4 ms·

Spam in the Android Market

27 points by archon810 16y ago

benologist 16y ago
One of my users' games got put on the market by someone else too. I hope google comes down heavy on the fuckwits doing it.
Groxx 16y ago
Can there be a way to combat this, short of curation? The name could be changed, the binary modified, the images and descriptions trivially tweaked... the closest you could do is block the developers, at which point they just create new accounts. About the only method I can think of is to require a bank / card number, and block that internally - and they can always get new ones.
- guelo 16y ago
  As someone suggested in the comments, a $10 per app charge would probably fix this.
  - Groxx 16y ago
    Not if they make more than $10 per round. There are a lot of marks in the world, as evidenced by 175+ submissions. This went unnoticed for how long? Made them how much money? $10/app would just cut into their profits, it wouldn't stop it.
  - megablast 16y ago
    Apple went through a similar problem, and the same solution was suggested. Rather than adopting this, Apple went for better scruitinsing the apps it approves, but I imagine a few still get through. Although, the exact same problem could not happen on the iPhone app store, something similar can happen.
- aquarin 16y ago
  This is why Apple requires you to fax you CC number and name for additional verification if you live in some countries. I still wait for verification.
- JoachimSchipper 16y ago
  The most obvious webspam is made more difficult by the fact that newly-created webpages are heavily penalized in Google's web search engine. Weighting for accounts and applications, and letting comments from earlier versions carry over ("here's what people thought of earlier versions of myapp:") would help. Probably.
  - Groxx 16y ago
    I don't think it would help here, though; by changing that one number, they're releasing a new application, not a new version. That way it appears back up on top in the new app list. Comments wouldn't / shouldn't carry over. Persistent developer comments / ratings could be useful, though of course they'd suffer from the same ills that befall individual application reviews. I sort of wonder why I haven't seen any system which shows the overall developer rating alongside all their applications...
    - JoachimSchipper 16y ago
      [I don't think you'll be seeing this, but in any case...] I thought about penalizing new apps for that reason - sure, you can rename your app to get rid of the reviews, but you'll have a harder time making it to the top of the lists.
      - Groxx 16y ago
        I read through older comments for reasons just like this :) I wonder if a week-delay would solve it. A new submission is penalized, it slowly rises up the "new apps" list, and after a week it pops up at the top, similar to how most systems handle "new" entries. At worst, people who don't read will be annoyed that their released-on-xmas doesn't appear until just before new-year's. At best, you've just made app-spamming far slower (minimum 7x).
rmc 16y ago
Google has this problem on the web. Sites that duplicate other sites, etc. Linkfarms, etc. They are very good at weeding them out and getting rid of them algorithmicly. Why can't they do the same with the android market?
- JoachimSchipper 16y ago
  > They are very good at weeding them out and getting rid of them algorithmicly Do you disagree with the frequent "Google lists too many (nearly)-useless sites" posts on HN, or..?
jackvalentine 16y ago
Yet another reason for someone to come up with a third party, decent, curated, Android marketplace.
- Xuzz 16y ago
  (And force every legit Android developer to manage their applications, updates, and support in two places, not even talking about the hassles of converting purchases between the two stores.)
  - nuclear_eclipse 16y ago
    It should be quite straightforward to have a curated "market" that simply lists a subset of normal Market applications, and simply forwards the user to the purchase page for the app on the normal market, rather than creating your own distribution and transaction system.
wiseleo 16y ago
I sent it in to TechCrunch.

27 points by archon810 16y ago

One of my users' games got put on the market by someone else too. I hope google comes down heavy on the fuckwits doing it.

Groxx 16y ago

Can there be a way to combat this, short of curation? The name could be changed, the binary modified, the images and descriptions trivially tweaked... the closest you could do is block the developers, at which point they just create new accounts. About the only method I can think of is to require a bank / card number, and block that internally - and they can always get new ones.

guelo 16y ago
As someone suggested in the comments, a $10 per app charge would probably fix this.
- Groxx 16y ago
  Not if they make more than $10 per round. There are a lot of marks in the world, as evidenced by 175+ submissions. This went unnoticed for how long? Made them how much money? $10/app would just cut into their profits, it wouldn't stop it.
- megablast 16y ago
  Apple went through a similar problem, and the same solution was suggested. Rather than adopting this, Apple went for better scruitinsing the apps it approves, but I imagine a few still get through. Although, the exact same problem could not happen on the iPhone app store, something similar can happen.
aquarin 16y ago
This is why Apple requires you to fax you CC number and name for additional verification if you live in some countries. I still wait for verification.
JoachimSchipper 16y ago
The most obvious webspam is made more difficult by the fact that newly-created webpages are heavily penalized in Google's web search engine. Weighting for accounts and applications, and letting comments from earlier versions carry over ("here's what people thought of earlier versions of myapp:") would help. Probably.
- Groxx 16y ago
  I don't think it would help here, though; by changing that one number, they're releasing a new application, not a new version. That way it appears back up on top in the new app list. Comments wouldn't / shouldn't carry over. Persistent developer comments / ratings could be useful, though of course they'd suffer from the same ills that befall individual application reviews. I sort of wonder why I haven't seen any system which shows the overall developer rating alongside all their applications...
  - JoachimSchipper 16y ago
    [I don't think you'll be seeing this, but in any case...] I thought about penalizing new apps for that reason - sure, you can rename your app to get rid of the reviews, but you'll have a harder time making it to the top of the lists.
    - Groxx 16y ago
      I read through older comments for reasons just like this :) I wonder if a week-delay would solve it. A new submission is penalized, it slowly rises up the "new apps" list, and after a week it pops up at the top, similar to how most systems handle "new" entries. At worst, people who don't read will be annoyed that their released-on-xmas doesn't appear until just before new-year's. At best, you've just made app-spamming far slower (minimum 7x).

rmc 16y ago

Google has this problem on the web. Sites that duplicate other sites, etc. Linkfarms, etc. They are very good at weeding them out and getting rid of them algorithmicly. Why can't they do the same with the android market?

JoachimSchipper 16y ago
> They are very good at weeding them out and getting rid of them algorithmicly Do you disagree with the frequent "Google lists too many (nearly)-useless sites" posts on HN, or..?

jackvalentine 16y ago

Yet another reason for someone to come up with a third party, decent, curated, Android marketplace.

Xuzz 16y ago
(And force every legit Android developer to manage their applications, updates, and support in two places, not even talking about the hassles of converting purchases between the two stores.)
- nuclear_eclipse 16y ago
  It should be quite straightforward to have a curated "market" that simply lists a subset of normal Market applications, and simply forwards the user to the purchase page for the app on the normal market, rather than creating your own distribution and transaction system.

wiseleo 16y ago

I sent it in to TechCrunch.