'It's so annoying' say Netflix fans after app 'completely ruined by change'
ANGRY Netflix subscribers say they've noticed an annoying change to the app.
Furious TV and movie fans claim Netflix has made a subtle tweak to the way it shows content.
Movies on Netflix usually have a description that lets you know what to expect.
But a Reddit thread with dozens of upvotes claims that these descriptions have gotten worse lately.
The original poster wrote: “Boring movie descriptions provide no plot intro, only accolades.
Has anyone else noticed a large number of movies with absolutely meaningless title card descriptions? It seems like a relatively recent change.
“For example, for Dune: 'This cinematically spectacular adaptation has won six academy awards.' Okay great, that doesn't mean anything to me…
“It's really frustrating because I don't want to look up what each movie is about, and not all of them have a trailer.”
It's unclear if Netflix has made any changes to the way movie descriptions are displayed on their screen apps.
The American Sun has asked Netflix for comment and will update this story if there is any response.
TESTING YOU?
One user suggested a possible cause: “They probably did AB tests on things like 'description A vs. description B' and found that people are more likely to watch a movie with the vague description.
“While I agree with you, it's frustrating.”
Netflix has admitted to using A/B testing in the past.
“We take a subset of our members, usually a simple random sample, and then use random assignment to divide that sample evenly into two groups,” Netflix explains.
“Group 'A', often referred to as the 'control group', continues to receive the basic Netflix user interface experience, while group 'B', often referred to as the 'treatment group', receives a different experience.”
So some users may see different movie descriptions if they are part of a test group.
Netflix noted: “Each member is usually part of multiple A/B tests at some point, provided none of those tests conflict with each other.”
But whatever the case, Netflix fans seem angry about the reported change.
One user wrote: “Yes, I did that… and it pissed me off.
“Just like Netflix says 'here's a movie, watch it or not, whatever…'”
Another replied: “I think their goal is to completely ruin the user experience for whatever reason. It works”
Another user said: “Yes, I find that annoying too.”
And someone added: “YES! It's so annoying!
“If you select the title, the first episode will give a brief summary about it. It won't give you a full idea, but for me it was enough to decide.”