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'Dash' App Removed From App Store for Alleged Review Manipulation

You know the rejection happened when the account was being converted from a personal to a business account. You have to provide legal proof of being a business entity (e.g. a DUN id) -- maybe something illicit was done in that regard.

I have to say though, for the sake of the developer community, developers really need to be reassured that they can't lose out on all their hard work easily or because of a mistake by one or the other party... transparency is important for trust.
 
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FrozenDarkness said:
and you know they didn't because....
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Well maybe they did but then at least my country has a lot of stupid people :D but still apple shouldn't approve them at all. Apps like new smilies before iOS 10 that claimed you would get a new smiley keyboard (hoax) or apps like minecraft mods which also is a hoax etc... those apps are smudging the App Store.
 
I think removal from the app store is a bit excessive in this case.

A better punishment would probably be to delete all reviews on the app, ban the app from appearing in "top" lists and category lists, and place text on the app's page something like:

"All reviews on this app have been removed due to recent fraudulent review submission."

This allows Apple to "punish" the developer, without also punishing people who bought and use the app.
 
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MacRumors said:
Popular API documentation browser Dash was yesterday pulled from the App Store after a routine migration request. Dash developer Bogdan Popescu was given no explanation for why the app had been pulled aside from "fraudulent conduct," but after a conversation with Apple, he's been accused of manipulating App Store reviews.
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If you want to encourage "good" behaviour, it does seem useful to explain what was done when people do something wrong. It is tough to learn without clear feedback.
 
I think it's important to note Phil's wording in his response. "I am told..." That doesn't sound like he reviewed it personally. Sounds more like he asked why, someone said fraud and he said ok.
 
Kaibelf said:
Could you be any more insulting to Jewish people who died by comparing what happened to them to not being able to sell something in an app store?
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I'm not sure how offended a dead person can get. At this point I think that since they are dead they are most likely indifferent to the whole matter.
 
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As a result of this publicity, I've just (re)discovered Dash.

It's a brilliant app - so much faster than XCode for managing and searching developer documentation. And it's great to have all your non-Apple docs in one place as well.

I'm going to go ahead and buy it - but not through the App store, obviously!

(Note to Apple: this post is my own opinion and was not paid for by the developer of Dash)
 
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Reason077 said:
As a result of this publicity, I've just (re)discovered Dash.

It's a brilliant app - so much faster than XCode for managing and searching developer documentation. And it's great to have all your non-Apple docs in one place as well.

I'm going to go ahead and buy it - but not through the App store, obviously!

(Note to Apple: this post is my own opinion and was not paid for by the developer of Dash)
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Sounds like it was some very welcome publicity for that app, good for the developer!
 
just a fun fact, not that I expect anybody to care, but, i've been a mac user (and even fanatic at some point in my teenage years, remember ordering mac os x beta) since I was born (29 years) and yesterday i decided that I had enough of this silly company, going autoritarian (if it's not with users, it's with devs) in every domain and putting out absurd products for people to become neurotic, so I bought a thinkpad x260 (first pc ever) and i'm on debian (win10 on dual boot).
everything is set and i'm not looking back. gnome is beautiful :)
linux seems to be the only thing keeping it real these days.
you should try it sometime.
i'll come back here to keep tabs on the insanity don,t worry :)
it IS entertaining once in a while
 
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bitslap47 said:
Hmm... so if I hire a 3rd party to post fake reviews to a competitor's app.......
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So, what if I plant evidence of a crime (I actually have committed myself) on somebody else? Setting up somebody, if done well, can be very damaging in all kinds of situations, up to the level of wrongful incarceration. To give a less draconian example: If you are a (food) supplier to a restaurant chain and your competitor sabotages your products (or even just aspects of it like delivery) in a way that makes it look like it was your fault and as a result the restaurant chain stops doing business with you, there easily can also be no way to appeal that decision. Is this the restaurant chain's fault?

Frequently, appealing to public opinion (as done here) might be the only option, but with very uncertain chances of success.
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pmjoe said:
Presumably "review manipulation" for your own product would be in the form of positive reviews, so hiring a 3rd party to post fake POSITIVE reviews to competitor's app, hoping Apple would notice, would be a bit bizarre.
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It would be a risky endeavour. If Apple doesn't catch the fake reviews, you might actually help your competitor. If Apple catches them but notices a pattern, it might also backfire. It can work, but as I said, it is risky.
 
I just sent an email to Phil Schiller's email and politely but angrily asked them to take a second look and said that "decision is final" means they are unwilling to double check that they didn't make a mistake. Hopefully if enough people do this they might take it seriously.
 
Zaft said:
Really apple? You cant appeal lol. thats just wrong.
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What do you think an appeal is? Didn't this guy get various levels of support people to look into it, and they confirmed the decision, and then Phil Schiller personally reviewed the decision and confirmed it?

Sounds like an appeals process to me...
 
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brand said:
I'm not sure how offended a dead person can get. At this point I think that since they are dead they are most likely indifferent to the whole matter.
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Well, the relatives of the dead people might still care.
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pier said:
It really doesn't matter if there was indeed review fraud or not. Of course Apple should prevent review fraud.

The real problem here is "Apple's decision is final and can't be appealed.".
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Do you think every commercial transaction between two parties should be appealable to a court of arbitration?
 
moo083 said:
I just sent an email to Phil Schiller's email and politely but angrily asked them to take a second look and said that "decision is final" means they are unwilling to double check that they didn't make a mistake. Hopefully if enough people do this they might take it seriously.
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Why do you assume a second (or more) look didn't occur?

Especially as the issue made its way up to an Apple Senior Vice President.
 
Bubba Satori said:
The walled garden is topped with barbed wire, gun towers and a trigger happy guard.
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If I put money into a bank, I might quite like them having a wall topped with barbed wire, gun towers and trigger happy guards, figuratively speaking.

Or without the hyperbole, if Apple's rules and procedures result in 100 fraudulent apps being rejected for one honest app being rejected, than this could be considered an acceptable rate of false positives. Conceiving a system with zero false positives that is also still effective can be quite difficult.
 
Rafterman said:
"Apple’s decision is final and can’t be appealed."

That is the particularly BS part of all this. Third Reich much?

But Apple cancels orders for no reason, so why not developer accounts.
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not "no reason" there is always a reason why they do things, they just choose not to tell you ... Completely different. Either they don't have all info, or must to more research as to why it happened. only THEN they will tell you.

This is why I use force towards Apple always.. to get them to 'spill the beans"
 
citysnaps said:
Why do you assume a second (or more) look didn't occur?

Especially as the issue made its way up to an Apple Senior Vice President.
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I don't actually think it made it to Phil Schiller. This email is written generically enough to be a form letter that someone in his office spit out.

And if they did take a second look they should say so. Clearly the developer has had a problem getting an acceptable level of communication from Apple.
 
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