Live data from Hacker News

Robinhood Play Store listing went from 329K reviews to 180K in few hours

play.google.com

151–160 of 613 posts

Re: Robinhood Play Store listing went from 329K reviews to 180K in few hours

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does RH have in-app purchases? Otherwise not sure how wiping negative reviews optimizes for revenue.

High ratings for apps in the store might help convince users that the store is worth using. Or, even better, high ratings for apps from large corporations encourage them to support the continuation of your store's monopoly power.

But that's why there's no real need for manipulation. App store what highly rated apps and app makers want their apps to be highly rated so they use more or less dark patterns and incentives to incite users to leave good reviews.

There's a massive selection bias at play which tends to naturally inflate review scores without any explicit fudging.

Re: Robinhood Play Store listing went from 329K reviews to 180K in few hours

#152
Stop the conspiracy theories. It's not Parlor here. Google don't give a fuck about RH. But they need to protect businesses and cannot be the judge. Think about someone influential who wants to ruin a restaurant and organize something similar to that. A low rating these days kills a business. Not allowing organized activities like this is a good thing.

Don't worry, RH's good rating will die over time.

Re: Robinhood Play Store listing went from 329K reviews to 180K in few hours

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, really. Can anyone point to counter-examples?

There are a few -- Glassdoor, and Google reviews let you post bad reviews of businesses even if they have tons of money. That's not to say I disagree that big money runs things, just that it's not 100%.

the tone on glassdoor has shifted a lot since they discovered HR departments and recruiters as their main (only?) client base.

> ... It's also free to claim your employer account. After that, Glassdoor costs $249 to $600 per month depending on how many jobs you want to post and what specific features you want to add (again, the premium service costs more). -- (probably better sources this is just the top google result) https://fitsmallbusiness.com/glassdoor-vs-indeed/

Re: Robinhood Play Store listing went from 329K reviews to 180K in few hours

#154

Private company, they can do what they want. Or suddenly no?

It's possible to have one opinion on one case and a different opinion on a different case without any contradiction. Implying that that is untrue is unrealistic.

Re: Robinhood Play Store listing went from 329K reviews to 180K in few hours

#155

How were these not overall real reviews? If they can't prove otherwise, this just entrenches the idea that big money is vastly more powerful than small voices. I honestly don't see how if this trend continues how things will end well. It's not just about Robinhood, etc, it's deplatforming, using AWS, etc as a weapon against smaller voices. I can't see this ending well.

Which deplatformings do you specifically refer to? The concern over them just seems way too tribal at the moment to be considered in league with the more serious allegations against Robinhood and the funds involved - that is big money.

Wrt Parler specifically, I think a lot of the "solutions" (or sketches toward) on this site would quickly reveal that the optimal societal configuration is closer to what we have now than one would expect - with or without S230.

Also, the wording of "using AWS" is almost libelously in need of a citation - who is doing it, and how do they have any sway over a company that is both absolutely enormous and not particularly woke?

Re: Robinhood Play Store listing went from 329K reviews to 180K in few hours

#156
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's deplatforming, using AWS as a weapon against smaller voices. I can't see this ending well. This, so much - imagine you believe "they" stole the election, "they" got your favorite social media shut down (parler/gab/whatever), "they" blocked the buying of options, "they" then liquidated your position as the price predictably fail and you got margin called, you complained but "they" got your feedback deleted. Ouc…

In all of these cases ‘They’ were within their rights.

So? That is supposed to make it okay in people’s minds? I kinda doubt it.

Re: Robinhood Play Store listing went from 329K reviews to 180K in few hours

#157
post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does RH have in-app purchases? Otherwise not sure how wiping negative reviews optimizes for revenue.

If reviews don’t drive customer behavior why have them?

Reviews that are accurate (hypothetically) help users make informed decisions and therefore enjoy using the store more.

Re: Robinhood Play Store listing went from 329K reviews to 180K in few hours

#158
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just because a company can does what it wants doesn't mean there can't be vocal discourse denouncing that opinion

The sudden reversal is just amusing.

What reversal? If you're referring to a different scenario, then you should explain why they are comparable, instead of sarcastically declaring that they are.

Re: Robinhood Play Store listing went from 329K reviews to 180K in few hours

#159
post #129
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may think reviews are calculated as: SELECT app, AVG(stars) AS display_stars FROM customer_reviews GROUP BY app; It’s actually an ML algorithm that optimizes for revenue.

Being condescending is not constructive. Can you substantiate your claim? I'm sure that there are many tweaks to the way apps are ranked, but I would expect that the rating itself would, indeed, mostly be a star average.

I'm pretty sure it is, with the addition that when they detect brigading of the rating in a certain time interval, they remove ratings made in that time interval.

They will probably reenable ratings for the Robinhood app when things calm down, so if you want to give it a 1 star rating just wait a few weeks and try not to forget about it.

Re: Robinhood Play Store listing went from 329K reviews to 180K in few hours

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Manipulated? I just gave a 1-star review on the iOS app store and am currently pulling all my money out of my RH account, because I don't like how RH is behaving. People all thinking something is shit is not manipulation, its just collective agreement.

To play the Devil's advocate here, my personal intuition is that App reviews should be for how the apps perform, and shouldn't be used as proxy for reviewing those businesses. If the app is buggy or broken or whatever, it makes sense to give a low rating. I am not sure it makes equal sense if people suddenly realize they don't like the company who has made the app.

What if an app functions perfectly, but doesn't do what it promises? That's what seems to be happening here.
Post reply on HN