review of addons

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Doesn't anyone review add-ons nowadays?
I have an add-on downloaded at least 70 times and not 1 review.

I think that is quite a poor show. Reviewing add-ons in my opinion helps improve concrete5, as us developers can improve our stuff. It also gives us great satisfaction that people enjoy what we develop.

edbeeny
 
MrKDilkington replied on at Permalink Reply
MrKDilkington
Hi edbeeny,

Are you referring to free add-ons, paid add-ons, or both?

I agree that reviews provide incentives to improve existing add-ons and to create new add-ons. Especially with free add-ons, when the goal is to create something that others will find useful.

Personally, I make the learning experience of making an add-on the goal and knowing it contributes to the overall concrete5 project. This makes reviews a pleasant surprise, but not a priority.
edbeeny replied on at Permalink Reply
edbeeny
Mainly free add-ons.
If I have no reviews and there is a huge change in the core that breaks an add-on, then there is a possibility I wont update and pull the add-on.
If you add a review then I know you are activity using the add-on so there is a better chance I will update.

I agree with free add-ons, this is giving back something to the community, but time is tight.
MrKDilkington replied on at Permalink Reply
MrKDilkington
Those are valid points.
tipweb replied on at Permalink Reply
Sorry, I already wanted to add a review of an addon, but never found out how I can add one?
MrKDilkington replied on at Permalink Reply 2 Attachments
MrKDilkington
@tipweb

Once you license an add-on or theme (free or paid), you are able to add a review in the Reviews section.

I am attaching screenshots of where to find the Reviews sections for 5.6 and 5.7.

It turns out that finding where to add a review in 5.7 listings is not as obvious as you might expect.
MichaelG replied on at Permalink Reply
MichaelG
FWIW, I have some products that are 1000:1 in terms of downloads to reviews.

it's a thankless job sometimes :)
MrKDilkington replied on at Permalink Reply 2 Attachments
MrKDilkington
@MichaelG

I think adding a dedicated "Reviews" link would increase the number of reviews.

I have attached screenshots describing this.
JohntheFish replied on at Permalink Reply
JohntheFish
I was about to point out there is already a review link right at the top of an addon. Then I looked at your screenshots and agree the link you propose would be a useful addition because it places everything a customer needs in the one menu section.

My experience of reviews is pretty much the same as all the other posts here.

If Franz decides to make some updates (like the suggested link), there are some other points that could be addressed. For example, a customer can change their review at any point after posting. But a developer cannot change their response.

Some other ideas:
- An aggregation score for all reviews in a developer's profile.
- A list of all items reviewed with links in a user's profile
edbeeny replied on at Permalink Reply
edbeeny
I'm liking the ideas, maybe add an incentive to add a review, if you review then you are entered into a monthly draw and you win an addon/theme.

I know a couple of sites that I have worked on we ended up running a competition to attract reviews for products, this did increase the amount of reviews.
JohntheFish replied on at Permalink Reply
JohntheFish
The current Karma competition is not particularly open, so replacing it with a draw from reviews posted would both be more open and a better means of promotion.
MrKDilkington replied on at Permalink Reply
MrKDilkington
I also like the ideas JohntheFish proposes.

Another related review issue, should reviews be allowed for granted licenses?

I don't believe this to be widespread, but there appears to be developers who are granting free licenses to dummy concrete5 accounts. These dummy accounts are being used to write fake 4/5 star reviews.

With the overall number of reviews being low, it only takes a few fake 5 star reviews to shape potential purchases.
edbeeny replied on at Permalink Reply
edbeeny
I believe that you should have a valid website using the addon to review. May be reviews should be in the dashboard of the site.

I can understand that some developers are reviewing their own addons using dummy accounts. My 'simple back to top' addon had a 5* review yesterday and it jumped from middle of the 3rd page to second position on the 2nd page!
mnakalay replied on at Permalink Reply
mnakalay
I'm going to be honest here: I used to send a PM to anybody buying an add-on asking for a review (you can't do it for simply downloading, you don't have the data)

It never worked.

I then started offering another add-on for reviews. It also didn't work so well. I was not even asking for specifically positive reviews, just reviews.

Now I ask anybody who asks for support. I solve the problem, I often go out of my way to help and then I ask for a review. I'd say 95% of the time I get one.

I know, 5% of people who asked for help and received it promptly and can't find 2 minutes to leave a review, that doesn't reflect well on humanity. Like @MichaelG said "thankless job"

But I just tell myself that they probably had better things to do or didn't see the message and move on.

What I'm trying to say is that most people who get something for free just assume you're not expecting anything in return unless you say so.

Believe me, I didn't leave a review for every add-on I ever downloaded unless I actually used it in a project.