Fraudulent Bookends ratings on MacUpdate

[Jon]

I check in with MacUpdate from time to time to see if there is new Bookends feedback. Although there isn't much activity, in the last month I've noticed a slow erosion of the star rating, which was due to a steady drip of 1 star ratings (not reviews, which require user comments), beginning September 20, 2023 and accelerating (5 since March 19, 2024). Note that to see these you need to scroll down a bit and click the User Ratings button,

https://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/7429/bookends

I did a bit of google sleuthing about these "users", and found that for years they have been giving other apps 1 star ratings in groups of 2 or 3. In fact, I found one app where all of those rating Bookends also gave it 1 star over the same time frame (previous ratings were generally 4-5 stars). Interestingly, I also found an example where two of these "users" made comments within a few months of each other boosting an app.

These ratings are obviously coordinated, and one can only speculate as to why. I've submitted this information to MacUpdate, and they say they will investigate.

If you have an opinion about Bookends that you'd like to share (positive, negative, or simply informational), I encourage you to visit the Bookends MacUpdate page (or the App Store for the iOS version) and write a review or comment and give it a rating. Honest reviews not only help other users, they provide useful feedback for us as we add new and improve existing features.

Jon
Sonny Software

[vinschger]

have you hints that they are down-rating bookends and promoting a competitor app?

[Jon]

No, I have no idea who they are (bots?) or why they do this. But when I look I see their fingerprints on lots of apps that are totally unrelated (utilities, screen recorders, etc.). There is no pattern I'm aware of. I can't think of who might benefit from such a relatively minor (but very annoying) ding in Bookends reputation. It may just be malicious for the sake of being malicious. We'll see if MacUpdate finds anything interesting.

Jon
Sonny Software