Traffic from JED has all but disappeared

[Vimes]

Hey all,

Has anybody else noticed a huge drop-off of traffic recently? In the last two years JED referrals have dropped by 80%.

[gws]

Hi Vince, just a guess, I don't think Joomla is as popular as before hence the drop-off of traffic.

[sozzled]

Certainly true that J! 4.x wasn't the bonanza that its developers had hoped for—nothing wrong with J! 4.x by the way, I like [most of] it—but J!'s market share went from 3.6% (which wasn't a lot)—number two after WP—two years ago to 2.4% (fifth-placed) today¹.

I think a bigger factor in the reduced usage/reliance/traffic with the JED is the absence of relevant, up-to-date reviews. It doesn't matter if we're discussing free or paid extensions—and there's been a gradual shift towards the latter—most people download stuff and don't write a few words about whether the extensions they used were any good. The absence of reviews means that people wouldn't know whether anything was any good or not before they download products listed on the JED. The absence of reviews is like a kick in the teeth to extension developers: why bother listing something if you're not appreciated for your efforts?

The joy of writing extensions for J! has also gone because of the hurdles that third-party have to clear to have their products listed on the JED. It's no longer enjoyable for hobbyist developers to spend hours creating their extension and just as many hours (or more) bringing their product to market and not be appreciated for what they do.

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Notes:
¹ source: https://w3techs.com/technologies/histor ... ement/ms/y