Developer multiple self reviews

[DrZ]

What's Nokias view on developers reviewing their own app multiple times?

One of my competitors has given himself so many 5* reviews that he's got all confused and is now using the same accounts he used to give my app multiple 1* bad reviews!! Obviously thinking I was too stupid not to notice!

It's quite easy to spot as his main phone's an E7, plus also now has an X7.

[pippo2010]

It's an old problem and some developers actually use this method to compensate for stupid customers reviews. And don't get confused by multiple phones for one account. I have 5 phones on one account, ranging from Maemo5, Symbian and MeeGo
Still this strange anti-competitor behavior of some developers is really annoying :/ Have for 2 of my paid apps the same problem (and I'm not planning to purchase my own app just to write review)

[DrZ]

He can do what he likes with his app, just annoys me that he's giving my app bad reviews in an attempt to get more downloads for his own.

It used to be fun till he came along, now I dread looking at my reviews.

[pippo2010]

He can do what he likes with his app, just annoys me that he's giving my app bad reviews in an attempt to get more downloads for his own.

It used to be fun till he came along, now I dread looking at my reviews.

I know that feeling, had it few days ago. But it will pass, just keep developing and especially don't get caught by OVI reviews, many of us already know there is nothing we can do about it. See other sites that list your app for comments, it may help (in emotional sense of course)

[Andrew Nokia]

It's a shame if this is really happening; it is difficult to track down this type of behaviour as we are unable to link multiple user accounts to the same person.

That said, the star ratings have no bearing when it comes to the placement of your applications. Even if the star rating is 1 star, it can still show up on the Best Sellers list or Top Free list. The position of your content is based on the download/purchase performance over the last 7 days.

[pippo2010]

That said, the star ratings have no bearing when it comes to the placement of your applications. Even if the star rating is 1 star, it can still show up on the Best Sellers list or Top Free list. The position of your content is based on the download/purchase performance over the last 7 days.

It's true, but not so many people will buy app that has 1-2 star rating For free content it's easier as users can download and see for themselves the quality of the app

[indome]

I am facing the same problem. One of my competitors has a N8. Every time I receive a positive review for my app, he uses the same N8 and uses a fake ID and gives me a negative review. It is very clear that he is giving the reviews as there is not much information in the review, its simply like "dont buy", "waste", "doesn't work" with no further information on the problem.

[Andrew Nokia]

I'm sorry to hear this. However, there isn't a way to verify that this is actually a competitor. Basing this theory on the fact that he posts short, inconclusive reviews leaves much room for doubt. The Moderation team will not be able to move ahead and take action on these reviews.

[indome]

I'm sorry to hear this. However, there isn't a way to verify that this is actually a competitor. Basing this theory on the fact that he posts short, inconclusive reviews leaves much room for doubt. The Moderation team will not be able to move ahead and take action on these reviews.

He even uses his app name in my reviews

[pippo2010]

He even uses his app name in my reviews

Oh, I was not the only one who encountered that problem?

[DrZ]

My apps been mentioned in a few reviews, the laugh quickly turns into a cringe though! but I gave away thousands of copies before I made it a paid app.

[wizard_hu_]

I am facing the same problem. One of my competitors has a N8. Every time I receive a positive review for my app, he uses the same N8 and uses a fake ID and gives me a negative review. It is very clear that he is giving the reviews as there is not much information in the review, its simply like "dont buy", "waste", "doesn't work" with no further information on the problem.

Sorry to interrupt, but based on these it is unclear to me if you can review an app
- without actually buying it (or at least installing it if it is a free one)
- multiple times (with a single user)?

[pippo2010]

Sorry to interrupt, but based on these it is unclear to me if you can review an app
- without actually buying it (or at least installing it if it is a free one)
- multiple times (with a single user)?

1) no you can not (you need to download/buy app first)
2) no, only one comment per user is allowed

[wizard_hu_]

Although we could call it some kind of "investment", creating new users and buying the same competitor product just to provide a single negative review for it per purchase is becoming a bit costly after a while. Especially if he is also buying his own app at the same time.
Anyway, on the Store side, limiting the frequency of user change per device could prevent this kind of activity.

[DrZ]

Or putting something in the developer T&Cs that if they're caught messing about with reviews their developer account will be terminated.