My theme's "last updated" date no longer shows the last change

Pling.com - Libre Publishing
1

I am using an external link for downloads on my project (https://www.xfce-look.org/p/1191436/) and each time i put out a new release i only update the version number in the product description. Previously this would change the “last change” date for my theme (and my theme would also show up at the top of the “most recent” list on xfce-look.org), but now it’s stuck to Feb 18 which is two releases back.

PS
Don’t know when this problem appeared, but about one moth ago everything was working fine.

2

Hi gyll,

you need to either add a changelog documenting changes or update any files in order to trigger the update date. This makes it exactly harder for people simply updating the version number (like in some cases 0.999D to 0.999E) just triggering the update mechanism to appear on the frontpage.

Let us know if this clarifies how the update date is set.

3

Your answer does clarify things, but the logic behind this change is (imho) totally bogus: so what you’re saying is that in order for someone to put their theme at the top of the “recently updated” list all s/he has to do is to add a changelog? So a changelog like “tweaked some colors in gtk2” will put the theme back at the top? Well, yeah, it’s harder to write something than not having to write anything at all, but let’s get real, we’re talking about presumed-dishonest people who are willing to change a number to get back to the top, so having to add a stupid line in a changelog will hardly be a real deterrent for them.

In fact, there’s no way to prevent this “clinging to the top” thing (other than maybe some very sophisticated machine intelligence which would sniff through the zip files and decide based on who-knows-what criteria).
Please consider the argument above and:

  • leave the “last updated” algorithm it as it used to be so that honest people can still use the system by simply updating the version number, and
  • maybe you could make the frontpage double-column, with one column sorted by “latest” and the other column sorted by “greatest”, and
  • maybe you could limit the number of times/week a themes is popped to the top of “most recent”; or, if this is too complicated, maybe just limit the number of uploads/week (e.g. limit to two uploads/week and instruct people that they can make one upload/week + one chance for fixing a potentially serious regression or error in their last upload)