App store reviews

Question

Level 1

12 points

App store reviews

I couldn't find an App Store forum, so I'm posting this here. I noticed a game with a 5 rating. The reviews seemed suspect. Finally I saw one person who said you got 250,000 pts for a 5 star review. The pts are then used in the game. Ok, they are using bribery. But then I noticed repeating reviews. Exact duplicates. What's up with that? App Store error or some sort of cheating by the developer?

So I moved on to another app. It was Instagram. I noticed the same issue with repeating reviews. Review 4 and 11 are the exact same. 5 and 12 are the exact same. 6 & 13. 7 & 14. Again, App Store error or cheating? If we can't trust reviews, the App store becomes much less helpful.

MacBook Pro 17", Mac OS X (10.6.2), 3.06 MHz, 8 GB RAM, 500 GB drive

Posted on Nov 5, 2011 4:44 AM

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Answer 1

GTGeek88 Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 17, 2011 2:41 PM in response to GTGeek88

Hard to believe I got no replies to this. Is no one else noticing this problem? I'm still seeing it today on the reviews for Amazing Breaker. Review 1 and 11 are the same. Review 2 and 12 are the same. 3 and 13 are the same. Of course, as new reviews come in, these will shift down, but as of this moment those are the numbers and they are exact duplicates.

No one at Apple notices this or cares? How lame!

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Answer 2

paulcb

Level 6

19,239 points

Nov 17, 2011 3:05 PM in response to GTGeek88

I (and probably most reasonable users) could care less about app store reviews... they are subject to immaturity, lies, idiots that don't know how to use the app or device and influence by the developer. Google for unbiased reviews... don't waste your time with app store reviews. My .02.

Also, there's no one here from Apple... just us users.

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Answer 3

GTGeek88 Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 17, 2011 3:16 PM in response to paulcb

Oh, so I'm just an unreasonable user? Surely not as knowledgeable and experienced as someone with 8285 points, right?

Personally, I think they are valuable as long as you have a reasonable number of reviews. I think you'll notice games like Angry Birds and others that are widely considered good, get good ratings in the App Store. Yes, there are the useless reviews, but look around at a few pages worth of review or more and taking into account the star rating and you can get a good idea about the game. But, then again, I'm just an unreasonable user, so obviously my opinion doesn't count.

And I never said there was anyone from Apple here or that they had to discover this problem here. They use the phone, too, and surely a few of the thousands of Apple employees - the unreasonable ones, at least - are looking at the reviews and could have seen this. And perhaps they lurk around here on occasion, as they should.

One last thing, thanks for the condescending reply.

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Answer 4

paulcb

Level 6

19,239 points

Nov 17, 2011 3:22 PM in response to GTGeek88

Oh, so I'm just an unreasonable user? Surely not as knowledgeable and experienced as someone with 8285 points, right?

One last thing, thanks for the condescending reply.

I apologize. It was not directed at you specifically and truly was not meant to be condescending to you. It was directed at the majority of app reviewers I've read before I decided to ignore them.

And I never said there was anyone from Apple here or that they had to discover this problem here.

You asked "No one at Apple notices this or cares?" That indicated to me that you thought you were talking to Apple. Many on here do.

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Answer 5

GTGeek88 Author

Level 1

12 points

Nov 17, 2011 3:41 PM in response to paulcb

paulcb wrote:

I apologize. It was not directed at you ...

Ok, we're good then.

You are undoubtably right in that there are some worthless reviews. I'm reading and thinking "how is that helpful or informative", "why did you bother", "what drugs was this person on" . . . but there are also well thought out and informative reviews, so I look through a number of pages to find them. And, of course, it's just convenient to use the App Store reviews. Sure I could Google, but I'm sure you'd agree that biased reviews can be found that way, too. And, of course, I look for the free version, if available, to give the game a test drive.

But if the reviews just repeat, then this source of info that I do consider to be valuable - though not perfect - becomes pretty worthless. I was hoping someone could tell me if the game developer is somehow "gaming" the reviews or maybe it was a known bug.

Apple employees do lurk here, but not often enough. Seems to me it'd be a good way to offer support and other companies use their forums for that, but then not everyone has millions and millions of customers.

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