This is a bit long winded (sorry, but I need to explain what I'm doing
before I can ask the question).
Just wondering if I could get a few (hopefully few hundred) opinions on
this :
I developed an Exception Handler for my first Android app (released the
first month the market opened), which logs all uncaught exceptions to my
server, and since then I have gradually refined it and improved. I'm now
using it in my 4th public Android app and a few private apps, and I find
it extremely helpful to find bugs that don't happen to me when I'm testing.
One thing I added that is proving to be extremely useful is an
AlertDialog when the exception occurs asking the user if it is OK to
contact him/her if I need more information to be able to fix the
problem, and a box for them to enter their email address if they agree.
I don't have good numbers for you on the acceptance rate because most of
my public apps already have the users email address and for the private
apps the company enforces their compliance (or supplies the emails for
me to use). BUT... it looks like about 20% of users do enter their email
address if asked, and that is more than enough to be very useful.
I think I can increase the percentage of users that do supply their
emails addresses, and that is what my question is about :). (I will ask
it soon)
First, It has occurred to me that my Exception Logger might be even more
successful for me if other developers were also using it because users
might have seen it before and trust it when they first see it in my
apps. That obviously would only happen if quite a few developers were
using it.
Anyway... sorry it's already getting long, and I AM trying to keep it
from becoming a book. I have repackaged my Exception Logger and will
release it in the next couple of days for other developers to use (the
price is the good one - FREE). I will host the thing on my server (FYI
it's a Cloud based server so we can increase capacity if needed) and any
developers using it will be able to log in and view the exceptions their
app has generated, and sort by time/date, user, and other fields.
NOW.. the question: I think the Exception Logger would be more
successful getting the users to agree to be contacted IF their email
addresses were kept confidential. Actually, I don't think there is much
doubt that would be the case. BUT, there is a tradeoff. Obviously, most
developers would prefer to see the email addresses so they can manage
the contacts a bit more effectively without using my website to do it,
BUT if the email addresses are not confidential, fewer users will give
them.
So here are what I think are the options:
a) keep the email addresses confidential, but developers can send the
user an email using my website, include both a reply address which goes
to my website and then forwards the email to the developer, and also the
developers email address so the user could respond directly to the
developer if they choose. I'm sure this would have by far the highest
success rate for getting contact info .... but means devs have to use my
website to send the first email at least.
b) give the user a choice of keeping the email address confidential
or just giving it to the developer. This should also have a fairly high
acceptance rate by the user, but complicates the process for them
because they would actually have to read the instructions to figure out
how it works, and quite possibly a few users would think they asked for
their email addresses to be confidential, when they actually checked the
other option, and would be upset if they found out later. It's also a
bit more work for me, for maybe very little benefit.
c) Don't bother keeping the email addresses confidential. All my own
apps work this way, and it is useful, but I'm sure either of the other
two options would have a better success rate of obtaining the email
addresses, and therefore would be better for most devs to get
information about problems in their apps.
I don't try the a) or b) options for myself because obviously I could
see the email addresses in my log files if I wanted to look, and it
would be a little deceitful to tell the user their email would be
confidential in that case, even if I did use them properly ... BUT, I
can do that for other developers without stretching the truth at all, so
I think it's worth the effort if other devs want to use it.
So, please let me know what your opinions are.
I'm also hoping to get some idea of how many developers might want to
use this. I've already done almost all the work, so it will be released
even if nobody wants to use it. It freaks me out a little to open up my
server to an unknown amount of use, but I am well setup to increase
server capacity quickly if needed, and I don't think the cost of doing
this will be too horrible (I hope). ...
Sincerely,
Brad Gies
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bistro Bot - Bistro Blurb
http://bgies.com
http://bistroblurb.com
http://ihottonight.com
http://forcethetruth.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Everything in moderation, including abstinence
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can
change the world. Indeed. It is the only thing that ever has - Margaret Mead
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Android Developers" group.
To post to this group, send email to android-developers@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
android-developers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
