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After a university in another state sent me an unsolicited email offer (never opened), my google feed started showing me everything about that school, even goin

After a university in another state sent me an unsolicited email offer (never opened), my google feed started showing me everything about that school, even going as far as setting up notifications for its class registration calendar. The feed started to loop in college football and greek life news, which are incredibly off base for my actual and actively searched interest history. I spent a year slowly cultivating a pretty decent feed of relevant content on my Pixel, and it went full Netflix 2010 seemingly overnight. Early Netflix suggestions, no matter how selective and consistent your selections over many years, could be instantly subverted by your lonely sister-in-law getting on your account one Saturday night and watching a few foreign language romance flicks. After that, you'd never really stop getting recommendations for "movies starring sexually aggressive male leads" or "films with actors who look like Antonio Banderas". I think I'm done being used to train everyone's algorithms.

JoeAltmaier 9y ago
Heaven forbid you entertain your 6yo niece for a day, and find she's polluted your Netflix with the most insanely numb drivel that passes for animation today. It takes months to expunge. What's wrong with Netflix anyway, that one off-topic movie can sway your 'preferences' so drastically?
- lakechfoma 9y ago
  I find Netflix doesn't recommend anything based on my behavior at all anymore. Now literally the first 5 or so rows of content on the home page is a random spattering of "originals". But they definitely do select the title image based on my past behavior. So not helpful
duxup 9y ago
I hear ya man. These algorithms seem to fall into stupid uselessness after just one error or prioritization change .... like code does.... normally.... but it is telling that the "intelligence" behind these things is still ultra fragile as far as their ability to cease to function as far as the user is concerned. Hal 9000 failed because he was told to lie.... You'd think that prioritization would be easy on the outside. Granted it was a story but it seems to fit that a minor change results in a collapse as far as function goes.

JoeAltmaier 9y ago

Heaven forbid you entertain your 6yo niece for a day, and find she's polluted your Netflix with the most insanely numb drivel that passes for animation today. It takes months to expunge. What's wrong with Netflix anyway, that one off-topic movie can sway your 'preferences' so drastically?

lakechfoma 9y ago
I find Netflix doesn't recommend anything based on my behavior at all anymore. Now literally the first 5 or so rows of content on the home page is a random spattering of "originals". But they definitely do select the title image based on my past behavior. So not helpful

duxup 9y ago

I hear ya man. These algorithms seem to fall into stupid uselessness after just one error or prioritization change .... like code does.... normally.... but it is telling that the "intelligence" behind these things is still ultra fragile as far as their ability to cease to function as far as the user is concerned. Hal 9000 failed because he was told to lie.... You'd think that prioritization would be easy on the outside. Granted it was a story but it seems to fit that a minor change results in a collapse as far as function goes.