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Have some respect, please. Idiot or a frustrated 70 year old coming into contact with a smartphone for the first time? Idiot, or a person with ADHD who has tr

Have some respect, please. Idiot or a frustrated 70 year old coming into contact with a smartphone for the first time? Idiot, or a person with ADHD who has trouble focusing on the instructions and just wants to use the app intuitively? Idiot, or person whose first language isn't English? Idiot, or person with an IQ of 85. Yes, you might call someone like that an "idiot", but that's first of all nasty to say, and is that justified if they're part of your target audience? You have to design for these people. Idiot, or person who's completely stressed the fuck out who just wants to use your app for what it's meant for and not spend a single second more? Idiot, or drunk person who wants to order food/have fun/order stuff online because it is incredibly important to order that right now? Idiot, or someone who just isn't very interested in techonology whatsoever and just uses a phone to keep up-to-date with friends and does some banking? You'd be surprised at how many people don't know what a zip file is, who don't know what USB is, who don't know if a GB is larger than a KB or not?

cmeacham98 5y ago
"Idiot" is needlessly offensive and the GP's tone isn't great, but all of those reasons are usually invalid reviews (unless the app markets to that demographic). If I'm reading reviews for an app seeing your review about misreading the description because english isn't your first language is unhelpful spam (assuming the app is english-only). Unfortunately, these type of reviews where people post completely irrelevant complaints are quite common (see the number of people reviewing their local post office in Amazon reviews), but I do wish platforms would remove them.
- ziml77 5y ago
  I have the same issue with reviews like that. If an app isn't meant for you, uninstall it, get a refund, and move on. A review that basically says "I didn't have product X so this app that controls product X is garbage" are completely useless (except if the app says nowhere in the title or or description that it has additional requirements to function). They don't bother me as much as the Amazon ones you bring up though. I swear the majority of negative reviews I see on there are people complaining that the product never shipped or that the shipping service damaged it. There's so many of them that on Amazon that it can be nearly impossible to find reviews that actually say negatives about the product. Tends to end up being better to find a trusted professional reviewer and if they haven't reviewed what you're looking at, just skip it in favor of something they have reviewed.
- wpietri 5y ago
  I'd say a lot of those are perfectly valid reasons to give a bad review, as those are all actual human beings with mobile phones who may find and buy an app on the app store. It reminds me of when I did tech support in college. Everybody who walked in or called was a real person trying to get real things done. If they knew as much about computers as me, they wouldn't have been walking in. So I learned to accept them as they were and do my best to help them. I didn't get to choose who walked in. I think it's the same deal with putting an app in an app store. Well over 80% of America has a smartphone at this point. If a dev really wants to restrict their market to some narrow demographic, it's on them to do the work of countering the context, which sets the entry criteria somewhere around "has at least one eye and one finger". That means very clear marketing, design, and interface choices to make it clear to people they're in the wrong place before they've invested enough time that they feel writing a review is merited.
FalconSensei 5y ago
I would love to upvote your comment twice, so I'm replying instead. Amen to all this. People need to stop being elitists, and assuming that other people love and care about technology as much as them, or even that everyone is always capable (as you mentioned, low IQ or mental health can be a real problem for some users). I recently saw a comment on other thread: What people need to understand about good design: If you need to explain to people how to use your product the "right" way, it’s probably a badly designed product.
raverbashing 5y ago
Yes all of these might happen, but you would be also pissed if you were in a rush and someone in front of you in, let's say, McD or Subway didn't know what or how to order. (Or you were their server) Yes, UX is important, yes be patient with people who might not get it at the first time, but I see situations like: - Your app is very specific and it shouldn't be used by people outside a certain domain field. Then some idiot downloads it and gives 1 star because he can't figure it out. This is the kind of person that calls traditional sphygmomanometers "dumb". - If you build a more idiot proof system the world comes up with a better idiot. I've seen reviews on Amazon complaining that a certain size of item was "small". Conveniently the review indicated the chosen size and guess which one was it between multiple sizes? (The smallest one of course)
believeinskills 5y ago
Yeah that last one is indeed an idiot. Also, side note, why do people think that deserve respect? Very curious of this point of view.
akudha 5y ago
A counter example: There are lots of bad reviews on Amazon, because of shipping. People leave one star reviews only (I know because they say so, in the review) because their stuff came a day later than they expected. How is the product creator responsible for shipping delays by the carrier or by the Amazon warehouse? The reality is that online shoppers are impatient, have unrealistic expectations and do not read the product description. Not all, but enough to be a concern and enough to affect a product's ratings. There are lots of bad products on Amazon. But there are also lots of bad behavior from shoppers too. I don't know if this is true with other online stores, but with Amazon I have seen this often
- pvg 5y ago
  Those, at least, are reportable and Amazon removes them. Interestingly, they'll also remove reviews that say positive things about shipping, if that's most of the review.
alexalx 5y ago
If someone decides to spend time writing a one star review before reading app description till the end he is an idiot with personal issues.

cmeacham98 5y ago

"Idiot" is needlessly offensive and the GP's tone isn't great, but all of those reasons are usually invalid reviews (unless the app markets to that demographic). If I'm reading reviews for an app seeing your review about misreading the description because english isn't your first language is unhelpful spam (assuming the app is english-only). Unfortunately, these type of reviews where people post completely irrelevant complaints are quite common (see the number of people reviewing their local post office in Amazon reviews), but I do wish platforms would remove them.

ziml77 5y ago
I have the same issue with reviews like that. If an app isn't meant for you, uninstall it, get a refund, and move on. A review that basically says "I didn't have product X so this app that controls product X is garbage" are completely useless (except if the app says nowhere in the title or or description that it has additional requirements to function). They don't bother me as much as the Amazon ones you bring up though. I swear the majority of negative reviews I see on there are people complaining that the product never shipped or that the shipping service damaged it. There's so many of them that on Amazon that it can be nearly impossible to find reviews that actually say negatives about the product. Tends to end up being better to find a trusted professional reviewer and if they haven't reviewed what you're looking at, just skip it in favor of something they have reviewed.
wpietri 5y ago
I'd say a lot of those are perfectly valid reasons to give a bad review, as those are all actual human beings with mobile phones who may find and buy an app on the app store. It reminds me of when I did tech support in college. Everybody who walked in or called was a real person trying to get real things done. If they knew as much about computers as me, they wouldn't have been walking in. So I learned to accept them as they were and do my best to help them. I didn't get to choose who walked in. I think it's the same deal with putting an app in an app store. Well over 80% of America has a smartphone at this point. If a dev really wants to restrict their market to some narrow demographic, it's on them to do the work of countering the context, which sets the entry criteria somewhere around "has at least one eye and one finger". That means very clear marketing, design, and interface choices to make it clear to people they're in the wrong place before they've invested enough time that they feel writing a review is merited.

FalconSensei 5y ago

I would love to upvote your comment twice, so I'm replying instead. Amen to all this. People need to stop being elitists, and assuming that other people love and care about technology as much as them, or even that everyone is always capable (as you mentioned, low IQ or mental health can be a real problem for some users). I recently saw a comment on other thread: What people need to understand about good design: If you need to explain to people how to use your product the "right" way, it’s probably a badly designed product.

raverbashing 5y ago

Yes all of these might happen, but you would be also pissed if you were in a rush and someone in front of you in, let's say, McD or Subway didn't know what or how to order. (Or you were their server) Yes, UX is important, yes be patient with people who might not get it at the first time, but I see situations like: - Your app is very specific and it shouldn't be used by people outside a certain domain field. Then some idiot downloads it and gives 1 star because he can't figure it out. This is the kind of person that calls traditional sphygmomanometers "dumb". - If you build a more idiot proof system the world comes up with a better idiot. I've seen reviews on Amazon complaining that a certain size of item was "small". Conveniently the review indicated the chosen size and guess which one was it between multiple sizes? (The smallest one of course)

believeinskills 5y ago

Yeah that last one is indeed an idiot. Also, side note, why do people think that deserve respect? Very curious of this point of view.

akudha 5y ago

A counter example: There are lots of bad reviews on Amazon, because of shipping. People leave one star reviews only (I know because they say so, in the review) because their stuff came a day later than they expected. How is the product creator responsible for shipping delays by the carrier or by the Amazon warehouse? The reality is that online shoppers are impatient, have unrealistic expectations and do not read the product description. Not all, but enough to be a concern and enough to affect a product's ratings. There are lots of bad products on Amazon. But there are also lots of bad behavior from shoppers too. I don't know if this is true with other online stores, but with Amazon I have seen this often

pvg 5y ago
Those, at least, are reportable and Amazon removes them. Interestingly, they'll also remove reviews that say positive things about shipping, if that's most of the review.

alexalx 5y ago

If someone decides to spend time writing a one star review before reading app description till the end he is an idiot with personal issues.