[wp-forums] Suspected Sock Puppet Reviews and Other Concerns

[frederickb at internode.on.net]

Please audit these reviews:

 https://wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-reviews/wp-all-import?filter=1

As stated by other unhappy customers, the glowing info-mercial reviews
and the quantity of them appears to suggest inducements of some sort.
 Either paying a firm to generate them or giving some sort of bonus
to customers (I suspect before March it was the former, and since
March, the latter).
I realise WP is all about supporting commercial plugins, but to me,
this is a clear case where WP should exercise a little more discretion
for the following reasons:
1.  Induced reviews (IMHO - unconfirmed)
2.  No genuine commitment toward the free version of the plugin.
 It's crippleware designed to make people upgrade.

3.  Attitude towards customers is horrendous:
https://wordpress.org/support/view/plugin-reviews/wp-all-import?filter=1

4.  Public attitude by lead dev on WP.org is horrendous:

https://wordpress.org/support/topic/cant-test-the-plugin-adequately

Calls user of free version 'a jerk' for leaving a negative review.
 Very hostile dev, which makes the other 1 star reviews very
believable.
5.  The WP rating system is clearly being used to advertise the pro
version in many reviews.  Isn't the WP rating system intended to
represent the experience of using the free version of the plugin?  I
know it's a tough one to police, but I feel this is an extreme case
where a very high proportion of reviews relate to the pro version. 
What is motivating so many people to pay $100+ at wpallimport.com and
then come back to wordpress.org to tell everyone how wonderful it was
to get what they paid for?  Why don't we see similar behavior for
other plugins with a similar download rate, such as DB Migrate?  Why
do the ratios between positive and negative reviews look so abnormal?
I really think the plugin rating is being manipulated to increase
sales.  We're talking about big money here and, more importantly, WP
implicit in a very poor user/customer experience.  It isn't good for
Open Source, WP, or anyone other than the pro plugin author.  Users
of the free plugin have their time wasted.  Then when they pay for
support, they also get told to get lost if they ask a question that's
too hard, more time wasted.