9 ms·

Netflix's A/B testing has really screwed me in the past in terms of performance, so much so that I reached out to support to ask if there was a way to manually

Netflix's A/B testing has really screwed me in the past in terms of performance, so much so that I reached out to support to ask if there was a way to manually remove me from the testing group at that time. I'd log in, and the "new" interface throttled my 13 inch retina Macbook's CPU immediately to 100% (or more). Last time it was so bad that I stopped using Netflix on my computer until the testing stopped. That said, the "normal" Netflix player is great and I've always been impressed with its performance and responsiveness for such a large application handling video streaming.

city41 10y ago
You can opt out of A/B testing. Head to netflix.com, go to your account settings > Test Participation > Include me in tests and previews, and switch it off.
- frakr 10y ago
  I had to do that after I got put in a group where there was no way to view the description or episode list without also starting to play the selection (in browser). On a console app the other day it would start playing an audio preview of anything selected making scrolling through my options extremely annoying. I quit the app almost immediately. I don't mind being in the testing group but I would definitely like the option to quit a test group. Wouldn't that feedback be valuable to them?
  - jedberg 10y ago
    > Wouldn't that feedback be valuable to them? The feedback is generally implicit in that if it causes problems for a lot of people then the test fails because you stop watching Netflix with that device. That being said, if you call in to customer service they can remove you from the test if it turns out that's actually the problem (sometimes the problem is that you are in two conflicting tests for example) and they do mark that down as feedback. But they want you to call in so they can better understand and record the failure mode. You don't even have to call, you can do it via chat, if you're not the kind of person who like to talk on a phone. :)
- spectrum1234 10y ago
  Wow thanks. I always seems to get screwed and placed in the B group. That or their UI is just frequently terrible.
- mcescalante 10y ago
  This is great to know! I'm surprised support hasn't mentioned this to me. I'm assuming it's because I reached out while the test was happening, but being able to opt-out for the future is great. Thank you!

city41 10y ago

You can opt out of A/B testing. Head to netflix.com, go to your account settings > Test Participation > Include me in tests and previews, and switch it off.

frakr 10y ago
I had to do that after I got put in a group where there was no way to view the description or episode list without also starting to play the selection (in browser). On a console app the other day it would start playing an audio preview of anything selected making scrolling through my options extremely annoying. I quit the app almost immediately. I don't mind being in the testing group but I would definitely like the option to quit a test group. Wouldn't that feedback be valuable to them?
- jedberg 10y ago
  > Wouldn't that feedback be valuable to them? The feedback is generally implicit in that if it causes problems for a lot of people then the test fails because you stop watching Netflix with that device. That being said, if you call in to customer service they can remove you from the test if it turns out that's actually the problem (sometimes the problem is that you are in two conflicting tests for example) and they do mark that down as feedback. But they want you to call in so they can better understand and record the failure mode. You don't even have to call, you can do it via chat, if you're not the kind of person who like to talk on a phone. :)
spectrum1234 10y ago
Wow thanks. I always seems to get screwed and placed in the B group. That or their UI is just frequently terrible.
mcescalante 10y ago
This is great to know! I'm surprised support hasn't mentioned this to me. I'm assuming it's because I reached out while the test was happening, but being able to opt-out for the future is great. Thank you!