5 ms·

> It has the only recommendation engine that actually works. I wish it let you split out recommendations based on users, with the option of "recommended for th

> It has the only recommendation engine that actually works. I wish it let you split out recommendations based on users, with the option of "recommended for the whole account." I like Sci-Fi, and I've watched a fair amount of it on my Netflix account, including 10/11 Star Trek movies, but the last time I went into the Sci-Fi section, it was recommending me random kids shows and things I'd clearly not like. This is because my girlfriend uses it a lot and has watched a lot of older, especially teen (nostalgia), shows. To quote from A Christmas Story, Netflix "labor[s] under the delusion that I [am] not only perpetually 4 years old, but also a girl." Not knocking their engine, just a random anecdote. Didn't Netflix run a competition once for people to come up with a better recommendation engine a while ago? Maybe that's why it's so good. Crowdsourcing.

mark_l_watson 15y ago
I agree, and the annoyance of split recommendations between my wife and I made me think that it was worth having two separate accounts. Compared to the horrible deal that is satellite TV, paying for two Netflix streaming accounts seems like a good deal, and I have been paying double for about 6 months. BTW, I have had no luck in talking my wife into dropping Directv, even with Netflix, Hulu+, and a good 7 screen movie theater near our house. Wish me luck :-)
- DiabloD3 15y ago
  Yeah, but how the hell do you switch accounts on devices? Both Android and Roku require me to go through the insane process of typing my login and password in. I'd pay for double accounts, but Netflix apparently won't take my money.
  - mark_l_watson 15y ago
    We use my account on our shared TV with a GoogleTV and an Apple iTV. We use our own accounts on our laptops.
JoshTriplett 15y ago
I agree strongly with this; we've observed the same problem. Within our family, we have many common tastes and many differing tastes, and it would help to have recommendations that took those into account. The same thing goes for the "recently watched" list on Watch Instantly, which mixes together shows watched by any user on any device.
- AgentConundrum 15y ago
  I sort of dislike the "recently watched" list since it sometimes limits what I am willing to watch. There's a British movie on Netflix, at least in Canada, called Cashback. It was a really decent movie, but it was really poorly marketed. The cover art is a woman frozen in a state of undress (with the title obscuring her bare breasts), and the description of the plot talked of a bored employee at a grocery store with the ability to freeze time who used the frozen time to undress customers and sketch them nude. I was curious, as many men would be, but I didn't want to watch it because I didn't really want that to be the first thing on screen in the "recently watched" list when my girlfriend turned on Netflix. In fact, I only ever watched it because Netflix later recommended it to me as "mind bending", which seemed like an odd description of the boob-filled teenage sex romp it seemed to be. I looked it up on Amazon and discovered the real plot, and decided to watch it anyway. The frozen time nude artistry was mostly contained to a single throwaway scene (the time freezing was also initially presented as a time-passing fantasy rather than a real ability, though the film does play fast and loose with that line as the movie progresses), but it still made me hesitate because of the "recently watched" list. I have no idea how I'll get away with watching Barbarella.
  - km3k 15y ago
    That's interesting. Netflix keeps recommending me Cashback too, even though I don't normally watch that type of movie. It's been recommending it so consistently for so long that I've been curious too, but I still haven't watched it.
    - nnnnni 15y ago
      I watched it. You should do the same. May not be the best movie that you've ever seen, but I thought that it was good.
brador 15y ago
Are you honestly expecting the algorithm to magically know if it is you or your children watching the movie? They advise against sharing accounts. I understand this is not really enforcable and no one really cares, but it's the only way the recommendation engine works well.
- alttag 15y ago
  So it's in the customer's best interest to have a separate account for the four-year-old? If they tried to suggest it, I'd think they're off their collective rockers.
  - brador 15y ago
    Well, yes, if they want to use the recommendation system as it is intended, then yes. It's how the thing works, it recommends based on what has been viewed before...it's not magic guys.
  - ctdonath 15y ago
    They _have_ introduced a "For Kids" tab. That helps.
- AgentConundrum 15y ago
  I'm not expecting the algorithm to magically know anything. The first line of my comment was "I wish it let you split out recommendations based on users". I thought specifying "users" was enough to indicate that I meant an account with multiple named profiles. Now, I understand that Netflix would prefer that everyone have their own separate Netflix account, and that adding this feature might be looked down on as promoting the use of a single account for multiple people, but that doesn't make it a bad feature. They need to understand that most people don't see the need for having multiple accounts. How often do you really find that two people want to watch two movies at once? When that does occur, how often is it such a high priority that nether party is willing to wait until the other is done to watch their movie? Adding accounts results in significantly diminished returns right away. The second account is only of use when two people want to watch something at once, which I've never found to be a serious problem. Adding a third or fourth account is absolutely ridiculous[1]. [1] It's ridiculous now, but if Netflix ever becomes a serious provider of new TV, supplanting the current cable TV structure with an a la carte, on demand model, then I'd gladly maintain multiple accounts. When that day comes, they could allow roaming profiles, allowing a new account to start using the viewing history/recommendations of a named profile on another account.
ctdonath 15y ago
This is precisely why I held on to the underused "2 DVDs at once" plan until the Great Netflix Exodus. One queue for me (gritty/scifi/tragedy/guy-movies), one for my wife (sappy/Hallmark/romantic/Christmas-year-round-movies). Easy to toggle queues, easy to see corresponding recommendations. The DVDs themselves tended to sit for a month or so at a time in favor of "I wanna watch X now" streaming. But, alas, that's gone. Now Netflix thinks I'm fond of gritty survivalist Dora-The-Explorer romantic comedies featuring Barbie.

mark_l_watson 15y ago

I agree, and the annoyance of split recommendations between my wife and I made me think that it was worth having two separate accounts. Compared to the horrible deal that is satellite TV, paying for two Netflix streaming accounts seems like a good deal, and I have been paying double for about 6 months. BTW, I have had no luck in talking my wife into dropping Directv, even with Netflix, Hulu+, and a good 7 screen movie theater near our house. Wish me luck :-)

DiabloD3 15y ago
Yeah, but how the hell do you switch accounts on devices? Both Android and Roku require me to go through the insane process of typing my login and password in. I'd pay for double accounts, but Netflix apparently won't take my money.
- mark_l_watson 15y ago
  We use my account on our shared TV with a GoogleTV and an Apple iTV. We use our own accounts on our laptops.

JoshTriplett 15y ago

I agree strongly with this; we've observed the same problem. Within our family, we have many common tastes and many differing tastes, and it would help to have recommendations that took those into account. The same thing goes for the "recently watched" list on Watch Instantly, which mixes together shows watched by any user on any device.

AgentConundrum 15y ago
I sort of dislike the "recently watched" list since it sometimes limits what I am willing to watch. There's a British movie on Netflix, at least in Canada, called Cashback. It was a really decent movie, but it was really poorly marketed. The cover art is a woman frozen in a state of undress (with the title obscuring her bare breasts), and the description of the plot talked of a bored employee at a grocery store with the ability to freeze time who used the frozen time to undress customers and sketch them nude. I was curious, as many men would be, but I didn't want to watch it because I didn't really want that to be the first thing on screen in the "recently watched" list when my girlfriend turned on Netflix. In fact, I only ever watched it because Netflix later recommended it to me as "mind bending", which seemed like an odd description of the boob-filled teenage sex romp it seemed to be. I looked it up on Amazon and discovered the real plot, and decided to watch it anyway. The frozen time nude artistry was mostly contained to a single throwaway scene (the time freezing was also initially presented as a time-passing fantasy rather than a real ability, though the film does play fast and loose with that line as the movie progresses), but it still made me hesitate because of the "recently watched" list. I have no idea how I'll get away with watching Barbarella.
- km3k 15y ago
  That's interesting. Netflix keeps recommending me Cashback too, even though I don't normally watch that type of movie. It's been recommending it so consistently for so long that I've been curious too, but I still haven't watched it.
  - nnnnni 15y ago
    I watched it. You should do the same. May not be the best movie that you've ever seen, but I thought that it was good.

brador 15y ago

Are you honestly expecting the algorithm to magically know if it is you or your children watching the movie? They advise against sharing accounts. I understand this is not really enforcable and no one really cares, but it's the only way the recommendation engine works well.

alttag 15y ago
So it's in the customer's best interest to have a separate account for the four-year-old? If they tried to suggest it, I'd think they're off their collective rockers.
- brador 15y ago
  Well, yes, if they want to use the recommendation system as it is intended, then yes. It's how the thing works, it recommends based on what has been viewed before...it's not magic guys.
- ctdonath 15y ago
  They _have_ introduced a "For Kids" tab. That helps.
AgentConundrum 15y ago
I'm not expecting the algorithm to magically know anything. The first line of my comment was "I wish it let you split out recommendations based on users". I thought specifying "users" was enough to indicate that I meant an account with multiple named profiles. Now, I understand that Netflix would prefer that everyone have their own separate Netflix account, and that adding this feature might be looked down on as promoting the use of a single account for multiple people, but that doesn't make it a bad feature. They need to understand that most people don't see the need for having multiple accounts. How often do you really find that two people want to watch two movies at once? When that does occur, how often is it such a high priority that nether party is willing to wait until the other is done to watch their movie? Adding accounts results in significantly diminished returns right away. The second account is only of use when two people want to watch something at once, which I've never found to be a serious problem. Adding a third or fourth account is absolutely ridiculous[1]. [1] It's ridiculous now, but if Netflix ever becomes a serious provider of new TV, supplanting the current cable TV structure with an a la carte, on demand model, then I'd gladly maintain multiple accounts. When that day comes, they could allow roaming profiles, allowing a new account to start using the viewing history/recommendations of a named profile on another account.

ctdonath 15y ago

This is precisely why I held on to the underused "2 DVDs at once" plan until the Great Netflix Exodus. One queue for me (gritty/scifi/tragedy/guy-movies), one for my wife (sappy/Hallmark/romantic/Christmas-year-round-movies). Easy to toggle queues, easy to see corresponding recommendations. The DVDs themselves tended to sit for a month or so at a time in favor of "I wanna watch X now" streaming. But, alas, that's gone. Now Netflix thinks I'm fond of gritty survivalist Dora-The-Explorer romantic comedies featuring Barbie.