4 ms·

I wanted to try it, but the downloads page presents a popup asking for your name and email address, and you cannot dismiss it. https://www.influxdata.com/downl

by aorth 10y ago

I wanted to try it, but the downloads page presents a popup asking for your name and email address, and you cannot dismiss it. https://www.influxdata.com/downloads/ https://www.influxdata.com/downloads/

reacharavindh 10y ago
And what is wrong with it? Honestly curious.
- aorth 10y ago
  I understand the tradeoff between them giving me free software and me giving them my contact information—the way they've done it is just so up front and in your face! I'm pretty sure there is a web dev or user experience best practice about not spamming your users with "subscribe to us" and "like us on Facebook" dialogs immediately when they land on your page. And this one can't even be dismissed unless you subscribe!
  - daenney 10y ago
    This is what I usually use sites like http://10minutemail.com http://10minutemail.com for.
    - skeptic2718 10y ago
      Or in this specific case, just enter garbage in the form.
- daenney 10y ago
  As far as I'm concerned I shouldn't have to give up my contact details in order to download FOSS software. Thankfully in this case I can just go build the thing myself but these kind of sign up walls without a way to opt out of them do annoy me.
  - reacharavindh 10y ago
    Yes, you could build the thing yourself. I'm all for protecting privacy, but, Don't you think it is reasonable for a FOSS project/company to collect basic stats on their audience? They aren't even forcing you to give up your identity. Just an email address, which could be something that don't particularly identify you, while they get unique user stats. You could obviously mark them as Spam, if they do end up spamming you..
    - OldSchoolJohnny 10y ago
      "Don't you think it is reasonable for a FOSS project/company to collect basic stats on their audience?" No. That is not free, that is paying for it with your privacy.
    - daenney 10y ago
      I have no issue with them collecting basic stats. I'm contributing to the statistics Homebrew collects and when Django gets their statistics I will keep them enabled or opt-in. However, I should be allowed to opt out. I also don't consider my (work) email address to be meaningful data they can use to improve the quality of their software or gain an understanding of how it's being used. At best I can see them deduping download counts through it which can be done in other ways.
    - heroprotagonist 10y ago
      Whenever I see 'valid work email address' on a form I assume I'm going to get harassed by sales people.
      - captncraig 10y ago
        Definitely what influx does. I feel like I get an email from them at least every week.
JorgeGT 10y ago
Not only that, they ask for your work email address. I'm only using InfluxDB for my home dashboard (raspi, some sensors, etc.) so I just went with "sales@influxdb.com" instead.
pauldix 10y ago
That should be getting changed to have a dismiss x on the upper right. TBH I thought it had been done already. Overly aggressive marketing department...
- gk1 10y ago
  Are you blaming your own marketing team? Take responsibility.
Signez 10y ago
I find it even more sad when in the meantime, the button named "Learn more" on the same page doesn't link to a valid page (as https://www.influxdata.com/pricing https://www.influxdata.com/pricing leads to a 404). To improve the "conversion", it would be a way better way to fix that link instead of forcing me to use the Web Inspector to remove a rude modal dialog…
andrewstuart2 10y ago
Granted, they don't have a link to the GitHub page on the blog post itself, but it's open source software. https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/releases https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/releases
trolor 10y ago
It's OK; their email validation is borked (just put in anything matching `\w@\w`, no domain necessary) and give something random for the name. Modals like that are pretty standard practice for enterprise mumbo jumbo; they only need to catch someone foolish enough to put in real data once to be worthwhile.
- ac2u 10y ago
  Arguably, that's as correct a way as any for validation for email. http://www.regular-expressions.info/email.html http://www.regular-expressions.info/email.html > Don't go overboard in trying to eliminate invalid email addresses with your regular expression. The reason is that you don't really know whether an address is valid until you try to send an email to it. And even that might not be enough.
choward 10y ago
Wow. What a deal breaker. I'm not giving you my information just to try something I don't even know if I like. This is software. It's not like test driving a car where it could cost you money if I stole it.
jws 10y ago
Yes, it's annoying. But honestly, if a person won't share contact information in exchange for the fruits of thousands of hours of someone's labor then they don't have much of a need for it and the creators probably aren't missing them.

by aorth 10y ago

reacharavindh 10y ago

And what is wrong with it? Honestly curious.

aorth 10y ago
I understand the tradeoff between them giving me free software and me giving them my contact information—the way they've done it is just so up front and in your face! I'm pretty sure there is a web dev or user experience best practice about not spamming your users with "subscribe to us" and "like us on Facebook" dialogs immediately when they land on your page. And this one can't even be dismissed unless you subscribe!
- daenney 10y ago
  This is what I usually use sites like http://10minutemail.com http://10minutemail.com for.
  - skeptic2718 10y ago
    Or in this specific case, just enter garbage in the form.
daenney 10y ago
As far as I'm concerned I shouldn't have to give up my contact details in order to download FOSS software. Thankfully in this case I can just go build the thing myself but these kind of sign up walls without a way to opt out of them do annoy me.
- reacharavindh 10y ago
  Yes, you could build the thing yourself. I'm all for protecting privacy, but, Don't you think it is reasonable for a FOSS project/company to collect basic stats on their audience? They aren't even forcing you to give up your identity. Just an email address, which could be something that don't particularly identify you, while they get unique user stats. You could obviously mark them as Spam, if they do end up spamming you..
  - OldSchoolJohnny 10y ago
    "Don't you think it is reasonable for a FOSS project/company to collect basic stats on their audience?" No. That is not free, that is paying for it with your privacy.
  - daenney 10y ago
    I have no issue with them collecting basic stats. I'm contributing to the statistics Homebrew collects and when Django gets their statistics I will keep them enabled or opt-in. However, I should be allowed to opt out. I also don't consider my (work) email address to be meaningful data they can use to improve the quality of their software or gain an understanding of how it's being used. At best I can see them deduping download counts through it which can be done in other ways.
  - heroprotagonist 10y ago
    Whenever I see 'valid work email address' on a form I assume I'm going to get harassed by sales people.
    - captncraig 10y ago
      Definitely what influx does. I feel like I get an email from them at least every week.

JorgeGT 10y ago

Not only that, they ask for your work email address. I'm only using InfluxDB for my home dashboard (raspi, some sensors, etc.) so I just went with "sales@influxdb.com" instead.

pauldix 10y ago

That should be getting changed to have a dismiss x on the upper right. TBH I thought it had been done already. Overly aggressive marketing department...

gk1 10y ago
Are you blaming your own marketing team? Take responsibility.

Signez 10y ago

I find it even more sad when in the meantime, the button named "Learn more" on the same page doesn't link to a valid page (as https://www.influxdata.com/pricing https://www.influxdata.com/pricing leads to a 404). To improve the "conversion", it would be a way better way to fix that link instead of forcing me to use the Web Inspector to remove a rude modal dialog…

andrewstuart2 10y ago

Granted, they don't have a link to the GitHub page on the blog post itself, but it's open source software. https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/releases https://github.com/influxdata/influxdb/releases

trolor 10y ago

It's OK; their email validation is borked (just put in anything matching `\w@\w`, no domain necessary) and give something random for the name. Modals like that are pretty standard practice for enterprise mumbo jumbo; they only need to catch someone foolish enough to put in real data once to be worthwhile.

ac2u 10y ago
Arguably, that's as correct a way as any for validation for email. http://www.regular-expressions.info/email.html http://www.regular-expressions.info/email.html > Don't go overboard in trying to eliminate invalid email addresses with your regular expression. The reason is that you don't really know whether an address is valid until you try to send an email to it. And even that might not be enough.

choward 10y ago

Wow. What a deal breaker. I'm not giving you my information just to try something I don't even know if I like. This is software. It's not like test driving a car where it could cost you money if I stole it.

jws 10y ago

Yes, it's annoying. But honestly, if a person won't share contact information in exchange for the fruits of thousands of hours of someone's labor then they don't have much of a need for it and the creators probably aren't missing them.