Users using review system as threat and leverage

[JLinker]

Hello everyone,

We have received a help request by email from a user yesterday at 17h.
This morning before contacting him, I was checking how I could help when I received a second message from him saying that he was going to leave a bad review if we couldn't speed up.

I don't know about you but I find this kind of messages really unpleasant and unfair.
Is there a way developers can protect themselves against bad intentions with the review system?

It's indeed a bit scary to imagine that anyone can come and drop some anger on a listing without restrictions or limitations. I know a developer can report a review and ask for it's removal, but it would be really useful to understand how the JED deals with this kind of issues.

How do you determine if a bad review is justified, or an unfair and moody drop that has to be removed?
Thank you very much for your answers.

[anibal_sanchez]

Hi,

Sadly, it is a common practice by unscrupulous users.

JED terms regulate what is a fair review and reviews that are published as part of a commercial dispute or as a support complain can be reported.

Best regards,

[JLinker]

Let's take a simple example:

=> User leaves a review 20%, saying support is bad and extension doesn't work
=> Developer says he never had a support request from that user asking for help

What will happen to the review?

[JLinker]

I think I didn't explain myself very well. I'm not asking if the review will be removed or not. I just wanted to know if in such a case, the JED gets involved, an how far.

For example by asking for a proof of help request sent by the user.
But it can become very complicated, as you will also have to ask the developer what he has replied, and even trickier, when he has replied.

Or maybe the JED doesn't go that far in the process?
It's just an attempt to understand the boundaries of what can be expected as fair help from the JED, from a developer point of view.

Thanks a lot

[JLinker]

An example of experience I had recently:

A user installs one of our extensions, gets a PHP error and sends us a help request. By the time we can have a look, test, prepare an answer an reply( 12 hours ), the extension was shot like a duck with a nasty review.

We found no error when testing and it turns out that the user's PHP version was too old for Joomla 3.
Once the nasty review is there, is the only option to be nice and beg the user until he kindly accepts to drop his power trip?

How and what should I say to the JED in such a case to get the review removed?
In this case, the date on which the help request was sent and the post date of the review could maybe be used by the JED to say the review is abusive as the user hasn't waited long enough.

But what would "long enough" be?
I'm not asking for accurate answers, just trying to understand vaguely what to expect from the JED.
Thanks a lot.

[anibal_sanchez]

Hi,

Most reviews that are written in rage are short and not comprehensive. For instance, several copy-pastes of a single sentence in all fields.

These reviews are not very useful to other JED users and they can be reported.

A fair review must comply with these guidelines:

Allowed and Encouraged

• * A full evaluation of the extension
  * Courtesy and Honesty
  * Pros & Cons of the extension and its performance
  * Level of support received
  * Ease of usage and deployment
  * Purpose of using the extension (i.e., I used this extension for a magazine site.)
  * Level of difficulty
  * Your experience level with Joomla and web technologies

Not allowed

• * Commercial disputes
  * Questions to the Developer or Others
  * Support Requests
  * Error Messages
  * Links
  * Code or Bug Reports
  * Questionable Language (including cursing)
  * Languages other than English
  * One-line Reviews

[JLinker]

ok I see, thank you very much. Have a nice week-end!

[anibal_sanchez]

You're welcome. Have a great rest of your day and a fantastic week!