

Appirater; helping iPhone app developers get balanced reviews - sh1mmer
http://arashpayan.com/blog/index.php/2009/09/07/presenting-appirater/

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wan23
I can't help reading this name as App-Pirater rather than App-i-Rater.

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sh1mmer
I read it that way too.

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stcredzero
I notice that iPhone app ratings often look manipulated.

On Amazon, if something is good, its ratings look like:

    
    
        **********
        *****
        **
        *
        *
    

If something is not so good, then there won't be this curve. Instead you might
get something like:

    
    
        ****
        *****
        **
        ****
        **
    

But what I see time and again on the iPhone App Store:

    
    
        **********
        *****
        **
        *
        ************
    

How I interpret this: You have a good or decent app, and other developers are
gaming the system with bad reviews in an attempt to assassinate their
competitor.

In my case, this backfires. I now see this pattern for what it is, and this
makes me more anxious to see the app: if the competition is so afraid of it,
that they're driven to cheating, there must be something to it!

Another thing I take away from this phenomenon: a disturbingly high percentage
of iPhone app developers are scumbags!

~~~
m_eiman
Or maybe it's biased by the "prompt user to rate when deleting it", like the
article says. If you delete it, you probably don't like it very much - and you
select the most extreme "don't like" option presented.

And I say "maybe", because we need more experiments to see what the causes
really are.

I think that the "ask to rate after using it for a while" is superior to only
asking when deleting, but of course you should have both to get the opinions
of both satisfied and dissatisfied users.

~~~
stcredzero
_Or maybe it's biased by the "prompt user to rate when deleting it"_

I delete a lot of apps, simply because I find I no longer use them. I don't
even bother to rate them. I'm certainly not motivated to vote 1-star on them.

Yes, I did read the article. I've also read a lot of the reviews on the App
store. Often, the bad reviews just smell fishy to me. My assumption is that
there aren't really so many more somewhat dim pig-headed users who like to
vote 1-star on the App Store than there are on Amazon. Both of those "sites"
are aimed at the general public. Maybe there are the same number, and Amazon
has developed better moderation?

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taitems
Wow turn down the text-shadow there buddy. Alpha to 0.4 or something similar.

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yjsoon
Agreed. Ouch. Even his code has text-shadow.

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taitems
text-shadow:0px 1px rgba(255,255,255,0.4);

Just a small change and it looks so much better!

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jrockway
This is a good idea. Amazon does something similar, after you buy something,
it sends you an email a month or so later asking you to rate the buying
experience (and sometimes the item itself). When I have a good experience, I
often don't think to write a review, but this reminds me, and I usually do it.
The result is that there are often a lot of positive reviews for things on
Amazon, which makes me more comfortable buying from them.

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DenisM
FWIW my app has a web site part to it, and I put up a banner there asking
users to write a review. It's easier on the desktop that it is on the iPhone.
Seems to have worked - at least I know that people are clicking it and there
have been quite a few reviews.

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j2d2
This will be useful until they're popular.

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jsz0
This has huge potential to annoy the hell out of users. I hope developers use
it with prudence. Ask me once after 10 startups or whatever. Fine. Ask me
again? Your score is going to be F, 0, horrible, awful, stole all my contacts
and sold them to the Russian mafia. Deleted all my music. E-mailed all my
private photos to everyone in my address book. Lies? Maybe, maybe so. I don't
like being nagged. Once is enough.

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elai
It only asks once per 30 days, and only IF you used it at least 15 times
within those 30 days.

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ArashPayan
Actually, it'll do it just once per version and only after 30 days and 15
launches. So if they tap 'Rate' or 'No, thanks', they won't be bugged anymore
unless they update to a new version. Even then, only after 30 days of usage
and 15 launches (which are both customizable).

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alexkay
Could have a better name. App pirater? Sounds like a cracking tool.

~~~
chaosprophet
Like someone pointed out in the post itself, since this is intended for use by
developers and not end users, I'd say it doesn't matter what it's called.

