Unusual Netflix Behavior (PC)

[jek187]

Hey everyone,
Just yesterday (5/9) I started to notice some odd behavior with my Netflix account. Here's what I've noticed:
1) My top nav has changed on a couple pages. Both my instant queue and my "suggestions for you" page now feature a link to "taste profile" in place of the link that used to be "suggestions for you". However, on my DVD queue the "suggestions for you" link is still there, and the "taste profile" link is gone.
2) When I'm on the "suggestions for you" page, Netflix used to list the total number of suggestions it has for me. This was listed as "suggestions (X)" where 'X' was the number of suggestions it has for me. This link was right below the top nav. Now that's gone, replaced by a link to "rate shows & movies".
3) There are a handful of movies that Netflix thinks I'd give a 3.9 to if they're not in my queue, and if I add them to the queue, they become 3.8s. I can add/delete them from the queue and watch the rating change back and forth.
This behavior is consistent across multiple browsers (IE, FF, and Chrome) and different PCs. I have asked a friend if his account is doing the same thing, and it's not for him.
Is this happening to anyone else? Any speculation on wtf is going on? Do I need to clarify anything else? Thanks guys.

[Netflixer82]

Yes, I just noticed this tonight and my suggestions for you option only shows when Im viewing my account page. Not sure why perhaps it has to do with how many movie/shows youve rated. Im sad to say I do not even use that option because netflix has not made a single suggestion in over a year for me .... Ive rated 3200 so far but I know I still have seen many more than that. But that is probably because my tastes do not fit into a neat box that their algorithm can predict.

[jek187]

Thanks for the response Netflixer. Unfortunately, I don't think it has to do with how many shows/movies we've rated. As I've only rated 403. My friend who's not observing this behavior has roughly the same number of rated shows (440 maybe?). Although perhaps you're on the right track here. Maybe Netflix for some reason is having problems figuring us out, and so wants us to rate more stuff? But then again, I'm not having problems getting suggestions from them, they still have 100 or so for me (rated 3.8 or higher).

I'm pretty amazed that you have 3.2k ratings and no suggestions from them. That's crazy and impressive. My wife and I always joke about what would happen if we were to run out of Netflix suggestions, and the joke is that "we win". I guess you've won.:P

Anyone else out there noticing any odd things in the past couple days? There's one other odd thing that's happened to me: On my DVD queue the "update queue" button is grayed out. The queue still updates, I just can't hit the button. However, on the Instant Queue, it's still normal.

[Stacie]

I have also noticed that my "suggestions" was replaced with "taste profile". It make sense that I might have confused netflix. I'm 25 and watch a lot of random shows. I also teach at a religous high school and use my netflix account occasionaly with the students and the films I pick at school are the complete opposite of what I would watch during my personal time. And I also let my pre-teen sister use my netflix. I'm sure netflix just cannot figure me out.

[jek187]

I can definitely see how that would confuse Netflix Stacie. So, currently working with a whopping sample size of three (or maybe 2.5...I think we're pretty consistent in how we rate stuff), the hypothesis seems to be that if you're too inconsistent for Netflix, they try and goad you into rating more movies by click "Taste Profile" instead of getting suggestions.

I'd also say it looks probable that at some point last week, they ran accounts through an algorithm, and those that it deemed to be confusing, it flagged to try and get more information.

I wonder if anyone out there has seen this stuff happen, and then rated enough movies to make it go back to normal. Of course, a sample size of more than three would also be helpful, so I'd like to hear from anyone else out there seeing this behavior. Maybe the more things we notice, the better we can narrow down what's going on here.

[Netflixer82]

Ok just got off the phone with netflix because the suggestion option completely disappeared for me on every page. The jist of the response was they made a change to make it more "convenient" by having suggestions pop up when you rate movies. Silly thing is this would happen before the change. He had to actually ask his supervisor because they did not tell everybody about it. He said he himself hadnt notied the change either and hes been a customer as well for years.
It seems odd to me but by sounds of it netflix just assumed nobody used it or liked it so they were in the process of changing it and we noticed it. Does anybody still have the suggestions option? Because Im curious if they actually told me the truth or just gave me an answer to get rid of me hahahaha... Either way Im satisfied enough with the answer they gave me, its not like the site actually made suggestions anymore at least for me.

[jek187]

Thanks for filling us in on the phone call call Netflixer. I always figured if I called, it'd be futile to get actual information from whoever is manning the phone lines.
My site navigation is still the same as last week. I still have the "Suggestions for You" link on my DVD queue page. So unfortunately you were at least partially misinformed.
Also, I have had another thing change. On the left side of the 2nd row of nav (the smaller row) it's gone back to listing my total number of suggestions again. However, it's gone from listing me having 100+ to now just 57.
Who knows what's going on.

[me sayz]

Stacie wrote:

I have also noticed that my "suggestions" was replaced with "taste profile". It make sense that I might have confused netflix. I'm 25 and watch a lot of random shows. I also teach at a religous high school and use my netflix account occasionaly with the students and the films I pick at school are the complete opposite of what I would watch during my personal time. And I also let my pre-teen sister use my netflix. I'm sure netflix just cannot figure me out.

you need to be fired for using your netflix account to show movies to students. Read netflix rules!!! Netflix is only for your personal use. You cannot use it to show movie to a classoom. I sure how you don't claim to be a christian since you are willing violating copyright laws

[jek187]

Hi Me Sayz,

I can appreciate that you feel passionate about copyright laws, but it's unfortunately a tangent not really relevant to this thread.

Have you by chance noticed any of the behavior noted in this thread?

[Bear]

I was in my instant q then scrolled up through some other genres of movies, decided to go back to my queue and scrolled completely through every suggestion, because you watched..., and everything 3 times and still couldn't find my queu again. The whole queu heading was gone, had to exit and restart Netflix to get it back. I'm on xbox