By Google has added a nifty little tool allowing developers to filter the reviews their apps have received in the Developer Console. Most developers should be seeing the notification once they log in to their Android Market Developer’s account.
The tool allows developers’ to segregate reviews based on language, app version, star rating, and most importantly (in my eyes), devices. It’s a good move on Google’s part, especially considering the importance reviews and ratings have in the ranking of apps in the Market. But it’s far from sufficient.
The main request developers have had for quite awhile is some form of easy communication between users and themselves. True, there’s an “E-Mail the developer” option, but it’s far from enough. Some of the comments made by users are flat out funny. For example, a user simply gave my little Talking Watch app one star and said “It’s not a talking watch”. There’s nothing I can do about it… that review is going to stay there forever unless the user removes it.
In fact, it was only last week that I posted on Google+ about this issue. Do note that the solution offered is something out of the top of my head, it’s very much possible that there’s a better way to handle it.
I must add that the Market has matured a lot in the past 6 months, and I’m seeing a lot more thoughtful user reviews than before. Hopefully this is a sign that Google will continue to develop tools and resources for developers to better serve their community of users.
This is filtering reviews for the developer’s eyes, right? Your post makes it sound like it’s filtering what people on the Market see, in which case why not filter out all reviews that aren’t 5 star?
There should be a tick box when submitting a review saying “Developer can contact me”. If that’s ticked, the developer can send a message in their developer account to the reviewer to discuss any bugs that the reviewer mentions. This would not need to expose the reviewer’s email address unless the reviewer replied to the developer’s query.
as a user there’s also something you can do when you spot idiotic reviews/comments:
“mark as unhelpful” from android, or “thumb down” on the market website(view all reviews page)
just did a thumbs down on the ignorant 1-star reviewers on the talking watch page, and gave a thumbs up to the person explaining how to use it to 1 of these 1-star reviewers.
this will not remove these reviews, but it will push them down so the positive/less ignorant reviews are more in view.
As a developer, I always wanted to filter the results. And i saw this go into effect a few days ago. Was pretty nice to filter the bad comments without having to scroll through pages of comments. The only thing i have to say about the android market is not being able to communicate with users who leave a bad review.
Like this guy:
“Okay. Yes, it ends exactly how you expect it to from the very beginning.
No surprise there. Just a tale of two people who met in grade school,
grew up together and became a couple until… well, you can guess from
the title. More like one of those Hallmark TV specials than an actual
story.”
He rated me a 2 star on a Visual Novel App I made. I ported a story from Ren’Py. I get so confused over people reviewing something that an app is clearly not. Like they wanted something completely different and the app they downloaded wasn’t even close to their expectations.
Other then that, i have had more then 65 5stars out of 70+ reviews in the app. so the majority of the people know what it is and “get” it :P
This would be a great time to tell us your app for advertisement purposes. I am also a developer btw.
I dont think it is appropriate to name the app on this website. :P But I think it is okay to discuss it and the challenges that come with developing :D
You’re a good man, better than I.
Next one will probably be HTC stunning or some sort