Re: duplicate popularity-contest ID

[Ian Jackson <ijackson@chiark.greenend.org.uk>]

Michael Stone writes ("Re: duplicate popularity-contest ID"):
> I guess the question is what is the point of the popcon statistics. 
> Insofar as they're used to determine defaults, skewing them toward 
> custom images (which likely do not care about defaults) is probably a 
> mistake.

popcon is a really bad way to determine defaults because it is so
heavily skewed by existing defaults.

More useful uses of popcon include: estimating the downside, if some
package is (or may become) broken or removed; and, maybe, estimating
the user preferences between different non-default leaf packages.

For me, if I were doing (say) RC bugfixing and was considering asking
for a removal, even a moderate popcon figure would give me pause.
Conversely, a low popcon figure would encourage me to consult on
removing the package.

Ian.

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