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Seriously, thank you Apple! Thank you for having the balls to do the right thing (where most companies would probably just remove the comments and leave the apps).

Yet there will be plenty of folks that will spin this into another anti-App Store rage fest.

I never understood those at all. If they love the app, why the hell would they rate 1 star?

Because people are morons. See: Windows 95% market share. :rolleyes:
 
Because people are morons. See: Windows 95% market share. :rolleyes:

That kind of attitude is the exact reason everyone hates Mac users. Please, for our sake, keep that opinion to yourself.

Damn even thought it's a bit shady to post some fake reviews, it seems harsh to delete 1900! apps I mean damn thats allot work down the drain for one mistake.


Now if all of the 1900 were just pointless crap apps, I can see.

But why does Apple have a approval process if they let all this crap in?

If by "work" you mean a TON of duplicate apps that are all junk to begin with and false advertising through made-up reviews, then yes. And I want to know more about the approval process question too. They're so strict on legit apps, but then some developer in Asia spams the App Store with garbage and gets away with it (up until now of course)?
 
That kind of attitude is the exact reason everyone hates Mac users. Please, for our sake, keep that opinion to yourself.

"Everyone?" :rolleyes:

And since this is MacRumors, I feel quite free to share my opinions about Windows (and its general user base) here. Heaven knows the Windows users on this forum feel free about expressing their opinions about Apple (and its general user base)...
 
And I want to know more about the approval process question too. They're so strict on legit apps, but then some developer in Asia spams the App Store with garbage and gets away with it (up until now of course)?
Spamming, in and of itself, does not violate the developer agreement. So, they're allowed. Posting fake reviews does violate the agreement. So, the developer is banned. Please note this developer was not banned because they were spamming.

EDIT: Brighthouse Labs is another spammer. They currently have about 2376 apps on the US Store.
 
By reading the story, there is no indication that the developer was pulled for the fake reviews.

I mean, it is reasonable to pull one app for the fake reviews, but 1900 of them?

If you read the original link and some follow-ups, you will see most of the 1900 apps are ripping Wikipedia and Flickrs for content, severe copyright infringement. Also, they have purposely infringed other developer's trademark rights (for example, Camera + vs Camera Plus, NightCam Pro vs Night Camera, etc).

I believe a few months ago, another developer with 900+ apps was pulled for similar copyright infringement.
 
Yet there will be plenty of folks that will spin this into another anti-App Store rage fest.



Because people are morons. See: Windows 95% market share. :rolleyes:

hahaha, ahhh, calling windows users morons....

you were asking me why I said in other post that you were a gigantic hypocrite?

"Everyone?"

And since this is MacRumors, I feel quite free to share my opinions about Windows (and its general user base) here. Heaven knows the Windows users on this forum feel free about expressing their opinions about Apple (and its general user base)...

Go to any non-apple or non-microsoft biased forum, while not "everyone", some people think Apple users are smug thanks to statements like yours.

Feel free to express your opinion about MS or about Windows users, hell, everyone knows it doesn't make any difference. But just so you know, offending Windows users doesn't make Apple a better company. (objectively speaking of course)
 
By reading the story, there is no indication that the developer was pulled for the fake reviews.

I mean, it is reasonable to pull one app for the fake reviews, but 1900 of them?

If you read the original link and some follow-ups, you will see most of the 1900 apps are ripping Wikipedia and Flickrs for content, severe copyright infringement. Also, they have purposely infringed other developer's trademark rights (for example, Camera + vs Camera Plus, NightCam Pro vs Night Camera, etc).

I believe a few months ago, another developer with 900+ apps was pulled for similar copyright infringement.

unfortunately it was legit content, they used free redistributable licensed media only, like creative commons share alike, or so, and they even quoted the necessary licenses good hidden, ...
after i was tricked to buy one of them i looked at that, cause i wanted to complained about that already, ...

but the complained did not even had an effect even if the map section barely showed the countries outline, not even the major cities, ...
 
Apple could try to limit the amount of App uploads to 1 per week in average per developer account. I guess that would be fair, and honestly some quality software release needs some time, so i guess in average they could even make a lower rate. I guess even EA could live with that, and they have for sore more than one account.

Putting 2000 Titles up would take spammers then about 40 years :D

What really annoys me is that these spammers fill up not only the app store but also the review pipeline, and that really sucks, for all other developers who then wait 1-2 weeks to get their things up, ...
 
Any devs here not asked friends to review their app?

Yes, me. 100% of the reviews for Realmaze3D are legit, and all the emails I got about "Send me a promo code and I'll give you a nice review" were ignored.

When your job is at stake and you're emotionally attached, of course you're going to go out of your way to self-promote.

Some of us have ethics.... You can legitimately self-promote without being a shill, you know. Like this post. :)

--Eric
 
unfortunately it was legit content, they used free redistributable licensed media only, like creative commons share alike, or so, and they even quoted the necessary licenses good hidden, ...
after i was tricked to buy one of them i looked at that, cause i wanted to complained about that already, ...

but the complained did not even had an effect even if the map section barely showed the countries outline, not even the major cities, ...

Wrong.

Creative Common does not allow commercial use of the photos. Wikipedia is not public domain either.

Basically, unless something is public domain, I am not aware of any license which allows commercial use of the content.
 
hahaha, ahhh, calling windows users morons....

you were asking me why I said in other post that you were a gigantic hypocrite?

It's becoming clear that you don't really know what the word hypocrite means... :rolleyes:

Go to any non-apple or non-microsoft biased forum, while not "everyone", some people think Apple users are smug thanks to statements like yours.

I've been to plenty such forums thanks (I am a Windows user too, after all) and I'm completely familiar with what people think about Apple and its users. I would call them "smug" in their opinions, but the words they use to rant about Apple are too crass to qualify for "smug." Try "unhinged?"

But just so you know, offending Windows users doesn't make Apple a better company. (objectively speaking of course)

I don't work for Apple.
 
Yes, me. 100% of the reviews for Realmaze3D are legit, and all the emails I got about "Send me a promo code and I'll give you a nice review" were ignored.

I promise, if you send me a promo code, I'll post an honest review (which is how that process should work!).

Some of us have ethics.... You can legitimately self-promote without being a shill, you know. Like this post. :)

--Eric

I can't say anything about the quality of your dev skills, but I do like that attitude at least.

As for the dev who's apps were pulled, I think a lot of people are missing the fact that the spammed (fake) reviews were not just on one app. One was given as an example, but most, if not all, of their apps had fake reviews. They couldn't boot them for their apps being crap, but they can sure boot them for breaking the rules.

I'm glad Apple doesn't have some arbitrary criteria for "quality" of an app, because that would be nothing but trouble. I'm glad they're enforcing these rules though, and hope they crack down harder.

jW
 
I'm all for stomping out fake reviews from any source. Have you ever gone through sites like Amazon for PS3 and especially 360 reviews? Tons of fake/fanboi/paid reviewers leaving negative ratings & forum posts.

I wish there was a system where only PAID customers or verified downloaders can actually leave reviews and that goes for any website.
 
Fake reviews are getting really rampant out there. How else can you explain G.I.Joe getting 360 5star reviews out of less than 700 reviews. Thats more than half of the reviews. No way did half the people who saw that movie even like it, much less think it was worthy of 5 stars.
 
This happens in the iTunes Store, too.

the thing that irks me with the itunes store are the folks that do the 'this is the best movie ever, hit yes if you agree' on what is supposed to be a 'is this a useful review' rating.


Damn even thought it's a bit shady to post some fake reviews, it seems harsh to delete 1900! apps I mean damn thats allot work down the drain for one mistake.

As for the dev who's apps were pulled, I think a lot of people are missing the fact that the spammed (fake) reviews were not just on one app. One was given as an example, but most, if not all, of their apps had fake reviews.

correct. other reports are that they created 45 - 50 itunes accounts and went and used all their codes to 5 star every app they created. which is super huge no way.

Fake reviews are getting really rampant out there. How else can you explain G.I.Joe getting 360 5star reviews out of less than 700 reviews. Thats more than half of the reviews. No way did half the people who saw that movie even like it, much less think it was worthy of 5 stars.

well that depends on how you judge the movie. if you consider 'good' to be the same as Oscar Worthy, it's not worth half a star. if you consider 'good' to be fast paced, with hot chicks in tight outfits and folks blowing up things and kicking butts, then it is 5 stars.
 
...well that depends on how you judge the movie. if you consider 'good' to be the same as Oscar Worthy, it's not worth half a star. if you consider 'good' to be fast paced, with hot chicks in tight outfits and folks blowing up things and kicking butts, then it is 5 stars.

No. Just no. Even for cheesy mindless action film it wasn't worth 5 stars. Certainly not from more than 50% of reviewers. I know people who worked on that film who would rather hit themselves in the head with a hammer for two hours than have to sit through it again. Even teenage boys who like anything with explosions and hot chicks would only give it 4 stars. What's going on is guerilla marketing. And it is very misleading. Marketing firms pay people to have multiple accounts and write positive reviews for whoever the client is. I've seen job listings for it. Creepy...
 
Damn even thought it's a bit shady to post some fake reviews, it seems harsh to delete 1900! apps I mean damn thats allot work down the drain for one mistake.

It wasn't exactly a mistake on the developers part, he was deliberately shilling his own apps.

But why does Apple have a approval process if they let all this crap in?

That's the big question. All this junk was apparently approved.
 
unfortunately it was legit content, they used free redistributable licensed media only, like creative commons share alike

Creative Commons Share Alike content isn't really compatible with a paid for app, cos they can't freely distribute without sacrificing the "paid" bit.
 
All this junk was apparently approved.

deciding what is junk and isn't pushes things into the realm of censoring. rather than risk suits and such in that regard, Apple rejects based on other terms and lets the market decide the quality.

this particular developer cheated and got stung. the quality of the apps wasn't the issue. it was the fake itunes accounts, the abuse of promo codes and the misleading ratings.

seems about right to me
 
Sadly, this is just another reminder of how the App Store monopoly is a failure for consumers compared to a free market exchange of apps.
 
Yes, me. 100% of the reviews for Realmaze3D are legit, and all the emails I got about "Send me a promo code and I'll give you a nice review" were ignored.



Some of us have ethics.... You can legitimately self-promote without being a shill, you know. Like this post. :)

--Eric

Ah sorry Eric, I didn't see you there ;)
 
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