1. jefflemon's Avatar
    Thanks for the crap review for Instruments @skyscraper04

    2 Star
    "the reason i bought this because the creator promised to add the guitar but didnt comly"

    I have been working on it, I'm a one man team with a day job so it's extremely difficult to develop apps and reviews like that make me want to ditch PlayBook development and just concentrate on iPhone where the revenue is at least 10 x the amount it is from App World.
    09-30-11 06:37 AM
  2. peter9477's Avatar
    @jefflemon, are you aware you can request that RIM deny a review? In the vendor portal, if you click on the link showing how many reviews you have for the product, you can see the complete list, and each has a "Deny Review" link next to it (or "Approve Review", if you've already clicked the other).

    Some vendors such as the offline maps guy deny basically all bad reviews, no matter how justified. Others aren't even aware of the feature. Some use their own personal ethical sense to judge what's appropriate and deny only those they truly feel are not fair. (I've denied only a single review, which was a half-star rating for Battery Guru claiming it had prevented the app from exiting standby, where that's not even possible and was, I'm sure, from a user who didn't know how to swipe-to-wake properly.)

    (By the way, in the web view of App World it shows he gave you only 1 star, not even 2!)
    09-30-11 06:51 AM
  3. pbfan's Avatar
    When do you plan to deliver?
    09-30-11 06:51 AM
  4. jefflemon's Avatar
    I'm aware I can deny reviews but it is slightly annoying to read that review.

    I plan to deliver the Guitar after I have finished updating Drums with a recording feature.

    The Guitar is about half done. I've done animated strings so you can bend and pull them, done some graphics but I would like to do more and add effect pedals etc. Which will take more time. No point releasing it until I am happy with it.
    09-30-11 07:02 AM
  5. ubizmo's Avatar
    I don't blame you for being annoyed. The review system is very much compromised by the sheer number of knuckleheaded reviews that appear. Very often, I've seen bad ratings given by reviewers who say that a feature is "missing" that is mentioned in the description as "coming" in a future release.

    I'm not a developer, but I can understand why some developers might feel funny about denying reviews. It may seem too self-serving. The truth is, however, that prospective buyers can be misled by junk reviews.

    I don't know if it's worth it, but a "rate the review" system like Amazon's could be useful, and if a review got enough zero ratings, maybe it could just disappear.
    anon(4018671) likes this.
    09-30-11 07:13 AM
  6. jefflemon's Avatar
    @ubizmo yeah a 'was this review helpful' system would be great
    09-30-11 08:08 AM
  7. BuzzStarField's Avatar
    I'm aware I can deny reviews but it is slightly annoying to read that review.

    I plan to deliver the Guitar after I have finished updating Drums with a recording feature.

    The Guitar is about half done. I've done animated strings so you can bend and pull them, done some graphics but I would like to do more and add effect pedals etc. Which will take more time. No point releasing it until I am happy with it.
    I feel your pain. I too have been stung by thoughtless consumers who figure that they have an inalienable right to be obnoxious. Don't let the loud mouths defeat you. I do believe that the vast majority of consumers appreciate your dedication and uncompromising wish to deliver a quality product.

    For some reason only a very small percentage of purchasers bother to leave favourable reviews. Perhaps they assume that we are in this business for the money and that our already large egos don't need to be stroked. Perhaps they feel that there are only so many ways to say "Nice app!" and see no point in adding another boring review. As a PB developer, I can assure you that we need all the encouragement we can get and there can never be too many kind words spoken.

    For the record, I have denied three reviews (all were 1 star or less and each of them really hurt. Even so, I felt a little guilty about removing them):

    1. Crap - doesn't open on playbook w latest software os

    2. Okay but lacks important point and view element. For a beginer star gazer, the point and view feature is necessary. the [reduced cost] is great, but look forward to the realtime feature i really want

    3. Totally unreadable. Have screen on brightest setting and can barely see anything: CONTRAST SUCKS !!! .99 gone
    Last edited by BuzzStarField; 09-30-11 at 08:47 AM.
    09-30-11 08:32 AM
  8. Innovatology's Avatar
    Don't be sad, jefflemon, I can imagine you feel disappointed. But look past the bad review and there are many happy users. It's them you are doing it for.

    I had a bad review today as well. One of very very few. Most are 4 or 5 stars, and we get fantastic feedback. This user found it too cumbersome to copy a file back to Dropbox after editting. I can understand that, it's a feature that (although never promised) is on our roadmap. But it's only one feature out of many that are already implemented. Besides, we offer a trial period to see whether the app fits your purpose.

    Anyhow, despite finding the review rather harsh I will let it stand. It's only one opinion, and there are many many other users who do enjoy our efforts, and let us know at every oportunity. I'm sure most users will not be influenced by one bad score, especially if the review is so specific.

    The only reviews I've ever denied (two or three) did not relate to the app. One was even denied by our guardian angel at App World ;-)
    09-30-11 08:55 AM
  9. kbz1960's Avatar
    Did you ever think that maybe fans of other systems are leaving bad reviews on purpose? Also some people will never be happy no matter what you do. Just look at this forum!

    I hope that some bad reviews won't discourge you all too much, I'm sure that there are many that do like what is being put out but simply don't bother to review what is working for them, seems people only want to go complain.

    I also think people need to understand that you haven't been given the greatest tools to work with either. I don't know apple have a head start because of ipod? Where the first apps for it the greatest thing in the world? Same for android?

    Thanks guys for working to make our baby better!
    09-30-11 08:59 AM
  10. pkcable's Avatar
    Be aware that most of us LOVE your apps!!!!!
    menaknow likes this.
    09-30-11 09:07 AM
  11. trsbbs's Avatar
    Thanks for the crap review for Instruments @skyscraper04

    2 Star
    "the reason i bought this because the creator promised to add the guitar but didnt comly"

    I have been working on it, I'm a one man team with a day job so it's extremely difficult to develop apps and reviews like that make me want to ditch PlayBook development and just concentrate on iPhone where the revenue is at least 10 x the amount it is from App World.
    From what I see he gave you 1 star for not delivering on a supposed promise. That being said I think the 1 star is a little harsh. (probably a 12 year old that is having a breakdown or something)

    You do have a number of 4 and 5 star reviews. Don't be so quick to discount those just because of one low rating.

    In retail sales you need to have a thicker skin and take the good with the bad. Right now your over all rating is 4.5 stars. This is better than most apps!

    So work more on developing that thicker skin and keep pleasing the masses.

    Tim
    09-30-11 09:10 AM
  12. jnak00's Avatar
    After reading this, I've decided to go leave some reviews for the apps I've purchased (including What's Up). I've found a lot of apps I really like and haven't reviewed them - didn't really consider what some positive feedback means to developers.
    09-30-11 09:13 AM
  13. rsxsniper's Avatar
    After reading this, I've decided to go leave some reviews for the apps I've purchased (including What's Up). I've found a lot of apps I really like and haven't reviewed them - didn't really consider what some positive feedback means to developers.
    +1. im gonna put up reviews on all the apps i download and love on my playbook. i hope it would encourage them to further develop the app.
    klc99 likes this.
    09-30-11 09:17 AM
  14. aminrajabi's Avatar
    As an app purchaser I usually looks at all the reviews. If majority are 4 or 5 stars, I assume its a good product. There will always be people who will quickly blame any and all issues on the app they've purchased rather than looking to see if there were any other causes. Also like a previous post mentioned, don't forget that the review could be easily coming from a 12 year old.

    ID-10-T Error.
    09-30-11 09:37 AM
  15. menaknow's Avatar
    You just have to look at the forums here at crackberry.

    Threads are full of people offering opinion's and reviews's on products they don't even own.

    Don't take it personally. Honestly you can give someone an application take does everything imaginable, and someone will still nitpick... "it doesn't make me coffee in the morning so I'm giving it a 2 stars"...

    Some people love to complain regardless...
    09-30-11 09:43 AM
  16. JDukeOSBB's Avatar
    Some people are just dumb when it comes to apps and will write bad reviews no matter what, but the people on iOS or wherever are the same way... I think it is much harder to get noticed on iOS because there are so many apps already.

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    09-30-11 10:09 AM
  17. tprime's Avatar
    Very interesting thread.
    I usually use the app for awhile before i write a review. But if i don't find an app useful i will just delete it instead of giving a bad review. It is true usually bad reviews don't give any useful information as to why the app is bad. I would tell anyone to try to contact the developer with your complaints before bashing an app. Sometimes the problem is user error.
    BuzzStarField likes this.
    09-30-11 12:23 PM
  18. Rob Robertson's Avatar
    Thanks for the crap review for Instruments @skyscraper04

    2 Star
    "the reason i bought this because the creator promised to add the guitar but didnt comly"

    I have been working on it, I'm a one man team with a day job so it's extremely difficult to develop apps and reviews like that make me want to ditch PlayBook development and just concentrate on iPhone where the revenue is at least 10 x the amount it is from App World.
    For what it's worth, I bought your Drums app and think it's awesome. I will submit a review now.

    Keep it up!
    09-30-11 12:54 PM
  19. Foreverup's Avatar
    I wish there was a way to edit a review I have given. I have given apps some bad reviews but after the developer has updated their app I wanted to give a positive review on the updated version but couldn't. Sorry Jeff I haven't tried your apps, but thought I would give a reviewers perspective.
    09-30-11 01:09 PM
  20. peter9477's Avatar
    After reading this, I've decided to go leave some reviews for the apps I've purchased (including What's Up). I've found a lot of apps I really like and haven't reviewed them - didn't really consider what some positive feedback means to developers.
    Not only is the feedback itself very nice to have, but the position of the app in its category seems to be based a bit more on number of reviews than on rating.

    I don't know the actual formula used, and it clearly takes into account the ratings as well, but I know that amongst the top 25 or so utilities, there's an almost one-to-one correspondence between number of reviews and how high up an app is in the list, to some extent regardless of the number of stars in the rating.

    I've watched Battery Guru climb through that list as it got more and more reviews, and each time I've checked its neighbours. With a high degree of correlation, it was always sitting between two others, one with more reviews and the other with fewer, even when it had a higher rating than either.

    Here are the review counts for the top 15 Paid utilities, in the order they appear in the list: 124, 101, 67, 25, 23, 25, 22, 15, 14, 12, 11, 9, 11, 7, 6. In that set the range of ratings is from 3.5 to 5 stars.

    The two times where the pattern is "broken" are cases where the app with slightly fewer reviews has a higher rating but, by and large, quantity seems to count for more than quality, at least within a narrow range of quality.

    To put it another way, it appears you're way better off having 15 reviews averaging 4 stars, than 9 reviews which are all 5 stars... at least in terms of position in the list.
    09-30-11 01:32 PM
  21. BuzzStarField's Avatar
    @peter9477 - Good analysis. The same pattern holds true for the Education category. Now I know why my demo version dropped 5 places when I denied a bunch of reviews pertaining to the initial (flawed) release. Also there have been few reviews added subsequent to the paid version's release. It may be wise to reinstate those old reviews despite the lower average rating..

    Thanks for the enlightenment - I'm going to get off my **** and review Battery Guru. The star guy has added five more stars to Battery Guru!
    Last edited by BuzzStarField; 09-30-11 at 02:40 PM.
    peter9477 likes this.
    09-30-11 02:08 PM
  22. cjterminator's Avatar
    I have an idea for Crackberry forums to create dedicated new forum section where users can interact with developers and for each application a separate post can be created so that it is easy to find the relevant post and avoid duplicity. Developers can actively participate in these forums and it will provide the users a good platform to interact with developers before they post any bad reviews. Each participating developer here can then advertise this option in the description of their application in App World.
    I have personally as user always looked for such forum where my issues can be directly addressed along with other users of that application. Getting support by emails is slower and also is mostly one-to-one communication. Such forums will also answer the frequently asked questions about a particular application by users and thus will help developers avoid answering same questions again and again. Actually these FAQ can be updated regularly by the developer in the first page of the post.
    @Kevin/Blaize/Michelle, what do you guys think about this idea? I am sure this will help the Blackberry users and at the same time will help developers by providing them good platform to interact with actual users.
    09-30-11 02:59 PM
  23. DenverRalphy's Avatar
    I have an idea for Crackberry forums to create dedicated new forum section where users can interact with developers and for each application a separate post can be created so that it is easy to find the relevant post and avoid duplicity. Developers can actively participate in these forums and it will provide the users a good platform to interact with developers before they post any bad reviews. Each participating developer here can then advertise this option in the description of their application in App World.
    I have personally as user always looked for such forum where my issues can be directly addressed along with other users of that application. Getting support by emails is slower and also is mostly one-to-one communication. Such forums will also answer the frequently asked questions about a particular application by users and thus will help developers avoid answering same questions again and again. Actually these FAQ can be updated regularly by the developer in the first page of the post.
    @Kevin/Blaize/Michelle, what do you guys think about this idea? I am sure this will help the Blackberry users and at the same time will help developers by providing them good platform to interact with actual users.
    Already there... http://forums.crackberry.com/bb-company-forums-f88/
    peter9477 likes this.
    09-30-11 03:10 PM
  24. pkcable's Avatar
    RMJ beat me too it! If any companies are interested in getting a sub forum there contact sitesupport(at)crackberry(dot)com for more info.
    09-30-11 03:31 PM
  25. peter9477's Avatar
    For those who visit the link rmjones101 kindly posted, and who don't scroll all the way down to notice it, make sure to read Kevin's "Software Developer Forums - Read First" post at the bottom, also linked here: http://forums.crackberry.com/bb-comp...d-first-42034/
    09-30-11 03:32 PM
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