Slashdot Mirror


Netflix Deletes All User Reviews (engadget.com)

Netflix has removed all user reviews from its site, just like they said they would in early July. Here's what Netflix now has to say about posting reviews on its site: "Netflix customers were able to leave reviews on Netflix.com until mid-2018, when reviews were removed due to declining use. To learn how Netflix suggests TV shows and movies we think you'll love, visit our Ratings & Recommendations article." Engadget reports: Netflix probably had reasons other than the section's decline in use, as well. For instance, it had to deal with issues like "review bombing" by trolls hoping to bring down a show's rating back when it used stars instead of the thumbs up-down system. Netflix might have decided that reviews don't lead to enough views to warrant spending resources on policing them. It has a "percentage match" system that suggests titles based on previous ones you've watched, after all, so there's probably very little incentive for the platform to keep the reviews section running.

103 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. Trolling by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's probably due to trolling. IMDB is the same, certain movies are heavily trolled, e.g. Black Panther.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    1. Re:Trolling by TigerPlish · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's probably due to trolling. IMDB is the same, certain movies are heavily trolled, e.g. Black Panther.

      It's the same everywhere, just about. For a good decade now, if not more, I've felt forums and comments are nothing but a wasteland.. why I waste my time in /. I'll never know.. but I do know this: I've quit reading and posting in *all* the forums of things I like / liked. /. is the last one I've not retreated from.

      --
      The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
    2. Re:Trolling by shmlco · · Score: 5, Funny

      I hear that /. is going to remove user comments soon....

      --
      Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
    3. Re:Trolling by vadim_t · · Score: 2

      It would not be trolled that heavily if the media is not that hell-bent on forcing a "cartoon" into a social commentary.

      Uh, what are you on? Comics were always heavy on social commentary. X-Men are social commentary with its mutants vs non-mutants dynamics. Frank Miller does a crapload of social commentary in his comics (often awful). Iron Man is social commentary, it was created by Stan Lee to see if he could make a selfish, drunk, industrialist weapons manufacturer, "shove him down people's throats" (Stan Lee quote), and make them like him. This was in the 60s, at the height of the anti-war sentiment. Captain America is social commentary. It goes on, and on, and on.

      Black Panther being social commentary is nothing new, and hails straight from the source material.

    4. Re:Trolling by The+Rizz · · Score: 2, Funny

      I hear that /. is going to remove user comments soon....

      At which point, will it have any real reason to exist?

    5. Re:Trolling by The+Rizz · · Score: 1

      1. Wakanda is not real (and for that matter, very different from the real Africa).

      OMG! You mean there isn't really a country in the middle of Africa with cloaking technology and magical super-metal that can do almost anything you can imagine? I had no idea that it was all a lie! FAKE NEWS! FAKE NEWS!

      2. Africa needs real help. Not from us, but from their own hard work.

      ... not sure if racist troll ... in fact, not really sure WTF is meant here...

    6. Re:Trolling by brantondaveperson · · Score: 1

      Africa needs real help. Not from us, but from their own hard work.

      The implication here is that Africa is in trouble, to whatever extent that's actually true, due to their own laziness. Is that what you meant, or is that just an unfortunate side-effect of your lack of care over the words you use?

    7. Re:Trolling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      I hear that /. is going to remove user comments soon....

      At which point, will it have any real reason to exist?

      slash-woosh!

    8. Re:Trolling by ooloorie · · Score: 1

      I'm frankly a little confused about the social commentary that Black Panther is supposed to make.

      On the one hand, it seems to cater to the myth that wealth is the result of natural resources and that if only white men hadn't taken Africa's resources, then Africans would be wealthy.

      On the other hand, Wakanda seems to be racially exclusionary and have draconian closed border policy.

      Much as I enjoy seeing well-muscled hunks of any race strut their stuff on screen, the premise of Black Panther just seemed too stupid to me to bother seeing it.

    9. Re:Trolling by Presence+Eternal · · Score: 1

      I had a special hatred for people who used their reviews to review reviews.

      Oh, you don't agree with my opinion on that show. Thanks for letting me know it got an award. From one organization. That gives awards for twenty subcategories annually. What a fool I've been. Very classy of you to post in a system that disallows any reply.

    10. Re:Trolling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Africa needs real help. Not from us, but from their own hard work.

      The implication here is that Africa is in trouble, to whatever extent that's actually true, due to their own laziness. Is that what you meant, or is that just an unfortunate side-effect of your lack of care over the words you use?

      Could it possibly be your own "victim narrative" hypersensitivity and the potential fact that you would not have made such an objection if the poster had suggested that the inhabitants of Iceland need to work harder to solve Icelandic problems? Plus there's the "thrill" of a potential "slam-dunk victory" of putting someone else on the defensive by implying they are a racist, making you ever so righteous and them so very wrong, ah the ego....

    11. Re: Trolling by _Sharp'r_ · · Score: 4, Informative

      Blacks in the U.S. had a much lower rate of fatherless homes and crime before the "War on Poverty" started in 1964 and the government took over as the "Dad" in families, incentivizing single motherhood. In 1950, the single motherhood rate for blacks was under 20%. Now it's over 70%.

      When you pay trillions of dollars per year for something over decades, you shouldn't be surprised when you end up with more of it.

      --
      The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
    12. Re:Trolling by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Who is kidding who, the IMDB review system is broken as fuck, dominated by PR=B$ stooges given one off 10 out of 10 reviews for trash under multiple accounts. This in turn generates 1 out of 10 reviews by frustrated normals who see those bullshit 10 out of 10 reviews. IMDB reviews are a waste of internet space until they remove the PR=B$ hacks. Have not seen the movie, will not bother, it likely is bad because they politicised it on purpose, they knew it was bad and so the politicised it to sell it to the targeted audience ie if you don't watch this you are bad. Once they impression set in I just didn't bother with it. The PR=B$ stooges only politicise content when it is crap and that is the only way to sell it to the mug punters, as for ghost busters as for star wars as for black panther, you politicise content when there is no other to market high investment content (lots of money in, doesn't look like much will come back, oh no).

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    13. Re:Trolling by slashmaddy · · Score: 4, Funny

      At that point, with noting left to read, I wonder if /. readers will start reading TFS, or worse, TFA (shiver me timbers!)...

    14. Re:Trolling by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 1

      Nah, there are so many posts, no one reads them any more anyway.

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    15. Re: Trolling by _Sharp'r_ · · Score: 1

      What part of "The percentage of children under 18 living with an unmarried mother has increased substantially since the 1960s, with the largest increase seen among blacks" do you think doesn't support my conclusion?

      If you look back before the war on poverty (which this article doesn't go back that far), you'll see a decline for decades after the civil war.

      Maybe you should say something specific about what you think is incorrect, rather than just accusing someone of lying?

      --
      The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
    16. Re: Trolling by BlackOverflow · · Score: 1

      His link is irrefutable proof of his conclusion. It is supported with charts & graphs that show how black single motherhood has dramatically increased.

    17. Re:Trolling by Merk42 · · Score: 1

      Just re-read these after every new article to get the Slashdot comment experience:


      TRUMP WILL HANG FOR TREASON

      This article is about Microsoft, so whatever they are doing is bad because it's MiKKKro$oft.

      This article is about Firefox, they changed a thing, that is bad. Or they didn't change a thing, that is also bad. Why if I were in charge it'd be the perfect piece of software that everyone would be happy with, but even though it's open source I don't even start a project about it.

      This article is about Apple LOL "you're holding it wrong" AMIRITE?

    18. Re: Trolling by pots · · Score: 2

      The other person isn't explaining things well, but the problem with your argument is that you're taking two events, seeing correlation between those events, and assuming that the two events are related. This is not a safe assumption, no matter how much sense you might think it makes.

      For example, the article that you linked gives another possibility: "we should give less-educated women more reasons — like educational and career opportunity — to postpone motherhood." In other words, this is a suggestion that the increase in single motherhood could stem from an decline in future prospects for poor women. Something which has presumably declined disproportionately for black women over that time period. (I don't know that this is true, but the argument depends on it.)

    19. Re: Trolling by zugmeister · · Score: 1

      Well, it started as cute / amusing, then degenerated into the usual tap-dance. White people are bad, blacks are victims because slavery. Yawn. Just another liberal racist* doing his thing, nothing to see here.

      *Yes, the act of characterizing all people because of their skin color is bigoted and racist. Even if you're on the left!

    20. Re:Trolling by Shotgun · · Score: 1

      The premise is that the Wakandans were wrong in their behavior. The conclusion of the movie flatly states as much.

      If it is social commentary, the theme of the movie seemed to be that black people are responsible for improving lives of black people. I found it to be a very right leaning narrative.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    21. Re:Trolling by ooloorie · · Score: 1

      If it is social commentary, the theme of the movie seemed to be that black people are responsible for improving lives of black people. I found it to be a very right leaning narrative.

      Perhaps. At the same time, Wakanda's wealth derives from control of natural resources, which is a rather left-leaning narrative.

      And even what you mention doesn't strike me as "right leaning". Saying that "black people (as a group) are responsible for improving lives of black people (as a group)" is some kind of weird progressive, segregationist racial theory.

      American conservatives say that "individuals are responsible for improving their own lives", period. Race simply has nothing to do with it.

    22. Re:Trolling by Macgrrl · · Score: 1

      > OMG! You mean there isn't really a country in the middle of Africa with cloaking technology and magical super-metal that can do almost anything you can imagine? I had no idea that it was all a lie! FAKE NEWS! FAKE NEWS! Well there is, but it's cloaked, and if we told you about it we'd have to kill you to keep it secret.

      --
      Sara
      Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
    23. Re:Trolling by yuriklastalov · · Score: 1

      You are all cows. Cows say moo. MOOOOOOOOOO! MOOOOOOO! Moo cows MOOOOOOO! Moo say the cows. YOU COWS!!

    24. Re: Trolling by _Sharp'r_ · · Score: 1

      That's only if you assume that article is the only evidence. The link was just a quick google result meant to just show the correlation, because many people who blame the legacy of slavery, or racism, or something inherent with blacks don't realize crime, poverty and single motherhood had already gotten much better 100 years after slavery, before the welfare state war on poverty. None of the "explanations" commonly given in left-wing nor in racist circles even correlate with the timeline of the facts, let alone explain them.

      Here's a summary from Dr. Thomas Sowell, noted black Harvard educated (pre-affirmative action) economist. Here's a longer, more detailed look at the issue from City Journal. If you want even more detail, including academic studies and citations, the best source is Sowell's books “Wealth, Poverty, and Politics" and “Vision of the Anointed”, but I obviously can't link you to a free to read copy of those. Here's someone who tried to summarize part, including some of the references to other countries which experienced the same issue, making the theory replicable.

      I think there is definitely some room for additional contributory explanations like the "war on drugs" as well, although the timing on that doesn't match up as well for an inflection point. If you think about it, lacking education and career opportunities is silly as an explanation, unless you think those were improving for black women until the 1950s, but with the Civil Rights Act and such in the 60s, suddenly it all started getting much worse? Somehow I don't think that is going to hold much explanatory power. Correlation doesn't prove causation, but you do need at least some correlation in order to consider something for such a dramatic causation. When the same correlations occur in other countries like England and among other races (like whites), the pattern becomes pretty obvious.

      The impacts of similar laws are demonstrated as recently as 1999 in Britain. I couldn't find a direct link to the journal article itself, but in news article summary: 'The prestigious Journal of Economics has published "The Effect of In-Work Benefit Reform in Britain on Couples: Theory and Evidence"'showing "the introduction of the Working Families Tax Credit has increased the divorce or separation rate by a staggering 160 per cent among women married to or living with a partner who either does not work, or who earns very little because he works part-time."

      There is literally a ton of related evidence, not just a single correlation. Most anyone who has honestly researched the various timings, effects and related welfare system laws can see the same thing, it's not a big mystery, although it does tend to quash some people's kneejerk reactions of slavery, racism or some inherent racist characteristic.

      --
      The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
    25. Re: Trolling by _Sharp'r_ · · Score: 1

      The comment about "only evidence" was in response to the question about it showing correlation. Since he wanted more info, I gave him more info. That in no way agrees with the "initial response" which stated the link in no way supported my point. Quite the opposite.

      Also, your link actually says Sowell is committed to empiricism, among the other opinions of the anonymous wiki writers. You can also tell by the tone of the article that the people writing it don't know anything about economics, for example. You know, the field Sowell got his National Humanities Medal for, as well as his Doctorate in, as well as taught in at major universities for decades. Try arguing with his empirical research, rather than citing someone's anonymous opinion. Oh, that's also you, isn't it?

      In summary, please learn basic reading skills. I won't be responding to any more anonymous coward trolls on this thread.

      --
      The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
    26. Re:Trolling by KingBenny · · Score: 1

      clearly didnt stop it from topping the box office in about the same space as the top 10 most torrented lol

      --
      Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
    27. Re: Trolling by _Sharp'r_ · · Score: 1

      Read up on marginal cost in economics.

      The extra money for being a single Mom isn't the only reason, i.e. it's not sufficient by itself, but it is enough to push many people over the line between getting married and not getting married, and to remove some of the stigma.

      So if before someone unmarried were to get pregnant and then say "You need to marry me and help take care of this kid", with extensive government benefits in the mix, they're much more likely than before to say "You're too much trouble, I'll just take what I can get in paternity payments and with food stamps, free health care, section 8 rent and some cash just make do with that."

      The implication isn't that people are going to go out and have kids unmarried on purpose just for the benefits all the time, just that it's enough to make a the marginal difference in lots of people's decision-making around getting married, keeping another kid, getting a job or not, etc...

      --
      The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
  2. because now they are the target of the reviews by nazsco · · Score: 5, Insightful

    before they had tons of dvds, they needed reviews to predict which ones to stock up.

    now they control production and presentation. they will tell you what to watch and when. and you will watch and like it.

    1. Re: because now they are the target of the reviews by nazsco · · Score: 2

      but yeah, people will also eat up the PR spin that it was because of trolls or, gasp, GDPR.

    2. Re:because now they are the target of the reviews by omnichad · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They haven't? It doesn't show in most UIs anymore. I can only give a thumbs up or down rating.

    3. Re:because now they are the target of the reviews by rh2600 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The cynicism is strong with this one.

      When they had DVDs they had to keep physical inventory, and ship physical inventory, so predicting demand was important to their logistics planning.

      Now they have unlimited inventory, and shipping is essentially instant and with zero marginal cost - so in that regard, demand prediction is less important.

    4. Re: because now they are the target of the reviews by backslashdot · · Score: 2

      âoeWagnerâ(TM)s music is a lot better than it sounds.â -Edgar Wilson Nye, 1898

      âoeThe movie is more entertaining than youâ(TM)ll feel.â -Netflix, 2018

    5. Re:because now they are the target of the reviews by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      > they will tell you what to watch and when. and you will watch and like it.

      Nope. *I* decide what and when I want to watch. And If I watch crap like Hardcore Henry I tell others about it.

    6. Re:because now they are the target of the reviews by rh2600 · · Score: 1

      The 'unlimited inventory' referred to above isn't about range, it's about stock. Ie they have an infinite number of episode 1 of house of cards, not a limited number of DVDs. Their range is whatever it is, limited or not, but this doesn't have to to with reviews.

    7. Re:because now they are the target of the reviews by azcoyote · · Score: 1

      Exactly, it's all economics. The "declining use" of reviews is simply because Netflix has long prevented reviews from appearing in their apps. They didn't want reviews, and it has little to do with trolling. They want you to watch things; they don't want to warn you not to watch things, no matter how much they suck. They want to convince you that they know what is right for you, and what is right is what they have.

      --
      Incipiamus, fratres, servire Domino Deo, quia hucusque vix vel parum in nullo profecimus.
    8. Re:because now they are the target of the reviews by omnichad · · Score: 2

      Might be a nice perk of not getting updates. If you're lucky you don't get loud autoplaying videos for each movie/series while browsing either.

    9. Re: because now they are the target of the reviews by Shotgun · · Score: 2

      And they do a crap job of that. Without previews, the only way to know what a show will be like is to check it out. Get 5 minutes in, see that it is crap because the stand up comedian thinks we should all laugh at "Trump Stoopid", and bail on it. Now it counts as "viewed" and they ask if you want to see more like it.

      I canceled my membership.

      --
      Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
      Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
    10. Re:because now they are the target of the reviews by yuriklastalov · · Score: 1

      My girlfriend laughed at me for getting angry at that abomination of a feature. You pause for a second too long to read the description and BLAMO blaring trailer in your face. No, Netflix, I don't want to watch the trailer for every goddamn trash Bollywood film you've inflated your library with, thanks.

    11. Re:because now they are the target of the reviews by omnichad · · Score: 1

      It's worse when it's not a Netflix Original and instead of trailer it's just a clip reel with bad stock music.

    12. Re:because now they are the target of the reviews by yuriklastalov · · Score: 1

      You should absolutely watch Singularity. It is not in any way a god awful abomination of a movie, nor should everyone who was involved in it be disappeared to a CIA black site (in Minecraft).

  3. Crap Recommendations by Luthair · · Score: 1

    It has a "percentage match" system that suggests titles based on previous ones you've watched, after all, so there's probably very little incentive for the platform to keep the reviews section running.

    Which of course doesn't work very well because Netflix didn't consider the fact the user stopped the video after 15 minutes and has no way to indicate they didn't like the movie

    1. Re:Crap Recommendations by TigerPlish · · Score: 1

      Netflix didn't consider the fact the user stopped the video after 15 minutes and has no way to indicate they didn't like the movie

      There are thumbs down / up buttons. I use them liberally.

      I fail to see how someone "has no way to indicate they didn't like the movie"

      --
      The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
    2. Re:Crap Recommendations by friedmud · · Score: 1

      TigerPlish has this right - plus streaming services DO use the fact that you stopped after 15 minutes.

      For instance, check out this article about why "Everything Sucks" was cancelled by Netflix: https://www.businessinsider.co...

      I've read several articles about how Spotify uses a track's "skip rate" (how many people skip it after listening to just a small amount of it) to judge whether to move it from smaller playlists up to bigger playlists - and whether or not to recommend more songs like that to you.

      Another crazy example is that Netflix pays attention to the type of _artwork_ (icon) you like to stop on or click. For any given show there are dozens of possible icons... and Netflix serves up the one it thinks will be most enticing to you: https://medium.com/netflix-tec...

      This is true "big data" - these services collect every single thing you do so they can tailor the service to you.

    3. Re:Crap Recommendations by Geekbot · · Score: 1

      I didn't realize that. I was wondering why they did not have the standard movie covers. I actually don't like it very much that they change it from the box covers I recognize. But I see the point in why they do it.

    4. Re:Crap Recommendations by brantondaveperson · · Score: 1

      It's hideous really. The artwork displayed against a movie or TV show should be at the behest of those that made the show, not algorithms that determine which image is most likely to get you hooked in. The whole thing is deeply anti-art, and logical progressions would be shows that are modified according to your tastes. Perhaps scenes are removed, or shown in a different order. Maybe different product placement is digitally inserted into the show, based on your preferred brands.

      "The internet's great poetic folly, to implement this Markov chain of recommendations. You liked this, you'll probably like that." I can't remember who said that, some fella on the radio last weekend, but it's so true. It *is* folly, and it will eventually cause things like Netflix to eat themselves, so there's nothing left. Netflix, just be true to the content. Don't put ads in for other shows (another story from last week), keep the artwork consistent. Provide proper reviews from actual critics on your site. Spin off the production company from the distribution.

    5. Re:Crap Recommendations by Wescotte · · Score: 1

      I don't see the logic in using their own artwork since it's expensive and time consuming but I have no attachment to the original marketing material and doesn't bother me if Netflix decides to change it.

      Rarely does the writer/director have any say in marketing and even if they did they most want as little to do with the process as possible. That DVD cover and poster you love so much is very likely created by something who had little to no involvement in making the actual film.

    6. Re:Crap Recommendations by brantondaveperson · · Score: 1

      Maybe that's true, maybe it isn't. Maybe the poster is an important cultural and artistic artifact, maybe it isn't. But Netflix driving headlong down this road is still a folly, automated review and recommendation systems are the death of art. They'd be far, far better off employing real critics, with real skills and real insight - rather than this piggy-backing on individual users collective daily whims.

  4. I miss the stars by bobstreo · · Score: 3, Informative

    Turd up or Turd down isn't really of any use to me.

    If it's Turds down, I'll probably never bother even putting it in my queue.

    Their recommendation system is at best, horribly broken. Anything below 92% appears to be just a wild guess at best, and a feeble attempt to draw traffic to something I have no interest in.

    There are many other different web resources to scour Netflix for things worth watching, I use instantwatcher.com
    http://instantwatcher.com/

    1. Re:I miss the stars by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      If it's Turds down, I'll probably never bother even putting it in my queue.

      You had turd up and down before as well. Ultimately even 5 star review systems tended to bias in the way of "liked / hated"

  5. Sure, blame the trolls by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 2

    I'm sure it has nothing to to with the fact that they had trouble gaming the "best guess for you" ratings on their self-produced content.

    Netflix's suggested ratings used to work extremely well, back when they were only offering third-party content - I could pretty much count on my opinion matching pretty closely with their algorithm's prediction. But then they started producing their own stuff, and amazingly it always was displayed as between 4.7 and 5 stars as their "best guess" for me - so I'd watch it, expecting something great, but most of the time the content was mediocre at best, so my actual rating would end up being 2-3 stars.

    I suspect they got rid of the star rankings because of their own show's relatively bad real-world performance - but that still left the problem of less-than-glowing written reviews. So the final solution was to get rid of those as well.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:Sure, blame the trolls by ooloorie · · Score: 1

      I'm sure it has nothing to to with the fact that they had trouble gaming the "best guess for you" ratings on their self-produced content.

      It probably doesn't help that their "self-produced content" often involved various has-been celebrities.

    2. Re:Sure, blame the trolls by TheCastro1689 · · Score: 1

      At least for movies on Demand I get to see Rotten Tomatoes and Audience Scores under the movies so I have some idea of what is garbage.

  6. Trolls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Is why we cant have nice things. Thanks again, idiots.

  7. If you can't take the heat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    delete the kitchen

  8. The wisdom of the crowd... by PhantomHarlock · · Score: 1

    Only the latest company to figure out that the wisdom of the crowds only works if the crowd is a small, thoughtful hand picked group with no trolls in it. That kind of thing simply doesn't exist in large numbers.

    Most modern tech companies are founded on the concept of making a platform - any kind of platform - where the users do all the work for them. Anything the company has to do itself at scale using humans is very costly - any kind of moderation, screening or ratings. So they'll try everything they can before taking that kind of action. It's the 'cheap and lazy' tech approach to everything, and usually results in the dumbing down of whatever the thing is. At the scales they operate at, it's also pretty much the only choice they have in many cases. With Netflix that's not really the case. There are a finite amount of titles they carry, and a solid ratings system could be effected with a little bit of moderation and professional input, in addition to user feedback.

    Reading third party professional or amateur movie critics reviews is probably the best way to get a good idea of whether you might like a show or not, as netflix' ratings and recommendations of their own shows are inherently suspect...

    1. Re:The wisdom of the crowd... by Kjella · · Score: 1

      Only the latest company to figure out that the wisdom of the crowds only works if the crowd is a small, thoughtful hand picked group with no trolls in it. That kind of thing simply doesn't exist in large numbers.

      Isn't this quite the opposite, that rather than relying on a few brown-nosing/ax-to-grind reviewers we'll just look at the actual, full user statistics? Now one good thing about Netflix collecting the viewing behaviors of everyone is that they should have a pretty good idea what other users have the same taste as me. I don't care about an IMDB-like rating telling me what "people" think, I want to know if I'll like it. I'd rather try spinning recommendations off that like here's some new shows, here's some classics you might consider, here's some divisive cult films you may or may not like, here's some popular films in the genres you watch... I wouldn't try to create any "global" scores at all.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  9. speaking of trolling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It would not be trolled that heavily if the media is not that hell-bent on forcing a "cartoon" into a social commentary. A few points for the real social justice worker (as opposed to social justice warriors).

    1. Wakanda is not real (and for that matter, very different from the real Africa).

    2. Africa needs real help. Not from us, but from their own hard work.

    3. Making Black Panther successful doesn't atone for your "sins" (if any).

    Here we have another ignorant motherfucker who has never read history, comics and thinks the Ayn Rand is insightful.

  10. What on earth? by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    before they had tons of dvds, they needed reviews to predict which ones to stock up.

    They still have physical discs, they still need to know which ones to stock... however I would guess the queue is a WAY more useful metric for what to stock as you can put un-released discs there.

    now they control production and presentation. they will tell you what to watch and when

    They no more "control" production and presentation of all movies than a third grader with a steady cam does. They offer internal selection, yes - but Netflix still provides physical discs, as I said, and you can still rate them - you just can't write out a review explaining your rating.

    Online Netflix hasn't had star ratings for like a year or more - but you can still vote thumbs up or down, and get a percentage match from other users who liked/disliked similar stuff. Even for Netflix content....

    Ask Michele Wolf how much Netflix controls what you watch, never mind how much you will like it.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  11. Sad for me... by EdZep · · Score: 2

    Definitely a loss of functionality. I read the reviews a lot, when shopping titles outside my usual fare; shopping a new genre; trying to decide whether to take a chance on an obscure title, or some B movie I'd caught wind of.

  12. Here is your answer by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Mindy Kaling, on negative reviews of all female Ocean's 11: "If I had to base my career on what white men wanted I would be very unsuccessful,” said Kaling in an interview with Yahoo.

    “And the thing about so much of what this movie is, I think white men, critics would enjoy it, would enjoy my work, but often I think there is a critic who will damn it in a way because they don’t understand it, because they come at it at a different point of view, and they’re so powerful, Rotten Tomatoes.”

    Brie Larson adds:

    “What I am saying is if you make a movie that is a love letter to women of color, there is an insanely low chance a woman of color will have a chance to see your movie, and review your movie.”

    Larson informs us that more than 63 percent of reviewers are white and male. (Almost the same percentage of women to men in university), and only 18 percent are both white and female

    Only 4.1 percent are female and from underrepresented groups

    “I don’t need a 40-year-old white dude to tell me what didn’t work about ‘A Wrinkle in Time,'” Larson added. “It wasn’t made for him. I want to know what it meant to women of color, biracial women, to teen women of color.”

    Now to my thoughts There are the reasons that quasi-official sites like Netflix are removing reviews. This is a pretty big problem, and the movie industry needs positive reviews, and the trend in movies is proving a to be a little problem. The people who make such blatantly sexist movies must hear that they are good, and if people do notlike them, they must have a a target of blame. To them, The all female Ghostbusters did not fail because it wasn't funny and because it was sexist in nature, It failed because of thos fucking teenage boys. As Kaling decrees. https://www.indiewire.com/2016...!

    What is amazing is that ability to scream about racism and sexism, and simultaneous replace it with sexism and racism so blatant and in your face that you can proclaim people pointing out the problem with your work is somehow racist and sexist. The worm ouroboros as it were.

    But anyhow, there is the problem - White males.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    1. Re:Here is your answer by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Making a movie for women isn't sexist. It doesn't hurt men.

      And the problem isn't white males. You even quoted the damn explanation of the problem but somehow saw the phrase "white male" and had some kind of Pavlovian response.

      The problem is movies being reviewed almost exclusively by people who are not the target audience and who don't understand them.

      Geeks should understand this very well. How often do critics slate great sci-fi movies that we love and which become cult classics? The views of sci-fi fan critics get buried by the ones who thought LaLa Land was better.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:Here is your answer by ooloorie · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Mindy Kaling, on negative reviews of all female Ocean's 11: "If I had to base my career on what white men wanted I would be very unsuccessful,” said Kaling in an interview with Yahoo. Larson informs us that more than 63 percent of reviewers are white and male.

      Yeah, and for a film like Ocean 11, that's probably the usual target demographic, and that demographic doesn't like having political ideology shoved down their throats when going to a movie, nor do they identify with an all female cast.

      “I don’t need a 40-year-old white dude to tell me what didn’t work about ‘A Wrinkle in Time,'” Larson added. “It wasn’t made for him. I want to know what it meant to women of color, biracial women, to teen women of color.”

      I suspect the average struggling 40-year-old white dude knows a lot more about hardship than a lily-white, ultra-privileged, ultra-wealthy, ultra-bigoted actress like Brie Larson.

      But anyhow, there is the problem - White males.

      Well, it's a problem you have to learn to live with because we aren't going away and we're not going to change. Sorry.

    3. Re:Here is your answer by ooloorie · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Making a movie for women isn't sexist. It doesn't hurt men. The problem is movies being reviewed almost exclusively by people who are not the target audience and who don't understand them.

      The people making these movies deliberately took movies targeted at male audiences and then put in an all-female cast. I think it's not surprising that "the wrong" audience watches them and then gives them a low rating.

      Furthermore, not being in the target audience doesn't mean that people have nothing to say about it. The Birth of a Nation was targeted at (and a favorite of) white males like Woodrow Wilson, but African Americans certainly had every right to comment on it and criticize it.

    4. Re:Here is your answer by djinn6 · · Score: 1

      The problem is movies being reviewed almost exclusively by people who are not the target audience and who don't understand them.

      If it was a great movie, that wouldn't have mattered. The target audience will find it one way or another.

      Of course, I don't expect much from people who blame the failure of a movie on others. Not to mention they decided the target viewership before they even knew what they wanted in the movie, so it never would've been great in the first place.

    5. Re:Here is your answer by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Making a movie for women isn't sexist. It doesn't hurt men.

      I have no problem if there is a movie made that shows women roasting men on spits and feasting on their testicles. If they choose to hunt man like some folks hunt elephants and tied up lions that are tame. Let's get that straight. Then again, I'm not going to condemn men if they take umbrage at that.

      And the problem isn't white males.

      How do you do that complete discarding of evidence? All of those quotes I posted exactly lay the problems with the all female reboots directly at males. Directly at white males to be specific. Kaling and Larson specifically blamed white males and white male reviewers. Denying that is the same level of cognitive dissonance as a Fox News viewer.

      Let us analyze the statement that Brie Larson made regarding just who was the problem.:

      “Am I saying I hate white dudes? No, I am not,” Larson said Wednesday night when accepting the Crystal Award for Excellence in Film at the Women in Film Lucy and Crystal Awards. “What I am saying is if you make a movie that is a love letter to women of color, there is an insanely low chance a woman of color will have a chance to see your movie, and review your movie.”

      “I don’t need a 40-year-old white dude to tell me what didn’t work about ‘A Wrinkle in Time,'” Larson added. “It wasn’t made for him. I want to know what it meant to women of color, biracial women, to teen women of color.”

      Larson went on to say that while “it sucks that reviews matter,” the fact that reviews can greatly help or hurt a film’s success is just that — a fact of the industry."

      Tell me just what that means? Let us work our way backwards.

      Larson says that reviews , good or bad are a critical influence, and that this is a fact. (I disagree with that, but as a white dude, that would be mansplaining, therefore wrong)

      Okay - reviews are critical. next up is the concept that a movie that is made specifically and only for women should not have criticism at all from those other entities that the movie was not made for.

      So now we have that Reviews are a make or break, and that "40 year old white dudes should not be allowed to make commentary upon those movies. This is obvious because these movies must make money to continue to be made. Bad reviews = no money. And bad reviews are apparently made by 40 year old "white dudes" that she doesn't need to hear form.

      Then finally, the incredibly obviously projection that the doesn't hate "white dudes" A far left version of projection and dog whistle. A time honored Republican tactic, starting out by denying what you are guilty of.

      You even quoted the damn explanation of the problem but somehow saw the phrase "white male" and had some kind of Pavlovian response.

      Cute.

      The problem is movies being reviewed almost exclusively by people who are not the target audience and who don't understand them.

      So it is the no one can understand but a woman card?. Tell me why a male cannot understand these movies? Only a woman can understand these movies?

      Geeks should understand this very well. How often do critics slate great sci-fi movies that we love and which become cult classics? The views of sci-fi fan critics get buried by the ones who thought LaLa Land was better.

      You answered your own question. If the all female cast of GhostBusters becomes a cult classic, or Ocean's 11 does, the films will acheive immortality not related to the reviewers. The problem though, is the definition of good. These films are made specifically for a sub group of women as some sort of signal that the fact that a previous male and female mixed cast is removed and replaced with an all female cast, and that makes the movie better. Story line

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    6. Re:Here is your answer by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The people making these movies deliberately took movies targeted at male audiences and then put in an all-female cast. I think it's not surprising that "the wrong" audience watches them and then gives them a low rating.

      And let us not forget that Ghostbusters was target at children.

      Furthermore, not being in the target audience doesn't mean that people have nothing to say about it. The Birth of a Nation was targeted at (and a favorite of) white males like Woodrow Wilson, but African Americans certainly had every right to comment on it and criticize it.

      The concept of males "not understanding" is yet another sexist idea that some women have, an extension of yet one more of their stereotypes. I watched "Steel Magnolias" a movie obviously made for women, and I "got it". I had no problem with it. Wasn't ordinarily my type of movie, but I didn't get bored and stop.

      And the biggest aspect of the movie was that there was no jarring content - the reason that the movie was overwhelmingly female starred fir right in.

      I howled at "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" Another "chick flick" that ended up crossing over to allowing everyone to enjoy it - it made good sense.

      These are good stories, shot and edited well.Touching and both touching and funny. I suppose some of our more radical posters would see some sort of Patriarchal contamination in me just mentioning 2 movies about wome getting married, but that's their problem - I only mention those because they were fine movies.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    7. Re:Here is your answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Hey shill, if the target audiences make up less than 15% of the potential viewer base, well that's a recipe for disaster when it comes to making money. Your group is always talking about how these minorities are poor, have no money, etc... How are they supposed to afford the $10 movie ticket, plus concession fees that they're dumb enough to fork over for?

      This isn't about people of one genre reviewing something in a different genre, which you disingenuously paint it as, but targeting people of a different race. The fact is, the black population can't gain the revenues a studio would seek with any film by itself, for example. If you weren't too busy trying to consensus crack for your handlers, you'd have an ounce of respect for yourself and not make your dumb comments.

    8. Re:Here is your answer by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      And let us not forget that Ghostbusters was target at children.

      Not really. Most of the jokes would have gone over the heads of kids. Like the original it was aimed at adults, with adult humour.

      The concept of males "not understanding" is yet another sexist idea that some women have

      It's not a question of "not understanding", it's a question of being the target audience and having experiences that make the movie relevant to you.

      I'm a bit old for Disney movies these days. I do have a certain appreciation for the old Transformers animated movie though, because it was a part of my childhood. It's not that I don't understand Disney movies, or even don't enjoy them on a certain level, but I'm probably not the guy you want to ask for advice on if they are good or not. I don't really know if you kid will like them, because I don't have any experience of being a kid in 2018.

      Of course it's not impossible for white male critics to understand these movies or even do excellent reviews of them, but if we go back to reality for a moment we find that in practice this tends not to happen. So asking for more reviews by people who are the target audience seems entirely reasonable.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    9. Re:Here is your answer by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Yeah but do those reviews get deleted? That's the problem here.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    10. Re:Here is your answer by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      Making a movie for women isn't sexist. It doesn't hurt men.

      And the problem isn't white males. You even quoted the damn explanation of the problem but somehow saw the phrase "white male" and had some kind of Pavlovian response.

      The problem is movies being reviewed almost exclusively by people who are not the target audience and who don't understand them.

      Geeks should understand this very well. How often do critics slate great sci-fi movies that we love and which become cult classics? The views of sci-fi fan critics get buried by the ones who thought LaLa Land was better.

      Then the people who are upset about that should leave more reviews. Or ignore the reviews.

    11. Re:Here is your answer by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      This is is leap of logic that makes no sense. She is clearly saying that the problem is the lack of reviews by women of colour, and the obvious solution is to publish reviews by women of colour. How does any of that require 40 year old while men to be banned from writing reviews?

      It means that at very best that the reviewer must identify their sex in order to have their review validated as acceptable or not acceptable. A white male would automatically lose validation while a non-white woman would gain validation.

      Review sites like Rotten Tomatoes work by averaging scores given by reviewers, although they already toss some low scores on movies. This means that at best, in order to marginalize the numerical value of one group, another must be promoted.

      So now identity politics has reared it's head. If these men who women do not need to see their reviews are marginalized - at best - are prohibited from reviewing or having their reviews discounted because they are males, a few problems pop up.

      What about Gay males? What about males who identify as feminists? What about trans males? What about trans females? What about the large and expanding numbers of genders

      And she is really assuming that all of her women of color will march in lockstep with her narrative.

      Finally - have the identity wars gone so far as to now exclude white women?

      Good gawd, a return to the past, where people are judged by externalities like sex and skin pigmentation!

      Fact is her racist and sexist and ageist "40 year old white dudes" statement illustrates, she doesn't want those reviews done by that group.

      Now after all of the racist and sexist rhetoric dies down a bit, Occam's razor tells us that the movies they are complaining about simply are not very good movies. Group psychology also tells us that these people are just pissed off, and looking for a convenient target to blame the failure of the movie(s) upon.

      Movies in the past have done very well or failed despite reviewers opinions. If these movies were good, they would be judged by the public on their own merits.

      I would suggest that in order to salve their wounds and achieve their goals, that they start their own review sites, populated by only the races and sexes that they believe will give accurate reviews, and exclude any that they believe will not. Then only post reviews that promote their political agenda, and suppress scores of movies that do not fit their narrative. All then will be fair and balanced.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    12. Re:Here is your answer by strikethree · · Score: 2

      I read the book, A Wrinkle in Time, when I was a kid. I loved the book. I thought it was awesome. I did not see the movie; although I wanted to. If it is not a re-creation of the book, but rather a sexist screed, should they be surprised that it failed where the book succeeded? Seriously, the book was awesome. WTF people?

      --
      "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
    13. Re:Here is your answer by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      It means that at very best that the reviewer must identify their sex in order to have their review validated as acceptable or not acceptable.

      Only if you take it to an absolutely absurd extreme which is not what is being suggested.

      Maybe when a critic notices that the movie doesn't seem to be aimed at them and realizes that they might not be the best placed person to judge its merits, they could decline to review it and let someone more suited do the job?

      No "validation" or enforcement required, just a polite suggestion.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    14. Re:Here is your answer by strikethree · · Score: 1

      Making a movie for women isn't sexist. It doesn't hurt men.

      The book was not sexist. Why do you give a free pass to anti-male stuff and call it "for women"?

      The book was a story with a female as the protagonist. It was a great story. It was neither for males nor females. It was just a story that was very interesting. Why bring identity politics into it?

      I am a white male. I do not see a story about a white male and think to myself, "This must be a great book that appeals to me.", so why was a story about a white female spun as a story that appeals to women? It makes no sense.

      --
      "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
    15. Re:Here is your answer by luther349 · · Score: 1

      just stop it. the problem is there bad movies with a cast of old butched up dykes who are to old to even be in a action movie.

    16. Re:Here is your answer by luther349 · · Score: 1

      they dont understand is just a excuse for we made a shit movie and dont wanna own up to it.

    17. Re:Here is your answer by luther349 · · Score: 1

      a horrible cast that got there start in old white guy films they now bash.

    18. Re:Here is your answer by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Why do you give a free pass to anti-male stuff and call it "for women"?

      What stuff specifically are you referring to?

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    19. Re:Here is your answer by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      And let us not forget that Ghostbusters was target at children.

      Not really. Most of the jokes would have gone over the heads of kids. Like the original it was aimed at adults, with adult humour.

      To be certain, I'm speaking of the original "Ghostbusters" My attic full of Ghostbuster toys and my son and his friends playing with them and their anxious wait for the new movies and two competing cartoon shows would indicate that they were indeed children's movies. That they had adult jokes that children might not get is not unusual in children's movies.

      The concept of males "not understanding" is yet another sexist idea that some women have

      It's not a question of "not understanding", it's a question of being the target audience and having experiences that make the movie relevant to you.

      Well then, tell the moviegoing public which films that are allowed to see or not see and which ones the holder of penises are allowed to comment on.

      Sorry Animojo, but you are ignoring the very attitudes and commentary of the specific women involved in the demand to exclude males from reviewing these women only films.

      I deny your claim that women are saying men don't understand. Mindy Kaling:

      On the subject of Ocean’s 8, Kaling said: “And the thing about so much of what this movie is, I think white men, critics would enjoy it, would enjoy my work, but often I think there is a critic who will damn it in a way because they don’t understand it, because they come at it at a different point of view, and they’re so powerful, Rotten Tomatoes.”

      White men AKA White - race, AKA men, Sex There was a time when calling out an entire sex was considered sexist, and an entire race of members of that sex was considered racist, - and please elaborate how "they don't understand it" is not sayingf that these white men do not understand it. Looking forward to your rebuttal of Mindy Kaling.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    20. Re:Here is your answer by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      they dont understand is just a excuse for we made a shit movie and dont wanna own up to it.

      Occam's razor says it is true. One of the worst avenues to improve is to refuse to take telling.

      Ocean's 8 received a 67 percent favorable rating with professional reviewers, and a 47 percent among non-professionals. https://www.rottentomatoes.com... Okay - mixed reviews. But perhaps rather then simply demanding that everyone love the movie, perhaps instead of telling anyone who had a criticism of it they are white males, therefore not relevant, and that the movie "wasn't for them" and that because they are white males, they were not capable of understanding the greatness of the movie, and that their opinion means not one thing......

      Perhaps rather than a "fuck you" to 49 percent of the audience, they might ask exactly why a large part of that 49 percent has an issue with the movie. Shouldn't movies not exclude people by sex? But we have moved way beyond inclusivity, and into attempted domination.

      Pointing out Kaling's misandry and racism should never be verboten, opposing female supremacists should be as important as pointing out white supremacists. A lot of people don't want to hear it, but a female supremacist and a white supremacist's brains think the same way, they only have a different group they demand be subjugated.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    21. Re:Here is your answer by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      I read the book, A Wrinkle in Time, when I was a kid. I loved the book. I thought it was awesome. I did not see the movie; although I wanted to. If it is not a re-creation of the book, but rather a sexist screed, should they be surprised that it failed where the book succeeded? Seriously, the book was awesome. WTF people?

      The trend is pandering not to people who want inclusivity or equality. The modern trend is toward females being elevated to gender and race based supremacy.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    22. Re:Here is your answer by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      It means that at very best that the reviewer must identify their sex in order to have their review validated as acceptable or not acceptable.

      Only if you take it to an absolutely absurd extreme which is not what is being suggested.

      How will the women who are angry at white males reviewing films that are not made for white males know that the white males and their negative reviews are being kept from negative revieiwing these movies? How do you propose keeping men from making negative reviews? It has to be remembered that sites like Rotten tomatoes have two groups. A professional group that it is possible to remove males from and replace them with women of color, who are vetted for a predisposition to rate female only films in the way that is acceptable, and non-professionals. With these non-professionals, there will need to be a different way to exclude men from making reviews. Otherwise, the professional reviewers who are now politically reliable will deviate even further from the males, and their wrong reviews.

      Maybe when a critic notices that the movie doesn't seem to be aimed at them and realizes that they might not be the best placed person to judge its merits, they could decline to review it and let someone more suited do the job?

      No "validation" or enforcement required, just a polite suggestion.

      Oh my - that just goes to show how sexist those who claim to oppose sexism have come. You concept that I am not capable of making a criticism of a movie because it is geared toward women is just that. I trust your bizzare self censorship model includes women excluding themselves from movies that might be aimed at men? IOW, you would tell Mindy Kaling to keep her mouth shut because she doesn't understand the first Ocean's movies?

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    23. Re:Here is your answer by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I'm speaking of the original "Ghostbusters" My attic full of Ghostbuster toys

      It was the 80s, they made Robocop toys and a cartoon... Despite the film being very much adults only. I mean, there was some pretty strongly implied oral sex at one point, and I remember how conservative ratings were in the 1980s US...

      Well then, tell the moviegoing public which films that are allowed to see or not see and which ones the holder of penises are allowed to comment on.

      Surely if they read the review and it was talking about how the movie was really relevant to black people they could just decide if that was something that interested them or not.

      I think white men, critics would enjoy it, would enjoy my work, but often I think there is a critic who will damn it in a way because they donâ(TM)t understand it

      She says there are white men who would enjoy it... And then you claim she is blaming the entire white race. That is not a logical chain of reasoning.

      And really, she couches that statement is such soft language, and speaking off the cuff. You are reading a lot into it that isn't there.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    24. Re:Here is your answer by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      I think white men, critics would enjoy it, would enjoy my work, but often I think there is a critic who will damn it in a way because they donâ(TM)t understand it

      She says there are white men who would enjoy it... And then you claim she is blaming the entire white race. That is not a logical chain of reasoning.

      And really, she couches that statement is such soft language, and speaking off the cuff. You are reading a lot into it that isn't there.

      Not dissimilar to a white supremacist saying he isn't racist. You take the totality of ther statement, not that she thinks that white men, critics would enjoy it. Cherry picking is something best reserved for AGW deniers, and creationists.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    25. Re:Here is your answer by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      I think white men, critics would enjoy it, would enjoy my work, but often I think there is a critic who will damn it in a way because they donâ(TM)t understand it

      She says there are white men who would enjoy it... And then you claim she is blaming the entire white race. That is not a logical chain of reasoning.

      And really, she couches that statement is such soft language, and speaking off the cuff. You are reading a lot into it that isn't there.

      Not dissimilar to a white supremacist saying he isn't racist. You take the totality of ther statement, not that she thinks that white men, critics would enjoy it. Cherry picking is something best reserved for AGW deniers, and creationists.

      I forget to add, the old chestnut "I'm not a racist - I have plenty of Negro friends!" a favorite of people claiming that they aren't racist.

      Do you not understand the sandwich concept? You weight the start and finish heavily, and the fluff in the middle very little. It's a great way to decipher the bafflegabe spouted by many. I try to avoid it myself, but it tends to creep in to racists and sexists statements, such as her saying she wouldn't have a career if it was up to white males. That is the important statement Anyhow - I understand your point. You are a feminist or feminist supporter. All statements that do not support that narrative must be discarded.

      Kind of reminds me of the "wedge concept" used by creationists and intelligent design believers. One statement for crowd A, another for crowd B.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    26. Re:Here is your answer by strikethree · · Score: 1

      I don't disagree that there were elements of religion in the book. Regardless of any literary merit, it was fun to read. I have not read it recently, but I am not the typically jaded and cynical adult, so I suspect I would still enjoy it. Many MANY books that I have read fall apart under close examination as an adult. I tend to let the delusions fly so that the story itself can be enjoyed.

      --
      "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
    27. Re:Here is your answer by strikethree · · Score: 1

      Creating a feminist agenda out of whole cloth from a story that has no side at all in the supposed Gender War that people keep trying to sustain.

      --
      "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
    28. Re:Here is your answer by strikethree · · Score: 1

      The trend is pandering not to people who want inclusivity or equality. The modern trend is toward females being elevated to gender and race based supremacy.

      Whoever is doing that shit needs to stop. If there is an all out war between males and females, it is obvious what the conclusion will be. In the meantime, they are making life miserable for millions, possibly billions of people on this planet.

      --
      "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
    29. Re:Here is your answer by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Gender... War?

      What?

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    30. Re:Here is your answer by strikethree · · Score: 1

      Right. You are under the impression that it is a fight for equality, not a fight for supremacy.

      Here is real inequality:

      Was out with my girlfriend. She wanted to pay for lunch. She paid for lunch. The person at the counter handed the change back to me. Why?

      That is inequality.

      An example of fake inequality for the cause of supremacy:

      There are not many female software engineers; therefore, we need to create more. Spend millions of dollars training and recruiting females. Make laws forcing females into board level positions. There are many more.

      How do I say that is supremacy and not equality? Because the females did not want to become software engineers.

      Why didn't they want to?

      Maybe their father taught them that it is not a female activity. The base cause could be because of gender discrimination but the solutions being proposed are just as bad and do not change the original conditions which caused a lack of female interest in being software engineers or executives.

      --
      "Someone needs to talk to the tree of liberty about its ghoulish drinking problem." by ohnocitizen
  13. How about kyword meta data instead stars by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Id rather viewers had keywords that could be tagged to shows that way we could weed out what we care not to watch...

  14. Load of Bull by cloud.pt · · Score: 1

    Everybody knows Netflix has hit peak finantial performance from sheer user-base growth alone, so they now have to cut the losses And that's mostly by reducing the number of views popular, expensive content. This is absolutely no different than what Spotify is doing with their Discover system - they will suggest you stuff based on your tastes BUT most of it will be stuff they play for cheap from their catalogue. Or worse, suggest you stuff their catalogue owners want you to listen.

    So this is not about trolls of good movies bombing them, or trolls of bad movies praising them - it's about real people giving honest reviews that will obviously troll their business model.

    You now get a thumbs up/down by percentage, which can be 1 person or 1 million, so you might be watching The Room because of its 100% rating by the sole positive rating by weird-Tommy. Ever wondered why play counts disappeared on Spotify?

    1. Re:Load of Bull by luther349 · · Score: 1

      Netflix knew the ship was sinking. its why they made all the originals. there basically becoming another hbo who did the same thing in the 90s when they figured out showing the same 10 movies in repeat for months on end was not gonna keep the subs.

  15. I can't believe by QuadEddie · · Score: 1

    Most of the reviews were like this: "I can't believe they paid that fat cow Amy Schumer real money to stand up in an outfit made of electrical tape to talk about her nasty vagina for 2 hours."

  16. Re:Mods, downvote parent troll. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

    Mods, downvote parent troll.

    That would make no difference on it's truth, and would be the same thing that Kaling et al demand, which is suppression of disagreement, especially as they say - from white males.

    Activist groups have long demanded suppression of statements that do not agree with their narrative, and when it is the truth, it needs suppressed even more. The problem of course, is that for whatever short term success it might have, the truth always comes out.

    And despite any oppression, the misandryst movies will fail because they just are not good movies.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  17. netflix, you're greenlit & transgender dragons by geekymachoman · · Score: 1

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    Or it might be because Netflix content sucks, and they don't want to have 200 movies with shit reviews on them ?
    I know that if I had a product that sucks, I would certainly hate to give people ability to comment on it.

  18. Re:netflix, you're greenlit & transgender drag by luther349 · · Score: 1

    netflicks knew the movie's where going to get ripped off there service. its why they made that massive investment on originals. they whant to be the next hbo where originals are there bred and butter and movies second.

  19. Netflix Endgame by BrendaEM · · Score: 1

    In the end, Netflix will only have one movie that exists in every category.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
  20. Let's Be Clear: Why Netflix doesn't WANT User... by CAOgdin · · Score: 1

    ...Reviews:

    They have their own pathetic and stupid (even for "ostensible" AI) rating system. It goes like this:

    "Oh, you LIKED this movie? Here are 254 other movies your SURE TO LIKE, too!!!"

    But, of course, none of them are even vaguely interesting to that viewer, because each movie has probably 10 (or more) unique features that the viewer might chose to use to select similar movies: Actors, plot-lines, Director, subject matter, characterization, music, etc, and Netflix has NO IDEA what YOUR interests are (they could probably collect historical data and figure it out, but their interest it not in YOUR satisfaction...just that you pay them each month...so ANYTHING you pick next makes them happy).

    Bogus recommendation in the extreme.

  21. Trolls! Everybody wants... by martinfb · · Score: 1

    Trolls! Everybody wants to rule the world.

    Sorry. Trolls have no place in any society.

    --


    Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.
  22. Wrinkle in Time by junkgoof · · Score: 1

    I read the book and saw the movie. I thought the movie was fine. Not as good as the book but better than many book to movie transitions. I suspect that as with most novel to screen transitions the balance between making it interesting to those who had read it while not totally losing those who had not read it was tilted toward the reader and that could put people off. I watched it with my daughter and we enjoyed it.

    I didn't find that the racial composition of the cast made a major difference to the story. Some stuff was cut, some was changed, some was added but that is necessary with adaptations.

    I'm not sure that the actress is the person with the best perspective. She played a role, she did not write or direct. The book certainly had a religious and political point of view and I think the author was OK with the adaptation.

    --
    You got me into this! You were the ideologue! I'm only a poor assassin! - Twenty evocations, Bruce Sterling
  23. Reviews & Communities are 50/50 by samjonez · · Score: 1

    Whether it's Yelp, Forums, or Netflix, the world of reviews and opinions is 50/50. Sometimes it serves a greater good. And sometimes you just get spam or people gaming the system. Its unfortunate the bad ones ruin it for the good ones.