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Negative App Reviews... go missing?
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I know that all of us here prefer to write great reviews of apps, but sometimes - not so often with music apps - something stinks. When that happens not telling others is just unfair.
However, I'm noticing something odd. Negative reviews left for certain apps, in particular those Apple heavily promote such as Ulysses and Pocket, have a tendency to either vanish, or never turn up in the first place. Most other apps will update reviews instantly, or in the case of new reviews, appear within 12 hours. Is anyone else seeing this?
Comments
Not really seeing this.
There's plenty of one star reviews for Ulysses. Nearly all based around the change to subscription.
Could be they were refunded, I notice a couple I'd reported issues with and had refunds for vanished. Which is naughty, as the issues were never fixed so new buyers would have been unaware of them.
not exactly the same, but it may cause a similiar impression to the reader.
I just checked BIAS FX reviews because I remember a critical one about a significant decrease in sound quality (relative to earlier JamUp versions).
Found it right back, then accidently closed the tab by a 'false' finger hit, opened it again and no reviews at all.
Seems there's some control over display content... or the store app is playing dice.
ps: I frequently wondered about rather well known apps with so few or no reviews at all.
If there is a way to remove bad reviews kindly let me know. I'm interested to remove a few cases of "1-star; user error but can't be bothered to check with the dev"
You wouldn't do anything like that even if you could, 'cause you are an honest trader, and most folk love your apps.
But if the perception gets to be that the App Store is not 100% honest, we all lose.
True, although these days I do reply to unfair 1-star reviews now that we can.
Also true. But I doubt that's the case. Apple's own products are usually rated fairly low as well, with lots of reviews in the 1-3 star range. I guess it's just that when there's a ton of reviews they get rotated into view or something.
I don't trust reviews on any site these days uness I recognise the reviews name. Mrs Monzo bought me an expensive M****** speaker for xmas one year, and by the time I'd got my hands on it (xmas period, plus on top the usual home/health/family crises) and tried it out properly I discovered a whole load of buzzing, and it sounded dreadful. There was also some pretty shoddy work on the casing.
She'd bought it on the strength of overwhelming positive reviews on A*****.
I contacted the supplier, and because I'd missed their 'refunds window' (that old chestnut again) they offered a repair instead of a replacement. I didn't think this was fair, since I'd only used it for an hour or so in testing, and posted my experience on A*****.
A couple of hours after I posted my review (which was a completely fair, un-dramatised account of my experience) the manufaturer sent me an email and offered a full refund, on condition I removed my review, which I did.
So the glowing list of reviews remained untarnished, and made me wonder how many others had been offered similar deals.
Possibly. I just find it strange that the negative reports seem to get rotated downward.
Yes. There are always going to be silly little twerps writing 1star negative reviews because they can. Or removing critiques because that is their path to a decent resolution. But I think we can all spot and ignore the nasty brigade, alongside the peeps who leave 'it's brilliant, buy it' style reviews with no hint of detail or depth.
Surely, honest reviews pro and con, from people who have thought about what they want to say, are much more valuable. I know that I've bought hardware and software that has its share of negative reviews, 'cause I try to weigh the balance of what a number of people say. I hardly ever buy stuff that absolutely nobody has any doubts about, 'cause if it looks too good to be true it probably is.
Even great stuff such as AudioBus and AUM have 3 and 4 star reviews, which are usually someone trying to be honest about what they like and what they don't. Fair criticism can help a developer polish an app.
Believe me, we prefer receiving fair criticism in an email or via a forum like this. When people use the review system to try and bully a dev into adding features or changing things it's actually really disheartening and demotivating (not saying 4 star reviews are 'bullying' but the review system is really dysfunctional and often abused for purposes other than giving reviews).
I have had good reviews disappear or never post. I figured I must have violated the rules somehow... is mentioning another app as a comparison allowed? For example: "This app stays up to date, unlike ________, which hasn't updated in 3 years."
...'cause I did that.
This happens all the time, on all avenues. Happened to multiple women I work with. After they left a review on different Hotels/products they were contacted, and offered a full refund if they would remove their negative review/comment.
Happened to us on Amazon. I've read, somewhere, a while ago, that a good number of Amazon reviews are either "fake", or just really not legitimate. Even the ones that have the cute little" "Verified Amazon purchase", or whatever it says. Hell, even I am guilty of this, though I didn't ask my mom or friends to write reviews of my cd I released years ago to go on Amazon and itunes and write a positive review for me. But, they did. I don't know, maybe they did really like it lol.
I've read, somewhere, a while ago, that a good number of Amazon reviews are either "fake", or just really not legitimate. Even the ones that have the cute little" "Verified Amazon purchase", or whatever it says.
I no longer buy anything from Amazon.
Back when I did, for a few months I reviewed everything and as a result accidentally got into their top 1000 reviewers for my region. Whether they admit it or not, being in that group changes their attitude big time. You can get issues resolved almost instantly. It's like, 'don't anyone fuck with this guy, he's useful to us.'
Later, I stopped reviewing entirely because they kept on rejecting reviews that contained any mention of delivery, origin of goods and vendor performance. All they allowed was review of the product itself. So, for example, when the Amazon Fullfillment centre messed up, delivering me a leather case with a product number on it pertaining to a specialised keyboard I'd actually ordered.... I could not report that in public. Nor could I say that Amazon's advice was to order again, and when I did, the same thing happened. Nor was I allowed to tell people that the Amazon employee I spoke to on the phone told me that he was unable to contact their own warehouse to tell the guys there that a batch of products had been incorrectly labelled, and were being picked without anyone capable of noticing that a leather case is not a keyboard.
Amazon also refuse to allow reviewers to say that a product is sourced in China (something very often not made clear on the product page) and so while 'in stock' will always take a few weeks to arrive. All of the above is, to my mind, a deliberate strategy to separate products themselves from every other aspect of buying.
I've never considered it 'bullying' to take the time to write a real, honest and largely positive review, which includes something like X feature would be brilliant.
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I don't think that is barred, unless the rules have altered. Fair comparison is legitimate. For example, I bought Ulysses and Scrivener. So if I want to tell others considering these apps why I prefer one over the other, surely that is helpful?
Me neither. That's not the kind of reviews I'm referring to obviously. Although developers don't get to see the reviews anyway, unless we jump through some hoops. So if you want a suggestion to effectively reach a developer you better mail/tweet/FB/...
Remember that reviews are meant to inform peers, not to give feedback to developers.
Although developers don't get to see the reviews anyway, unless we jump through some hoops.
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What, you can't just look up your own apps from any iPad on the App Store?
Nope, because Appstore reviews are separated per region. So we'd have to jump through 50-something stores to get an overview of the reviews that are given - per app.
There is an aggregated overview in the iTunes dashboard, but it's kind of hidden (and the iTunes dashboard is infinitely worse to use than the iTunes application, in case you were wondering). And either way we don't get notifications when anything new is posted.
They're whatever the buying public want them to be. Open the doors and they'll come in.
It's swings and roundabouts though - amongst the bad reviews by idiots and malicious twonkers, there will be useful feedback, and maybe the odd suggestion to help improve the product.
Not all developers need it (you don't, your apps are pretty damn perfect), but I'm sure a lot of companies have benefitted from constructive comments and requests. The tech companies I worked for spent millions on chasing feedback that they now get for free. The price they pay is the odd dodgy review.
Sure thing. I'm not arguing against constructive feedback. To the contrary - I welcome it via many channels and in most cases I'll reply quickly and personally (without pre-cooked standard answers). Just don't use the review system for it. It often doesn't reach me and certainly not quickly because the system is not set up to be a feedback channel for us. It's only (badly) designed to be input for other consumers in the same country.
In most cases (because it's coupled to country stores) it's even written in languages I wish I could speak, but I don't. It's simply not a helpful mechanism for developers.
But anyway.. back to the topic at hand: if negative reviews disappear at all, it's not a feature available to the developers. It's probably something the (local?) Appstore editorial team can do but I don't know for certain.
A small price, for a big company. A bigger price for a small company.
I'd prefer if Apple always made sure that the latest reviews came first. So the 'I would sell my house and kids for this app' brigade are not allowed to dominate, any more than malicious monkey-spankers.
Isn't an upate an appropriate way to eliminate negative reviews in the app store?
no, you can still use: show for all versions
There really should be a way for developers to access App Store feedback from all territories. So many people add a comment about a feature they'd like, assuming - wrongly as Brambos explained - it will be seen.
Sounds like some sort of developers union is needed, so they can lobby en-masse to make the system work better for them and customers.
Either that or Apple need to moderate more effectively.
It will be seen at some point, because we can find the review overview in the iTunes Dashboard. But it's hidden and very indirect. We don't get a notifications of new posts. And every app listing in the store has a feedback and support link, which is obviously the preferred channel to use for feedback.