people mistakenly believe that they can use any material as long as they properly give the author credit. Not true. Giving credit and fair use are completely separate concepts. Either you have the right to use another author's material under the fair use rule or you don't. The fact that you attribute the material to the other author doesn't change that.
Credits should be given to the original author of the modifactions eg. Lidroid 14 toggles, EDT tweaks, Spareparts (incorporated in settings), if the custom rom includes these tweaks, ask yourself:
Are these tweaks/mods originally made by the developer?
Does the original developer reserves the rights for these mods?
Is the developer of these modifications, explicitly made it for public use or doesnt mind if someone else port it to their projects?
Factor 4: The More You Take, the Less Fair Your Use Is Likely to Be
(the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole)
The more material you take, the less likely it is that your use will be a fair use. Contrary to what many people believe, there is no absolute word (scripts) limit on fair use. This is certainly a grey area for rom developers, since no one can dominantly own a sytemui.apk,framework-res.apk, etc. Developer's mod made on those files may constitute to "fair use" since Samsung, HTC, etc. do not mind modifying their base roms. Therefore modifications made on those files should be attributed if its factual or creative underlying factors 1-5.
Courts have taken both a quantitative and a qualitative approach in assessing the impact on the fair use analysis of the amount and substantiality of the portion used. What percentage of the original work has been used? There are no bright lines, but the higher the percentage, the more likely this factor is to weigh against fair use. If you use the systemui, framework, lidroid, phone of other roms it is definitely okay since the gravity of those files does not weigh out the rom's build entirely.
Ask yourself:
How much of the copyrighted work is being copied?
(did you start from fresh stock rom, deodexed it and then copy snippets of files from other roms?)
How long is the portion copied and what percentage of the work does it represent?
(The smaller the portion, the more likely the copying will qualify as fair use.)
Is the portion copied the “heart” of the work?
(Even a quantitatively small portion of a work may weigh against fair use if it is the most important or commercially valuable part of it.)
Is the amount copied limited to that which is necessary for the educational purpose to which it is being put?
(You should copy no more than is necessary for the educational/testing/sharing "without profit" purpose.)
Factor 5: Is there any adverse effect of the use on the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work?
The more important the material is to the original work, the less likely your use of it will be considered a fair use. Does copying spareparts modification, lidroid 14 toggles, etc. is "very" important for a rom's integrity/usableness? Will the rom still work without those modifications?
Use that adversely affects the market for the copyrighted work is less likely to be a fair use. This ties back to the first factor, and the question whether the putative fair use supplants or substitutes for the copyrighted work. Is there any market in Rom development? The answer is none. Developers may ask donations voluntarily, since it is not imposed, this is not a basis for any monetary gain nor their own solitary income generating project (most of them have real jobs too!) Therefore this will not constitute any harm in any market; monetarily and financially.
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In determining whether your intended use of another author's protected work constitutes a fair use, the golden rule:
Take from someone else only what you wouldn't mind someone taking from you.
I respect all developer's for sharing their work, but please ask yourself these questions before lashing out to other members:
Is the modification I have made purely original? (not ported or a derivative of other's work)
Did I share my work in good faith, so that everyone may learn from it?
Am I too stringent of my rules that it affects the Android development community?
Did I even use original graphics/pictures in my rom that can be viewed as highly original and creative?
What really is my purpose on sharing my work here in xda-developers.com?
Being a developer, did I make SGA's community a happy and healthy environment for everyone?
Did I respond to criticisms in a professional and mature manner?
How is my relationship with other developers, taking into account that this is a forum where utmost respect to each other is very important?
Am I in here just for recognition and fame?
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These post has been made, just for educational purposes only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome!:good::good::good:
@MOD make this sticky!
Awesome post...Mod should make this a sticky.
Thanks
Thank you for sharing my post to others. Hello to all Galaxy Ace users! You have an awesome and nifty device in your hands. Excelsior!:victory:
nice
Sent from my GT-S5830 using xda premium
This is great.
AWESOME!
great info :good:
Awesome!
That's fair..!!
Sent from my GT-S5830 using xda premium
Awesome :good:
News from the Portal of XDA.
http://www.xda-developers.com/annou...addition-to-sharing-policy-on-xda-developers/
Posted August 22, 2012 at 6:00 pm by egzthunder1
We are going to deviate a bit from our regularly scheduled programming to let you know about an upcoming change in the rules in the XDA forums. As time has gone by, our site has grown by leaps and bounds from what it was a couple of years ago. With a membership base of over 4.5 million registered users and an average of 35-40 thousand people active at any given time, we need to ensure that this place can offer the best possible environment for all people, both experienced developers and people who come here looking to learn about mobile devices. Because of this reason, the rules of our site need to be amended from time to time to accommodate the needs and wants of such a large user base, but without losing our principles and forgetting what XDA was founded on in the first place.
Just a bit of background: XDA was a website founded by hackers and developers for hackers and developers. People coming here shared one common goal, which was to get more and more out of their expensive toys and they did so by reverse engineering, creating new code to expand the device’s capabilities, and doing things with hardware that most people cannot do (mainly due to lack of knowledge or technical ability). The site prospered to what it is today because these very same people knew that their collective ideas and efforts would yield more results if they collaborated by sharing what they knew with others. More often than not, this resulted in fantastic feats such as the original XDA online kitchen, the very first port of WM5 to the mythical HTC Blue Angel, and many more accomplishments that are stored in the depths of XDA’s forums.
XDA-Developers has always been a place for sharing knowledge. People spend countless hours on their projects and give back to the community in several different forms, either by releasing the complete work to the community, or by sharing its source and methods by which the work was conceived. The latter allows others to pick up the work and tweak it to improve it (think of the Linux kernel for this to make sense). XDA’s own foundation is much like that as well. However, often times, this concept of the sharing of knowledge gets confused with the concept of sharing everything. If you frequent our site, you will have undoubtedly come across a few threads were discussions about sharing are on going. Essentially, some people demand for work to be released or even think that they can take as they please without following rules already present on our site. Likewise, people sharing their work sometimes have rather bizarre ways of doing so, which has a bad tendency to develop in what we like to call “dev wars”.
We (administrators and moderators of this site) truly believe that intellectual property (IP) is a very important part of what is done on xda-developers. As such, we cannot and will not support any kind of action which forces a developer to share their work with others if the developer does not wish to do so. A developer of anything has rights over their work and as such he/she can choose to do with it as he/she pleases (give it away, share the source, burn it, give it to an orphanage, or eat it for breakfast). We support whatever decision is taken by its developer. Having said that, over the years people have found what can only be categorized as a loophole in our current sharing policy, and thus people are forced to do things in exchange for permissions to use certain pieces of work by others.
After a long deliberation with the entire moderator and administrator staff, we are implementing the following addition to our sharing rule (Rule 12) – revisions are in bold:
12. Using the work of others.
If you are developing something that is based on the work of another Member, you MUST first seek their permission, and you must give credit to the member whose work you used. If a dispute occurs about who developed / created a piece of work, first try to settle the matter by private message and NOT in open forum. If this fails then you may contact a moderator with clear evidence that the work was created by you.
Convincing evidence will result in copied work being removed. If there is no clear evidence you created the work then in the spirit of sharing all work will remain posted on the forums.
As an addition, developers have the right to hold exclusivity over their work for as long as it is deemed necessary by the dev or freely share it. However, if the work is claimed as exclusive, it must remain as such. No selective sharing will be allowed (ie allowing certain people to use it and not others). Should the dev decide to start sharing the work with others, the work automatically becomes fair game for all to use.
In regards to permissions, same rules remain for this but if permission was already given, unless there is a very valid reason, it cannot be revoked (same applies to major updates on the work). Under that same premise, permissions cannot be denied unless the work is exclusive or under severe circumstances.
In plain English: If you want to keep your work exclusive, go for it. However, if you are going to share your work, do it fairly.
These rules apply to all software posted on XDA (including but not limited to ROMs, RUUs, apps, games, kernels, themes, icons, etc) unless that software comes with a license that waives these rules.
The problem with the aforementioned permissions is that the rule never really stated anything regarding continuity or longevity of said permission. On top of that, selective sharing creates a massive problem on our site as it tends to give place to kanging (unauthorized copying and/or redistribution of work), fights between devs (so called “dev wars”), and tons of time wasted on investigations, which normally involves a large number of people from our staff. This needed to stop as it was reaching critical mass and high levels of anxiety were generated for no apparent reason on something that should be a hobby.
So, if you are a developer on this site and would like to keep your work as something exclusive, we encourage you to do it. If you would like to freely give it out so that others can use it and make it better, we encourage you to do it as well. However, we will no longer accept claims from anyone who picks and chooses who gets what. As stated in the rule, you either share or keep, but if you do share, do it fairly. Favoritism has created a great divide in our site and our community and it is only hurting development as a whole. People focus more on pointing fingers than they do on trying to create original work.
Permissions should still be sought as a matter of common courtesy, much like the original rule stipulated. However, unless a valid reason is provided, a simple “no, you cannot have it” will not suffice, especially if the work is being shared with others and permissions are denied out of spite.
Lets all work towards a new, rejuvenated XDA that is based on the core principles placed by the site’s founding fathers. Sharing of knowledge is what brought many of us together on this site and we should strive as a community to keep it that way. Please share your thoughts on this.
Thank you for reading.
Sincerely,
XDA-Developers Administration Team
This question is regarding the downloading, installation and use of free apps, so it's not a matter of avoiding paying genuine working developers for their work.
As a matter of principle, I don't want to give google (or any other company, or the government) more information than necessary about my devices, email addresses, phone numbers, or the contents of any of my communications. At the least, I don't want to have a lot of my information available in one place. Moreover, I want to encourage others to take the same attitude on this that I do, and to share information about privacy techniques with such people.
One of the things that bothers me a lot is that so many companies distribute their apps, including their free ones, through google! i can't think of any good reason to do this, except to avoid the rather modest cost of providing download services themselves.
Anyway, are there any forums, on xda or elsewhere, where this issue is usefully dealt with?
I know questions belong in the Q&A, but this has to do with apps & large developers. I have been doing a little research into Gameloft & EA. I have found a few trends that I find disturbing, but I am looking for more information for background before publishing any of my findings. SO, please humor me.
My pleading question to all of you tech & Android lovers out there is a simple three part question & it will really help me to see if I can truly identify a trend that is hurting consumers.
1. Do you own any any app titles by either of the above developers?
2. Have you found that any purchased titles from the above developers cannot be utilized due to firmware updates?
3. Have you had any interaction with the customer service departments of either developer? How did you find the experience?
I am working on a piece & have found some very interesting facts, but I am looking for some experiences from other users. Please post & let me know your answers to the above questions & feel free to add any other commentary you feel relevant. If you prefer anonymity, you can PM me here at XDA..
If requested, I will respect you request for anonymity, but would like to be able to use your stories as anonymous source material, or for background purposes.
I had purchased The Sims 3 on my HTC Rezound.
After the initial purchase, the app would not download the secondary files.
EA does not have an email tied to the app listing, so after navigating their page for 30-45 minutes, setting up an account, typing my problems, and then retyping them due to server errors, having to try and guess several times before I could create a password that fit the unlisted requirements, the final submit button for submitting a ticket for tech support completely server errored and made me have to start over.
I had honestly forgotten about it till now, will see about trying again today.
I purchased Madden 12 when the Play Store had their 25 cent sale a few months ago. It ran fine on my Xoom, but as soon as I upgraded to my N10 and 4.2, it would not download any of the files to play the game. It seems to be a common complaint in the reviews of the game.
creating a application I firsthand envisioned. I choose this site as to be my offloading of the subject because my plan is; what with all this social networking advancement, to "develop" a social networking app. And call it (k)lick up. I coined the banter [expression] and I will not be "convinced' otherwise. Since I have no means of patenting the title my stance is to deflect any third party copyright infringement by ergo posting on "open source" community which has record of date time and background. Now, this is a recent intention and am not quite sure what will stand out from the imitation collectives. Anybody on board? No harm no foul. I believe there is meat on the bone also open minded to suggestions. maybe a hang out of sorts where you don't have the choice to ignore what some people post, where you have the option not to be knowledgeably obligated to publics viewpoint everywhere you look. open to anything really. something more on a personal basis. Rather then for, lack of a better term, what's mentionable according to choreographers' media. this can be predominately posts of friends lives and not advertisement. if the concoction is successful and people want it to do better the donations should keep the ship afloat because the guests are that intrigued by the principal. also where your profile isn't willy-nilly out for everyone and there mother to add you because you have mutual friends. if you really want to get to know someone you will seek them out by name. this is in part to up my post count and recognition trolling will not be taken serious.