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Netflix Has Deleted Every User Review Ever Posted to Its Website

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Re: Netflix Has Deleted Every User Review Ever Posted to Its Website

#61

Post by tomrod »

danmaz74 wrote: post #54
MiddleEndian wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The one thing I liked most about Netflix back when it was a DVD service was the recommendation system. I could rate things with stars, and Netflix could figure out, with reasonable accuracy, what movies I would consider junk and what I would consider quality, rather than the opinions of the general public. They have some good shows but their streaming movie selection and recommendation system doesn't hold a candle to…

I remember that in the beginning the recommendations for the streaming service were pretty good. But they became worse and worse, at least for me.

I reckon internal politics weigh down good ideas.

Re: Netflix Has Deleted Every User Review Ever Posted to Its Website

#62

Post by tomrod »

scarface74 wrote: post #46
jjoonathan wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course they do, but the post you replied to did not accuse them of ignorance.

Netflix's bigger problem is that much of its content looks good on the surface, but on closer inspection is not worth the time. What’s not “worth the time” to one person doesn’t matter. Netflix has enough aggregate data to know what type of content keeps people on versus how much it costs to acquire the content. The only content that would be “junk” to Netflix is content that doesn’t engage enough viewers to keep dow…

One problem may be inability to fully articulate genre enjoyment segmentation relative to classification , so that aggregate moves result in a worse results overall.

Re: Netflix Has Deleted Every User Review Ever Posted to Its Website

#63

Post by Rapzid »

evfanknitram wrote: post #9
parent5446 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is it a shame if nobody uses the reviews and they're basically useless? Sounds like they're just deleting an unmaintained and unused feature.

Maybe it's just me but my experience is that except for the actual streaming (after you started to watch a movie), the Netflix UI is super bad. It recommends movies which I hate, it shows series which have been on Netflix for years under "New on Netflix", it doesn't provide any usable sorting, the searching is crap and so on. I would put zero faith in a statement by Netflix saying that something is "useless". The act…

I'm miss the old days of reviews and Genre grouping on the home page. I used to get great indie film recommendations and could occasionally go "dumpster diving" for lower rated movies and find some gems.

Honestly, I think Netflix has become full of themselves. They pretend to have discovered some universal truths in how to create the best UI experience and suggestion system, and yet they have A/B tested tge interface over the years to this pile of garbage. It even hangs Edge frequently when I first open it there; the only browser that will play 1080p for me!

Give me a break Netflix; you're drunk on data.

Re: Netflix Has Deleted Every User Review Ever Posted to Its Website

#64

Post by ajmurmann »

tomrod wrote: post #61
danmaz74 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember that in the beginning the recommendations for the streaming service were pretty good. But they became worse and worse, at least for me.

I reckon internal politics weigh down good ideas.

I've always wondered if they have different incentives around different shows and movies. Clearly they ideally would want everyone to be hooked on their original content, but I wonder if deal structures for other content make watching certain content better for Netflix than others.

Re: Netflix Has Deleted Every User Review Ever Posted to Its Website

#65

Post by tomrod »

iforgotpassword wrote: post #30
always_good wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why take someone's word for what they like or don't like when you know what they actually watch?

How do you know a user liked a movie or TV show after watching it? I think a movie has to be really really bad for people to actually stop halfway through. For TV shows it might be more likely that people drop out after a couple episodes but if it's just "meh" or the show's finale was disappointing, how do your algorithms know?

They not only know what you watch, but know which parts you re-watch.

Re: Netflix Has Deleted Every User Review Ever Posted to Its Website

#66

Post by meesterdude »

ajmurmann wrote: post #19
rdtsc wrote: post #7

I can see why they would do it. When I cancelled them 2 years ago their selection was kind of limited. Lots B movies and average or below titles. A lot of reviews were the same. Reading made me not watch a lot of them. Deleting the reviews hides the below average movie selection under the carpet in a way.

I believe this as well. Since years now I have the very strong suspicion that they aren't all optimizing for me finding something great but rather to waste my time on their platform and hide that I in fact might have already watched everything I'll like. But then I'll sometimes find something in there only after some digging that obviously should have been heavily suggested to me.

That's exactly what it feels like for me too! I get suggested all sorts of terrible stuff, but sometimes I'll be digging about in a category and find something interesting. But then the show has 7 seasons and netflix only has season 3, and calls it season 1.

I've started to just let the lapse in membership run for longer; that way i can (hopefully) come back to some worthwhile stuff in 6 months.

Re: Netflix Has Deleted Every User Review Ever Posted to Its Website

#67

Post by PopeDotNinja »

slededit wrote: post #34
QasimK wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are probably determining this directly on when someone is watching a show, which shows, etc.

I can only watch shows they recommend though! You get stuck in a local maxima with no way to escape. God help you if you watch a WWII documentary. I so rarely find a title I search for that I don't bother with that anymore.

Sometimes I search for a genre, minor actor, or just a random word. I almost always find something I'd like to watch.

Re: Netflix Has Deleted Every User Review Ever Posted to Its Website

#68

Post by paavoova »

throwaway76543 wrote: post #31
apo wrote: post #22

It may also be the case that negative reviews of movies, TV shows, and stand-up specials did more to dissuade potential viewers than positive reviews did them to draw in; ... Netflix's bigger problem is that much of its content looks good on the surface, but on closer inspection is not worth the time. A lot of this stuff is produced by Netflix itself. Bill Nye's most recent show comes to mind, but there's a lot more.…

"Worth the time" is relative. Some people really enjoy shows which other people consider to be "junk." I suspect Netflix realizes this. I don't mind them not being suggested, but I'd be really upset if "junk" shows became unavailable. There's a bunch of popular content which I don't enjoy and I wouldn't be surprised if a sizable portion of content I do consume is "junk" according to popular opinion.

Perhaps it's relative as far as entertainment value is concerned, but not as far as artistic merit is. I for one don't enjoy wading through an endless stream of consumerist drivel helmed by yes-people who just want their big break, or who otherwise are simply involved for the pay and career.

>I suspect Netflix realizes this

Yes, because they collect all kinds of user data and have statistics to back up viewership and retention. E.g. the Adam Sandler films they produced come to mind. I don't think anyone would claim they're worthwhile films, but nonetheless Netflix has stated they got lots of views, which is important for their platform, especially to quantify investment returns. My theory is that since Netflix is global, foreign audiences further skew the quality:views statistics, as many such countries' media is dominated by Western media, and "Western" may very well be enough to make it appealing simply because it contrasts with domestic media and arts. But I suppose the West does this as well by awarding an Oscar to the "Best Foreign Film" that might very well not be as acclaimed or otherwise not viewed as such in its own country.

Re: Netflix Has Deleted Every User Review Ever Posted to Its Website

#69

Post by humanrebar »

pmoriarty wrote: post #47
apo wrote: post #22

It may also be the case that negative reviews of movies, TV shows, and stand-up specials did more to dissuade potential viewers than positive reviews did them to draw in; ... Netflix's bigger problem is that much of its content looks good on the surface, but on closer inspection is not worth the time. A lot of this stuff is produced by Netflix itself. Bill Nye's most recent show comes to mind, but there's a lot more.…

The selection on Netflix's streaming service is atrocious. Their DVD service ( https://dvd.netflix.com ) is far, far superior. All the user reviews are still up on there too, for now.

That's overstating things. They put a bunch of Scorsese movies up this summer. Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is pretty great. That's just for instance. Maybe you've seen everything, but that doesn't mean the content is garbage.

Re: Netflix Has Deleted Every User Review Ever Posted to Its Website

#70

Post by derefr »

ghaff wrote: post #55
derefr wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> their TV strategy has clearly evolved from at least a supposed "mine data to create great shows" (which always seemed a bit unlikely create all sorts of content, including niche content, throw it at the wall, see what sticks, and plump up the catalog in any case. Are you sure? I feel like Netflix is making more data-driven decisions now than ever. If they aren't producing a constant crop of "HBO-quality" show, I wo…

Sure. They need a variety of content. The number of heavily serialized "great" shows I'm going to watch that may require me to rewatch once or twice and head to the recaps and discussion boards to totally grok what happened this week is extremely limited. But beyond that, while I'm sure Netflix uses data to allocate money for genres and other types of planning (and help determine whether to keep shows on the air--may…

> shows are ultimately creative processes

Sure, but that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm not claiming that Netflix is doing what would look like "intentionally trying and failing to make good content"—because that would produce qualitatively different content than the kind I'm referring to.

An attempt at rich food that tries and fails isn't bland food; it's bad rich food. A bad lasagna or a bad steak isn't going to suddenly taste like nothing. It'll just taste weird. Whereas a bland food is, say, a cucumber sandwich on white bread. Purposefully nothing-y. It won't ever taste exciting or weird.

Netflix is making "Netflix Original" bland TV, purposefully. Daytime soaps, "ghost investigations", prison documentaries, and other low-budget schlock. The data says people want it, just as much as the data says people want rich TV like Black Mirror or OitNB or whatever-else.

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