[jeffreii]

EDIT: Response from the developer: Since you have followed this thread, you would know that I had promised to look at it. The same post also mentions that one of our promo schemes where you could get an app for free when you give a review might have been misused due to lack of controls. Such promotional schemes are not new and different vendors do it all the time. Some vendors simply put it in their app description, some send out email newsletters and some vendors even give refunds after you purchase! Our marketing team also did a promo. But unlike other vendors who have less than 5 apps, most have just 1 or 2 apps, we have LOTS of apps in AppWorld. The incentive for misuse was higher and that resulted in lost sales for us. We delisted some of the apps right then to prevent misuse and then plugged the hole.
From post #66 by ani.

Check out this vendor: BlackBerry App World - Ajani InfoTech Private Limited

His/her apps are all highly rated and every one I've looked at, if you read the reviews, they're very short, hardly tell anything, 5 stars.

To me this is CLEARLY fraud by manipulating the App World ratings to get the apps to be highly rated and popular. So many apps and so many fake reviews I wonder how much money is being made like this...

Things like this MUST be eliminated from App World for it to be taken seriously.

[papped]

Look at the memory increasing apps... This has been done even back years ago on Mobihand and they are top grossing apps....

This company is probably making pennies in comparison.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[bklyneddie]

There are a few vendors that do this. But I don't think this vendor Ajani
InfoTech is doing it. This vendor is Ani (from Empower).
He does alot of beta testing here on crackberry ( a few are happening now)
and on a few other forums! And alot of times the beta testers will
leave feedback and reviews.

[papped]

Yeah empower is a legit developer. I wouldn't doubt shadyness on most apps for reviews though...

There's so many apps that have BS reviews that just contain peoples pin numbers asking to meet people yet have 5 stars and all kinds of crap...

[motoroid7]

Yeah empower is a legit developer. I wouldn't doubt shadyness on most apps for reviews though...

There's so many apps that have BS reviews that just contain peoples pin numbers asking to meet people yet have 5 stars and all kinds of crap...

They need to hire some moderators to go through and moderate reviews for spam.

[papped]

Not really worth the effort imo... Would take forever and cost $$.

For one they should make the review submission process a little bit more "involved" so that people just don't post real quick, content-less reviews.

[jeffreii]

Look at the memory increasing apps... This has been done even back years ago on Mobihand and they are top grossing apps....

This company is probably making pennies in comparison.

I knew this was going on but this one...I just randomly noticed...there are so many apps - all highly rated - all with phony reviews.

A few apps would not have surprised me but the extent to which it's happening with this vendor was actually stunning...that he could get away with it...

There are a few vendors that do this. But I don't think this vendor Ajani
InfoTech is doing it. This vendor is Ani (from Empower).
He does alot of beta testing here on crackberry ( a few are happening now)
and on a few other forums! And alot of times the beta testers will
leave feedback and reviews.

Yeah empower is a legit developer. I wouldn't doubt shadyness on most apps for reviews though...

There's so many apps that have BS reviews that just contain peoples pin numbers asking to meet people yet have 5 stars and all kinds of crap...

So who do you think is responsible? Why would anyone but the developer spend the time to artificially inflate the rating and popularity of all those apps?

They need to hire some moderators to go through and moderate reviews for spam.

Not really worth the effort imo... Would take forever and cost $$.

For one they should make the review submission process a little bit more "involved" so that people just don't post real quick, content-less reviews.

I am amazed there's not some moderation...at least for the apps that have significant amounts of reviews etc. I don't see how the App World can continue to be taken seriously if apps that show up in the Top Apps section are only there because of malicious manipulation of the system.

RIM is a very large company and paying a handful of people near minimum wage to patrol something like this would be nothing to them.

[papped]

So who do you think is responsible? Why would anyone but the developer spend the time to artificially inflate the rating and popularity of all those apps?

As I said before, go look at some of the reviews where people say "pin me, 28/f #####", 5 star rating. Do you seriously think that's a developer inflating their own app? I doubt it... Do I think every single, short worthless review is developer self-inflated? Not even close... Tons of people post "Awesome, 5 stars" because they don't want to type. Not a useful review... Could be inflation, might not be...

here's all kinds of crap going on and even if it was the developer, how do you prove it?

Not like you can prove a developer owns a certain appworld account that made the rating...

Mobihand, Handango, pretty much any place that doesn't force real name reviews has this problem. Even Amazon which does enforce real name reviews has this problem and it's fairly widespread, just not quite as bad... Yet all of these places are taken seriously regardless.

Paying someone to moderate isn't going to change a whole lot, but if it makes you happy then petition RIM for it.

The person responsible is the person who left the review. And as said above, no one has any real kind of idea who that is or what their connection is to the app...

[jeffreii]

As I said before, go look at some of the reviews where people say "pin me, 28/f #####", 5 star rating. Do you seriously think that's a developer inflating their own app? I doubt it... Do I think every single, short worthless review is developer self-inflated? Not even close... Tons of people post "Awesome, 5 stars" because they don't want to type. Not a useful review... Could be inflation, might not be...

here's all kinds of crap going on and even if it was the developer, how do you prove it?

Not like you can prove a developer owns a certain appworld account that made the rating...

Mobihand, Handango, pretty much any place that doesn't force real name reviews has this problem. Even Amazon which does enforce real name reviews has this problem and it's fairly widespread, just not quite as bad... Yet all of these places are taken seriously regardless.

Paying someone to moderate isn't going to change a whole lot, but if it makes you happy then petition RIM for it.

The person responsible is the person who left the review. And as said above, no one has any real kind of idea who that is or what their connection is to the app...

Sorry that's not my experience with app world reviews. Sure there is plenty of junk - short responses and advertising - PINs etc. However, if you look at these apps and their reviews 95% of them are 5 stars and reviews like "wow" "good" "." "cool" "pick it" "love it" - ALL 5 STARS.

I've read lots of reviews about apps in app world and this one, to me, is flagrantly manipulated.

Do I have proof? No. But the consistency of reviews like this in all of his apps is enough for me to assume that anything I see there is a total sham. Either way it's a joke.

[SCrid2000]

Want me to tell you why Jeffreii? It's because Ani/Empower make damn good apps. That simple. I've been beta testing for them for a couple months now, and every app I've used works well.
Further, he often releases his apps at $0.99. Good apps at a good price.
Last thing: you can't allege fraud just because you suspect it - with no proof, that's libel. You can say you suspect fraud, but you can't say that there is. However, I doubt there's fraud in this case - once again, Ani and Empower make good apps.

[papped]

Even if there is fraud... Yeah you can think Appworld is a joke.

You can boycott Appworld, Mobihand, and Handango. I guess you can get apps from... I dunno, Target?

[jeffreii]

Please compare:

BlackBerry App World - ScoreMobile for BlackBerry

BlackBerry App World - Jeweled Game

Let me know if you notice anything different.

[PDM]

@jeffreii : as you feel so strongly about it... Why don't you take it up with RIM?

AppWorld is one of the 1st apps I tend to remove.

As for "reviews" I have never read any for any of the products I purchase. As at the end of the day I run a trial, if available, and make my own mind up.

[jeffreii]

@jeffreii : as you feel so strongly about it... Why don't you take it up with RIM?

AppWorld is one of the 1st apps I tend to remove.

As for "reviews" I have never read any for any of the products I purchase. As at the end of the day I run a trial, if available, and make my own mind up.

There's really no way to contact anyone about it - you can submit feedback to RIM but they send you an email saying you have to find another way to get support. The only answer is to bring it to the attention of the community. I would love someone to prove me wrong and I will retract my accusation but if you compare the reviews of legit popular apps to some of these you can see a significant difference.

I have proven I am here to help people but upon noticing this I felt compelled to share it. If people want to attack me because they know the person I have accused that's fine - but at least look at the evidence.

I keep AppWorld because sometimes it's useful. Maybe a better word is occasionally or once in awhile...but reading the reviews and looking at the rating, for me, determines whether or not to even give the program a trial ...and in cases where there is no trial period it's one of the sources of information I try and use to determine if I should spend my money.

I won't download a free app or take a trial of an app if it's clearly junk - reviews help determine that.

[papped]

It's basically the support forums, which I see you already posted to. That's what it's for.

That said, reviews can't really be trusted... I see so many good apps with horrible review ratings and so many junk apps with great scores. And this is not purely from "fraud".

This is from dumb users who don't know what they're talking about and post stupid reviews. This is the #1 problem for reviews, far above and beyond any amount of fraud that makes them non credible... You want to know what makes reviews worthless and makes it so that you cannot use reviews to judge most apps? Dumb users...

[MADBRADNYC]

It's funny how some will have the incessant & overbearing stance to call "sham", just because users don't write a long review of an app or didn't compose the app in the fashion that they or others would. Everyone has different opinions and ways of doing things, which is not being respected here. Just because people have a good exprience with an app and quickly jot down a thought for review, certainly does not constitute "fraud". The only fraud I see is people accusing others of fraud with no basis. Maybe users don't want to spend time writing long reviews. Why should someone find a fault with an application (when they had none) just to make some others happy, and prove it's not fraudulent?

Ani, makes good apps for BlackBerry. I have been testing his apps for months now as well, and I have never left a review for any of the tons of apps that he has worked on. I guess if I started to write reviews, they would be incorrectly interpreted as fraud, because there's not much to say... They simply work.

I personaly think the problem here is that apps from Ajani Info Tech are not actually being used by those who accuse, so the arrows are being shot in a dark tunnel. Some may come to the forums to air out the works, but have these same people searched CB for any of his apps? CB veterans with over a thousand posts, are still reluctant to use the search function here, and just come here to talk a good game. Maybe then these members could get more in depth reviews, or see how his apps are built from the ground up. Maybe join a beta testing session, and see the quality of the products being made. Just to call fraud out of nowhere is a fraud itself.
$.02

[jeffreii]

It's basically the support forums, which I see you already posted to. That's what it's for.

That said, reviews can't really be trusted... I see so many good apps with horrible review ratings and so many junk apps with great scores. And this is not purely from "fraud".

This is from dumb users who don't know what they're talking about and post stupid reviews. This is the #1 problem for reviews, far above and beyond any amount of fraud that makes them non credible... You want to know what makes reviews worthless and makes it so that you cannot use reviews to judge most apps? Dumb users...

papped I absolutely agree with you. You are dead on.

However, every now and then there's a smart reviewer and that's what I look for.

In this case, I don't think that applies. I am not complaining about the quality of the reviews. I am complaining about the discrepancy between the reviews of a normal app and those of Ajani apps. It's SIGNIFICANT.

If you look at reviews for normal apps that are well known, you will see good reviews, dumb reviews, off topic, short and meaningless - lots of each. If you look at Ajani reviews you will see 95% of them are 1-3 words and 5 stars. It's totally inconsistent with the majority of apps in App World.

[jeffreii]

It's funny how some will have the incessant & overbearing stance to call "sham", just because users don't write a long review of an app or didn't compose the app in the fashion that they or others would. Everyone has different opinions and ways of doing things, which is not being respected here. Just because people have a good exprience with an app and quickly jot down a thought for review, certainly does not constitute "fraud". The only fraud I see is people accusing others of fraud with no basis. Maybe users don't want to spend time writing long reviews. Why should someone find a fault with an application (when they had none) just to make some others happy, and prove it's not fraudulent?

Ani, makes good apps for BlackBerry. I have been testing his apps for months now as well, and I have never left a review for any of the tons of apps that he has worked on. I guess if I started to write reviews, they would be incorrectly interpreted as fraud, because there's not much to say... They simply work.

I personaly think the problem here is that apps from Ajani Info Tech are not actually being used by those who accuse, so the arrows are being shot in a dark tunnel. Some may come to the forums to air out the works, but have these same people searched CB for any of his apps? CB veterans with over a thousand posts, are still reluctant to use the search function here, and just come here to talk a good game. Maybe then these members could get more in depth reviews, or see how his apps are built from the ground up. Maybe join a beta testing session, and see the quality of the products being made. Just to call fraud out of nowhere is a fraud itself.
$.02

Honestly, you don't even deserve a response. Did you take the time to look at the evidence I posted? Did you say anything in your response to me that discredits my argument?

I have not said "Ani is a fraud". Perhaps someone else involved with him is doing what I perceive as manipulation. I don't know. What I do know is that there is a very marked and obvious difference between the reviews for his products and the reviews of most other products. If you take a look, you can't miss it.

Does it really matter if he makes good apps or crappy ones? If someone is posting fake reviews just to boost the score it would benefit them either way. Maybe his apps are great. That doesn't make it ok to post fake reviews nor does it mean he is innocent of anything just because of it.

I didn't just make my first post as soon as I saw the first evidence. I went to at least a dozen of his apps and saw the same thing. I went to other apps and saw something entirely different. I made my opinion and I brought it to the attention of the community.

Your two cents are worth zero if you don't offer any evidence to the contrary and merely rant about a bunch of nonsense that does not apply to me.

Normal app reviews:
BlackBerry App World - ScoreMobile for BlackBerry

Ajani app reviews:
BlackBerry App World - Jeweled Game

[MADBRADNYC]

Honestly, you don't even deserve a response. Did you take the time to look at the evidence I posted? Did you say anything in your response to me that discredits my argument?

I have not said "Ani is a fraud". Perhaps someone else involved with him is doing what I perceive as manipulation. I don't know. What I do know is that there is a very marked and obvious difference between the reviews for his products and the reviews of most other products. If you take a look, you can't miss it.

I didn't just make my first post as soon as I saw the first evidence. I went to at least a dozen of his apps and saw the same thing. I went to other apps and saw something entirely different. I made my opinion and I brought it to the attention of the community.

Your two cents are worth zero if you don't offer any evidence to the contrary and merely rant about a bunch of nonsense that does not apply to me.

Normal app reviews:
BlackBerry App World - ScoreMobile for BlackBerry

Ajani app reviews:
BlackBerry App World - Jeweled Game

Sigh. Yes I obviously read your libel posts about user reviews. If you actually comprehend the post, what I said has nothing to do with the developer per se'. It has to do with the reviews you are reading, and claiming to be fraudulent. You are the one with no proof of that, and continue to claim it is so. You posting reviews of different products does not make them fraudulent (but you call this proof).

What I am also saying is that if you actually checked out his work, maybe you would agree with the reviews that are there. You can't force people to write reviews the way in which you want them written. Period. If you don't like it, as someone else posted... Contact RIM, and request a more detailed review process. You have no proof that the reviews are fraudulent, and going on conjecture. You also compared reviews of totally different applications that work in totally different ways, where totally different users would use them.

It's gotta be your way or the highway. Most don't even think the way you do. I personally, nor anyone else cannot say any of the reviews are fraudulent, so I have no idea how "Kreskin" can.
$.02 AGAIN...

I personaly think the problem here is that apps from Ajani Info Tech are not actually being used by those who accuse, so the arrows are being shot in a dark tunnel. Some may come to the forums to air out the works, but have these same people searched CB for any of his apps? CB veterans with over a thousand posts, are still reluctant to use the search function here, and just come here to talk a good game. Maybe then these members could get more in depth reviews, or see how his apps are built from the ground up. Maybe join a beta testing session, and see the quality of the products being made. Just to call fraud out of nowhere is a fraud itself.

[jeffreii]

Sigh. Yes I obviously read your libel posts about user reviews. If you actually comprehend the post, what I said has nothing to do with the developer per se'. It has to do with the reviews you are reading, and claiming to be fraudulent. You are the one with no proof of that, and continue to claim it is so. You posting reviews of different products does not make them fraudulent (but you call this proof).

What I am also saying is that if you actually checked out his work, maybe you would agree with the reviews that are there. You can't force people to write reviews the way in which you want them written. Period. If you don't like it, as someone else posted... Contact RIM, and request a more detailed review process. You have no proof that the reviews are fraudulent, and going on conjecture. You also compared reviews of totally different applications that work in totally different ways, where totally different users would use them.

It's gotta be your way or the highway. Most don't even think the way you do. I personally, nor anyone else cannot say any of the reviews are fraudulent, so I have no idea how "Kreskin" can.
$.02 AGAIN...

I never called it proof - I called it evidence. Big difference there.

Here's another normal app - a game - just like the Ajani Bubble game:
BlackBerry App World - Ka-Glom - Free

There's a significant difference.

I am not forcing anyone to do anything. I am merely pointing out the evidence that lead me to my opinion.

[MADBRADNYC]

I never called it proof - I called it evidence. Big difference there.

Here's another normal app - a game - just like the Ajani Bubble game:
BlackBerry App World - Ka-Glom - Free

There's a significant difference.

I am not forcing anyone to do anything. I am merely pointing out the evidence that lead me to my opinion.

Wrong again!!! Please see below. The first decriptions from Dictionary.com...
ev�i�dence   /ˈɛvɪdəns/ Show Spelled
[ev-i-duhns] Show IPA
noun, verb, -denced, -denc�ing.
–noun
1. that which tends to prove or disprove something; ground for belief; proof.


proof   /pruf/ Show Spelled
[proof] Show IPA

–noun
1. evidence sufficient to establish a thing as true, or to produce belief in its truth.

Very much the same thing, as they are used interchangeably in their definitions.
And... You have none of either. Just conjecture. Because you don't like the reviews. Again. Try the apps, maybe you will have the same reviews yourself.

[Shao128]

This is actually something that Ive seen few developers do. Im NOT saying that the company in question in the first post does this by any means and I wont name any company specifically. But what they do is offer a "free" copy to anyone who will leave a 5 star rating/review. On Mobihand it's quite easy to offer a free coupon code, for an app and on AppWorld they offer to refund the purchase price via PayPal.

Here is a link which shows one company guilty of this, the only reason Im posting (Im not trying to throw any devs under the bus here) it is that is because it is on a blog site for everyone to see anyways. Is Asking for a Positive Review Smart Marketing or Morally Objectionable? | BlackBerry Cool

[MADBRADNYC]

This is actually something that Ive seen few developers do.

I totally agree!!! I also like your disclaimers..
I have seen a lot of this too. Especially for memory applications. I have also seen it very much in these forums where "shill" reviewers come in to post how great the product is. How does CB handle this, by IP's and such. The problem is with RIM. Users who feel this way, should request a better & more efficient review process.

You know I lova ya Shao, but if I post a short review of your work, and say "it's great", does not mean that it is fraudulent. Some don't get that. Without proof, it's all just talk.

The last sentence in your link...

Another angle to consider, is that perhaps it’s the fault of the store for creating a review system that can be manipulated so easily.

[papped]

There was a fairly large scandal over this from a dev on the iTunes store a long time ago...

[jeffreii]

Wrong again!!! Please see below. The first decriptions from Dictionary.com...
ev�i�dence   /ˈɛvɪdəns/ Show Spelled
[ev-i-duhns] Show IPA
noun, verb, -denced, -denc�ing.
–noun
1. that which tends to prove or disprove something; ground for belief; proof.


proof   /pruf/ Show Spelled
[proof] Show IPA

–noun
1. evidence sufficient to establish a thing as true, or to produce belief in its truth.

Very much the same thing, as they are used interchangeably in their definitions.
And... You have none of either. Just conjecture. Because you don't like the reviews. Again. Try the apps, maybe you will have the same reviews yourself.

Thanks for pulling out a dictionary. However, you are wrong again. Just because you have evidence towards something doesn't mean it's proof. Evidence gives you reason to believe something. Proof is a fact. Notice the words "tends" and "sufficient".

Either way, why am I arguing semantics with someone who has no interest in the truth and just wants to spew rhetoric.

You know I lova ya Shao, but if I post a short review of your work, and say "it's great", does not mean that it is fraudulent. Some don't get that. Without proof, it's all just talk.

You are free to ignore the evidence. If you're someone who needs concrete proof before you form your own opinion, that's fine too. I believe it's CLEAR from looking at the reviews for Ajani software -especially when comparing it to the reviews for other comparable software- that there is something fishy going on.