Dash and MAS don't mix.

Incase you didn’t hear, the Dash developer got kicked out of the iOS and macOS App Store, with Apple cancelling his account.
https://blog.kapeli.com

Apple claims it was for review buying, however whilst reading the comments in the MacRumors forum, apparently this is the new trend, instead of paying for reviews on your own app, you pay for fake reviews on your competitors app or apps. Apple’s automated system realizes and then performs a takedown. Your competitor is now banned for life.

With this in mind, it got me thinking about how to contact all my customers should the same happen to me.

If that attack vector is real then it’s a real shadow on the Mac App Store as a developer. This problem would not even exist if it allowed free trials.

Sad to read this. Does anyone know if there’s a way to help him to solve the Issue with Apple?

email tcook@apple.com - he DOES react to it sometimes.

Dear Mr. Cook,

I just heard that the developer of Dash has been thrown out of the Apple Store and his account been cancelled.

Allegedly he bought positive reviews.

Please have a talk with your developers. Dash is an essential helper app for programming, and the developer really has no need to buy positive reviews.

What seems to have happened is that a competitor bought reviews for his app to get him thrown out.

I (and the developer community) would appreciate if you could have a look into this.

If you would like to follow up on this with me then please feel free to give me a ring (but please mind the time zone difference).

Best Regards

Dr. Markus Winter

[quote=290444:@Markus Winter]email tcook@apple.com - he DOES react to it sometimes.

Dear Mr. Cook,

I just heard that the developer of Dash has been thrown out of the Apple Store and his account been cancelled.

Allegedly he bought positive reviews.

Please have a talk with your developers. Dash is an essential helper app for programming, and the developer really has no need to buy positive reviews.

What seems to have happened is that a competitor bought reviews for his app to get him thrown out.

I (and the developer community) would appreciate if you could have a look into this.

If you would like to follow up on this with me then please feel free to give me a ring (but please mind the time zone difference).

Best Regards
[/quote]

Sent! Thank you @Markus Winter

According to the Schiller, he was buying negative reviews for competitors.

Who’s “the Schiller” please?

Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior VP of worldwide marketing and (as of about 10 months ago), he effectively looks after the App Stores and developers.

I’ve no idea if the Dash developers bought positive reviews for Dash or negative reviews for competitors or neither, but I do know this is rampant on the Google Play and Amazon App Stores. Even Amazon (and Audible) have these issues.

Perhaps Apple have ****ed up here and will reverse the decision but if they’ve caught him manipulating stuff, I hope they stand their ground.

Thank you @Gavin Smith :slight_smile:

No, that’s NOT what “the Schiller” said. Please be more careful with such accusations.

[quote]Hi Matthew,

Thanks for your email about this app.

I did look into this situation when I read about it today. I am told this app was removed due to repeated fraudulent activity.

We often terminate developer accounts for ratings and review fraud, including actions designed to hurt other developers. This is a responsibility that we take very seriously, on behalf of all of our customers and developers.

I hope that you understand the importance of protecting the App Store from repeated fraudulent activity.

Thank you,
Phil[/quote]

We may never know the facts. Won’t stop us jumping to conclusions :slight_smile:

Alright, slight clarification seeing as you’re on your high horse and will beat this topic to death; he very clearly “implied” that the “repeated fraudulent activity” was about “ratings and review fraud, including actions designed to hurt other developers”, which, as he made no mention of purchasing positive reviews is clearly what this is about. Repeated purchasing of negative reviews, that’s clearly the accusation. Hope that’s clearer for you.

Read what Bogdan Popescu, the author of Dash, says about it:
https://blog.kapeli.com/apple-removed-dash-from-the-app-store

Oh well, I didn’t know it’s ok to declare something you imply as fact as long as there is no equine involved. Shall I get the pitch forks ready then?

What you read from Schiller’s statement and imply might not be what has happened. Ever heard of “Innocent until proven guilty”? I would be very careful with accusations but then that’s me.

What are you talking about?

I’m not accusing him of anything. Schiller is directly accusing him of “repeated fraudulent activity”. And he didn’t just say "“ratings and review fraud, including actions designed to hurt other developers” to be chatty.

Like I said, [quote]Perhaps Apple have ****ed up here and will reverse the decision but if they’ve caught him manipulating stuff, I hope they stand their ground. [/quote]

I’m out of this pointless argument.

So I may have misunderstood the reason for his takedown. I wonder if all the evidence will come out or if it will be forgotten about.

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. I mean, Apple will not close down a developers account when they do not have some proof.

I can attest there are malevolent and false reviews around. I have been victim of them. Like people saying my app misses features it does have.

I will not go into the Dash controversy, but indeed, it is a concern.

I really hope they someday switch to a simpler System like the one on the AppleTV4…

I think the same thing Sam wrote at the top of this page.

What happens if a malicious person (or two) wrote weird things in a software review (a software taken by hazard). Of course, these person(s) does not relate to anyone (and not to the target software) ??? How Apple tells who’s responsible ? What will do Apple ?

I am amazed.