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> Not sure I agree with this since I can not recall a single instance where I have wanted to watch anything that has been suggested to me. Does this tell you t

> Not sure I agree with this since I can not recall a single instance where I have wanted to watch anything that has been suggested to me. Does this tell you that: • HBO is wrong • You're not representative of either their user base or the user base they want • You don't remember the times your browsing behavior was influenced by suggestions because you like believing you're not influenced by suggestions

davidivadavid 5y ago
Here's a fun test: try to think of what you watched that was not suggested to you one way or another. Think of what it would even mean.
- reaperducer 5y ago
  The vast majority of the shows I watch I have found by searching for keywords I'm interested in, or actors who I enjoy watching, so I can come up with a pretty long list of shows I watched that were never suggested to me in one way or another.
  - davidivadavid 5y ago
    You type a keyword... somewhere? On Google maybe? And then what? Pick the first movie listed? What about actors? Do you watch all of their movies? In random order? Do you do it chronologically? Why? The only way you could watch movies without it being the result of a suggestion would be if you had a random list of movies (preferably of all movies ever made) and picked at random in it. I think it's safe to assume you're not doing that, so you're being suggested movies.
  - Bedon292 5y ago
    On the other hand, I can honestly not think of a single show or movie that hasn't been suggested to me in one way or another. I may search for a specific show or movie, but that is either something I have already watched, or I saw an ad for somewhere along the line.
- dylan604 5y ago
  we need to define what "suggseted to you" means. if you are browsing a list called "Films we think you might like", that's obviously a suggestion. however, if you're browsing a list of "Action & Adventure", you need to know how the titles in that list were added. is it recent titles in that genre, is it titles that are currently trending, or is it titles that have the same actor/director/plots as other titles you have been watching? the only way to really know that it wasn't some sort of algorithmic detection is if you 100% absolutely positively never browse and only watch a movie directly from the search feature.
  - davidivadavid 5y ago
    Right. As soon as some form of curation occurs you're being suggested something. What the parent might be trying to say if I steel man it is that he's still making a choice between the options that he's being suggested. Which, yes he is, but you're still making a choice between suggested options. These things are not mutually exclusive.
- amanaplanacanal 5y ago
  Suggested by a friend or by a reviewer who suggestions I have enjoyed in the past seems far removed from the ML suggestions from Amazon, Netflix, or YouTube.
LeifCarrotson 5y ago
HBO's goals and a user's goals are fundamentally not aligned. They're tailoring their home page to increase the metrics they track and to make more money. They're not doing it altruistically to make me happier or to solve a problem I have. HBO's goal is to make HBO more profitable. The user base they want, one which shares that goal, is nonexistent, there are only users who have a goal of being entertained and have varying levels of tolerance for HBO's antics to achieve that goal.
- Bedon292 5y ago
  How are they fundamentally not aligned? To me it seems like they are fairly well aligned. Not perfectly, but close. What are they doing that doesn't help a user with their goal of being entertained? The user's goal is to be entertained. The way they make money is by getting you to continue your subscription. You will only continue that subscription is if you are entertained. So their goal is to entertain you enough to keep the subscription. Sure they will produce new content and advertise it to you ahead of time such that you might keep the subscription for another month. But it only works if that content is interesting to you, so they still need to make content that is interesting. I guess the content they are producing is aligned at groups of users, and not any one individual user. So if you are far from the targeted groups, then the goals are not as well aligned. But their goal is still to suggest the content in their library that you will be interested in to continue to stay subscribed.
  - Terretta 5y ago
    See my example above. I subscribe to HBO Max. I click to watch something. HBO Max won’t show it to me. It shows me a profile picker to pick among all one profiles I have, the same one profile I’ve always had, and always will have. Why? To capture new profiles from people who break into subscribers’ homes to surreptitiously watch HBO Max? How often does that happen relative to me wanting to watch, like always, as myself, like always?
SuoDuanDao 5y ago
I'm not saying HBO is wrong, but I do believe most marketing departments find their managers easier to manipulate than their customers.

davidivadavid 5y ago

Here's a fun test: try to think of what you watched that was not suggested to you one way or another. Think of what it would even mean.

reaperducer 5y ago
The vast majority of the shows I watch I have found by searching for keywords I'm interested in, or actors who I enjoy watching, so I can come up with a pretty long list of shows I watched that were never suggested to me in one way or another.
- davidivadavid 5y ago
  You type a keyword... somewhere? On Google maybe? And then what? Pick the first movie listed? What about actors? Do you watch all of their movies? In random order? Do you do it chronologically? Why? The only way you could watch movies without it being the result of a suggestion would be if you had a random list of movies (preferably of all movies ever made) and picked at random in it. I think it's safe to assume you're not doing that, so you're being suggested movies.
- Bedon292 5y ago
  On the other hand, I can honestly not think of a single show or movie that hasn't been suggested to me in one way or another. I may search for a specific show or movie, but that is either something I have already watched, or I saw an ad for somewhere along the line.
dylan604 5y ago
we need to define what "suggseted to you" means. if you are browsing a list called "Films we think you might like", that's obviously a suggestion. however, if you're browsing a list of "Action & Adventure", you need to know how the titles in that list were added. is it recent titles in that genre, is it titles that are currently trending, or is it titles that have the same actor/director/plots as other titles you have been watching? the only way to really know that it wasn't some sort of algorithmic detection is if you 100% absolutely positively never browse and only watch a movie directly from the search feature.
- davidivadavid 5y ago
  Right. As soon as some form of curation occurs you're being suggested something. What the parent might be trying to say if I steel man it is that he's still making a choice between the options that he's being suggested. Which, yes he is, but you're still making a choice between suggested options. These things are not mutually exclusive.
amanaplanacanal 5y ago
Suggested by a friend or by a reviewer who suggestions I have enjoyed in the past seems far removed from the ML suggestions from Amazon, Netflix, or YouTube.

LeifCarrotson 5y ago

HBO's goals and a user's goals are fundamentally not aligned. They're tailoring their home page to increase the metrics they track and to make more money. They're not doing it altruistically to make me happier or to solve a problem I have. HBO's goal is to make HBO more profitable. The user base they want, one which shares that goal, is nonexistent, there are only users who have a goal of being entertained and have varying levels of tolerance for HBO's antics to achieve that goal.

Bedon292 5y ago
How are they fundamentally not aligned? To me it seems like they are fairly well aligned. Not perfectly, but close. What are they doing that doesn't help a user with their goal of being entertained? The user's goal is to be entertained. The way they make money is by getting you to continue your subscription. You will only continue that subscription is if you are entertained. So their goal is to entertain you enough to keep the subscription. Sure they will produce new content and advertise it to you ahead of time such that you might keep the subscription for another month. But it only works if that content is interesting to you, so they still need to make content that is interesting. I guess the content they are producing is aligned at groups of users, and not any one individual user. So if you are far from the targeted groups, then the goals are not as well aligned. But their goal is still to suggest the content in their library that you will be interested in to continue to stay subscribed.
- Terretta 5y ago
  See my example above. I subscribe to HBO Max. I click to watch something. HBO Max won’t show it to me. It shows me a profile picker to pick among all one profiles I have, the same one profile I’ve always had, and always will have. Why? To capture new profiles from people who break into subscribers’ homes to surreptitiously watch HBO Max? How often does that happen relative to me wanting to watch, like always, as myself, like always?

SuoDuanDao 5y ago

I'm not saying HBO is wrong, but I do believe most marketing departments find their managers easier to manipulate than their customers.