Rate on delete reviews gone!!!

[akacaj]

I just noticed that the rate on delete reviews are gone!
My app Tingalin used to show over 500 reviews on the list view and now it only shows 58. Same for my other app iFight which used to show 50 but now only 20! In other words, now it shows the count of actual reviews. However, the average rating seems to still include the rate on delete reviews. As with other things the app store takes a while to update so I hope that the average rating also reflects this change.

However when you delete an app it still asks you to rate it. I am not sure how Apple will use the results of rate on delete reviews in the future but I am sure happy that they are gone for now.

This was totally unfair to all developers! Soliciting reviews on delete while not taking into account users who keep an app was a bad idea. As a result all applications in the store had a 3 star or lower average review.

Original post: http://tingalin.com/Blog/tabid/109/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/72/Rate-on-delete-reviews-gone.aspx

 

[StingerT125]

Yeah - I'm not a developer but I didn't like the rate on delete thing anyway.

 

[iTech Dev Sys.]

I just noticed that the rate on delete reviews are gone!
My app Tingalin used to show over 500 reviews on the list view and now it only shows 58. Same for my other app iFight which used to show 50 but now only 20!

However when you delete an app it still asks you to rate it. I am not sure how Apple will use the results of rate on delete reviews in the future but I am sure happy that they are gone for now.

This was totally unfair to all developers! Soliciting reviews on delete while not taking into account users who keep an app was a bad idea. As a result all applications in the store had a 3 star or lower average review.

Original post: http://tingalin.com/Blog/tabid/109/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/72/Rate-on-delete-reviews-gone.aspx

But if you check the number is what change but the stars remain the same. For example one of my new applications is now showing only 6 reviews (3 of them are 5 stars reviews and 3 of them are 4 stars reviews) but when you check I only have 3 1/2 stars reviews for that app, that means that they are still using the reviews from the people that deletes the app.

 

[akacaj]

But if you check the number is what change but the stars remain the same. For example one of my new applications is now showing only 6 reviews (3 of them are 5 stars reviews and 3 of them are 4 stars reviews) but when you check I only have 3 1/2 stars reviews for that app, that means that they are still using the reviews from the people that deletes the app.

Yes you are right I updated my blog article with that note but forgot to come here and change the post. I hope that is temporary as my app should have a 4.6 average but still shows 3.5.

 

[KRAPPS]

Never understood the rationale behind rating an app when deleting it and don't understand how Apple thought this would be a fair rating since they are only targeting "disgruntled" owners

 

[Zincous]

Yeah I didn't understand it either. Because the only reason the rating system pops up is if your getting it off your phone. Which means you don't like it, so allll rate when delete ratings will be 3 stars or less. Otherwise people like the app and never delete it so the good apps don't get the 5 star reviews from satisfied customers like they should.

 

[notintheleast]

I sure hope they do away with all that rate after deleting BS. It gets really annoying...

 

[Watabou]

I agree that the rate on reviews idea was a bad idea in the first place. Free apps were most affected by this. I remember NetNewsWire was four stars. Now its 3. I remember Pandora had a much higher review than 3 and a half.

Hope Apple removes this feature soon.

 

[akacaj]

I agree that the rate on reviews idea was a bad idea in the first place. Free apps were most affected by this. I remember NetNewsWire was four stars. Now its 3. I remember Pandora had a much higher review than 3 and a half.

Hope Apple removes this feature soon.

This is why you should never trust user reivews and always formulate your own opinion.

 

[detz]

This is why you should never trust user reivews and always formulate your own opinion.

Easier said then done on paid apps. I always read the reviews and ignore the star rating, if a few people all have the same conclusion then there is a good change it's true.

 

[pogochamp113]

I always thought it was a bad idea. What do you think people are going to rate an app they are deleting? I think this is a good move!

 

[anjinha]

Maybe it's just me, but just because I delete an app it doesn't mean I didn't like it.

One example is Midomi and Shazam: I downloaded and used them both and reached the conclusion that I liked Shazam better. So I deleted Midomi, because I don't need 2 apps that do the same thing, and gave it 4 stars.

The same for To Do apps: I tried a lot of them and liked a few of them but there was one that I liked better. I deleted the others and still gave 4 stars to the ones that I did like.

Also, sometimes I download a free app just because it's free and to try it. But a lot of times it's something that I just don't need. But that doesn't mean the app is bad. So if the app is good, even if I delete it I give it the stars it deserves.

 

[OneMike]

I think rate after delete is a good option and should remain but in addition to just leaving a star rating it should ask you to leave a comment. This way as with the other reviews you have more to go off then just a star.

I've rated several apps I hated a 1 while deleting. I've also rated other apps a 5 while deleting. Just because you delete doesn't mean you don't like app. Sometimes you just don't need/want the app on your phone at the time.

 

[MacToddB]

The Rate On Delete option should have an alternate button telling Apple "I wish I could organize my apps into categories and have more than 148". For example, I've tried a bunch of movie showtime apps but only need one. They're all decent and have their advantages, and I'd prefer to have a 'screen' for 'Movies' and apps like that, NetFlix, Vudu, etc., could all go there. I'd also like a screen for apps for my kids.

I think we'd see a lot less 'deletes' in the first place, not to mention a lot more purchases, if the screens/pages could be organized by categories.

 

[KRAPPS]

Hmmmm ... so I just deleted an app and was giving the option to rate it ... so it still exists

 

[akacaj]

I think rate after delete is a good option and should remain but in addition to just leaving a star rating it should ask you to leave a comment. This way as with the other reviews you have more to go off then just a star.

I've rated several apps I hated a 1 while deleting. I've also rated other apps a 5 while deleting. Just because you delete doesn't mean you don't like app. Sometimes you just don't need/want the app on your phone at the time.

But if out of 50,000 users 500 of them delete it and give it a 1 star rating what does that do to the average rating of an app? Would you say that an app that has 49,500 users deserves such a low rating? This would work fine if all of the happy users were to rate the app. One way around this would be to ask a user to rate an app after x number of uses. Then the results would be fair.

 

[zerogate]

Rate on exit still exists 1-23-09 12:02 am

The just took away the benefit of having multiple reviews but not the process. Thanks Apple! I hope they fix this joke of a process and get it together.

We gave away our app for one weekend when the 'review on exit' began and admittedly it's not for everyone; you need to have access to your electric meter to use it.

So we had 500+ reviews with a 2.5 star rating because of the 500 out of 8000 people who downloaded it and then quickly deleted it with a low rating (they didn't need it!). It was a trade off because the 500 reviews looked good and brought attention.

Now we have 12 written reviews with a 4.2 star average written review rating but as of this moment apple is still showing our app with a 2.5 star rating. I hope they give us the 4.2 stars we deserve, otherwise I'll take the 500 reviews with the 2.5. But showing 12 reviews as a 2.5 rating when all twelve = 4.2 stars.... arghhh.

4.2 stars, not 2.5 would be best and I hope developers contact apple about this issue. I have!



Mark

MeterRead (Go Green!)
http://www.zerogate.com

 

[KRAPPS]

@zerogate ... wow, that really sucks!

Well I thought this subject was really interesting (thanks akacaj) and posted it on Twitter ... some very interesting responses from the iPhone developer community who are very active on Twitter ... overall, they all agreed it is a bad/skewed/invalid rating system, but their thought process and reponses were very interesting.

And as I previously posted ... the rate upon delete feature is still there ... it was offered to me yesterday when I was deleting an app

 

[MacToddB]

And as I previously posted ... the rate upon delete feature is still there ... it was offered to me yesterday when I was deleting an app

I doubt anything like the Rate On Delete feature could be removed without a new O.S. update.

 

[Mastidon]

The real question is will they adjust our averaages back? I should have over 4 stars on my free version of my app Super Word Find but due to rate on delete we only have 2 1/2 yet I have only 11 reviews listed. How nice.