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Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

danfitdegree.hashnode.dev

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Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#161

Post by euler_angles »

stevage wrote: post #159
gary_0 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Getting angry and adversarial They didn't get angry and adversarial, they just explained and asked for clarification. Of course, kafkaesque bureaucracies don't like that, so making a random trivial change and obsequiously resubmitting is still probably the approach to use if you want to stay in business. Google these days is like something out of Brazil .

Examples of angry and adversarial: > Who do I contact if Anthony is not doing his job correctly? > This is becoming a joke at this point. > So I just have to close my business because one person in the review team is having a bad day? > Like is this serious?

You're right about the tone of those statements. But just how much dystopian bureaucracy can one take before expressing displeasure at the dystopian bureaucracy?

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#162

Post by dekhn »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #145
dekhn wrote: post #14

Is there any large group representing App developers that could manage the large-scale negotiation and legal wrangling required to force Apple and Google to be more helpful when rejecting legitimate applications? When I worked in Google (Ads, then later in Recommendations for Play and youtube) people often said this was intention to avoid teaching spammers how to get around the rules. But it's clear there are enough…

The Coalition for App Fairness, which of course, is currently involved in major litigation against both Google and Apple. It's open to new members! It looks like the author of this post is already a member. https://appfairness.org/members/

Thanks for pointing this out- I either failed to recall it existed, or didn't know it existed, but it more or less is what I was describing above.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#163

Post by Isamu »

_yb2s wrote: post #25

As a scientist, I often have to deal with similar BS of a reviewer misunderstanding a submitted journal article, literally insisting we do something we already did, and explained in the paper. I try to just own the fact that I didn't make my explanation clear and visible enough, so I just submit an updated version along with a comment like "We thank the reviewer for pointing out that we didn't clearly articulate our…

>literally insisting we do something we already did >I try to just own the fact that I didn't make my explanation clear and visible enough

Exactly, I think this works the best. You don’t have to explain the reviewer’s mistake and risk them misunderstanding your reply for being argumentative, the reviewer doesn’t have to admit a mistake, and your writing likely benefits from additional clarity.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#164

Post by gary_0 »

stevage wrote: post #159
gary_0 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Getting angry and adversarial They didn't get angry and adversarial, they just explained and asked for clarification. Of course, kafkaesque bureaucracies don't like that, so making a random trivial change and obsequiously resubmitting is still probably the approach to use if you want to stay in business. Google these days is like something out of Brazil .

Examples of angry and adversarial: > Who do I contact if Anthony is not doing his job correctly? > This is becoming a joke at this point. > So I just have to close my business because one person in the review team is having a bad day? > Like is this serious?

That's from the chat at the end, and I'd hardly call that "angry and adversarial", just exasperated -- and naively assuming the person they were talking to cared that "Anthony" had been giving them the run-around for 2 weeks.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#165

Post by ergocoder »

jldugger wrote: post #121
TimTheTinker wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I somewhat doubt Google responds effectively anymore to bad PR on HN, because (a) they're so large and each group is acting in its own best interest, and (b) Google has for so long had a cultural belief in the fiction that better automation ™ or at least mechanical turk-style automation (low-cost, powerless, script-following, outsourced support agents) is always preferable to personally serving people. In other words…

Im confident theres a few googlers watching things and happy to play the role of Harry Tuttle.

I'm an ex googler, and I am furious.

If I was still at Google, I would have posted this shit on memegen making fun of the Play team all day.

They should be ashamed for handling customers like this.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#166

Post by _yb2s »

euler_angles wrote: post #161
stevage wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Examples of angry and adversarial: > Who do I contact if Anthony is not doing his job correctly? > This is becoming a joke at this point. > So I just have to close my business because one person in the review team is having a bad day? > Like is this serious?

You're right about the tone of those statements. But just how much dystopian bureaucracy can one take before expressing displeasure at the dystopian bureaucracy?

Once you've lost your cool you've also lost.... so take as much as you can!

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#167

Post by Induane »

typon wrote: post #53
kristopolous wrote: post #29

Not only all this but the system doesn't work. The play store is flooded with low quality baiting garbage. Somehow their onerous policies block out legitimate users and have a VIP line for spammers

This is what surprises me the most about these stories of dealing with Google/Apple app stores. Most of the apps that aren't produced by very well-known studios or large corporations are just trash. There are few gems here and there but its like digging through a landfill to find anything decent.

It's amazing how good some of the apps on the F-Droid app-store are.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#168

Post by smt88 »

happyopossum wrote: post #111
smt88 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My car happily drives on private roads, and even dirt and gravel, without government approval.

You’re getting the analogy backwards - you can’t drive an unapproved car on a public road.

It's a terrible analogy no matter how you interpret it.

Approval of cars is based on whether those cars can harm other cars.

If I want to "drive" (use) an unapproved "car" (app store) on a "public road" (my own device), I should be able to do that.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#169

Post by Induane »

tmtvl wrote: post #50
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #11

We are well past the point that any respectable developer should simply drop the Play Store and tell users to buy a better phone. As long as you're willing to give them business, this system is working as intended. It's not going to change .

Exactly, pinephones for everyone! ...actually, doesn't Amazon have a separate store for Android? Anyone know if they're better?

No, but there are some good apps on the F-Droid store.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#170

Post by agf »

Aeolun wrote: post #47
kristopolous wrote: post #29

Not only all this but the system doesn't work. The play store is flooded with low quality baiting garbage. Somehow their onerous policies block out legitimate users and have a VIP line for spammers

This is not entirely surprising since spammers have all day long to reverse engineer the process, while legitimate users have a business to run.

This is an under-appreciated point. Look at the solution suggested in the top comment -- paraphrasing, it's "learn to game the system like the spammers, and accept that as a cost of doing business".

Google should be specifically designing towards mitigating this.

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