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I agree with the overall premise of the article, in that these examples are in fact exploiting UI design patterns to funnel users into not being able to painles

by kgtm 14y ago

I agree with the overall premise of the article, in that these examples are in fact exploiting UI design patterns to funnel users into not being able to painlessly leave negative reviews. But i want to offer a different perspective for consideration other than "this is evil". As a developer of apps, you provide software that tries to fulfill a specific need of some subset of users (in other words, it's not merely an uber-fart-generator). You genuinely build this app to the best of your ability and push it to the app store. Users trickle in, based on the app description and find that, for example, it lacks polish or it doesn't have feature X yet, which is relevant to the app's domain and to the user, but is not currently implemented. In other words, there is a mismatch between user expectations and the app-provided experience. Instinctively, these users feel the urge to leave a negative rating. It's a knee-jerk reaction. As a developer, I want the user to engage me, because obviously I have an app that is not quite there yet. I want the user to tell me what they want fixed before leaving a negative review, so that i can satisfy their needs without burying the app. By funneling him into such a feedback loop, I can better my app and in turn help him fulfill his needs best. Is this unethical, or evil? I say no. Apple outright banning these unethical -- as the author considers them -- design patterns, would also have a detrimental effect on many legitimate use cases.

tinylittlefish 14y ago
I'm also not convinced this is unethical. I think the Appsfire example could be unethical, IF it tried to trick users into thinking they were leaving a review in the App Store, when in fact that were not. However, after reading the blog post, I installed the Appsfire app to see how it worked. In the interface, the link that brings up the feedback page is labeled Send Us Feedback. I think that's clear enough that it's sending feedback to the developer. In some cases, negative feedback can be resolved if the developer knows about it. The important thing to the user is that their voice is heard. So I don't think Appsfire is tricking people. Subsequently asking people who like the app to review it doesn't seem unethical to me. For example, I often get e-mails from people telling me they love my app, and I suggest to them they leave a review in the App Store. I don't think that's unethical.
micheljansen 14y ago
I don't think it is unethical to make more of an effort to persuade happy users to leave a review. In fact, I find the "send love" option quite brilliant. What I do find a bit appalling is outright tricking the user to think they are leaving a review to help other users make an educated decision on whether to download/purchase this app using a faux review form that leads nowhere, as in the last example. This is deceptive and in in a way it's almost comparable to phishing. I think that "posing as an official Apple feedback channel with the intention to censor bad reviews" would be a pretty natural addition to Apple's Terms & Conditions.

by kgtm 14y ago

tinylittlefish 14y ago

I'm also not convinced this is unethical. I think the Appsfire example could be unethical, IF it tried to trick users into thinking they were leaving a review in the App Store, when in fact that were not. However, after reading the blog post, I installed the Appsfire app to see how it worked. In the interface, the link that brings up the feedback page is labeled Send Us Feedback. I think that's clear enough that it's sending feedback to the developer. In some cases, negative feedback can be resolved if the developer knows about it. The important thing to the user is that their voice is heard. So I don't think Appsfire is tricking people. Subsequently asking people who like the app to review it doesn't seem unethical to me. For example, I often get e-mails from people telling me they love my app, and I suggest to them they leave a review in the App Store. I don't think that's unethical.

micheljansen 14y ago

I don't think it is unethical to make more of an effort to persuade happy users to leave a review. In fact, I find the "send love" option quite brilliant. What I do find a bit appalling is outright tricking the user to think they are leaving a review to help other users make an educated decision on whether to download/purchase this app using a faux review form that leads nowhere, as in the last example. This is deceptive and in in a way it's almost comparable to phishing. I think that "posing as an official Apple feedback channel with the intention to censor bad reviews" would be a pretty natural addition to Apple's Terms & Conditions.