Netflix Eliminating Account Profiles

[ChunkyDark]

Grrrrrrr!!
http://www.hackingnetflix.com/2008/06/netflix-elimina.html?cid=119434012#comment-119434012

My post on the forum:
Up until now I’ve been very pleased with Netflix and have seen them actually implement a couple of my ideas on queue management.
If they do not replace the profiles with something similar regretfully I will have to vote with my dollar and cancel. I’m not excited about going over to blockbuster, but I know of no other way to voice my displeasure.
I also can’t believe they aren’t even offering to move profiles into a new account. It would be an easy money maker for them and help appease some users.
It would be very easy to expand on the overly simplistic queue they have now and I only hope they do.

 

[ChunkyDark]

Here is one of the managers reasons for the elimination:
"Too many members found the feature difficult to understand and cumbersome, having to consistently log in and out of the website."

My daughter, WHO IS TWO!, likes to play games on the Sesame Street website. She clicks on the game she wants and understands how they work. Did I mention she's TWO! (to be fair 2.5)
If a grown adult can not figure out how to use a drop down to select a profile they need to be sterilized before they breed! (ok not really, just ranting)

Now to be fair perhaps some of these people have some physical handicap. My above mentioned daughter has very small hands so she finds using a regular mouse difficult. She now has one of those little laptop ones and it makes it much easier.

So here is my solution. Send each of these mental midgets a post-it-note to stick right above the profile select button with a nice arrow pointing down to remind them.

Or, OR instead of taking it away from everyone THEY COULD JUST NOT USE IT!!!!!1!!!ELEVENTY!

 

[Alamar]

I use the profiles feature and that is one of the major reasons that I'm back with NetFlix after my move.

I guess my biggest problem is that when you order a season of a TV series [lets say Babylon 5 Season 2] there is no way to order disk 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 of that season. If you don't have that TV series in a seperate profile how can you get a good mixture of DVDs?

Currently I have 3 profiles, one for my movies, one for my wife's movies, and one [in my cat's name] for TV series that I want to see. If they do away with profiles then it looks like nobody gets to see any movies until I finish the whole TV season.

GRRR.

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I think the reason giving for cancelling profiles in a prior post is stupid. If the problem is that you have to log out to change profiles then don't make people log in & out. Have everything available from one login and then allow you to select the queue you want to manage or [even better] show multiple queues on screen at one time. I'm sure I could fit 3 queues across if I tried ...

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I could easily vote with my wallet but going back to Blockbuster [the only real NetFlix competitor I know of] isn't sending BB the right message either ....

 

[Adam]

If they do away with profiles then it looks like nobody gets to see any movies until I finish the whole TV season.

You've got me a little confused, Alamar. I can order my queue so that movies and TV discs are intertwined. Granted, (unless they've changed things) you can't get disc 2 of a season before you get disc 1 if both are in your queue, but you can certainly get a movie sent between getting those.

 

[Audioholics]

So far I guess I've never used profiles, but I agree that the reason given for the elimination is odd...

 

[Bryce_H]

I have never used profiles and have never had a problem intermixing movies and TV series.

In terms of different movie request, I have always just mixed in my wife's requests with mine. Never saw the need to set up a seperate profile.

 

[Alamar]

You've got me a little confused, Alamar. I can order my queue so that movies and TV discs are intertwined. Granted, (unless they've changed things) you can't get disc 2 of a season before you get disc 1 if both are in your queue, but you can certainly get a movie sent between getting those.

I stand corrected then. I didn't specifically try that because some of the screens are greyed out so I assumed [oops] that the ordering was static and wouldn't be changeable.

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As far as having different profiles it's very handy because it lowers micromanagement of the queue. For example it's nice after I send in a DVD of a TV series to get the next DVD of the TV serious sent to me then.

I also notice that the rate that I watch movies is greater than my wife's so unless I micromanage the NetFlix queue we'll soon have periods of having 3 of her movies at home and I'll have to nag her to watch hers and send them back.

In summary less micromanagement > more micromanagement

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Of course if you could open seperate accounts for the same price that I get for the 3 at a time bundle then that would also be OK. I doubt that will happen so unless they replace the profiles feature with something similar they'll be more annoying micromanagement of the queue to simulate 3 seperate profiles.

 

[Adam]

Just wanted to let you know that it might not be so bad to lose the profiles. Hopefully the removal of the profiles won't be such an inconvenience to you if you can get that to work out for you.

EDIT: Ahhh, you added some more to your post. I can completely understand why the profiles are good for you, now.

 

[jinjuku]

My daughter, WHO IS TWO!, likes to play games on the Sesame Street website. She clicks on the game she wants and understands how they work. Did I mention she's TWO! (to be fair 2.5)
If a grown adult can not figure out how to use a drop down to select a profile they need to be sterilized before they breed! (ok not really, just ranting)

LOL, yes end users can tend to be very dense. I have a core group of customers that have no business running a business. They seem to know nothing about nothing. Getting them to right click seems like an unsurmountable task for them.

I like the profile feature, multi-queue etc... and am sad to see this feature go. File it under: What are they thinking!?

 

[corey]

**News Flash

NetFlix is keeping profiles!

From them:
You spoke, and we listened. We are keeping Profiles. Thank you for all the calls and emails telling us how important Profiles are.

We are sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused. We hope the next time you hear from us we will delight, and not disappoint, you.

-Your friends at Netflix

 

[Alamar]

NetFlix is keeping profiles!

From them:
You spoke, and we listened. We are keeping Profiles. Thank you for all the calls and emails telling us how important Profiles are.

We are sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused. We hope the next time you hear from us we will delight, and not disappoint, you.

-Your friends at Netflix

Woo Hoo!!

I was going to gripe because I sent them an Email asking for an explanation [a good one] as to why profiles were cancelled and never received a reply.