Comments on The Official Netflix Blog: Do You Rank?

Two words...half stars. Some movies just deserve ...

2008-02-29T19:16:00.000-08:00

Two words...half stars. Some movies just deserve 3.5 stars, and I hate having to choose between 3 and 4. The Facebook Visual Bookshelf application has half stars, and I love it!

ATTN NetflixFor the love of God...would someone at...

2008-02-02T10:28:00.000-08:00

ATTN Netflix

For the love of God...would someone at this company email or call me back! I had problems - they were supposed to have been resolved and I still cannot log in and I don't feel like paying for two memberships.

Patiently waiting to rent movies for over 11 months now.

Heidi Calaway
heidi@boutiquemilwaukee.com

I'd like to know precisely when these ranks are up...

2007-11-29T03:12:00.000-08:00

I'd like to know precisely when these ranks are updated every week. My rank has stayed the same for at least the past nine days, and in that time I've had three new reviews posted, two of which were for movies that had less than 50 reviews already, and the third for a movie that only had four other reviews. I would have thought that my rank would have risen because of my recent activity, and yet it hasn't. So, when does it update?

Just wondering if anyone knows who number #1 is......

2007-11-14T14:01:00.000-08:00

Just wondering if anyone knows who number #1 is... or even better who the top ten are.

Wow this is crazy cool. I am in the top 5,000 in r...

2007-11-05T17:40:00.000-08:00

Wow this is crazy cool. I am in the top 5,000 in rank regarding reviews. I didn’t think that was so great till I saw someone ranked # 451,612

One last word: The very fact that there is a place...

2007-10-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

One last word: The very fact that there is a place where members can interface with the folks who are striving to improve this web-site, (movie-rental community) shows that Netflix does care about customer input. Let us all rejoice that this is a company that provides great service, awesome customer support, listens to member input, has streaming technology that puts it's competitors to shame, and all at a value price.
Overall, this company is great, and nearly every web-community improvement thus far has been well received by this customer.
Keep up all of the good work guys!

But aren't reviews that generate a large response ...

2007-10-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

But aren't reviews that generate a large response of helpful/not helpful seen as having more influence?
An Example: I have a friend who has written 4 reviews, all short but succinct. One of his reviews was for Crash, a film that was the #1 most rented disc for awhile (Still is). The review was negative, among a sea of positive reviews. This review certainly struck a nerve, since within a few weeks it was listed as 112 of 118 found this helpful. His reviewer rating is currently 17,120.
Conversely: I've written 29 reviews, mostly for films that had few folks writing for them. None of my reviews have generated such large responses. In fact only one is as high as, 11 of 17 found this helpful. And most of my reviews are in at least the top 5 for any given film, since they are for more obscure films. (The friend's "Crash" review example I give above is actually buried about 10 pages deep.) Yet my reviewer rating is 4,938. (I assume a higher number means more influence)
I see no other major difference between our account's influence. We both have an equal amount of friends and fans. We are also 99% similar.
I'm not complaining about my friends review of Crash, as it has struck a nerve among readers, and most found it overwhelmingly helpful. (A good example of how sometimes negative reviews can be very helpful)
It just seems to me that the engine is demonstrating exactly what I'm describing.
I'm not ruling out the possibility that there may be other influence factors I'm not aware of. I just don't know what they might be.
I honestly don't care too much about competing against others, I just would like to understand this new system better. I agree their should be incentives to write reviews for lesser reviewed films, I'm just not too sure this is it.
When I look at what is listed in Netflix's top 100 most rented, It looks to me like it is a list of mostly run-of-the-mill mainstream Hollywood movies that you'd have to be living under a rock not to have heard of. Foreign, Independent and obscure titles are just not represented at all. I realize you have no control over what is getting rented the most, and should not. I just cringe at the idea of members who write reviews for movies that everyone is already aware of being treated as being more influential.
Someone who can point me to movies I've never heard of is far more influential to me.

Zato,In general, writing a review on a movie with ...

2007-10-04T08:43:00.000-07:00

Zato,
In general, writing a review on a movie with 1000 reviews, unless it ends up in the top 3 on that movie, will confer very little influence. Writing a review on an obscure movie with 3 reviews is bound to far more influential. It might seem like having a review on a movie that "everybody" is checking out (ie, a popular film or a new release) would confir more influence, it isn't the case - each additional review beyond the first bunch adds relatively less and less value for other members. I think ths system is well-designed to take these factors into account.

ON OTHER MATTERS:
I know it seems like your reviews sometimes come and go, or don't get posted when you think they should. It takes at least a day and sometimes two (depending on when you post) to see them on the site. We're not thrilled about this, but it is currently how the site works.

Not sure I understand how the ranking can be based...

2007-10-04T03:11:00.000-07:00

Not sure I understand how the ranking can be based on overall influence, and still have an incentive for folks to write reviews for more obscure, lesser reviewed films.
It seems to me that the more sought out, highly reviewed films would still reach (and therefore influence) a much wider audience than the film that has 3 reviews.
I already tend to write more reviews for the films that are lacking attention, mainly because I see no point in writing something about a film that already has 1200 reviews.

FORGET ABOUT ranking! I ONLY read negative review...

2007-10-03T11:02:00.000-07:00

FORGET ABOUT ranking! I ONLY read negative reviews. (Any moron can say a movie is great.) I look for one or two star ratings, I see if the reviewer thinks like I do, and then I use this to make my decision. PLEASE KEEP GIVING NEGATIVE REVIEWS or I'll end up with junk.

Once again can the watch instantly movies be categ...

2007-09-22T17:20:00.000-07:00

Once again can the watch instantly movies be categorized by date so people my age don't have to search through all those movies I've already seen to find a current movie?

You know what? I don’t think I care about ranks. A...

2007-09-09T04:29:00.000-07:00

You know what? I don’t think I care about ranks. And frankly any time you introduce some form of competition into it there are always going to be people who will do whatever ridiculous and disruptive thing they can come up with in order to see their name up at the top.

But it would be nice just to see the raw data… How many hits to my reviews page, how many people queued/watched a movie from my page, I don’t need or care to know how I ‘rank’ against other subscribers. Plus, how will it show up… How many millions of members are going to be reminded by Netflix every day that they have absolutely no influence what-so-ever?

Here’s another thing, how do you judge what a good/bad review is? I don’t understand how you can measure this.

You can’t use “helpful” or “not helpful” numbers because it’s clear that hardly anyone rates reviews that way. “Helpful” becomes “Agree.” “Not Helpful” becomes “Disagree.” Not quite the same thing. Reviews are being rewarded or punished because people agree or disagree with them, or worse because they don’t like what they perceive about the reviewers politics or life-style. And actually I’ve seen evidence that they are being punished/rewarded on the star rating alone in many cases. I rated a DVD low in stars because the quality was very poor. (bad transfer of degraded stock) But my review for the actual content was glowing and should have risen with all the similar positive reviews… instead it got pushed further and further down because people didn’t like seeing so few stars. No amount of instruction in an FAQ or elsewhere is going to keep that from happening.

Then there is the issue of maintaining honesty in our reviews.

Like my review for a sappy movie I rented to watch with my Grandmother. (Sometimes I get lucky sometimes I don’t.) I gave it a thorough review, one that pointed out the good and the bad, but one that wouldn’t pander to the average tastes most of the people who would usually rent that movie. I expected and got mostly negative votes, not because it wasn’t a good review, or helpful, but because it pissed off all the people who didn’t like me calling something they like, corny. Try rating any Anime film honestly, mention one small negative point, and a huge wave of gushing Anime-fanatics hit you with ‘not-helpfuls’ even though you gave the film the same 4 stars as everyone else and essentially loved everything else except that one moment of weakness. I could easily raise my ‘influence’ by pandering to the prevailing sensibilities, and confirming the collective brilliance of the majority who hate or love a film. But that wouldn’t be good.

From another angle… That review is extremely helpful to anyone like me who has high standards but wants to find something they can watch and enjoy with their 83 year old Grandmother. (Get this, she thought it was corny too.) In my review I suggested a different but similar and far superior film. But even if someone does read my review and skips a movie they wouldn’t have liked then go and rent the movie I suggested there instead, I will never get credit for being ‘influential’ in either case.

It’s not going to motivate people to write more and better reviews. It’s going to motivate people to write more reviews that people will like. Huge difference. All you have to do is get people to vote and rent, you don’t have to be honest, and it’s not like if they were duped and just hated the movie that they will come back and let anyone know.

Then there is the multi-voting thing… What happens if someone has used your review pages to attack all your reviews with a flood of ‘Not Helpful’ hits? I’m almost certain that’s what’s happened to me… I can’t think of any other explanation. I popped into my page one day several weeks back and suddenly every single review was hit with virtually the same number of ‘not helpfuls.” It didn’t matter what the disc was… Reviews of bonus discs and exercise videos with no other activity for weeks or months… Reviews that had been lost for months deep under a pile of hundreds of other reviews of a popular movie and not gotten one single vote. Suddenly they all have gotten the same number of ‘not helpful’ hits. Now I’m lucky to have any of those older reviews standing at 50/50, most were plunged well below 50/50. Until people can’t do this anymore, “measuring” influence and ranking reviews is useless and a potential disaster community wise.

All I really want to see anyway are the numbers of people who read my review and liked it. Surly Netflix doesn’t intend to inflict us with all this negative stuff all the time. It could really bum you out if you let it.

Frankly, I’m wondering why you need those helpful/not helpful measures anyway. I thought I read that the reviews we see were going to start showing up in order of their similarity to us. So I would see a totally differently ordered list of reviews than the next guy. Or did I misunderstand? It seems to me that would be more useful than what we have now.

I like writing reviews and I’m not going to delete them just because a few people think it might be cool to turn all this into some kind of competition.

I’m sorry but as expressed so far ‘ranking and influence’ is a very unappealing.

I just don’t understand how “good reviews” can be defined and measured for this undertaking. If you are using helpful/not helpful then the only “good reviews” are the ones that loaded first into the top of the movie page and haven’t moved for years because for the most part, those are the only one’s people bother to look at.

why aren't my reviews being published? they comple...

2007-08-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

why aren't my reviews being published? they completely follow guidlines. i have not had a review published after over a month of trying every other day.

Sounds good, as long as people aren't too free and...

2007-08-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

Sounds good, as long as people aren't too free and easy with those h/u's just to get ahead - always a problem with incentives. And I still think that only releasing the results to each individual would be good. The motivation is still there for those that want or need it, while the rest of us won't feel that we've been entered into a contest very much against our will. Just knowing that Netflix wants more reviews for the lesser seen gems has spurred me to focus on those instead of more popular movies. Not for accolades but as a public service to 'my community'. For some of us that works too, you know! It doesn't all have to be carrots and sticks.

I don't know if I've missed the deadline for posti...

2007-08-20T05:43:00.000-07:00

I don't know if I've missed the deadline for posting in this entry, but I was browsing today and it occured to me that your Ranking algorithm should also include the number of reviews you have voted as helpful/not helpful. This would encourage people to vote for others reviews and help them make themselves more influential.

Was that discussed already? man...I hate being late to the good parties...

You guys are a self-selected, usually advanced, re...

2007-08-19T12:48:00.000-07:00

You guys are a self-selected, usually advanced, relatively technical, pretty dern smart, movie-loving group. (this is what I like about you).
Aw shucks! You make me blush. How's a bout a free movie or some Mike n Ike's? What?! You can't blame a girl for trying.

Netflix doesn't "hate you"
Are you sure? I've been getting calls with lines from Japanese horror movies playing before it disonnects. I wonder about you people.

So thank you
You're welcome. Wait, was this post just for new readers? Dangit! I'll still take those Mike N Ikes.

PK

The problem being, by the way, not the hurt feelin...

2007-08-18T12:42:00.000-07:00

The problem being, by the way, not the hurt feelings of the writer, but the fact that many really great and TRULY helpful reviews get exiled to the Siberia of the back pages, never to be seen again unless some high sim% is lucky enough to stumble across them.

Perfect! How about a link to that great bi-authore...

2007-08-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

Perfect! How about a link to that great bi-authored FAQ answer ("helful/unhelful?") right before the reviews start , since most people have already decided what they think they mean and won't be looking for instructions unless nudged? I think this a major problem with reviews, the indiscriminate and cavalier use of 'unhelpful'.

So beautifully said, in fact, that i've just now a...

2007-08-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

So beautifully said, in fact, that i've just now added an FAQ to the site about "helpful" and "unhelpful" that captures your comment. Thanks!

"Helpful" or "not helpful" does not mean that you ...

2007-08-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

"Helpful" or "not helpful" does not mean that you agree or disagree with the rating of the film or what was said about the movie. It asks whether or not you found the posted review to be helpful in you making a decision about whether or not to add that movie to your queue".

Beautifully said, and thanks for completing my thought. Maybe your summation could be posted somewhere on the site, since anyone reading this blog will know it already. But I don't think that kids are the problem (unless you use the word very loosely) so much as the Holier Than Thous who seem to go through systematically damning any positive reviews of movies that contain any 'disgusting' material. And unfortunately no amount of written instructions is going to deter those tightly wound folk, since they answer to a much Higher Power than Netflix.

"The real shame is that for many people 'unhelpful...

2007-08-18T10:52:00.000-07:00

"The real shame is that for many people 'unhelpful' just means "you gave it too many/too few stars and must be punished"

Then let's change that right now. "Helpful" or "not helpful" does not mean that you agree or disagree with the rating of the film or what was said about the movie. It asks whether or not you found the posted review to be helpful in you making a decision about whether or not to add that movie to your queue.

I think you are somewhat right though that many of the younger and more immature raters, don't like it when someone gives a negative review of Fantastic Four and they think they need to punish that reviewer. But hopefully that mindthought can be tempered by the more mature raters.

The real shame is that for many people 'unhelpful'...

2007-08-18T01:09:00.000-07:00

The real shame is that for many people 'unhelpful' just means "you gave it too many/too few stars and must be punished". I often read fabulously insightful and informative reviews that have been absolutely hammered with 'unhelpfuls', especially for controversial movies. But nothing we can do about that, I s'pose (oh relax, Mr Welker). Btw, we vm enjoy your breezy yet hyper-literate style. Although of course in Noo Yawk we say 'yous'.

Not negative reviews. Badly written reviews, as es...

2007-08-18T00:15:00.000-07:00

Not negative reviews. Badly written reviews, as estimated by the "unhelpful" vote.

You wrote "Bad reviews don't give you much (or any...

2007-08-18T00:09:00.000-07:00

You wrote "Bad reviews don't give you much (or any) influence."

Why is that? I have read a lot of reviews, and the ones that give insightful reasons as to why the person does not like a particular film have been just as helpful to me as the reviews that are positive. Please clarify. Do you mean negative reviews or just badly written ones?

That's perfect! That way, I don't feel pressured ...

2007-08-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

That's perfect! That way, I don't feel pressured and those folks who want to see these things, can!
Thanks!