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New Connect website Reviews includes ratings with no text - Useless Noise IMO

The latest update to dashboard (and Connect IQ Store) Reviews section now includes ratings that contain no review text.

Does anyone find this useful?  It creates a bunch of noise that hides actual reviews.  For me, this is a HUGE mistake.

  • I'd do a bug report on the API, as it's the reason you are seeing all these reviews with no text.

    I would also turn off the in-app reviews.

    One review per 25 downloads makes your app look bad in general, IMHO, as no other apps have numbers like that so users may think something odd is going on.

  • Not all gone yet:

    1.0.0 2022-10-25 09:54:53 Pete Stoppani
    1.0.4 2022-11-08 14:28:47 Pete Stoppani
    1.1.2 2022-11-15 17:59:27 Pete Stoppani
    1.1.5 2022-11-29 19:30:40 Pete Stoppani
    1.1.11 2023-01-20 18:15:59 Pete Stoppani
    1.1.13 2023-02-10 13:49:03 Pete Stoppani
    1.2 2023-03-28 17:11:59 Pete Stoppani
    1.2.2 2023-04-11 21:35:47 Pete Stoppani
    1.2.4 2023-04-19 13:15:23 Pete Stoppani
    1.3.1 2023-07-03 19:14:26 Pete Stoppani
    1.4 2023-08-17 09:09:17 Pete Stoppani
    1.7.1 2023-10-16 20:12:01 Pete Stoppani
  • exactly, I would give 1 star

  • If anyone interested downloading some app's reviews in csv format (excluding the replies) to analyze them:

    github.com/.../garmin-download-reviews.sh

  • 90 is the minimum number of days between calling the review api again.  I store the time of the call because I don't trust Garmin's API to not bother people too often.  So, exactly the opposite of what you are assuming.  Also, it's supposed to ask the user for the review only after an update and that app get's updated about once every 6 months.

  • Not all gone yet:

    Too much effort to scroll through all those no-text ratings to go that far back.  If you have a script for delete one's own reviews, I'd be more than happy to delete those Slight smile

  • I'd consider changing the in-app review process so it's easy to say "I don't want to do a review" and "don't ask me again"

  • Do you even get that it was unethical?

    Yes, of course I know it is unethical.  However, I assume others are doing it as well, thus getting a potential advantage so I'd be stupid to not do it.

    The bigger context is that the Garmin Store is inherently unethical so that is the environment we find ourselves in.  Probably the biggest issue, for me, is that Garmin allows devs to flood the Store with mostly garbage apps, thus pushing out the rest of us.  Early on, I noticed that these "flood apps" get very few downloads and almost no ratings.  So, yeah, I gave my apps a rating simply to stand out a bit from all the crap in the store.  

    There are other aspects of the store that seem unethical to me.

    Sue me for trying to keep my head above water in a sea of an unethical ocean.

  • However, I assume others are doing it as well, thus getting a potential advantage so I'd be stupid to not do it.

    it should be easy to find an example of somebody else doing this (If it was wide-spread).

    Sue me for trying to keep my head above water in a sea of an unethical ocean.

    Rolling eyes You aren't going to keep your head above "an unethical ocean" by making it deeper.

  • You aren't going to keep your head above "an unethical ocean" by making it deeper.

    Why do you think I reported this bug and the many other store bugs I've reported?  

    Why do you think posted the above?

    I'm not making deeper.  I'm trying to stay afloat by playing along with the system and do what I can with bug reports to make the store better and fair.