Proposed fix to early access updates on the Hub

[everlaster]

Hi, I'm proposing an improvement to the way that early access is handled on the Hub. I find releasing early access updates is frustrating for many reasons. I think my suggestion would fix all of the issues, would not be difficult to implement, and has no downsides. If you think I'm wrong about any of these claims, please post how you would improve the suggestion, rather than shoot it down without proposing any improvements, thank you.

Proposed changes

Allow the same resource to occupy the free and paid early access sections simultaneously.

The resource pages would be the same in every respect, except...

• The history tab of the early access page shows all updates, so you can download the free version from there as well, while the history tab of the free page shows only the free updates.
  • Correspondingly, the free page's Download button points to the latest free version, while the early access page's download button points to the actual latest version (which can be early access or free).
• The overall download count on the free page only tallies up the downloads for the free resource, while the early access page tallies up all downloads.
• Reviews posted on an early access version are only shown on the early access page until the end of the early access period.

What happens when an update is posted?

• When a new early access update is added to the resource, only the early access page gets updated with a new Updated At date, pushing it to the top of the page in the early access section but not in the free section.
• When a new free update is added to the resource, only the free page gets updated with a new Updated At date, pushing it to the top of the page in the free section but not in the early access section.
• When a resource that has always been free is updated with its first early access update, the resource is automatically added to the early access section corresponding to the free section it is in.
  • For example, if it's in Free > Plugins, it would be automatically added to Paid Early-Access > Plugins.
• When a resource that has always been in early access (i.e. the first early access period on the resource hasn't yet expired) is updated with its first free update post, the resource is automatically added to the free section corresponding to the early access section it is in.

Problems in the current system

(1)
Releasing a new early access update to a currently free resource requires moving it away from the free section. This has a bunch of issues:

• It makes it invisible to people browsing the free section, even though it is still a free resource, just the latest update is not yet free
• Similarly, it removes it from the featured carousel, even though it is still a free resource
• It's not feasible to release new updates while there's an unexpired early access period
  • you can't have a new major update in early access, and then release a bug fix to the current free version and have it show up correctly in the free section
  • you can't release multiple overlapping early access updates, and release a free update when the first early access period ends and have it show up correctly in the free section
  • end result - the resource actually doesn't end up spending any time in the free section despite having new free updates

Essentially what this does is it penalizes creators for adding early access updates to free resources, but the user is also penalized because it's harder to find the resource that they know is free.

(2)
The alternative to the above is to manually maintain two separate pages for the resource. Problems with this:

• This is an unnecessary extra workload for the creator.
• Reviews, reactions and download count isn't shared. It is already seen as OK for them to be shared, since moving the resource from the free section to paid early access still shows all the stats that were garnered during its life as a free resource.
• Discussion on the resource isn't shared, making it more difficult for users and the creator alike to keep track of who said what where and when.

Again, this essentially penalizes the creator for using the early access model, but it is also worse for the user because duplicating the resource without sharing data makes things more confusing and complicated.

(3)
Let's say the resource has had early access updates, but all of their periods have expired, and the author has moved the resource to the free category. Now, it's no longer possible to find the resource from the early access section. This means people who have found the resource by browsing the early access section must realize that it probably wasn't deleted but just moved, and are forced to either (a) use the search since the free section isn't easily browseable without search or (b) have a direct link to the resource.

How would the proposed changes fix these problems?

If the resource was allowed to be in both categories at once:

• the featured resources carousel could still feature it: it would link to the free page
• people browsing the free section would still find the resource even if the latest version was an early access release
• people browsing the early access section (e.g. to find the resource on the date it's supposed to become free) could still find the resource easily that way
• it would be possible to do a free update while an early access period was ongoing, and have that free update actually show up in the free section correctly
• to get around these issues, it would not be necessary to maintain two separate resource pages

With these changes, everyone wins and no one loses.

edits: typos, clarified problem 1 last bullet point