Scarf.sh with Discourse

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The discussion revolves around integrating Scarf.sh into Discourse to help open-source project maintainers gain usage insights — including user adoption, geography, and company usage — to guide development and marketing decisions. atwong explains installation involves adding Scarf’s marketing pixel to Discourse’s HEAD, similar to Google Search Console verification. Concerns are raised by Jagster regarding EU compliance, to which atwong responds that Scarf is GDPR-compliant and undergoing SOC2 certification. However, Val_H disputes Scarf’s claim of not storing IP addresses, alleging they collect and archive IPs and associate them with company and traffic data, sharing it with client companies. Jagster counters that IP tracking is ineffective for identifying individual users due to dynamic IPs and shared networks, and that cookies or similar tools are more practical for tracking — implying Scarf’s data collection may be overblown or impractical for stalking. The thread reflects a tension between Scarf’s stated privacy assurances and skepticism about its actual data practices, particularly around IP handling and user anonymity.

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What is Scarf.sh

  • Helps developers and maintainers of open-source projects understand how their software is being used, where it’s being downloaded from, and by whom.
  • Provides insights into things like user adoption, geographic distribution, and company usage.
  • This data can help developers make informed decisions about their projects, such as what features to prioritize or how to market their software more effectively.

How to install it in your discourse website.

  1. Follow Perform Google Search Console Verification with Discourse
  2. However instead of putting in a google html in HEAD, put in your scarf.sh marketing pixel. See below for an example.

Screenshot 2024-02-19 at 9.53.52 PM
Screenshot 2024-02-19 at 9.53.52 PM584×297 11.8 KB

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That can be problematic at least for EU-users.

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Scarf is a GDPR -compliant data processor, and is currently undergoing SOC2 certification via https://about.scarf.sh/faq

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So it isn’t delivering anykind personal data what so ever. Good to know.

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Scarf collects your IP and then uses data providers to scrape together a lot of information about you, any company you work for, and your web traffic. They have access to all your data internally and share that data with the companies that have accounts. They say that they don’t collect or save your IP information. However, that is not true! They save it in their databases and their archives!

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Good luck with that. Trying to find my use out of about 20 000 - 50 000 users with same IP at this moment when it will change quite soon again is quite expensive and hard job. And getting some centralized updated database where names are connected together IP would be… huge.

That’s one reason why IP is that useless to do stalking. And we have cookies and similar systems.