Greasy Fork

Does the "Daily Installs" counter increase

if people doesn't really "click" the green install button, and instead they go to the user.js link directly?

For example, instead of me advertising this link:
https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/9999-samplescript

I use this link instead:
https://greasyfork.org/scripts/9999-samplescript/code/samplescript.user.js

So if people install using the second link, does the install counter still go up or greasyfork can't detect it?

It only goes up if they click the button. This is to ensure that updates, downloads by bots, people lured by others trying to pad the stats, etc. do not count.

I suspect GF installation counting is based on the assumption `one IP === one user`, which isn't true in many cases. Maybe counting of MAC addresses would be more correct?

Maybe counting of MAC addresses would be more correct?

While that is true, I think you need to use a plugin to get that information, which would be bypassed by a direct link to a .user.js file.

I suspect GF installation counting is based on the assumption `one IP === one user`, which isn't true in many cases.

It's imperfect, but it's the best identifier available, as far as I know.

Thanks, I have verified this by advertising the direct user.js link, the number of installs were 0 for a few days. After switching back to the proper link, the number of installs became normal again.