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i hope MacUpdate and other sites like that will take note... people leave the nastiest "reviews" on apps that they didn't even download (yes, you can see user's download history).

How can you see someones purchase history on iTunes? I didn't think that was possible. I click on their name in a review and it doesn't show what they have bought.
 
Fantastic news! As a developer, this makes me very happy. Although I doubt they will purge any of the old reviews, as that would be an entirely different, and more difficult, task.

Not that difficult:

delete from reviews
where not exists (
select * from orders
where orders.itemid = reviews.itemid
and orders.userid = reviews.userid
and orders.price > 0.00
);
commit;

There. All done!
 
Not that difficult:

delete from reviews
where not exists (
select * from orders
where orders.itemid = reviews.itemid
and orders.userid = reviews.userid
and orders.price > 0.00
);
commit;

There. All done!

Assuming they're using that kind of database implementation, and those kind of flags on reviews. :) But yeah, I understand.
 
Now they need to remove ALL reviews made by people who did not own the program... and if they can't do that they should just remove ALL reviews and we can start from fresh.
 
Holy Crap. First 2.1 stops my phone from crashing and now a fantastic idea in the app store. I hope Apple is not starting a trend of getting things right...LOL

I agree, should have been there from the beginning. But I am very happy its there now. Nothing worse than a useless review.

Great work Apple.
 
I understand the reasoning behind this, but this won't entirely solve the problem.

* Developers of free apps will be a lot more likely to have unwarranted negative reviews. All I have to do is download a free app, and then I can say anything I want about it, whether or not I use the app or not. It's a lot less likely someone is going to download a $100 app just to trash talk it as compared to a free or $0.99 app.

* As has been pointed out, version numbers and dates of posting aren't indicated in reviews. So as a potential buyer, unless I have been closely watching a particular app, I have no idea whether or not a crashing issue was a iPhone 2.0 system issue or an app-specific issue.

That said, I have noticed lots of negative or nonsensical reviews. I'm assuming Apple doesn't have the manpower or desire to just delete all the spam reviews, so I guess the purchase/download to review requirement might be the best compromise.
 
* Developers of free apps will be a lot more likely to have unwarranted negative reviews. All I have to do is download a free app, and then I can say anything I want about it, whether or not I use the app or not. It's a lot less likely someone is going to download a $100 app just to trash talk it as compared to a free or $0.99 app.
An unhappy customer who spent $100 instead of $1 may be much more likely to vent their frustration.
 
* Developers of free apps will be a lot more likely to have unwarranted negative reviews. All I have to do is download a free app, and then I can say anything I want about it, whether or not I use the app or not. It's a lot less likely someone is going to download a $100 app just to trash talk it as compared to a free or $0.99 app.

Perhaps, but it will definitely help. Others might be different but I'm not going to download a free app I definitely know I'm not going to use just to post a negative review about it, and I definitely won't pay a dollar.
 
Anyone who writes a review for something they've never used is a moron, plain and simple. (And that goes for the morons doing it on the iTunes Music Store and Amazon, too!)
 
How can you see someones purchase history on iTunes? I didn't think that was possible. I click on their name in a review and it doesn't show what they have bought.

not with iTunes... on MacUpdate you can see what people have downloaded... and people on MacUpdate will actually take the time to write nasty, inaccurate statements about someone's work when they haven't even downloaded/used it...

it's easy to act like a fool and be a hater anonymously... "i had a bad day, 1 STAR!!!"... seems as if the folks at Apple decided to hire a few of those *valuable* MacUpdate "reviewers" as their App Store evangelists...
 
This is great news! I hope this helps the review process. If you've purchased the application and still hate it then by all means tell us how you wasted your money. :)
 
Not quite good enough

This is good but the iTunes Store should also include the version number of the app reviewed (based on purchase) and provide separate ratings based on such... you know like... what's that place?... oh, VersionTracker.
 
now people who don't pay can only one star the songs of the week (free), unless they cough up the dough. good job
 
Having read a lot of the comments here I can only say, won't this bias the reviews to be in favor of the apps?

I've seen a few reviews that point to free versions or cheaper versions of software you might have paid for. I thought those reviews were extremely useful.
 
What kind of a maroon would take the time to review an app they've never used or bought anyway? :confused: Get a life, will ya? :rolleyes:

They weren't reviews. They just used the review space to complain about the app not being free because they could jail break their phone and get lollipops and puppies bursting out of the screen.
 
Not that difficult:

Yes, I think we all can agree that database code is easy to write. :) I was including the rest of the process in my statement. The code for removing the Popularity download count, which has been zero forever now, would be fairly trivial too, but they're not fixing that for some reason either.
 
Having read a lot of the comments here I can only say, won't this bias the reviews to be in favor of the apps?

I've seen a few reviews that point to free versions or cheaper versions of software you might have paid for. I thought those reviews were extremely useful.

How legitimate can advice be from someone that points to other free or cheaper apps if the person never used the app in question to begin with. How do they know the extra cost isn't worth it, even if features are missing.

Many times I've noticed people don't even bother to read an app's description before jumping the gun and giving it 1 star because there are free or cheaper alternatives. Often the app they put down for costing as little as $1 actually has more features, making the free other app they suggest no better than a demo in comparison.

Not saying there isn't good info now and then. Maybe if they had a separate section for people to discuss an application, like a suggestion area that has no ratings.
 
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