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Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

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Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#231

Post by usrusr »

Spooks wrote: post #21
Tepix wrote: post #4

Bummer. I understand why they do it but I think it's too coarse. I'd much rather know how many people thought a movie was fantastic and not just decent.

It would be neat if they gave each user a set number super thumbs (obviously with a better name). You can use them so many times per month or year. I think month would be ideal, but if they went with the year route, make it possible to remove your super thumb like to use it on another movie.

On the contrary, I think that superthumbs would be a brilliant name. If you introduce something as dry and complicated as a quota for strong upvotes, you'd better do anything possible to make it more playful. A certain dosage of silly naming might be a good start.

Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#232

Post by lostlogin »

karlshea wrote: post #155
M_Grey wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or edge cases like me will get that little boost to just give up on Netflix. I already use them less than other streaming services, and I could always just turn it on and off again.

Honestly one of the only reasons I keep it is because I have so many movies that I've rated and didn't want that time investment to go to waste. I guess now that isn't going to be a factor.

This lock-in is a pain. A similar thing happens with music streaming where getting playlists between services is just awful.

Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#233

Post by garrickvanburen »

I've been a Netflix subscriber for a decade.

To me, 3-stars means: this movie has all the characteristics of something you'd enjoy - but we don't think you will.

Unfortunately, it's been more and more challenging for me to find 4- & 5- star stuff in their streaming interface.

Perhaps the thumbs-up will help expose those things, or at least help me hide the thumbs-down things.

Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#234

Post by nissehulth »

bubblethink wrote: post #191
M_Grey wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in the US here, so I'm not sure where out options differ. For me, I do (as a poster below noted) like anime so Crunchyroll is a good choice. Hulu is good for seasonal TV stuff, and then I actually use a smartDNS to get access to UK channels. It's probably a matter of taste though... I don't like most movies, and prefer longer-forms for telling stories.

>use a smartDNS At that point, isn't just plain old piracy more convenient ?

Sadly, the simple answer is "yes".

I used to use a VPN to watch US Netflix, but they started to block known VPNs and I didn't feel like spending time on workarounds. On the other hand, downloading the latest episode of some TV series takes only a few mouse clicks. For sure easier than fighting geo-restrictions.

I still pay for Netflix, but doesn't really watch it much because of the tiny catalog available to me locally, I simply want to support them. Perhaps it will make me feel better if I would download any of their content. :)

Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#235

Post by StefanKarpinski »

fiddlerwoaroof wrote: post #220
sfifs wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We've analysed product ratings in the past and found that the online ratings tend to have primarily bimodal distributions. People who rate online welf select and either love something​ and give very good ratings or they dislike and give poor ratings. Unlike surveys where people have to answer questions, only people with extreme reactions tend to answer these online rating questions and you don't get any meaningful di…

I'm far from an expert on statistics, but wouldn't the fact that star ratings tend to fall on a bimodal distribution just mean that the ratings that don't fit the bimodal distribution have a higher signal/noise ratio than the ones that do? I'd think you could use a 2-4 rating as an indicator of a thoughtful reviewer. Additionally, it seems like you could also use the fact that a particular reviewer doesn't fit the ov…

I've built recommender systems at Etsy, among other places, and you get much better results if you make the data yes/no first. Shockingly MUCH better results. You'd think it would help to take into account, say how _many_ items of a shop a user likes, rather than just the fact that they liked some item, but it doesn't – it actively hurts. The only meaningful piece of information, it turns out is does this person like this thing or not.

Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#236

Post by sfifs »

Indy_Dh wrote: post #229
fiddlerwoaroof wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm far from an expert on statistics, but wouldn't the fact that star ratings tend to fall on a bimodal distribution just mean that the ratings that don't fit the bimodal distribution have a higher signal/noise ratio than the ones that do? I'd think you could use a 2-4 rating as an indicator of a thoughtful reviewer. Additionally, it seems like you could also use the fact that a particular reviewer doesn't fit the ov…

The fact that a reviewer uses 2 and 4 ratings might not be too meanngful. One reviewer might use 2s and 4s the way another uses 1s and 5s. There may be reviewers who do not generally fit the bimodal distribution, but if they are the minority, why design your whole rating system around them? Better to optimize your system for the way most of your users behave.

yes scaled ratings do tend to have subjectivity which in practice we normalize by databasing surveys over time for categories x markets.

The reason online ratings tend to be bimodal is because the respondents are self selecting sample rather than randomized. Since product ratings are not typically compulsory, the extreme likers/dis-likers tend to fill the survey question.

When implemented as compulsory, it drives poor user experience and having to fill a survey to get something anyway introduces a bias (just fill something to get it over with). So no easy answer.

This is also the reason traditional survey firms haven't really gone out of business even with the wealth of online data from Facebook, Twitter and product reviews available, though better/easier access to actual behavioral signals are certainly replacing surveys in some areas.

Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#237

Post by drivingmenuts »

I don't rate things on Netflix (and rarely on any other service). If I made it thru the movie, I probably enjoyed it; if not, I didn't.

What I would like to see is a collection of all available movies by genre, and I'll pick what I want to watch. That's it - I don't need or want recommendations. In fact, if it's recommended, my first thought is "who's getting paid for that?"

Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#238

Post by __david__ »

bad_user wrote: post #227
karlshea wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly one of the only reasons I keep it is because I have so many movies that I've rated and didn't want that time investment to go to waste. I guess now that isn't going to be a factor.

Why on earth would you use Netflix as a rating service? First of all their library lacks a lot of great movies, or info about the movies they have. Netflix isn't IMDB.

If you include the DVD service they have practically everything. I've been rating movies I've watched in Netflix since 2005-ish. IMDB makes sense, but I chose Netflix and now I'm stuck with them. Data silos suck.

Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#239

Post by wj »

sfifs wrote: post #209
pizzetta wrote: post #74

As I posted in the dupe: This saddens me. >Users would rate documentaries with 5 stars, and silly movies with just 3 stars, but still watch silly movies more often than those high-rated documentaries That's not incongruous to me. The stars are not about "enjoyment" factor, they are about perceived quality. I may have a go to cheap ice-cream and rate it 3-stars but rate a good affogato 5-stars and only have it once in…

We've analysed product ratings in the past and found that the online ratings tend to have primarily bimodal distributions. People who rate online welf select and either love something​ and give very good ratings or they dislike and give poor ratings. Unlike surveys where people have to answer questions, only people with extreme reactions tend to answer these online rating questions and you don't get any meaningful di…

I have no doubt you are right about the people who rate online (you definitely see it in restaurant ratings and comment sections) but when I rate movies on Netflix I very, very rarely ever rate something a 1 or a 5. I would imagine that 2/3 of what I rate has been a three (so average content for me) and that it takes something special to go up or down from there.

Just curious if I am an outlier with how I do my ratings.

Re: Netflix Replacing Star Ratings With Thumbs Ups and Thumbs Down

#240

Post by M_Grey »

lostlogin wrote: post #232
karlshea wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly one of the only reasons I keep it is because I have so many movies that I've rated and didn't want that time investment to go to waste. I guess now that isn't going to be a factor.

This lock-in is a pain. A similar thing happens with music streaming where getting playlists between services is just awful.

That is one reason I've always preferred to control my music directly. Music in particular is something I can't stand to have discontinuity of playlists and collections with.
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