[daiya]

Since Apple knows what we bought, the reviews should be stamped with the version number, though date and time is probably easier to implement.

[alansky]

What Apple has not done is to fix the ratings for each app to accurately reflect the actual ratings of the reviews. In other words, there are dozens of apps with a small enough number of total reviews that it is immediately obvious that the individual ratings given by customers have not been averaged correctly. So it's easy to find apps rated at only 2-1/2 stars but with actual reviews that are mostly 4 or 5 stars. This is an inexcusable practice that renders the whole system irrelevant. I mean, how hard can it be to correctly average a string of numbers between 1 and 5???

[walkerbob]

Somewhat off topic, but when comparing apps in a given class, I would really like to short by "Highest Rated", not just "Most Popular", which seems to really be "Most Downloaded". I really don't care about an app that 3 million people download, rate 1 star, and immediately delete. I'd really like to see the apps that are rated the highest. Then, as others in this thread have already said, when I read the reviews of those apps I'd like to see a time stamp, and ideally also which version of the app they are reviewing.

[SkateNewYork]

Good post randy. I agree. It's always been the buyer's responsibility to know what they're getting into. Blaming the distributor is like blaming and ice cream salesman for your liking chocolate better than vanilla.

[lkrupp]

I really question the use and purpose of user reviews. The same formula applies to online forums. People with issues are much more likely to post negative comments and reviews than those who are satisfied with a product or service are to post good reviews. Therefore, in my opinion, user reviews are totally skewed toward the negative and damage the developer either way.
Bottom line is I don't trust the ethics or motivations of any online comment. We all know what trolling is and user review comments are no exception. Go to any Mac centric news site and look at the responses to articles.
I don't ever base my decision to purchase or use a product on user reviews. Ever.

[JeffSchaffer]

I think the real issue is transparency. I wrote a scathing review of TurboTax 2008 on Amazon long before I bought it. I focused on one thing in my review: the license terms (they were about to charge $10 for even printing a second return from a purchased piece of software...they later removed this restriction and I ultimately purchased the produce). My review was based on research and contained extremely important information to prospective buyers, even though I hadn't purchased the product. And I clearly labeled that I had not purchased it.

So transparency: 1) Let anyone have their say. 2) Timestamp the review. 3) Mark the review if reviewer has purchased the product. 4) Give readers a means to select only purchaser reviews. And very importantly 5) Let readers and purchasers rate the value of a review, and let readers select or sort by review value.
Message was edited by: JeffSchaffer to add a cost and that I purchased the product in the end.