Daring Fireball

I wrote yesterday:
And the apps that do the right thing — like Godier’s Current — and never solicit a review like a needy hustler are penalized.
On Mastodon, Steven Troughton-Smith responded:

Terry Godier:
For example, if you have a 4.1 star rating in the App Store, any 4star review is going to decrease that average. In other words,leaving a 4 star review is essentially leaving a negativereview. [...]
You will see a lot of 4 star reviews that say things like, “Thisis my favorite app!” or “Gamechanger!” The apps that tend tohave these types of reviews are often over a 4.0 in the store andare being actively harmed average-wise by having them, even thoughthe...

Sarah Perez, writing for TechCrunch:
If you’ve been on TikTok this year, you’ve more than likelyencountered ads for Freecash. The app has been marketed asa way to make money just by scrolling TikTok — and jumped to thetop of the app stores in recent months, peaking at the No. 2position...

Anton Troianovski, reporting for The New York Times under the headline “Trump’s Portrayal of the War in Iran Collides With Reality”:
President Trump is trying to cast his Iran war as all but over, adone-and-dusted success.
But after years of trying to impose his own reality on the world,he has now run into a crisis that is not bending to his narrative....