Dictionary.com 'Devastated' Paid Users By Abruptly Deleting Saved Word Lists (arstechnica.com) 28
Dictionary.com abruptly deleted all user accounts and saved word lists from its premium apps without notice or refunds, leaving long-time logophiles "devastated." "The company deleted all accounts, as well as the only ways to use Dictionary.com without seeing ads -- even if you previously paid for an ad-free experience," reports Ars Technica. From the report: Dictionary.com offers a free dictionary through its website and free Android and iOS apps. It used to offer paid-for mobile apps, called Dictionary.com Pro, that let users set up accounts, use the app without ads, and enabled other features (like grammar tips and science and rhyming dictionaries) that are gone now. Dictionary.com's premium apps also let people download an offline dictionary (its free apps used to let you buy a downloadable dictionary as a one-time purchase), but offline the dictionaries aren't available anymore.
About a year ago, claims of Dictionary.com's apps being buggy surfaced online. We also found at least one person claiming that they were unable to buy an ad-free upgrade at that time. Reports of Dictionary.com accounts being deleted and the apps not working as expected, and with much of its content removed, started appearing online about two months ago. Users reported being unable to log in and access premium features, like saved words. Soon after, Dictionary.com's premium apps were removed from Google Play and Apple's App Store. The premium version was available for download for $6 as recently as March 23, per the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.
About a year ago, claims of Dictionary.com's apps being buggy surfaced online. We also found at least one person claiming that they were unable to buy an ad-free upgrade at that time. Reports of Dictionary.com accounts being deleted and the apps not working as expected, and with much of its content removed, started appearing online about two months ago. Users reported being unable to log in and access premium features, like saved words. Soon after, Dictionary.com's premium apps were removed from Google Play and Apple's App Store. The premium version was available for download for $6 as recently as March 23, per the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.
Surprised! (Score:1)
I have to say, I never would have imagined, ever, that anyone would pay for the things described in the summary.
Learn something new every day.
There truly is something for everyone in this world.
Sorry to hear those dictionary lovers all got fucked over....also can't say I'm surprised.
Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see anything in the summary as to WHY this happened.
Re:Surprised! (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see anything in the summary as to WHY this happened.
The developers ran out of story points.
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Hahahhahahah!
Nice (;
Re:Surprised! (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe I missed it,
You missed it:
After careful consideration, user accounts within the Dictionary.com app have been discontinued.
Not informative, but it's there.
As a result, users are no longer able to sign in to their accounts, and any saved word lists are no longer available.
Oh. Seems like they didn't want to spend money to fix their API framework. My observations on this point in a bit.
Unfortunately, since the coding technology that was used in the previous app version is different from what is used in the new app, it is not possible to recover word lists.
Bull. Ducking. Spit. And you can believe as much of that Bull Spit as you'd like. I could speculate but it does seem like a cash grab or that someone didn't get the source code and/or access to the backend data. I've worked for places were their vital, must work app - they forgot to put in the contract they own the source. And another place that outsourced their SANs and walked in one fine Monday to find all of them had been removed over the weekend for non-payment. Along with the backup tapes. (it's still in court).
Code changes? I'm not going to rant and rave about doing data transfers using output from a 20ma current loop teletype to RS-232 then to 8" floppy because it'll make yer eyes bleed. Or the fun and games using CPIO and DD to take data from 9 track tape to a SCSI DC150 tape - and mind the endian on that data stream. Data are fungible. They can always, ALWAYS be rearranged.
While we understand that this changes how you use Dictionary.com, we are hopeful that you will find the overall improvements provide faster search, additional content, and a better design.
Translation: We spit all over everything and hope you like the change in the taste, and if not... Oh well. Stinks to be you.
Metanote on API frameworks:
As things evolve or devolve, changes to the API are necessary. Leave wiggle room for you to meet those challenges going forward. No, I'm not going to get specific - that it the context for several books. I could write a few books on that but others already have, and likely more eloquently and patiently than I can. I will say that a api call with a version is pretty simple to do.
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None of that is in the summary.
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I love* it when upper management explains that they didn't know who to ask about how to actually do that work, and don't have the skills to determine which consultants are engaging with the technology and which are just trying to upsell them.
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Yes but. If you want to give them the benefit of the doubt, the explanation is compatible with the old data being stored in an Oracle database and they decided to stop paying a company which has the reputation for using its income to disrupt its clients by auditing and suing them. If you don't migrate your data before you stop paying Larry, it wouldn't surprise me that you're locked out of it until you decide to fork up another year's subscription.
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Some of them might have been legacy purchases. I have the Oxford English/Spanish Dictionary app on my phone: it's a portable offline version of a tool which I also have in physical form (and the book is technically portable but might not fit in all of my backpacks). You might think that there must be good online English/Spanish dictionaries, but when I bought the app for my first Android I had 50MB of 3G data pe
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Definitely "if you can't make a backup, don't rely on it". For things that are trivial enough, I may not bother to backup, but if I *can't* backup, then just forget it. It's not worth ANY investment of time or effort.
Response from dictionary.com (Score:2)
Per TFA, someone reached out to dictionary.com support and received this response:
After careful consideration, user accounts within the Dictionary.com app have been discontinued. As a result, users are no longer able to sign in to their accounts, and any saved word lists are no longer available.
Unfortunately, since the coding technology that was used in the previous app version is different from what is used in the new app, it is not possible to recover word lists.
This change was part of our recent app update to improve the design, speed, and functionality of the Dictionary.com app. While we understand that this changes how you use Dictionary.com, we are hopeful that you will find the overall improvements provide faster search, additional content, and a better design.
Sounds like a code rewrite. That's a great way to get an upgrade with fewer features than the original.
that is of course complete BS (Score:2)
Oh it's most definitely possible, but they have no convenient place to put them since users can't login anymore, and so they're just going to label it as "impossible" to get people off their back. (data conversion is relatively easy to do, I do it occasionally)
And if they honestly are saying they think it's "impossible", some PHB is bei
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Yep. They "added some language" (god I feel like theres something resembling a pun in here, but I'm not sure what. maybe theres a dictionary that can help me), that lets them delete features without refunding.
THAT however might not survive long in front of a judge. Particularly with Euro, UK or Australian customers. Hell even a US judge might find that obnoxious behavior and strike it.
If a judge decides that nobody in their right mind would agree to a contract that says "We can just kind of decide not to gi
Fail (Score:1)
recent app update to improve the ... functionality
Fail.
AI needed more space. whoops gone. (Score:1)
Is "devastated" really the term to describe them? (Score:4, Funny)
Perhaps it was more they felt lost, ravaged, or demolished.. their psyches shattered or broken, with their site experience now ruined... or wrecked.
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Have you seen Karen freak out videos?
People become devastated over the most ridiculous shit.
Personally, I am ... (Score:5, Funny)
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LOL, where are my mod points when I need them?
Goldendict (Score:1)
I recommend http://www.goldendict.org/ [goldendict.org]
Word lookups both local and online dictionaries and thesauruses.
It's an indispensable aid for writing.
"Pay for" != "Own" (Score:2)
Everybody here already knows this, but it bears repeating because it needs to be pointed out - over and over and over again - to non-techies. If the data is not on storage media in your physical possession, then YOU DON'T OWN IT, no matter how much you paid.
I simultaneously sympathize with the people who lost stuff that's important to them, and shake my head in wonder at their foolishness. Keeping irreplaceable data only in the cloud, on someone else's hardware, is a recipe for all kinds of hurt. I think pe
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Unfortunately its becoming increasingly harder to find good software that isnt some sort of bullshit cloud service. Hell even half the open source packages out there are being munted into some sort of lovecraftian monstrosity thats half "open source linux package" and half shitful "cloud ai blockchain buzzword service".
If you do not have your own, offline backups (Score:2)
You may as well assume that data will vanish some day. Seems like people need to learn that again and again and again.
It could happen (Score:2)
Maybe their thesaurus has gone rogue.