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Starting around January, our app (Dominion[1]) has randomly had updates rejected (including one that _delisted the existing app_) because of our app description

Starting around January, our app (Dominion[1]) has randomly had updates rejected (including one that _delisted the existing app_) because of our app description. We make some irrelevant changes and resubmit and, so far, it's been accepted each time. We've had the same description for over a year/10+ releases before. The latest rejection: >>> The app title or description does not accurately describe the app’s functionality. Issue details We found an issue in the following area(s): Full description (en_US): “▪ Tutorial & Rules ” <<< So we changed this to: ▪ In app Tutorial & Rules And it passed. Every release is just a bucket of stress that we are going to lose N-days of revenue again for no obvious reason. [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.templegatesgames.DominionAndroid&hl=en_US&gl=US https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.templegate...

dipsyduck 4y ago
I'm wondering if the & sign is causing the issue. Perhaps the AI reviewers can't parse it well?
- greysphere 4y ago
  Yeah I wondered that or the bullet character too. The thing is we referenced other apps that used this exact formatting. But yeah, could just be a bug that was introduced at the beginning of the year that hopefully they can figure out and fix.
  - bjano 4y ago
    I've been having the same issue with an app. Random rejections with a single line copy-pasted from the (genuine) feature list in the app description. In this case the lines just start with a regular dash ("-"). This together with the sometimes 10+ day review times makes it impossible to maintain an app on the Play Store now.
sneak 4y ago
- svnpenn 4y ago
  Not sure why the downvotes, this is exactly what's happening.
  - aliqot 4y ago
    It's a throwback to a painful point in history, so while it is accurate, some people will kneejerk downvote out of internal distaste to it.
    - 0_____0 4y ago
      It's a bit hyperbolic to compare the experience of a Reconstruction era sharecropper to the plight of a 21st century app developer.
      - sneak 4y ago
        The situations have more in common than you might think. In both cases, you accept the non-negotiated deal offered to you unilaterally by your owners, or you accept zero revenue.
        deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
        Beltalowda 4y ago
        They're very different scenarios, because throughout history sharecroppers have almost always been "stuck" in their situation with no hope of relief, whereas app developers can realistically just go do something else. When I lived in Asia as a white guy I was regularly the target of "racism": inflated prices (I was earning local salary), you're automatically "in the wrong" in any conflict even when you did nothing wrong, being a target of theft and government corruption, sometimes just general hostility. But it's not really the same "racism" in the same sense that, say, a black person in the US experiences it, as I can just choose to leave, whereas a black person in the US can't really. In spite of the similarities, in the end the experiences are not the same at all. This makes all the difference. I'm not saying that what Google is doing is right, but it's just not the same thing at all.
rvba 4y ago
I find it incredible that Google's sharedholders did not do anything about the company just plain losing money "here and there" which probably adds up to billions. Just because someone wants to get promoted by making another half baked pseudo-AI to check apps, or someone making the 6th chat program (sorry, all people quit already after the 3rd change).
_pastel 4y ago
Thanks for all your work! If you don't mind some off-topic feedback on the Dominion website - have you considered making the Tables screen default to "New" only? At busy times, that screen consistently lags for several seconds while displaying hundreds (thousands?) of running and finished games. It's always a pain to wait for it before de-selecting "Running" and "Post-Game".
- greysphere 4y ago
  The website is a different group, but I'm a fan of their work too! Their forum is: http://forum.shuffleit.nl/ http://forum.shuffleit.nl/
  - mcv 4y ago
    Let me know if that doesn't work. I used to work for them (only to make the release deadline). I can contact the creator directly if necessary. But the forum is probably the better route to take.
Animats 4y ago
"Pushbullet connects your devices, making them feel like one." It's a "sync" program. Pushbullet talks to a lot of things and manipulates a lot of the user's data. So it's inherently a security risk. Google also has a "sync" program, which syncs things within the Google ecosystem. Google doesn't want others encroaching on their domain. Nor do they want easy import and export from their ecosystem. Although, unlike Apple, they don't come right out and say that. "If we only published the guilty than no one would be afraid" - attributed to Lavrentiy Beria.
- Animats 4y ago
  ("punished", not "published"). My bad.
BiteCode_dev 4y ago
I'm starting to think the reviewers have a quota of rejection to fill up and they reject apps randomly over some arbitrary concerns to meet it. Or maybe just to show they are doing they job. Or worse, the app store off shore validations, so the sub contractors script it to reject random stuff to pretend they have humans behind it.

dipsyduck 4y ago

I'm wondering if the & sign is causing the issue. Perhaps the AI reviewers can't parse it well?

greysphere 4y ago
Yeah I wondered that or the bullet character too. The thing is we referenced other apps that used this exact formatting. But yeah, could just be a bug that was introduced at the beginning of the year that hopefully they can figure out and fix.
- bjano 4y ago
  I've been having the same issue with an app. Random rejections with a single line copy-pasted from the (genuine) feature list in the app description. In this case the lines just start with a regular dash ("-"). This together with the sometimes 10+ day review times makes it impossible to maintain an app on the Play Store now.

sneak 4y ago

svnpenn 4y ago
Not sure why the downvotes, this is exactly what's happening.
- aliqot 4y ago
  It's a throwback to a painful point in history, so while it is accurate, some people will kneejerk downvote out of internal distaste to it.
  - 0_____0 4y ago
    It's a bit hyperbolic to compare the experience of a Reconstruction era sharecropper to the plight of a 21st century app developer.
    - sneak 4y ago
      The situations have more in common than you might think. In both cases, you accept the non-negotiated deal offered to you unilaterally by your owners, or you accept zero revenue.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      - Beltalowda 4y ago
        They're very different scenarios, because throughout history sharecroppers have almost always been "stuck" in their situation with no hope of relief, whereas app developers can realistically just go do something else. When I lived in Asia as a white guy I was regularly the target of "racism": inflated prices (I was earning local salary), you're automatically "in the wrong" in any conflict even when you did nothing wrong, being a target of theft and government corruption, sometimes just general hostility. But it's not really the same "racism" in the same sense that, say, a black person in the US experiences it, as I can just choose to leave, whereas a black person in the US can't really. In spite of the similarities, in the end the experiences are not the same at all. This makes all the difference. I'm not saying that what Google is doing is right, but it's just not the same thing at all.

rvba 4y ago

I find it incredible that Google's sharedholders did not do anything about the company just plain losing money "here and there" which probably adds up to billions. Just because someone wants to get promoted by making another half baked pseudo-AI to check apps, or someone making the 6th chat program (sorry, all people quit already after the 3rd change).

_pastel 4y ago

Thanks for all your work! If you don't mind some off-topic feedback on the Dominion website - have you considered making the Tables screen default to "New" only? At busy times, that screen consistently lags for several seconds while displaying hundreds (thousands?) of running and finished games. It's always a pain to wait for it before de-selecting "Running" and "Post-Game".

greysphere 4y ago
The website is a different group, but I'm a fan of their work too! Their forum is: http://forum.shuffleit.nl/ http://forum.shuffleit.nl/
- mcv 4y ago
  Let me know if that doesn't work. I used to work for them (only to make the release deadline). I can contact the creator directly if necessary. But the forum is probably the better route to take.

Animats 4y ago

"Pushbullet connects your devices, making them feel like one." It's a "sync" program. Pushbullet talks to a lot of things and manipulates a lot of the user's data. So it's inherently a security risk. Google also has a "sync" program, which syncs things within the Google ecosystem. Google doesn't want others encroaching on their domain. Nor do they want easy import and export from their ecosystem. Although, unlike Apple, they don't come right out and say that. "If we only published the guilty than no one would be afraid" - attributed to Lavrentiy Beria.

Animats 4y ago
("punished", not "published"). My bad.

BiteCode_dev 4y ago

I'm starting to think the reviewers have a quota of rejection to fill up and they reject apps randomly over some arbitrary concerns to meet it. Or maybe just to show they are doing they job. Or worse, the app store off shore validations, so the sub contractors script it to reject random stuff to pretend they have humans behind it.