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Would you be ok with EliteMMO collecting some non-sensitive information about your system?
Yes. 79%  79%  [ 11 ]
No. 21%  21%  [ 3 ]
Total votes : 14
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 Post subject: Data Collection Poll
PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2017 7:26 pm 
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Hello everyone,

I wanted to start a poll regarding the potential implementation of some data collection to better determine the future of the applications I make for FFXI and other games moving forward. In order for me to get a better idea of what types of systems my main audience is using, I would need to collect some information about your system(s).

I want to be very clear and upfront about this, and I do not want anyone to ever assume or think that I am doing something like this for any type of malicious intent or purpose. So I want to get your feedback first before I do anything like this.

For my applications, I would like to start collecting data such as:

    Operating System Version
      Operating system versions can vary greatly between users. I know that I still have some Windows XP users and a lot are now Windows 10 users after unwanted forced updates. With the range of these two systems, having a solid base of information to go on helps me determine what operating systems I should focus on supporting and ensuring that my applications work on. This also helps me determine which operating systems I safely deprecate later on when new features of programming languages start requiring new operating systems.

    .NET Framework Versions
      Knowing what the most common framework versions installed is helps me understand which default framework version I should target when making applications and updating things. Having a sense of which framework is the most commonly installed helps me have a default in mind and helps me determine which features of the .NET framework I should use and avoid. Given that systems can have multiple versions installed as well, it helps better determine what is the highest and lowest versions, on average, that people have installed. Most systems today ship with 2.0 installed as well as 4.0+ however, depending on the OS you run and if you stay up to date you may not have these versions.

    C++ Redist. Versions
      Most of my applications make use of C / C++ code in some manner, which I use Visual Studio as my IDE of choice. Because of that, I land up having to require users to install the VC++ redistributable for the version of C++ I code against. While the installs are small and simple to get, not everyone is that savvy with keeping up to date with these. Getting a general idea of which versions people have across the board on average helps determine if I need to do more to ensure people are understanding the requirements to my applications.

    Application Version
      While most of my applications require you to be using the latest version, some apps may not have this feature in the future. So I would like to be able to collect information regarding which version of the application people are using the most to help determine if people are well-informed if a new version is available or if there are certain reasons why people are not updating.

    Exception Information
      Crashes aren't fun, and debugging them isn't either. Sometimes it's a stressful thing to determine what the root cause of a crash is. However, exception information can help greatly with this. If I could collect information when the application crashes such as the exception that occurred, any error codes, etc. this can help increase the speed in which a problem gets fixed.

      Exception data may contain things such as local system usernames, file/folder paths, etc.

In order to track this information in a manner that is not being spammed, I would need to use some unique identification on your system. This would help determine which information has already been logged/submitted and which information is new. It can also help determine and provide information based on how often users keep their systems updated with the above collected information. For this, I would resort to using everyone's machine GUID. This is a "unique" id that is generated when you install Windows. This does not allow me to determine who is who and if the information that is collected is leaked online, there is no personal data that would be associated with it. This helps keep user privacy at a max while still collecting vital information for the future of my applications.

This would also be something that I would allow users to opt-out of. I do not want anyone to feel like I am spying on them or demanding information from them so there will be the option to opt out of this feature in any of the applications I have it included in.

Would this be something you are ok with? Have any opinions or suggestions? Feel free to discuss it here. :)

Wiccaan
EliteMMO Network Administration

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 Post subject: Re: Data Collection Poll
PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2017 11:32 am 
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i don't mind it but not sure how it would be done would it an app you give out to those that agree to do it? or something else?


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 Post subject: Re: Data Collection Poll
PostPosted: Tue May 16, 2017 11:51 am 
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zaxtiss wrote:
i don't mind it but not sure how it would be done would it an app you give out to those that agree to do it? or something else?


In any app I add it to, I would have a popup the first time its launched as the newer version that would state that the new app can now help collect anonymous data to better determine the information above. The popup would have an option to opt-out if the user did not want to help with the data collection. Future updates of the program may reask the question as well but the option to opt-out would always be there anytime the user did not want to send data. I do not want to do something that people do not want done or disagree with, so I would be sure that the option to opt-out would be easily found, easily understandable, and not hidden to try to be sneaky with anything.

Wiccaan
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 Post subject: Re: Data Collection Poll
PostPosted: Wed May 17, 2017 1:30 pm 
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oh ok sounds cool to me if it helps its good!


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 Post subject: Re: Data Collection Poll
PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 8:30 am 
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Do not like.


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 Post subject: Re: Data Collection Poll
PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2017 1:25 pm 
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This was never implemented as of yet. I will be fully transparent about any changes that come with this stuff in mind. Nothing, as stated in the post above, will be collected that is of any use for identifying users. Just basic info outlined in the post.

The change will also come with the option to opt. out of any collections if/when it happens.

Wiccaan
EliteMMO Network Administration

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