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Non-Consensual Personalization

amitp.blogspot.com

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Re: Non-Consensual Personalization

#92

I feel like the implication is that people prevent you from customizing stuff for ego reasons, but isn't it a lot of code and testing to implement the personalization UI? But thinking about it more, I suppose the answer is to let the users write their own clients. Netflix should have a JSON API that's a list of all the programs, and each record should contain a link to video file. They don't do that because of DRM an…

>You could have the worst software and the best content and probably win.

You should see the apps from commercial broadcasters in Australia. Last time I tried using 10play/7plus (to be fair, this was 2 or so years ago), I swore off of using them ever again.

No progress tracking, batshit insane navigation, episodes playing out of order and there was a bug where it would semi-regularly not even load the right video.

Of course, good content can make up for some minor software annoyances, but if the experience is bad enough the content doesn't even matter any more.

Re: Non-Consensual Personalization

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Vim. Linux. Blender. All of which are famous for having user interfaces/experiences that aren't very intuitive for the newbie. Which is okay, but perhaps different segments of the population have different needs and therefore are best served by different software.

> Linux To be fair a couple of mainstream distros are far easier to get than Windows or Mac, only people have a lot of previous Windows experience by the time they encounter Linux. These days iPads of course are at a different level, but that wouldn't be a fair comparison. Source: I had a 6 years of power user experience from Windows when I first started using Linux.

>To be fair a couple of mainstream distros are far easier to get than Windows or Mac

Until you try to plug in a WiFi Dongle, printer, SD Card reader or pretty much any other piece of hardware that isn't a keyboard or mouse.

Re: Non-Consensual Personalization

#94
The thing is that when the product/service is a mass market thing, most users are confused by choice that goes too deep.

Most folks are happy with some amount of choice, that focuses on functionality, rather than looks.

When my brother watches NF, he doesn't bother about colors or where comes what. He idly browses through the list (if he has no pre-idea what to watch) and chooses it. The interface is not efficient for me, I'd rather it have complex search and filters readily available for use, but it is efficient for him because he doesn't have to use complex search to find shows. He is happy with what is recommended or just browse.

Re: Non-Consensual Personalization

#95
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They could do that but you deeplink back into the Netflix app to actually watch to solve the DRM issue. Which I think shows that it's about more than just DRM. They want to control the experience.

Of course they do. If they ever have any hope of improving margins, they need to argue that “our curation drives content discovery” to get better deals out of content providers.

they've abandoned the content acquisition strategy. that went out the boat a long time ago. netflix is a content creation company now, competing with HBO, NBC, etc.

Re: Non-Consensual Personalization

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Linux To be fair a couple of mainstream distros are far easier to get than Windows or Mac, only people have a lot of previous Windows experience by the time they encounter Linux. These days iPads of course are at a different level, but that wouldn't be a fair comparison. Source: I had a 6 years of power user experience from Windows when I first started using Linux.

>To be fair a couple of mainstream distros are far easier to get than Windows or Mac Until you try to plug in a WiFi Dongle, printer, SD Card reader or pretty much any other piece of hardware that isn't a keyboard or mouse.

Those all mostly work out of the box these days. Even devices that don't get driver support on newer Windows anymore.

Re: Non-Consensual Personalization

#97
post #25

I feel like the implication is that people prevent you from customizing stuff for ego reasons, but isn't it a lot of code and testing to implement the personalization UI? But thinking about it more, I suppose the answer is to let the users write their own clients. Netflix should have a JSON API that's a list of all the programs, and each record should contain a link to video file. They don't do that because of DRM an…

There was an article on HN the other day that suggested that (and I'm paraphrasing) "only failed products have settings". We hear a lot about simplicity and how it's easier to study users and optimize for desired outcomes: conversions, upsells, continued use, whatever. Having a simple product nudges the user in the direction you want them to go and makes your product intuitive. I think there's another reason for simp…

Are we really at the point where having a button to disable personalization makes you a "power user"? I'm by no means a twitter power user, but I do want to just make my timeline chronological and remove all the "tweets you might be interested in" garbage.

Re: Non-Consensual Personalization

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/applemusicapi

How does that let me stream the actual song? It provides access to metadata only, as far as I can tell.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/musickitjs

Re: Non-Consensual Personalization

#99

The worst example of such douchebaggery is when you google something in say French, but you get only results in English or mixed results in both languages.. Even worse is searching youtube some other language.. The results are artificially translated into the searched language but you only discover that when you click on the video..

Depending on your IP and browser headers, you may just get the opposite problem (only finding things in French, not in English)

Re: Non-Consensual Personalization

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/applemusicapi

How does that let me stream the actual song? It provides access to metadata only, as far as I can tell.

I think you can use it in conjunction with this JS library: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/musickitjs/musicki...
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