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From the linked Variety article, "However, over time, Netflix realized that explicit star ratings were less relevant than other signals. Users would rate docume

by ykler 10y ago

From the linked Variety article, "However, over time, Netflix realized that explicit star ratings were less relevant than other signals. 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." But the signal isn't just for Netflix; it is also for users, who might sometimes be in the mood for something silly and sometimes in the mood for something good. Also, people might rather get more suggestions of good movies even if they are more likely to watch bad ones. (Of course, people might also just overrate documentaries.)

bryanlarsen 10y ago
But I want Netflix to surface good documentaries as well as good silly movies. I'm more likely to watch a silly movie, so with this change my queue is more likely to be filled with silly movies, making me more likely to unsubscribe because it appears that Netflix only has silly movies. I watch more silly movies than good documentaries, but I pay for Netflix mostly for the good documentaries. I can get mindless pablum elsewhere easily.
- fyolnish 10y ago
  To me it sounds like they should instead use categories as hints for how to weigh ratings of different users for different categories. I definitely don't want my feed to be filled with silly comedies all of a sudden.
- Ntrails 10y ago
  I'd be pretty happy if netflix managed to actually suggest things there's a vague chance I'll be interested in rather than whatever they recently released/bought and desperately want viewers for..
- galdosdi 10y ago
  It's a good thing netflix created original programming, because I would have long ago been gone from netflix if they didn't have /something/ nobody else had. Their nonoriginal selection has gone to total shit. Even hulu is competitive with netflix's selection excluding originals
zebrafish 10y ago
Thumbs up or thumbs down is just as good of a signal for the users. Everybody has some innate star rating threshold where they won't watch a series or film. If it's below 3.5 stars I won't even give it a chance. Thumbs down accomplishes the same thing. I'm going to rely on Netflix's recommendation engine to put things in front of me that I am going to enjoy.
- throwaway91111 10y ago
  Their recommendation system is useless anyway, to the point that I've started to see five-starred content as a negative indicator. Why not remove recommendations altogether? They clearly don't have a library to support it.
- TylerE 10y ago
  The problem with that approach is that it assumes that liking is normally distributed. I'm reminded of Jerry Garcia's famous quote about the Grateful Dead: "We're like licorice. A lot of people don't like licorice - but the people who like licorice REALLY like licorice". A 3.5 could either mean 50% of users give it a 3, and 50% give it a 4, or it could mean that, say, 30% of users give it a 5 and 70% give it a 3 or less. How do you know you aren't part of the 30%? Great art is often polarizing.
kaosjester 10y ago
I'll admit that I have had Netflix recommend to me movies that it thought I would rate at one star, and I have watched that movie and then rated it one star. Not only did their current system predict that I would watch that movie, they predicted my relative opinion of the movie's quality. And yet I watched the movie, and thus felt like their recommendation system served its purpose. I have to say that going into it expecting a one-star rating allowed me to set expectations for the film. If they remove the axis of quality and merely opt for "will you watch this: yes/no", it will make it harder to select "good popcorn trash" versus "high-quality, high-enjoyment" to fit my mood.
galdosdi 10y ago
I don't get it. Don't they already have the signal available to them of "did the user watch all/most of this video, or did they abandon it early" ? That seems like it does most of what they want, and thumbs up/down will add only very little information on top of that?

by ykler 10y ago

bryanlarsen 10y ago

But I want Netflix to surface good documentaries as well as good silly movies. I'm more likely to watch a silly movie, so with this change my queue is more likely to be filled with silly movies, making me more likely to unsubscribe because it appears that Netflix only has silly movies. I watch more silly movies than good documentaries, but I pay for Netflix mostly for the good documentaries. I can get mindless pablum elsewhere easily.

fyolnish 10y ago
To me it sounds like they should instead use categories as hints for how to weigh ratings of different users for different categories. I definitely don't want my feed to be filled with silly comedies all of a sudden.
Ntrails 10y ago
I'd be pretty happy if netflix managed to actually suggest things there's a vague chance I'll be interested in rather than whatever they recently released/bought and desperately want viewers for..
galdosdi 10y ago
It's a good thing netflix created original programming, because I would have long ago been gone from netflix if they didn't have /something/ nobody else had. Their nonoriginal selection has gone to total shit. Even hulu is competitive with netflix's selection excluding originals

zebrafish 10y ago

Thumbs up or thumbs down is just as good of a signal for the users. Everybody has some innate star rating threshold where they won't watch a series or film. If it's below 3.5 stars I won't even give it a chance. Thumbs down accomplishes the same thing. I'm going to rely on Netflix's recommendation engine to put things in front of me that I am going to enjoy.

throwaway91111 10y ago
Their recommendation system is useless anyway, to the point that I've started to see five-starred content as a negative indicator. Why not remove recommendations altogether? They clearly don't have a library to support it.
TylerE 10y ago
The problem with that approach is that it assumes that liking is normally distributed. I'm reminded of Jerry Garcia's famous quote about the Grateful Dead: "We're like licorice. A lot of people don't like licorice - but the people who like licorice REALLY like licorice". A 3.5 could either mean 50% of users give it a 3, and 50% give it a 4, or it could mean that, say, 30% of users give it a 5 and 70% give it a 3 or less. How do you know you aren't part of the 30%? Great art is often polarizing.

kaosjester 10y ago

I'll admit that I have had Netflix recommend to me movies that it thought I would rate at one star, and I have watched that movie and then rated it one star. Not only did their current system predict that I would watch that movie, they predicted my relative opinion of the movie's quality. And yet I watched the movie, and thus felt like their recommendation system served its purpose. I have to say that going into it expecting a one-star rating allowed me to set expectations for the film. If they remove the axis of quality and merely opt for "will you watch this: yes/no", it will make it harder to select "good popcorn trash" versus "high-quality, high-enjoyment" to fit my mood.

galdosdi 10y ago

I don't get it. Don't they already have the signal available to them of "did the user watch all/most of this video, or did they abandon it early" ? That seems like it does most of what they want, and thumbs up/down will add only very little information on top of that?