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The promise of recommendation engines is that you will get that niche experience that will scratch your itch just right. I don't know how well that works in pra

by hnick 6y ago

The promise of recommendation engines is that you will get that niche experience that will scratch your itch just right. I don't know how well that works in practice, but even so, it seems like it removes the chance of stumbling on something so alien you'd never consider it but you end up loving it. I was thinking the other day about non-demand TV and radio, and how it was obviously worse in many ways than what we have now. But I spent many a happy afternoon watching a movie or classic TV show that I'd never heard of because I had no options, and really enjoyed myself.

ObsoleteNerd 6y ago
Spot on. I’ve tried to merge the two ideas for my kids, I’ve got a NAS filled with shows, movies and music, and playlists that shuffle each so they can get some randomness and not just watch/listen to the same few repeatedly. We work pretty hard to try incorporate a big mix of content for them, and it seems to be working quite well so far. Also stops them being inundated with ads and recommendation sidebars designed to manipulate them.
muzani 6y ago
I think on demand TV has a bit of a Skinner effect. You discover something awesome every once in a while, but most of the time it's trash, and you get frustrated looking for something really good. It doesn't help that a lot of Netflix productions have 20 episodes or so, of which only about 3 are really good. Back in the day, you'd have your Simpsons and Power Rangers and just learn to enjoy it and talk about it with all your friends. I think algorithms are built wrong too. We'd probably click on some show with a sexy model, or a rom-com twist on a zombie flick, or some reality cooking show with celebrities, or a gritty remake of a children's show. We don't really intend to watch it. But they pique curiousity and a little disgust. The algorithms register these clicks and long views as an "interest", and gives us more of these clickbait-ish shows. I think what would work is simply narrowed down genres, say, Animation > Children > Horror (e.g. Adventure Time) or Animation > Adult > Tragicomedy (e.g. BoJack Horseman). Past that, just arrange at random, alphabetically, and not even by popularity.
- hnick 6y ago
  > It doesn't help that a lot of Netflix productions have 20 episodes or so, of which only about 3 are really good. Yeah this was really obvious to me in some of their Marvel stuff. Overall enjoyable enough, but only if I binged it while doing something else. Pacing and a lot of dead air time was otherwise a huge problem.

by hnick 6y ago

ObsoleteNerd 6y ago

Spot on. I’ve tried to merge the two ideas for my kids, I’ve got a NAS filled with shows, movies and music, and playlists that shuffle each so they can get some randomness and not just watch/listen to the same few repeatedly. We work pretty hard to try incorporate a big mix of content for them, and it seems to be working quite well so far. Also stops them being inundated with ads and recommendation sidebars designed to manipulate them.

muzani 6y ago

I think on demand TV has a bit of a Skinner effect. You discover something awesome every once in a while, but most of the time it's trash, and you get frustrated looking for something really good. It doesn't help that a lot of Netflix productions have 20 episodes or so, of which only about 3 are really good. Back in the day, you'd have your Simpsons and Power Rangers and just learn to enjoy it and talk about it with all your friends. I think algorithms are built wrong too. We'd probably click on some show with a sexy model, or a rom-com twist on a zombie flick, or some reality cooking show with celebrities, or a gritty remake of a children's show. We don't really intend to watch it. But they pique curiousity and a little disgust. The algorithms register these clicks and long views as an "interest", and gives us more of these clickbait-ish shows. I think what would work is simply narrowed down genres, say, Animation > Children > Horror (e.g. Adventure Time) or Animation > Adult > Tragicomedy (e.g. BoJack Horseman). Past that, just arrange at random, alphabetically, and not even by popularity.

hnick 6y ago
> It doesn't help that a lot of Netflix productions have 20 episodes or so, of which only about 3 are really good. Yeah this was really obvious to me in some of their Marvel stuff. Overall enjoyable enough, but only if I binged it while doing something else. Pacing and a lot of dead air time was otherwise a huge problem.