Reviews from non-owners seem to have disappeared

[mstream2008]

Earlier it was possible for everyone to post a review without downloading an app.
It led to many meaningless questions/comments as "will it be free", "has anyone purchased it" "tell me if I need this" and the-like.
Today I've noticed a drop in numbers, browsing through reviews I've seen that those meaningless reviews (obviously from non-owners) disappeared.
Has anybody noticed this change?
Is it a new policy or just a temporary change? I have not read any announcements about this new review policy.

[Adams Immersive]

I know they long ago stopped allowing NEW reviews from new owners. I thought at the time they should also delete the meaningless reviews--and now maybe they have. Maybe it took time for them to set up a system to check past reviews for ownership. (Or maybe they removed ALL reviews older than a certain date?)

Now all they need to is STOP inviting people to review every app at the moment they delete it

[PointOfLight]

A couple of days ago I tried clicking on the "leave a review" link for a game I hadn't purchased yet and it told me that I couldn't do that until I purchased the game. This is definitely the way it should be, and it's nice to see that once in a while they do something right with the store.

I do agree that they should get rid of the dialog asking me to rate a game when I delete it. Even if I was going to rate the game I'd do it through the store, because I can't actually leave a comment if I rate when deleting. What's the point of rating if I can't comment?

[Adams Immersive]

The point is to get a ton of 1-star ratings, when people download and then delete a perfectly good app or game that simply isn't a fit for their tastes and needs... all the while NOT soliciting reviews from anyone who actually likes and keeps the app. This logic escapes me.

[mstream2008]

Originally Posted by Adams Immersive

(Or maybe they removed ALL reviews older than a certain date?)

No. That's not the case. I can see reviews from my app day one describing some user experience, but pointless comments such ase 'vote Yes if I have to buy this' or 'will it be free' and some other questions obviously from those who have not purchased that - disappeared.

[Adams Immersive]

That's good. Little by little the store is evolving!

The worst I've seen is probably a 1-star review for Jaadu VNC, that simply said "How did they get a carrier other than AT&T? Look at the title bar in the screenshot!"

The fact that numerous carriers sell iPhones around the world is not the least of the reasons why that 1-star review was ridiculous

[BulletDev]

Yep, quite a while ago they stopped allowing random people to leave garbage reviews.

You now have to own the application to get your comments heard - which is good.... but will it get rid of every trash review?

[mstream2008]

Originally Posted by BulletDev

but will it get rid of every trash review?

It seems it has done so today. That's what I've been saying in the first post.
Just asking if other developers have noticed the removal of 'false' non-owners reviews.

[jshmrsn]

They took out the ability to post reviews for Apps users don't own, which was good. But then they come back with that crazy idea to ask for a review when the user deletes an App. That's even worse than the original situation. I hope that by the time SciFly II is done, all this junk gets straightened out...