Comments on: Do You Trust Sites That Demand Payment for App Reviews?

By: patrickj

patrickj — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:58:24 +0000

In reply to Dsgoldring. Hey there Doug. On Intense Debate, I have to say I like it overall - it mostly works and has some very nice features. It just also says some noticeable bits of flakiness and some missing backend features that are annoying. The worst thing about it is of course the appalling and near non-existent support for it. On the occasions I've had an issue I've considered pressing I've had to resort to absurdly extreme methods to get any support at all.

By: Tito Salgado

Tito Salgado — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 17:08:23 +0000

There are alot of sites that get paid to write a review. most of the reviews i seen are always in favor of the app and don't published the Cons and Pros like we do. i agree with patrick on everything he said on this Article cos indie developers also need a chance to get their apps review and published.

By: Dsgoldring

Dsgoldring — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:37:15 +0000

Patrick, very well said as usual. And, speaking as a fellow OATS member, I completely agree with every point you made. Like you, we have a disclosure at JAMM which is very plain, simple, and transparent. We do not accept monetary compensation for reviews. We do accept samples which are loaned or given to us for the purpose of the review, but we will always tell you when that is the case. Then, the reader is free to make their own decisions. Why that is so difficult for some sites to grasp is really beyond my understanding.

I also agree with your assesment about smaller developers. Frankly, I love working with the "garage band" developers and hobbiests.

Finally, thanks for the warning about your experience with Intense Debate. We had been looking into some new comment systems, and I suppose we will take a pass on giving this one another try. 🙂

By: patrickj

patrickj — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 01:25:46 +0000

In reply to sysrage.

Ha – and whoa, I thought we had some sort of contractual arrangement with you that stipulated lengthier comments than this. 🙂 Glad to hear you agree. As for the comments system, best I can say is I know the feeling – I have occasions where it literally sees me as logged in within one tab of a browser, and refuses to in a separate tab. It is extremely fickle with seeing your login status. Normally I would assure that I'd try my best to chase this up with their support, but after numerous 'Oh Lord, please kill me now' level of painfully abismal support experiences with the folks at Intense Debate, I no longer hold out any hope of ever getting any useful answers from them.

By: sysrage

sysrage — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:30:57 +0000

As usual, I completely agree with you Patrick. Possibly my shorted comment ever:

Asking or even accepting payment for app reviews is wrong. Period. End of story. Because of the reasons you gave and many more. I'm glad I don't use either of those sites mentioned.

P.S. Comment system is a bit fubar again. It showed me as not logged in at all. I disabled adblock and it said I was logged in with facebook. Logged out of that and tried to login with intensedebate. Showed me as not logged in until I navigated to the main JAiB page, then came back here.

By: Kurtis Amble

Kurtis Amble — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:29:59 +0000

I couldn't agree more. Any company charging for app reviews is obviously going to write them a positive review. Kind of takes the "review" our of the process and turns it into an advertising slot. We sometimes have companies contact us, seeing if we can do their review faster for a fee. Our policy is always no, and when we usually get to the app, it has functionality problems anyways. The good apps that we review haven't paid anything and have been properly tested/vetted. Kurtis Amble Submit your iPhone App for Review, Free http://www.ibrokeiphone.com/blog/wordpress