I’ve Been Thinking…

04.23.06 | Site

I enjoy running my site. Very much. It provides me an outlet which I wouldn’t otherwise have. But lately, in looking at my Google Analytics numbers, it’s become quite clear that the majority of visitors come for pretty much one thing — to download Yasu, and that’s it. They come in directly on the Yasu page, and leave right away once they have what they came for. This is 90% of my traffic.

During the time that I’ve made Yasu publicly available as a donationware title, I’ve had hundreds of thousands of downloads between the various versions, and still average somewhere in the neighborhood of 3,000 downloads per month. It makes me feel good that I have something to offer, and that Mac users like it well enough to try, or perhaps even use every once in a while. But, there’s something missing in all of that…

I get very little feedback from those who download my application. Maybe I should count that as a blessing, but to be honest, it leaves me feeling a little “used” by the Mac community. Here’s a tangible thing that I put a fair amount of effort into making, only for it to be downloaded by the majority without even so much as a “thank you.” Yes, I get a rare donation every now and then (though it’s been quite a while), or the “I’d love to donate - but I’m too strapped for cash right now” email. I even hear from a regular user or two once in a great while (Jim Huff - you da man!). But that’s a very, very small part of what I see come and go.

I know the preceding sounds whiny & gripey, but I share it mainly because a realization hit me like a ton of lead today. Due to the way I’ve come to feel about it, I’ve subconsciously found one excuse after another to keep me from putting any substantial effort into the next release of Yasu. Funny, isn’t it? I just don’t have the umph to sit down and do it right now. Bummer. Hopefully I will soon.

Now, this is not a cry for donations. Nor is it a plead for attention in hopes that I’ll get a bunch of “at’a boys” and “thank yous” from the Mac community. I’m not trying to guilt anyone into anything, so don’t feel compelled to do something about what I’ve written. In fact, I’d prefer you didn’t. This post is simply a (very) small time software developer sharing the fact it’s not easy to keep the momentum going all on his own. It takes support from users to keep the enthusiasm alive enough for a developer to feel compelled to sit down at the keyboard after 8-10 hours at the day job and hammer out code on a project.

So, remember… Support the little guy who’s applications you’re using, even if it’s just a quick email telling him or her how grateful you are for what they’ve made available for you. Or maybe get involved on their website if you can. Believe me, a quick note of thanks means a heck of a lot more than donations most of the time to those of us who are doing it “for the love of the game.”