Getting required upvotes for apps tab is too dependant on release date

Question

I have recently released a chrome extension and it is at present getting about 3 upvotes a week. Not as many as hoped, but still not bad. However, this may not be enough to get it into the apps tab (which is required for the competition) and I feel that it would be nice for my application to be at least considered.

I assume that many other people feel the same way about their programs, given the amount of time and effort writing programs takes when you have to fit real life around it. (And most other people didn't find themselves with a month of free time). There aren't many actual users on this site, so getting a lot of upvotes is also hard if your question falls off the main page.

An app released a month or two ago, even if it averaged a vote a week, would still make it into the apps tab. Even more so as there were less apps months ago, so more chance of it being seen and upvoted. This biases the votes towards the older applications.

(I am now off to upvote every app I think worthy and that I would consider using. Especially the ones with less than 6 votes). (EDIT#1: There is some neat stuff out there that I missed. I have significantly more chrome extensions now :) ).

EDIT#2: I hope this didn't sound like me complaining. It was just an observation and I assume many app authors who have recently released apps, or have apps that have fallen off the radar and the author has not been able to get the publicity are in the same boat.

Answer 1

Yeah, it seems that the group of actual developers is pretty small, considering, and seem to be very frugal with votes, as if showing approval with a vote is going to lower their standing.

The thing that needs to be realized is that votes are not the winning criteria.

The subjective evaluation of the borg is what ultimately determines the winner.

So, an app that matured with the API may not get any votes, while projects that had the list to themselves for the first few weeks gained momentum (mostly deserved, don't misunderstand me) leaving other quality software at the bottom, or not even on the list.

I am confident that, while votes can be a good indicator of acceptance, that the contest will be judged capably and all worthy efforts will be recognized and judged accordingly.

That is my rainbow and unicorns perspective on the thing.

<whine>

Something that really annoys me is that nobody is willing to chip in a vote for the bounty contest i posted. it doesn't cost anything and I am giving the points away, geez....

</whine>

now i can haz cheez?

Answer 2

Pulled a list of users sorted by upvotes cast in case anyone was wondering. Used StackWrap4J.

Code:

List<User> allUsers = new UsersList(
         new StackWrapper("api.stackapps.com"),
         new UserQuery()
);
Collections.sort(allUsers, new Comparator<User>() {
    public int compare(User o1, User o2) {
        return -1 *(o1.getUpVotes() - o2.getUpVotes());
    }
});

for (User u: allUsers)
    System.out.println(u.getDisplayName() + ":  Upvotes: " + u.getUpVotes());

List:

Steffen Opel:  Upvotes: 258
systempuntoout:  Upvotes: 201
Kevin Montrose:  Upvotes: 153
Maxim Z.:  Upvotes: 139
Jeff Atwood:  Upvotes: 101
code poet:  Upvotes: 90
jjnguy:  Upvotes: 89
S.Mark:  Upvotes: 80
ColinD:  Upvotes: 77
Bill the Lizard:  Upvotes: 73
Mark Hurd:  Upvotes: 57
lfoust:  Upvotes: 43
Greg Bray:  Upvotes: 43
George Edison:  Upvotes: 41
Joel Potter:  Upvotes: 36
Dave DeLong:  Upvotes: 34
Jedi Master Spooky:  Upvotes: 34
Jarrod Dixon:  Upvotes: 33
Igor Zevaka:  Upvotes: 32
Yacoby:  Upvotes: 32
Dennis Williamson:  Upvotes: 31
Franci Penov:  Upvotes: 30
Lucas Jones:  Upvotes: 30
Matt S.:  Upvotes: 28
Dave Swersky:  Upvotes: 28
Farseeker:  Upvotes: 24
ChrisF:  Upvotes: 22
Curtis Inderwiesche:  Upvotes: 21
TheHurt:  Upvotes: 18
Soviut:  Upvotes: 18
Lucas McCoy:  Upvotes: 18
Andrew:  Upvotes: 18
Ngu Soon Hui:  Upvotes: 17
Slavo:  Upvotes: 17
Scott Morrison:  Upvotes: 17
Nathan Reed:  Upvotes: 16
mosg:  Upvotes: 16
Felix:  Upvotes: 15
Shaji:  Upvotes: 15
johnwards:  Upvotes: 14
Peter Mortensen:  Upvotes: 14
Cristian Castiblanco:  Upvotes: 14
Tom Wright:  Upvotes: 14
scunliffe:  Upvotes: 13
KTC:  Upvotes: 13
balpha:  Upvotes: 12
Mark Rushakoff:  Upvotes: 12
coobird:  Upvotes: 12
Simon Brown:  Upvotes: 12
Josh:  Upvotes: 12
Jeff Yates:  Upvotes: 11
Thomas McDonald:  Upvotes: 11
Kyle Cronin:  Upvotes: 11
Darren Newton:  Upvotes: 11
Nick Craver:  Upvotes: 10
Edan Maor:  Upvotes: 10
Charles Stewart:  Upvotes: 10
swanson:  Upvotes: 9
RichH:  Upvotes: 9
Chris Lawlor:  Upvotes: 9
Daniel Vassallo:  Upvotes: 9
adatapost:  Upvotes: 9
Helen:  Upvotes: 9
Adam Wright:  Upvotes: 8
Jason:  Upvotes: 8
Tim Post:  Upvotes: 8
SztupY:  Upvotes: 8
radius:  Upvotes: 8
Robert Munteanu:  Upvotes: 8
Jonathan:  Upvotes: 8
Tall Jeff:  Upvotes: 8
Randolpho:  Upvotes: 8
gyurisc:  Upvotes: 8
Sepehr Lajevardi:  Upvotes: 8
codeka:  Upvotes: 7
Geoff Dalgas:  Upvotes: 7
Nick Presta:  Upvotes: 7
Adam:  Upvotes: 7
phsr:  Upvotes: 7
Casebash:  Upvotes: 7
Jonathan Sampson:  Upvotes: 7
Roger Pate:  Upvotes: 7
Cannonade:  Upvotes: 7
mafutrct:  Upvotes: 7
Joel Coehoorn:  Upvotes: 7
Paul Janaway:  Upvotes: 7
Shay Erlichmen:  Upvotes: 6
eWolf:  Upvotes: 6
denny:  Upvotes: 6
Chris S:  Upvotes: 6
Shane:  Upvotes: 6
Jared Harley:  Upvotes: 6
Dan Atkinson:  Upvotes: 6
Rich Adams:  Upvotes: 6
geoffc:  Upvotes: 6
Adrian Petrescu:  Upvotes: 6
Giorgi:  Upvotes: 6
Chacha102:  Upvotes: 5
Ricky:  Upvotes: 5
adrianbanks:  Upvotes: 5
InfinitiesLoop:  Upvotes: 5
Riduidel:  Upvotes: 5
lexu:  Upvotes: 5
Oscar Reyes:  Upvotes: 5
ripper234:  Upvotes: 5
Shimmy:  Upvotes: 5
badp:  Upvotes: 5
UncleZeiv:  Upvotes: 5
Brad Leach:  Upvotes: 5
Ivo Flipse:  Upvotes: 5
Lazer:  Upvotes: 5
slf:  Upvotes: 5
Toby Allen:  Upvotes: 5
Samuel Meacham:  Upvotes: 5
jbochi:  Upvotes: 5
Joost Schuur:  Upvotes: 5
Christian Hagelid:  Upvotes: 5
... Users with less than 5 upvotes omitted.

Answer 3

Don't forget that some of the so-called "older apps" were in development even before the contest started. Such was the case with StackMobile, StackApplet, so++, and SOwhat.

And alot of the older apps have had plenty of time for improvements and modifications, so they probably deserve the votes they have.

Having said that, I only released StackCenter 7 or 8 days ago - and it has 5 votes already. I released StackMail nearly a month ago and it has 2 votes. So clearly the content of the apps counts more than release date.