in reply to Re^3: Gathering module usage statistics
in thread Gathering module usage statistics

If I hit return to start installation in CPAN and are then immediately struck dead by a heart attack your software will send the information. How did I agree to that? To pick a (hopefully) more common scenario. I hit return, see the message and my dialup connection dies. It takes way longer than 10 seconds for me to reconnect and ssh to some of the boxes I administer.

These are good points.

How about:

A timeout because installation must work without attention, 60 seconds because I want people to say Yes :).

Juerd # { site => 'juerd.nl', plp_site => 'plp.juerd.nl', do_not_use => 'spamtrap' }

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Re^5: Gathering module usage statistics
by adrianh (Chancellor) on May 04, 2004 at 22:36 UTC

    Completely fine with me. As long as somebody has to actively agree to the information being sent.

Re^5: Gathering module usage statistics
by MidLifeXis (Monsignor) on May 05, 2004 at 17:26 UTC

    Opt-out is one of the techniques used by spammers today. "Oh, if they don't want it, they can opt out." This is an invasion of privacy (in the general sense) and is generally (as you have found out) met with some level of hostility.

    In general, once I have downloaded a chunk of software, I don't want it talking to the outside world unless I have allowed it to. This is why I run firewalls and have detectors on the network stack for every machine I own. Opt-out flies in the face of that. Opt-in places the decision back in the hands of the user.

    Opt-in is the more "community-friendly" approach, and I thank you for your update.

    --MidLifeXis