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Apple Responds to Dash Controversy

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Re: Apple Responds to Dash Controversy

#51

Post by CamperBob2 »

Bud wrote: post #37
rythie wrote: post #12

What if the fake reviews were paid for by a competitor, so they would get banned?

What if Apple just happened to be smart enough to think of the most obvious, very first question that would need to be asked in this situation?

What question is that? I'm apparently not smart enough to come up with a question that would enable me to distinguish between reviews from agents paid by competitors versus those paid by the original developer.

Edit: Seriously, what question can I ask? This sounds like a fun brainteaser, like the one where half of the people on an island are liars and half are truth-tellers, and the explorer has to figure out which fork in the road leads to the village. If there's an answer, I'd genuinely like to hear it. Downvoting me is just a way to shrug your shoulders and admit your bluff has been called.

Re: Apple Responds to Dash Controversy

#52

Post by lewisl9029 »

abestic9 wrote: post #28
mhandley wrote: post #16

So if you want to get your competitor banned from the App store, just post lots of spammy positive reviews for their product? How would you defend your app against such an attack?

While I don't know how their rating system or detection works, I imagine it would be harder than just posting spammy positive reviews. They would have to have solid evidence that you're doing it to your own app, or paying someone to do it on your behalf.

Genuinely curious: what are some heuristics that could be used to distinguish between fraudulent reviews paid for by the developer and those paid for by a malicious third party?

Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems practically impossible to distinguish between the two unless there was a royal screw up somewhere along the line.

Re: Apple Responds to Dash Controversy

#54

Post by macinjosh »

Bud wrote: post #34
ben174 wrote: post #17

So if I want to remove a competing app from the app store, all I have to do is buy them a bunch of fake reviews and Apple will ban them?

No. There is no evidence for this. You're assuming that Apple has no process to distinguish between intentional fraudulent reviews coming from the developer in question, and random fraudulent reviews from others. But that assumption is not supported by any facts.

There is no evidence it isn't this either. Detecting fake reviews is easy, detecting the source (probably a click farm) is probably pretty easy too but getting to the bottom of who hired the click farm would be extremely difficult. You'd probably need assistance from law enforcement or a court, probably in a developing country, to get that information from the click farm operators.

I would think its pretty easy to hire a click farm to blatantly post fake reviews to the app store. The worse the click farm is at covering their tracks the better if you're trying to get a competitor banned by Apple.

Dash was a popular app among developers who use Apple products I doubt the fake reviews would be needed. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this was caused by a third party.

Re: Apple Responds to Dash Controversy

#55

Post by bangonkeyboard »

coldtea wrote: post #47
thenipper wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love apple products, have for 31 years but the guy is pretty biased towards Apple. He writes some interesting stuff but this article for instance is basically just repeating back whatever their PR flack said.

And what if he believes it? I have little reason to doubt that Dash really posted lots of fake reviews. It's not like Apple goes and accuses people of that all the time...

> And what if he believes it?

So what if he does? I believe it. That doesn't mean that Apple has provided any actual proof, and only a blinkered shill would claim they had.

Re: Apple Responds to Dash Controversy

#57

Post by westernmostcoy »

Bud wrote: post #34
ben174 wrote: post #17

So if I want to remove a competing app from the app store, all I have to do is buy them a bunch of fake reviews and Apple will ban them?

No. There is no evidence for this. You're assuming that Apple has no process to distinguish between intentional fraudulent reviews coming from the developer in question, and random fraudulent reviews from others. But that assumption is not supported by any facts.

Without some direct information from Apple, it's perfectly valid to wonder if they were manipulated in some way. There aren't any facts available to us that point in one direction or the other.

Re: Apple Responds to Dash Controversy

#58

Post by HappyTypist »

lewisl9029 wrote: post #52
abestic9 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I don't know how their rating system or detection works, I imagine it would be harder than just posting spammy positive reviews. They would have to have solid evidence that you're doing it to your own app, or paying someone to do it on your behalf.

Genuinely curious: what are some heuristics that could be used to distinguish between fraudulent reviews paid for by the developer and those paid for by a malicious third party? Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems practically impossible to distinguish between the two unless there was a royal screw up somewhere along the line.

Using freebie promo codes given by the developer

Re: Apple Responds to Dash Controversy

#59

Post by Steko »

thenipper wrote: post #42
coldtea wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Translation: he likes Apple products and is open about it, whereas I don't.

I love apple products, have for 31 years but the guy is pretty biased towards Apple. He writes some interesting stuff but this article for instance is basically just repeating back whatever their PR flack said.

I seem to remember him slamming Apple Music for weeks on end. Is that how paid shills behave nowadays?
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