review for News Feed

-1 star
"Isn't that just the Sample News Reader application that comes with Palm's SDK?! Unfinished, unpolished. Bad copy & paste job!'
-Anonymous

well - if Anonymous had read the description, he'd read the bit where I said

' It is based almost entirely on Palm's example code, which they provide for us all to enjoy.'

but, I did find and fix a couple of bugs, update it so that it shows encoded content as well as the text summary (normally shorter) and package it up to be released.

then I paid $50 so that you could have it for free.

So to 'Anonymous'

-"Your're welcome"

to everyone else, if you like the app, please do take a moment to write a positive review. It's annoying to be dragged down in the rankings by this sort of nonsense.

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There should be a "was this review helpful" like on Amazon. The app catalog reviews are filled with moronic comments like the review you mentioned. I think the worst are the type "It didn't install for me so I'll give it one star even though there are hundreds of positive reviews from people who had no problem with the installation." It never occurred to them that it could be a user problem.

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We all get them. I've probably had twenty 0-star reviews complaining that either My App wouldn't download, Some other app wouldn't download, the WebOS update wouldn't load, and one complaining about another review. Plus many 0-star reviews that were positive, but the user forgot to click on a star.

A bunch of good apps have been knocked down a point or so by people who just don't understand how to review apps or when reviews are appropriate. Oh, well. That is just the way it works.

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Its the nature of the beast. The Pre has proven to be really popular in the 12-16 year old market. I have a kid at home in the that age range and all he does is complain about anything and everything.

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That sucks (especially from a good developer with a track record of creating great PalmOS applications). Many readers will see that as reflecting bad on the reviewer and not you. I'm really happy that you are looking at WebOS so I'll probably download this and offset his negative review with a positive one. All of us ex PalmOS people who know the good works of "Hobbyist Software" (ie: Butler, and several other good programs) should do the same.

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I like the app. I see no problem with your packaging up open-source code into a real app. It isn't as though you are charging for it or anything, that review is just plain silly.

I also see you got a reviewer complaining about installation probs on his german pre after upgrading the version of webos, does any app NOT have people whining about that without taking the time to do a basic internet search to find easy answers to the problem??

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glad you like the app.

Somehow the 'didn't download' complaints annoy me less. Clearly it is a fault with the Pre, and I'm sure a lot of users just don't know better. Palm let everyone down with that, and developers are bound to get some of the flac.

I guess I expected more from a chap who had clearly downloaded and used the SDK, though. Why was he moaning about what was written clearly in the description and the credits of the app...

oh well. It's good to get my rant out!

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