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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

#81

Post by skinnymuch »

gist wrote: post #44
throwaway76543 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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.

> Some people really enjoy shows which other people consider to be "junk." A matter of learning to appreciate a genre. For example I like certain types of reality tv which others think is 'stupid'. But first I didn't say all reality tv and also there are things I could point out to show why it is I appreciate it to anyone watching (one is learning from facial expressions at least in people that are not botoxed). By t…

Americans will regularly criticize soccer. A lot of people will regularly criticize baseball. Both for being boring or what have you. Sports are definitely not immune. Just more tolerated and accepted as you say because of their sheer popularity and cultural significance.

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

#82

Post by tjoff »

smsm42 wrote: post #59
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.

One has to wonder how comes that recommendations were pretty good, but then they spent millions of dollars on improving them, including highly-publicized competitions and a lot of work inhouse I assume, and not they are not.

Maybe it is because netflix doesn't host that much good content?

When they have you dialed in you've already watched everything worth watching so there is no good content left to recommend.

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

#83

Post by flylib »

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.…

Given Netflix's investment in content, they will be not removing it anytime soon as it fills their library but removing the third party content once licensing fees are up, eventually it will be mostly just netflix original content on the platform and the more the better

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

#84

Post by ryanwaggoner »

derefr wrote: post #41
ghaff wrote: post #29

It's hard for me to get too upset. Personally, it seems a bit conspiracy theory to think it's people might read negative reviews. Seems more likely it was a poorly used resource and Netflix didn't see the value in continue to support, maintain, and screen it. That aside, it points to a couple of issues. There is a lot of bad content on Netflix. It never had a good film catalog and their TV strategy has clearly evolve…

> 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…

I would personally hypothesize that it's down to a not-oft-mentioned part of consumption psychology: people don't actually want to consume an indefinite stream of high-quality content that they need to give their full attention to at all times, any more than they want an indefinite stream of world-class meals or a radio station that consists only of their favourite music. Nobody has the time, or emotional capacity, to devote to consuming it. People want "bland" content just as much (if not more!) than "rich" content.

I think this is a brilliant point that immediately resonates. I frequently watch or rewatch pretty formulaic shows, particularly if I’m doing something else at the same time. It’s comforting somehow. At the same time, I actively seek out and consume with undivided attention the best shows that the genre offers. And that’s enjoyable but it’s also...exhausting? That’s too strong a word, but I basically don’t want to do it all the time, just like I don’t want Michelin 3 star restaurants for every meal.

And I’m not alone: a LOT of people I know either split their TV time between the best stuff and the junk food stuff, or only really watch the junk food stuff. It’s interesting, for sure.

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

#85

Post by crankylinuxuser »

blubb-fish wrote: post #77

Are there alternatives to Netflix? Amazon Prime certainly isn't. Serious question - especially for German audience. I would like something with older and more niche movies. F.x. on Netflix Germany neither is nor ever was a Fellini flick ... actually "Federico Fellini" is not even suggested upon searching for "Fellini". https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/shortcuts/2017/oct/... - Fandor: only US and CAN - Mubi: a…

Kind of. I run Streama https://github.com/streamaserver/streama

Combined with ripped dvds and/or pirate bay, can make for a refreshing video streaming service you own and host.

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

#86

Post by joshuaheard »

I used to read reviews on a movie I was on the fence about watching. I used the 5 star rating for the same reason. Now I have no information to guide me and in the last month, I have started several movies and stopped watching after 10 minutes because they sucked. Then there's the week delay to send in the DVD and have another one arrive by mail. This makes the service worse in my opinion.

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

#87

Post by trgv »

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.…

Whether a show, book, movie, song, etc is "worth the time" is entirely subjective. There are million dollar franchises based on material that I don't consider worth my time. But you better believe that stuff is worth Netflix's time.

A perfect example of this is "Bright," a netflix movie that was critically panned. But people watched it. And now they're making "Bright 2". Are you really suggesting that Netflix should stop making movies that people want to see because critics (professional or otherwise) dislike them?

Two things people need to keep mind:

a). There's no objective way to judge this stuff.

b). The existence of movies like "Bright" does not prevent "high quality films" from being made.

Werner Herzog, Kelly Reichardt, Wong Kar Wai, Michael Haneke, Mia Hanson-Love, etc can keep making movies whether or not "Bright" keeps getting made over and over again. Both kinds of movies have their audience, and that's fine.

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

#88

Post by pmoriarty »

MiddleEndian wrote: post #36
ajmurmann wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hah, wouldn't you love it if the junk was removed and one day you log on and you just get a message telling you that you've watched all the stuff the algorithm thinks you'll like and you might as well go do something else?

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…

Netflix's DVD service is still active. They just hide it under a separate URL: https://dvd.netflix.com

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

#89

Post by humantiy »

> “Netflix customers were able to leave reviews on Netflix.com until mid-2018, when reviews were removed due to declining use.”

I still think this was done on purpose to an extent. In the beginning the reviews were really easy to find when you were looking to see if you wanted to spend time watching something. As they "upgraded" their UI on the web they really buried it and made it more difficult to find. I had to use the netflix help a few times just to find it near the end. And with most people now using the app on a smart tv or roku, fire tv, ect, they never integrated the reviews into those apps. So to me its saying declining use is of course it was, the only way to get to it was having a laptop handy to check. At that point you can read reviews from any other site.

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

#90

Post by andrei_says_ »

blubb-fish wrote: post #77

Are there alternatives to Netflix? Amazon Prime certainly isn't. Serious question - especially for German audience. I would like something with older and more niche movies. F.x. on Netflix Germany neither is nor ever was a Fellini flick ... actually "Federico Fellini" is not even suggested upon searching for "Fellini". https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/shortcuts/2017/oct/... - Fandor: only US and CAN - Mubi: a…

Kanopy is incredible if you want quality curated worldwide content. Free with your library card, at least in LA.

Filmstruck for criterion collection and worldwide classical cinema. $80/y.

If you have amazon prime you get some blockbusters for free.

Some att plans include hbo go.

Netflix still has some good documentaries but their new releases have been low quality, except possibly for black mirror.

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