Definition
A tag profile puts one group of plugins, those carrying a given tag on WordPress.org, next to the whole top 12,500 on measures The Rivale Diff already publishes. The measures are download change per day in total and for the median plugin, the share that released at least one update, the share declaring the newest WordPress release line, entries into the top 1,000, the tag's share of the month's new plugins, and closures. Each row states its own population, because two of the rows use the top 12,500 as it stood at the start of the month and one uses the month's arrivals across the whole directory.
Population and window
Rivale measures the profile across the top 12,500 plugins at the end of the report month, with the tag read from each plugin's WordPress.org listing at that date. Download change compares the full report month with the full previous month, per day. The update share and the closures use the top 12,500 as it stood at the start of the month, with the tag read at that date. The arrivals share uses plugins first listed in the month and still listed at month end, across the whole directory.
How it is computed
For plugins in the top 12,500 carrying a given WordPress.org tag at month end: the count, the change in downloads per day against the previous month in total and for the median plugin, the share that released an update, the share declaring the newest WordPress release line, the number that entered the top 1,000, the share of the month's arrivals carrying the tag, and the number closed by WordPress.org; each next to the same figure for the whole top 12,500.
How to read it
Read the median change beside the total change: a tag whose total is carried by one very large plugin shows a wide gap between the two. The profile is a comparison of two populations on the same day, never a ranking of tags. Tags are declared by plugin authors, so a plugin can carry a tag loosely or not at all.
What it is not
This measure does not rank tags against each other, does not say why a group moved, and does not include plugins outside the top 12,500 except in the arrivals row. It does not verify that a plugin does what its tag suggests.
Related measures
Download change by tag, Download change, Update rate, Plugin support for WordPress versions