Did Google help reddit? A short time ago the score for the reddit app was down around 3.2 as everyone gave it 1 star for how bad it was and all the drama going on. I just opened the play store today and the app has a 4.2. Did Google delete or discount some of those reviews?

  • @sunbytes@lemmy.world
    21•11 months ago

    This is why I don’t leave one star reviews as a part of a group.

    Even if the spam detector doesn’t flag it, there’s often going to be some kind of back room deal going on with review hosters and rich “one star” victims.

    Do two stars and list the “acceptable” reasons why. Don’t mention anything that can be removed as a part of a “brigade cleanup”.

    Oh you had a completely legit review but ended with “f*** spez”? Guess what, the Reddit community manager can flag it and ask for it to be removed.

  • Hillock
    8•11 months ago

    Most likely yes. It’s not uncommon for platforms to remove some bad ratings in situations like this. And I would even argue it’s legitimate. Not all of these reviews are genuine. I wouldn’t be surprised if some people created multiple accounts to leave multiple bad reviews. And if Google detects that, they are of course going to remove them.

    They also do it with fake positive reviews. Not nearly as diligently but that’s because no one puts attention on them. While you can be sure Reddit was complaining about some reviews.

  • itsyourmom
    8•11 months ago

    This is crazy…I just now checked my iOS App Store and it says it’s 4.8/5 stars. I left a 1 star review 3-4 weeks ago and it never showed up in the reviews. I checked for over a week and either they didn’t post it, or it was removed quickly. And trust me… it wasn’t filled with obscenities or specific names “spez” or anything like that. (Unlike some I can see that actually made it in the reviews)

    Strangely enough the “newest” review gave Reddit 5 stars but is titled…”Reddits API changes are killing it” and goes on to complain about bots, NSFW, Admin Abuse, and “spez is letting it happen “ umm does this reviewer not know how stars work???

    I’m also in the USA. But it’s making me upset that I clearly can’t trust the App store’s reviews now. Since in my experience… they’re misleading/erroneous/deleted/ or in my case omitted. 😡

    • density
      1•11 months ago

      do your reviews reliably show up for other apps?

  • pgm_01
    5•11 months ago

    There are a bunch of new 5-star ratings, including some that mention the API, others put in language referencing other apps. Either fanboys brigading or paid shillery of the reviews is occurring.

  • Voyajer
    4•11 months ago

    It’s a good opportunity to update your review when that happens too

    • crossmrOP
      3•11 months ago

      I have no review to update since I’ve never downloaded it, always used RiF.

    • Lifes_Like_Plinko
      0•11 months ago

      Same for me in the US. Galaxy Store is in an update loop that won’t update. But if the app’s offered there, I’m curious about its rating.

      ETA: High speed scrolling through pages and pages shows mostly one star, some twos, and a few three star reviews. Looks legit from here.

      • Lifes_Like_Plinko
        1•11 months ago

        Galaxy Store doesn’t have the ‘official app!’

        It’s got one 3p - Smooth Browser for Reddit… I don’t know if it still works or ever did.

        But I find this amusing.

  • 52fighters
    2•11 months ago

    This may have more to do with the fact that Google search quality bombed when Reddit self-imposed this crisis.

  • cram42
    2•11 months ago

    Here in Aus it’s still got 2.6 stars. Funnily enough, it looks like all the 5-star spamming with nonsense text got removed, leaving the well-written 1-stars in place!

  • @cc8
    2•11 months ago

    2.4 on Google play in Sweden