A directory of Netflix's “secret” categories • Hacker News Board

Re: A directory of Netflix's “secret” categories

#31

Post by ctdonath » Mon, Jan 11, 2016, 8:29 PM UTC

gnicholas wrote: post #26

theseatoms wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems that they're trying to prevent users from realizing how light their catalog really is.

Exactly. Given how expensive content is to license/produce, their goal is not to have tons of stuff you want to watch right now. They want to have just enough stuff that you don't leave (either because of the current catalog, or because a new season of HoC or something else you care about is around the corner). They structure their site so that you don't realize that they don't want to make you super happy—they just…

Sad, given it was once the prime example of "long-tail" content providers - giving customers the hope that everything would be available eventually, no matter how obscure.

Now I'm resigned to them providing "more than I'd like to watch than I have time for", and expecting to go elsewhere for "I want to watch this, now who has it" content.

Re: A directory of Netflix's “secret” categories

#32

Post by sandworm101 » Mon, Jan 11, 2016, 8:30 PM UTC

LVB wrote: post #30

sandworm101 wrote: post #5

The best shows are those that don't fit a particular category, or that grow to move between categories. Lots of great british TV bounces between comedy and drama (sherlock, cuffs). Some American shows cannot be pinned to a specific age range (simpsons). I still laugh when I see TopGear listed as "informational/other" by my cable company. Also ... (i just noticed) Australian Movies 5230 Belgian Movies 262 Korean Movie…

http://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/56181 "Canadian Movies" via the Netflix Subgenre UI

I'm not finding that catagory, but I'm on my work machine atm.

Re: A directory of Netflix's “secret” categories

#33

Post by glitcher » Mon, Jan 11, 2016, 8:33 PM UTC

I've always longed for better filtering/sorting options on the home screen. Currently I believe you have to go into one of the category screens to have sorting options.

My other pet peeve with Netflix is the duplication of content across several of the home screen categories. Some are almost identical at times, just in different orders.

Re: A directory of Netflix's “secret” categories

#34

Post by LVB » Mon, Jan 11, 2016, 8:33 PM UTC

sandworm101 wrote: post #32

LVB wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/56181 "Canadian Movies" via the Netflix Subgenre UI

I'm not finding that catagory, but I'm on my work machine atm.

There are a bunch of categories in the OP list I don't see either. Canadian happens to be on my mine, for whatever reason. Pretty annoying. (Almost as much as continuously recommending movies that I've already watched and rated.)

Re: A directory of Netflix's “secret” categories

#35

Post by ctdonath » Mon, Jan 11, 2016, 8:35 PM UTC

There's a whole lot more than the OP lists. Things like http://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/5614 "Movies starring Kyle MacLachlan" and http://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/5612 "Comedies from the 1920s".

Re: A directory of Netflix's “secret” categories

#36

Post by WolfeReader » Mon, Jan 11, 2016, 8:36 PM UTC

petke wrote: post #29

I got existed for: "Dark Comedies 869". Man its difficult to find these kinds of movies. Unfortunately there was not 869 of them but just 6. I have seen them all. One of them was amazing; "Sightseers" if anyone wants a movie tip.

869 is the search code in the URL, not the number of results to return.

Re: A directory of Netflix's “secret” categories

#37

Post by rblatz » Mon, Jan 11, 2016, 8:36 PM UTC

mpdehaan2 wrote: post #21

It would be nice if Netflix made it easier to browse content rather than choosing what categories to display and show to you. It can get stuck thinking your really like a genre, and the recommendation engine can penalize you too much for too many likes or dislikes. Now that the website is a bit more focused towards streaming-on-computer it's somewhat harder to browse and prepare a queue. It feels that some content is…

I have found the USPS to be extremely reliable. What issue have you had, and have you reported thos issues to your local post office?

Re: A directory of Netflix's “secret” categories

#38

Post by petke » Mon, Jan 11, 2016, 8:47 PM UTC

WolfeReader wrote: post #36

petke wrote: post #29

I got existed for: "Dark Comedies 869". Man its difficult to find these kinds of movies. Unfortunately there was not 869 of them but just 6. I have seen them all. One of them was amazing; "Sightseers" if anyone wants a movie tip.

869 is the search code in the URL, not the number of results to return.

ok

Re: A directory of Netflix's “secret” categories

#39

Post by Finnucane » Mon, Jan 11, 2016, 8:47 PM UTC

rblatz wrote: post #37

mpdehaan2 wrote: post #21

It would be nice if Netflix made it easier to browse content rather than choosing what categories to display and show to you. It can get stuck thinking your really like a genre, and the recommendation engine can penalize you too much for too many likes or dislikes. Now that the website is a bit more focused towards streaming-on-computer it's somewhat harder to browse and prepare a queue. It feels that some content is…

I have found the USPS to be extremely reliable. What issue have you had, and have you reported thos issues to your local post office?

Indeed--we use the dvd service routinely (most of their movies aren't available for streaming), and it is almost always two-day turnaround on disks. (One day in each direction)

Re: A directory of Netflix's “secret” categories

#40

Post by joesmo » Mon, Jan 11, 2016, 8:58 PM UTC

It'd be nice if these categories weren't hidden, but at this point, the Netflix UI has gotten so useless that if the service was a little more expensive, it wouldn't be worth the price. Basic UI features that I'd expect from even an alpha quality service like filtering by star rating simply don't exist. Up until today and this post, proper categories did not exist. The whole Netflix UI experience has consisted of scrolling through endless lists of garbage to occasionally find one or two interesting movies/shows. And when I say garbage, I really mean garbage: movies with one or two stars, deservingly so.

I understand that if Netflix allowed filtering by star rating they might only list a few hundred 4 and 5 star movies across the whole service, but it'd be best to let the consumer decide how to deal with that fact rather than hiding everything in a giant pile of shit. I find their star ratings to be very close to accurate and this is the strength of the service. Unfortunately, their discovery UI is so horrific, it negates any strength Netflix has otherwise. If I know what I want to watch, Netflix is great, otherwise I prepare for half an hour of scrolling the same bullshit list of crap looking for anything decent and ultimately giving up.