Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer • Hacker News Board

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#181

Post by john-radio » Thu, Nov 17, 2022, 2:20 AM UTC

It's terrible that you are in this position.

> Add a feature that already exists to our app. How the hell am I suppose to do that... I don't know.

It sounds to me like this was the "correct" answer (from a perspective of "make the problem go away," not how things should be, ofc). Do a refactor of your source code that changes nothing, push updates with release notes saying "Major updates to UCG oversight system," email Anthony asking "him?" to review the updates addressing the problems.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#182

Post by knlam » Thu, Nov 17, 2022, 2:21 AM UTC

And Apple is the same or even worse. Our app is in reviewed for 3 weeks without any contact from apple. Any attempt to contact meet with the standard just wait email. At that point, I don't really know what to do

Considering Apple behavior, I don't know if I should speak out or not, for Apple will ban developer in retaliation

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#183

Post by geraldwhen » Thu, Nov 17, 2022, 2:27 AM UTC

olooney wrote: post #97

This kind of moderation is broken across the board. No one knows how to scale it. 1. Amazon has completely lost the battle with fake reviews. Not only are they completely incapable of removing even a fraction of the huge swaths of obviously fake reviews, they also flag accounts more or less at random and permanently shut off their ability to post reviews. Escalating to support and they simply respond, "we've reviewed…

You can get banned from amazon for fake reviews? I’ve made a good bit of money with reviews for nonsense products; probably at least $1,000.

It’s so obvious to me when I see a fake review now.

Short but not too short.

Mentions a specific product feature or cast member (show reviews are fake too.) padded worse than a 6th grade book report on conjunctions and other words to match a word county.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#184

Post by brokenmachine » Thu, Nov 17, 2022, 2:30 AM UTC

Aeolun wrote: post #57

puffoflogic wrote: post #2

Idk, maybe I just speak bot but it seems obvious from the wording that the app needs to split out its "report" button into "report content" and "report user". I don't think they need to do different things, but it will check the box of > We confirm that your app has options to report and block abusive users but your app does not contain functionality to report objectionable content. To be clear, I don't think this wi…

If you have to long press the comment to bring up the report screen. How do you conclude that you are reporting a user? I'd find it more logical if that related to reporting the content.

What makes you think this is about logic?

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#185

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Nov 17, 2022, 2:36 AM UTC

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?

[deleted]

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#186

Post by charcircuit » Thu, Nov 17, 2022, 2:37 AM UTC

Brian_K_White wrote: post #150

dcdc123 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Support legislation requiring Apple and Google to allow third party app stores.

Doesn't Verizon lock down all their phones against sideloading? Doesn't do much good for google to allow something if everyone else is still allowed to do the same. The user needs to be able to download from the web like any windows/linux/mac app. Security and curation are no excuse for preventing it.

No, they don't.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#187

Post by TrueGeek » Thu, Nov 17, 2022, 2:38 AM UTC

ncallaway wrote: post #5

I think at least one thing worth a try is: make a tiny, relatively inconsequential change, and submit it again. If you had a 93% success ratio before, you've got pretty good odds that you'll get a new reviewer on the next update and it'll be approved. Maybe something like the copy change puffoflogic recommended. Just make any tiny change in the area, re-submit the app, and hope you get lucky with a better reviewer.

From my experience this is exactly what you need to do. You don’t even need to change the app. If your CICD pipeline is already incrementing the build number then just kick off a new build and re-submit that. If you frequently get apps kicked back then add notes to the “how to test section” like “you can test reporting user generated content by doing x, y, z. This is the only user generated content in our app.” It does seem like the “how to test notes” actually get read whereas the appeal notes do not.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#188

Post by throwawaytoilet » Thu, Nov 17, 2022, 2:40 AM UTC

I would have replied on day 3 “Ok, not sure what the issue is exactly but this release needs to get out and that feature isn’t important so I’ve removed the whole feature. New build uploaded” Then when approved, toggle feature flag back on.

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#189

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0 » Thu, Nov 17, 2022, 2:42 AM UTC

gary_0 wrote: post #164

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?

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.

Agreed. To me this is just barely touching angry or adversarial. As a person, who was dropped by a medical practice for threatening with a lawsuit and eventually dropping the f bomb after rather exhausting months of non-activity, that was just that: exasperated.

Google clearly has an issue. The issue is not mainstream, but the moment this hits a bigger name and its community notices, I am sadly certain there will be some adjustment. I do not get why it is only publicly shaming companies work well these days.

I understand that getting the right party is important, but in the article it seems like you can't even seem to get to the right person, because:

1. there is no real person talking to you 2. the person talking to you can ignore you and say buh-bye

edit: removed anecdote

Re: Two weeks of dealing with Google as a developer

#190

Post by tmtvl » Thu, Nov 17, 2022, 2:42 AM UTC

geraldwhen wrote: post #174

typon wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why its the ethical responsibility of every dev to use Firefox when they can.

Mozilla Foundation has already expressed an interest in controlling speech within Firefox. It is not an option.

Indeed, the only way forward is w3m.