6 ms·

I'm of the opposite opinion. They're executing their vision perfectly. Netflix is very aggressively pursuing the bottom line, and they're not doing it differen

I'm of the opposite opinion. They're executing their vision perfectly. Netflix is very aggressively pursuing the bottom line, and they're not doing it differently from a drug dealer. It's not random that the term "Netflix binge" exists. Netflix interface is designed to shove content at the users' face at all costs, and in a very disrespectful way. Here there are some disgusting dark patterns: - it took them a long time to give the user the option to remove movies from the watching now list - there's no way to remove already watched movies from the panel; their trailer is even sometimes displayed in the top frame - they randomize the global order of the horizontal lists, so that one needs every time to hunt the user list (watching now/my list) through all the panel For a short time, I even experienced a bug where movies with (my) negative rating were not greyed out. I can imagine the engineering thinking "LOW PRIORITY!". On my (fictional) "drug-dealing practices" rating, Netflix is high on top with Amazon.

john_minsk 5y ago
100% agree. I was awaiting for Netflix thread to pop-up to ask (hopefully someone who works there): Why there is no way to tell Netflix that I already watched the show and I'm not planning to rewatch it again any time soon or hide the ones I tried and decided not watch (or may be watched before)? No matter how many times you show me them I'm not going to watch... You can still have nice features around it: separate list at the end of scroll with my old movies/shows (may be with number of times I watched it?). Once new seasons released send them all the way to to the top etc. And I will be able to discover something new. At the moment it is cluttered with things I don't want to watch so lately I was not happy with Netflix at all. You should see such patterns in your data.
i2shar 5y ago
Add one more to the list - and this one drives me crazy to no end - on my Chromecast with GTV the wretched thing starts autoplaying even if I just want to read the synopsis. This, despite turning off all autoplay options in my profile. What is the friggin rush?! Why won't you let me browse/read distraction free?!
- dasfsi 5y ago
  They might be doing a facebook (~ inflating their engagement metrics by autoplaying things)
- sanitycheck 5y ago
  Look out for this annoying autoplay thing in every other app soon. I do some work in the same space and everyone* thinks if Netflix is doing it it must be a great idea. (*who makes decisions)
kmmlng 5y ago
So they are taking steps which are ostensibly geared towards this drug dealer vision. But is it working? I can only look at myself and the people around me. There was a time when we would go on Netflix binges and there probably was something drug-like about it. But now? I go on Netflix, I scroll around for a bit, can't find anything I would like to watch, and I close Netflix again. The only reason I'm still paying for it is that I'm sharing my account with other people and it would be a hassle to cancel the subscription. And it's not just me, everyone I talk with is reporting the same thing.
- christoph 5y ago
  I’m in total agreement. Opening the Netflix app just started making me frustrated trying to find something to watch, so I just don’t bother anymore. I will only open it now if somebody has recommended something to me, which happens rarely these days. We’ve only kept the subscription going as our child likes watching some of the shows on Netflix kids.
- UntitledNo4 5y ago
  Maybe that's really Netflix's business model these days: nobody watches anything, but it's a hassle to cancel the account, so nobody does it, so lets continue frustration our users, maybe they will stop visiting us completely while never really leaving us. Let's look at the bright side though, we're going to end up with a lot of nice thumbnails.
  - ant6n 5y ago
    So it's better to have 2 users who pay but don't use the service and kind of hate it than 3 users who like the service and use it a lot?
    - stonemetal12 5y ago
      High use means you need large quantities of high quality content. Low use means you can use a small amount of high quality content as a "loss leader" then back fill with cheap garbage no one is going to watch anyway.
kungito 5y ago
The sad part is that I am probably in some minority and hence no one will care to fix scenarios for me. The only time I now watch Netflix is when I want to watch something specifically and I search where can I watch it and it turns out it exists on Netflix (of course, never recommended to me). I wonder how much long term will Netflix be impacted by the fact that their Originals are of way lower quality than HBO originals. I never want to watch Netflix Originals because whenever I tried it was horrible and HBO always has amazing quality. I'm afraid it's just cheaper for them to focus on the group of people who you can shove the shit down the throat to keep them happy as it's a way maintainable audience.
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  Unfortunately, the new HBO content is the same as Netflix. After HBO was sold to ATT a couple years, the executives that made HBO HBO were all shown the door and now I believe their goal is quantity over quality. Apple TV+ feels like it could be the new HBO in terms of curation, but we will see if they keep up the quality ratio. My simple method of not wasting time on all this nonsense content coming out is to just wait for a bunch of people in my various networks to mention something about the show/movie. If multiple of them like something enough to mention it, then I probably will, so I just search it out after that.
watwut 5y ago
Those dont seem like dark patterns to me. They dont make you more hooked up, they make you annoyed and make you leave. These are just bad UI. If they are designed, they are designed to make you watch less.
davemp 5y ago
They also cycle through 'box art' on Netflix originals so you can't scroll past them if you recognize art from a title you're not interest in.
- webmaven 5y ago
  > They also cycle through 'box art' on Netflix originals so you can't scroll past them if you recognize art from a title you're not interest in. I've noticed that Amazon Prime Video is doing the same thing with their Amazon Originals.
fomine3 5y ago
Showing "play next this different series" at last episode ending is annoying. Keep me chill.

john_minsk 5y ago

100% agree. I was awaiting for Netflix thread to pop-up to ask (hopefully someone who works there): Why there is no way to tell Netflix that I already watched the show and I'm not planning to rewatch it again any time soon or hide the ones I tried and decided not watch (or may be watched before)? No matter how many times you show me them I'm not going to watch... You can still have nice features around it: separate list at the end of scroll with my old movies/shows (may be with number of times I watched it?). Once new seasons released send them all the way to to the top etc. And I will be able to discover something new. At the moment it is cluttered with things I don't want to watch so lately I was not happy with Netflix at all. You should see such patterns in your data.

i2shar 5y ago

Add one more to the list - and this one drives me crazy to no end - on my Chromecast with GTV the wretched thing starts autoplaying even if I just want to read the synopsis. This, despite turning off all autoplay options in my profile. What is the friggin rush?! Why won't you let me browse/read distraction free?!

dasfsi 5y ago
They might be doing a facebook (~ inflating their engagement metrics by autoplaying things)
sanitycheck 5y ago
Look out for this annoying autoplay thing in every other app soon. I do some work in the same space and everyone* thinks if Netflix is doing it it must be a great idea. (*who makes decisions)

kmmlng 5y ago

So they are taking steps which are ostensibly geared towards this drug dealer vision. But is it working? I can only look at myself and the people around me. There was a time when we would go on Netflix binges and there probably was something drug-like about it. But now? I go on Netflix, I scroll around for a bit, can't find anything I would like to watch, and I close Netflix again. The only reason I'm still paying for it is that I'm sharing my account with other people and it would be a hassle to cancel the subscription. And it's not just me, everyone I talk with is reporting the same thing.

christoph 5y ago
I’m in total agreement. Opening the Netflix app just started making me frustrated trying to find something to watch, so I just don’t bother anymore. I will only open it now if somebody has recommended something to me, which happens rarely these days. We’ve only kept the subscription going as our child likes watching some of the shows on Netflix kids.
UntitledNo4 5y ago
Maybe that's really Netflix's business model these days: nobody watches anything, but it's a hassle to cancel the account, so nobody does it, so lets continue frustration our users, maybe they will stop visiting us completely while never really leaving us. Let's look at the bright side though, we're going to end up with a lot of nice thumbnails.
- ant6n 5y ago
  So it's better to have 2 users who pay but don't use the service and kind of hate it than 3 users who like the service and use it a lot?
  - stonemetal12 5y ago
    High use means you need large quantities of high quality content. Low use means you can use a small amount of high quality content as a "loss leader" then back fill with cheap garbage no one is going to watch anyway.

kungito 5y ago

The sad part is that I am probably in some minority and hence no one will care to fix scenarios for me. The only time I now watch Netflix is when I want to watch something specifically and I search where can I watch it and it turns out it exists on Netflix (of course, never recommended to me). I wonder how much long term will Netflix be impacted by the fact that their Originals are of way lower quality than HBO originals. I never want to watch Netflix Originals because whenever I tried it was horrible and HBO always has amazing quality. I'm afraid it's just cheaper for them to focus on the group of people who you can shove the shit down the throat to keep them happy as it's a way maintainable audience.

lotsofpulp 5y ago
Unfortunately, the new HBO content is the same as Netflix. After HBO was sold to ATT a couple years, the executives that made HBO HBO were all shown the door and now I believe their goal is quantity over quality. Apple TV+ feels like it could be the new HBO in terms of curation, but we will see if they keep up the quality ratio. My simple method of not wasting time on all this nonsense content coming out is to just wait for a bunch of people in my various networks to mention something about the show/movie. If multiple of them like something enough to mention it, then I probably will, so I just search it out after that.

watwut 5y ago

Those dont seem like dark patterns to me. They dont make you more hooked up, they make you annoyed and make you leave. These are just bad UI. If they are designed, they are designed to make you watch less.

davemp 5y ago

They also cycle through 'box art' on Netflix originals so you can't scroll past them if you recognize art from a title you're not interest in.

webmaven 5y ago
> They also cycle through 'box art' on Netflix originals so you can't scroll past them if you recognize art from a title you're not interest in. I've noticed that Amazon Prime Video is doing the same thing with their Amazon Originals.

fomine3 5y ago

Showing "play next this different series" at last episode ending is annoying. Keep me chill.