I know people are upset and they’re going “back to pirating” and this is going to cause a “lot of people to flee Netflix.” I get that this pissed a lot of people off but first and foremost,...
I know people are upset and they’re going “back to pirating” and this is going to cause a “lot of people to flee Netflix.” I get that this pissed a lot of people off but first and foremost, corporations are not your friends and they can pivot however they want. This was purely a business decision for Netflix and it was an accurate read on their market.
I know this is not a popular opinion but just want to throw it out there.
Nobody who says stuff like "well time to sail the seven seas" or whatever is ever representative of the broader market. A lot of normal people don't know how to torrent, and even if they do they...
I know people are upset and they’re going “back to pirating” and this is going to cause a “lot of people to flee Netflix.”
Nobody who says stuff like "well time to sail the seven seas" or whatever is ever representative of the broader market. A lot of normal people don't know how to torrent, and even if they do they prefer the convenience of something like Netflix. There's no learning curve, you don't have to wait to download something, people will cough up 7 bucks a month to get Netflix with ads (or 16 to get it without ads) because they don't have to do anything, it's already downloaded on like every smart TV.
Even if you know how to torrent sometimes getting access to invite only sites can be difficult. Some ISPs also crack down heavily on it unless you're doing it the right way with end to end...
Even if you know how to torrent sometimes getting access to invite only sites can be difficult.
Some ISPs also crack down heavily on it unless you're doing it the right way with end to end encryption.
Hell, I know how to torrent, have access to the right sites and even know how to set up the media servers, transcoding, etc for whole home streaming and I still use Netflix because it's still more convenient.
I disagree with their move to block password sharing but I never did that anyways. So until they just really kill themselves with fees and roadblocks that apply to me: I'll probably just keep my Netflix subscription.
I've done it for years with just public trackers. Getting an invite is difficult indeed but not required to be independent of streaming services. But.. I can't store as much as Netflix can so...
Even if you know how to torrent sometimes getting access to invite only sites can be difficult.
I've done it for years with just public trackers. Getting an invite is difficult indeed but not required to be independent of streaming services.
But.. I can't store as much as Netflix can so people I share the account with do still use it.
I've been massaging the idea of switching streaming services to a cheaper one and I think that may be successful.
Public trackers stop being sufficient the moment you need foreign language channels and/or good subtitle files. 4K very soon after initial release can also be a problem on public trackers, same...
Public trackers stop being sufficient the moment you need foreign language channels and/or good subtitle files. 4K very soon after initial release can also be a problem on public trackers, same for "historic" movies or shows.
Well.. yeah all of that is true but I don't have any access to a private tracker. I did say that public trackers are sufficient and not good. Even still, it provides me with enough options to fill...
Well.. yeah all of that is true but I don't have any access to a private tracker.
I did say that public trackers are sufficient and not good.
Even still, it provides me with enough options to fill a Plex environment.
Piracy is sort of no bueno on Tildes so I won't explain my setup too much, but the way I'm doing it pretty much makes it as easy as selecting a show from a list on my phone and waiting an hour.
I would prefer a private tracker because it reduces noise/trash output, but I haven't been able to snatch an invite.
You make it sound like a lot more effort than it actually is. The days of private trackers is pretty much over now, and in most countries, the ISPs are pretty lenient/blind. All I do is leave my...
You make it sound like a lot more effort than it actually is. The days of private trackers is pretty much over now, and in most countries, the ISPs are pretty lenient/blind. All I do is leave my laptop on overnight and it takes maybe a couple hours tops to download a high quality torrent of a long running TV show.
All you have to do is find a site (not naming any on here), download qbittorrent, and copy in the magnet link whenever you see something you like.
I use Jellyfin myself, but I'm sure most people, especially those living on their own, would be more than happy to just watch in VLC straight out of file browser, so your whole 3rd paragraph is pretty much nonsense.
See, this is the bit where that whole process breaks down for me. The point of streaming services is that I don't need to seek out what I like. I don't watch much tv but my wife, for example, can...
All you have to do is find a site (not naming any on here), download qbittorrent, and copy in the magnet link whenever you see something you like.
See, this is the bit where that whole process breaks down for me. The point of streaming services is that I don't need to seek out what I like. I don't watch much tv but my wife, for example, can just flick through various shows until she finds something interesting to binge. I can flip through age appropriate stuff for my kids. My batty aunt gets her trashy reality tv served up to her by the algorithm. My battier mum gets her period dramas. Everything works on all the devices my family uses because the apps are optimised.
The only thing I need to do in all this is pay about a hundred bucks(SGD not USD) a month for Netflix, Disney+, HBO and Amazon prime combined. It is ridiculously convenient and I have more than enough stuff to deal with on a daily basis already.
but I'm sure most people, especially those living on their own, would be more than happy to just watch in VLC straight out of file browser, so your whole 3rd paragraph is pretty much nonsense.
This is both a little rude and a massively sweeping assumption
It's not about just the algorithm. It's about not doing another tech thing just to turn my brain off. I don't watch Netflix expecting engagement; I get plenty of that at work. I also don't like to...
It's not about just the algorithm. It's about not doing another tech thing just to turn my brain off. I don't watch Netflix expecting engagement; I get plenty of that at work. I also don't like to jump through hoops for content. I'm already maintaining my RPi, a small server at home, a couple cloud ones... It gets tiresome. 15 year old me had the time and energy for it, 40 year old me just doesn't.
This, honestly, is true for a lot of things as I get older. Could I save myself a few dollars by torrenting? Of course. Do I prefer the convenience of Netflix even if I have to pay $12 a month?...
15 year old me had the time and energy for it, 40 year old me just doesn't.
This, honestly, is true for a lot of things as I get older. Could I save myself a few dollars by torrenting? Of course. Do I prefer the convenience of Netflix even if I have to pay $12 a month? You bet!
I think this works in a more homogenous media environment but when the household watches content in English, Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, and Korean finding out stuff via word of mouth is a bit hit...
I think this works in a more homogenous media environment but when the household watches content in English, Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, and Korean finding out stuff via word of mouth is a bit hit and miss apart from the major media events on the scale of Rings of Power or House of the Dragon.
Even though I with some planning could know in advance what I want to watch, I still need a reliable setup that makes the content easily available on my TV, my tablets and phone - keeping the...
Even though I with some planning could know in advance what I want to watch, I still need a reliable setup that makes the content easily available on my TV, my tablets and phone - keeping the progress and history in sync, having the correct sound and subtitles and so forth. I could probably do this, but I don't see the time and effort is worth the hassle to save maybe €40 a month.
Jellyfin does metadata, progress and subtitles automatically. Best part is that it's free! You just need an old computer running the server and you can mostly leave it alone forever.
Jellyfin does metadata, progress and subtitles automatically. Best part is that it's free! You just need an old computer running the server and you can mostly leave it alone forever.
This has not been my experience. 10 years ago I used to torrent TBs of media with impunity but now, even with months between and even over super obscure material I instantly get a letter and,...
The days of private trackers is pretty much over now, and in most countries, the ISPs are pretty lenient/blind.
This has not been my experience. 10 years ago I used to torrent TBs of media with impunity but now, even with months between and even over super obscure material I instantly get a letter and, once, even a phone call explicitly warning me about illegally downloading and distributing copyrighted material. I was told by two ISPs (Cox and Spectrum) that if I get X number of warnings a year they will be forced to terminate my service.
I've pretty much stopped because of it since I don't want to deal with VPNs and my Plex server already has a lot of stuff on it.
This is also another issue. With Netflix I don't have to wait overnight to watch a show. I can just watch it right away. Your comment basically just described why streaming services are far more...
All I do is leave my laptop on overnight and it takes maybe a couple hours tops to download a high quality torrent of a long running TV show.
This is also another issue. With Netflix I don't have to wait overnight to watch a show. I can just watch it right away. Your comment basically just described why streaming services are far more convenient for the average person.
I think between fracturing of services, series cancellations, not being released on physical media and media series being locked up (Infinity Train, etc) , I think more tech savvy people are...
I think between fracturing of services, series cancellations, not being released on physical media and media series being locked up (Infinity Train, etc) , I think more tech savvy people are starting to torrent/usenet/stream record.
It's so dumb that you have to have like 2 or 3 streaming services to watch 1 show because Peacock has season 1-4, Netflix has 5-6 and Peacock or someone else has season 7. (Outlander is like this). Before Disney+ sI remember ome of the Marvel movies were like that. Thor 1 was available on service 1, Thor 2 on service 2. It was a huge PITA to try to watch the series before Thor 3 came out.
It's not that hard to set up an Emby server that is automatically fed files from Sonarr and Radarr. Torrenting and hosting a media server is so much easier than it used to be. And... Use a VPN for...
It's not that hard to set up an Emby server that is automatically fed files from Sonarr and Radarr. Torrenting and hosting a media server is so much easier than it used to be.
I think a lot of people are pirating via online movie streaming sites which are pretty easy to access (I won't link to any specimens here but they can easily be found by a quick web search) and...
A lot of normal people don't know how to torrent, and even if they do they prefer the convenience of something like Netflix.
I think a lot of people are pirating via online movie streaming sites which are pretty easy to access (I won't link to any specimens here but they can easily be found by a quick web search) and not really any more or less convenient than Netflix (except that they have more content).
I voted your post regardless of the truth annoying me. But you are right. I quit Netflix years ago due to their "shitification" of themselves, but it always hurts watching these companies double...
I voted your post regardless of the truth annoying me. But you are right. I quit Netflix years ago due to their "shitification" of themselves, but it always hurts watching these companies double down on garbage thinking.
Opinions be damned, the numbers tell the story and Netflix was clearly right. I've gone back to pirating because I simply can't afford to subscribe to half a dozen services (or more), but I still...
Opinions be damned, the numbers tell the story and Netflix was clearly right.
I've gone back to pirating because I simply can't afford to subscribe to half a dozen services (or more), but I still haven't cancelled Netflix. Their cost may get me to the point where I do a 1-3 month round robin of services over the course of a year to binge, first Apple+, then Netflix, then Prime, then HBO, etc. But I'm not sure when it'll get to that point personally. Netflix just has so much content; I can almost always find something I want to watch on it for me or my kid.
I got to the point of doing that a couple of years ago. I just wasn't watching enough TV to justify having multiple subscription services. I keep YouTube Premium as I do watch a lot of content on...
I got to the point of doing that a couple of years ago. I just wasn't watching enough TV to justify having multiple subscription services.
I keep YouTube Premium as I do watch a lot of content on there, plus I use Google Play Music.
But then I would sub to Netflix for a few months. Long enough to catch up on any shows I wanted to watch. Then if I found myself getting bored, or a show was on another service I didn't have, I'd can the Netflix sub and go to Hulu, or whatever.
I did move in with my girlfriend this year though, and she watched enough Netflix that she keeps a permanent subscription, so I get to steal that.
I have gone back to Piracy, at least for movies though. If there's a movie I want to watch, and it's not on Netflix I'll steal it from the internet but that's more about convenience than anything.
My drive for acquiring movies mainly comes from hitting Just watch to find out where I can watch the movie I want to watch only to find out it's available for rent only on Apple TV or something...
My drive for acquiring movies mainly comes from hitting Just watch to find out where I can watch the movie I want to watch only to find out it's available for rent only on Apple TV or something equally stupid.
I'll freely admit it's not any kind of moral grandstanding. I just want to know that when I'm going try to watch Vampire's Kiss that I won't need to play streaming roulette.
Same. I watch my favorite shows every 5 years or so. Each time they move to a different streaming service and I got tired of it. I finally just bought them on Blu-ray/DVD and ripped them into...
Same. I watch my favorite shows every 5 years or so. Each time they move to a different streaming service and I got tired of it. I finally just bought them on Blu-ray/DVD and ripped them into Plex. Now I always know where they are. I also found that collecting movies/tv shows (especially rare ones) is almost as fun to me as watching them.
I just don't watch enough TV. I'm not even watching anything made this decade right now, I'm halfway through TNG for the 37th time. I haven't been grabbed by any new shows this year, and I spend...
I just don't watch enough TV. I'm not even watching anything made this decade right now, I'm halfway through TNG for the 37th time.
I haven't been grabbed by any new shows this year, and I spend more time on YouTube anyway. Still, sometimes I want to watch a movie or stream something for background entertainment. I pay a few dollars for a debrid service and stream through a desktop client that is far from perfect. It's good enough though. I strive to keep my life as free of faff as possible. I cannot stand faffing about. The faff-reward ratio here is within acceptable range.
That is where streaming services lose me. Convenience is the sole driving force here. When I have to juggle 3 different subscriptions and some premium channels on each service to see all the things I want to see, they've defeated their own selling point.
You're 100% on the money. People spend entirely too much time online and live in this constant feedback loop which they think is reality when its not. Pretty much anything on Reddit is just...
You're 100% on the money. People spend entirely too much time online and live in this constant feedback loop which they think is reality when its not. Pretty much anything on Reddit is just saturated with a specific mindset. So much so that people defend piracy. Telling someone they shouldn't pirate a videogame and they're not entitled to play every game that comes out if they cannot afford them is actually a controversial opinion and will get you downvoted--heavily.
As long as it's not your money on the table? Sure. How many of your friends are salaried as opposed to holding a piece of the pie? I developed software for a living years ago, I didn't personally...
Dude, I actually worked in the entertainment industry, I have friends in the video game industry, not a single one of us cares if you pirate a game or movie. We are not threatened and we know that piracy or a lack of it is what's going to make or break our careers.
As long as it's not your money on the table? Sure. How many of your friends are salaried as opposed to holding a piece of the pie?
I developed software for a living years ago, I didn't personally mind some piracy but it was still a concern, enough to spend time integrating a licensing scheme. Otherwise what's the point? My earnings came directly from sales.
I get that capitalism left untethered will kill us, but let's not pretend we don't need money to live.
I understand; that was the whole point of my reply. It's easy from that standpoint to say "we creators don't care about piracy", but yours is not the voice of creators actually going all in and...
us artists get paid whether or not the movie does well
I understand; that was the whole point of my reply. It's easy from that standpoint to say "we creators don't care about piracy", but yours is not the voice of creators actually going all in and risking their livelihoods for their art. In that case, yeah, piracy matters a whole lot more.
Like the Hogwart's Legacy protests. Surely everyone was going to protest that only for it to sell like gangbusters. Happens all the time. When you have no connection to normal people it's...
People spend entirely too much time online and live in this constant feedback loop
Like the Hogwart's Legacy protests. Surely everyone was going to protest that only for it to sell like gangbusters.
Happens all the time. When you have no connection to normal people it's difficult to realize nobody really cares about any of this.
I care a lot about opposing Rowling's rhetoric but this game is pretty low on my list of unethical purchases compared to most other things I buy. Not because trans folks are lesser, but because so...
Exemplary
I care a lot about opposing Rowling's rhetoric but this game is pretty low on my list of unethical purchases compared to most other things I buy. Not because trans folks are lesser, but because so many other daily evils are greater. Clothing is made by kids in sweatshops, smartphones contain highly toxic metals mined by children and impoverished people wearing zero protective gear, plastic is destroying our environment, etc.
If I was going to protest against every injustice, I would literally never leave the house. Although, I would have to because I couldn't burn the environment-destroying fossil fuels used to heat my house so I would need to go somewhere warm and mooch off someone else's environmental sin. Makes me wonder if perhaps piracy actually is okay if you're stealing from JK Rowling.
I bought the Harry Potter game. She's a billionaire whether I buy it or not. Might as well enjoy a series I love. I liked that the devs were inclusive toward trans folks (sirona). Best I can do is vote for people who support trans rights and call out bigotry when I see it. I will continue to vocally oppose JK Rowling, but I would probably go enjoy any Harry Potter media just like how I watch shows on Amazon prime even though Bezos is a piece of work.
You kind of have to approach media from a death of the author perspective these days or you'll never enjoy anything.
I disagree with you there. You rightly point out that, to some extent, 'There is no ethical consumption under capitalism'. You also are not wrong to say that within this system there are greater...
Exemplary
I disagree with you there. You rightly point out that, to some extent, 'There is no ethical consumption under capitalism'. You also are not wrong to say that within this system there are greater evils than buying something from an already famous and rich transphobe.
However, if we take a look at some of the most exploitative products we engage with, we'll notice that many of them are needs, and not wants.
Clothing: is it possible to buy ethical clothing? Probably, if you have money. If you don't, you can't just not buy clothing. As clothing is a basic human need, often there is no choice but to purchase unethical clothes.
Smartphones: Okay, this is a bit less obvious, as phones aren't a basic human need. But increasingly in this society it is harder and harder to live without a smartphone. You can so it, sure, but the impact in your life would be huge.
Heating: again, this is a basic human need.
Plastics: plastics are everywhere and they're also very cheap. It is of course possible to cut down on your plastic usage, but it can be expensive and time consuming.
The list goes on. Transportation, entertainment, and food are all things we need and must find ways to balance them in our everyday lives. Many people choose to cut meat or chocolate out of their diet because it's an easy (compared to say smartphones) way to reduce their unethical consumption.
All this to say, you have to pick your battles. And in my opinion, not engaging with Harry Potter media is one of the easier ways to reduce unethical consumption. Harry Potter based media is not a need, nor is it particularly difficult to avoid. Just because other things are worse, doesn't make supporting something less bad okay, especially when it's really easy not to support it.
Finally, regarding death of the author. I don't know where you live, but unfortunately The Author is not dead. Not in the UK at least. Rowling remains an active political force against trans people in the UK, and is a figurehead of sorts for the TERF community. She continues to damage the lives of trans people, including fostering an extremely hostile anti-trans community. One only needs to look to the death of Brianna Ghey earlier this year to see that anti-trans sentiment in this country is alive and well.
Another author we are often called to kill with death of the author is Orson Scott Card, who famously holds homophobic views. And in this case, I do feel this thinking applies. By and large, in buying Card's books you are just supporting a single homophobic man. He is not a political force, not is he socially relevant. For death of the author to be relevent, the author must be, to some extent, already dead. Rowling is not, and worse, she sees the financial support that she gets as endorsement of her views. When asked how she sleeps at night on twitter, she replied: "I read my most recent royalty cheques and find the pain goes away pretty quickly". Obviously this is slightly tongue in cheek, but it is very telling. As long as we continue to support Harry Potter, we are also supporting Rowling, her views, and her supporters, no matter how much we cry Death of The Author.
Does anyone have tips for lists of problematic culture personalities to avoid? Just thinking of Asian, South American and Middle Eastern authors, there are many, many that come above Rowling the...
Does anyone have tips for lists of problematic culture personalities to avoid?
Just thinking of Asian, South American and Middle Eastern authors, there are many, many that come above Rowling the list of my potential boycotts due to their bad ethical views. Going for just her seems arbitrary to me.
It gets way, way more complicated if you include other arts, actors, sports people, content creators and so on.
Even more so if we want to avoid food items produced on occupied land, unethical animal conditions and go the whole way with ethically problematic goods for various reasons. I can eat apples instead of oranges farmed on occupied Palestinian land, and so on.
Without some large database of personalities to avoid, this is a lot of effort for miniscule impact for me as one consumer/person/user. Even in the most rudimentary utilitarian terms, I'd help the same social causes more by spending that same time on, you know, combatting the actual issues instead of researching/boycotting public figures.
Cutting consumption of physical items reduces impact because I'm buying less. With entertainment I'm just swapping items for similar ones.
I really enjoyed your comment, as I think you make several good points. I wanted to write a longer, well-reasoned response, but it's been a long and busy day so I'll say this: you've given me...
I really enjoyed your comment, as I think you make several good points. I wanted to write a longer, well-reasoned response, but it's been a long and busy day so I'll say this: you've given me several things to think about. I think your point about the Harry Potter game being heavily in the "want" category was an excellent counterargument to my original comment. Similarly, I think you make a very solid argument about JK Rowling's level of political activism being a relevant metric to help judge whether she should get our money.
Thanks for the interesting and thought-provoking response!
The game was never going to fail due to boycotts, the boycotts were to raise awareness. It's a fucking Harry Potter game it's gonna make more money than God. But now people are marginally more...
The game was never going to fail due to boycotts, the boycotts were to raise awareness. It's a fucking Harry Potter game it's gonna make more money than God. But now people are marginally more aware of how awful Rowling is and that was the point. Even if it was only a dozen people in the world who changed their minds about buying it, that's important for awareness.
Its an interesting feedback loop. Social media wants engagement, so the type of content generated skews towards engagement (i.e. ragebait). So the type of content viewed skews towards those...
Its an interesting feedback loop. Social media wants engagement, so the type of content generated skews towards engagement (i.e. ragebait). So the type of content viewed skews towards
those engaged. That doesn't mean reality is engaged, it just means the type of content created is engaged.
Social unrest, subscription unhappiness, BLM, anti-BLM, antifa, anti-antifa. Ultimately none of its nearly as big of a deal as it is made out to be because 95+% of media is for-profit and benefits from the latest anti drag queen book reading, or school shooting, whether you care about it or not. The more they can convince you that you should care about it, the more you will, and the more they capitalize on the only metric that matters: quarterly earnings.
I'm interested to see if as Tildes matures they still have the same type of content making it to the front page compared to Reddit. People made as big stink about Netflix subscriptions, and they made a big stink about Reddit's API changes. It doesn't look like it matters for Netflix... I wonder how big of an impact there will be on reddit when the dust settles (clearly reddit is going to take longer to make sense of due to the content creator to content viewer relationship, and tools each one chooses to use for their engagement).
Interestingly the article mentions that while they blew past new subscription expectations they actually underperformed revenue expectations, and that their share price dropped 6% as a result. The...
it was an accurate read on their market.
Interestingly the article mentions that while they blew past new subscription expectations they actually underperformed revenue expectations, and that their share price dropped 6% as a result.
The article also mentioned that Netflix is saying new subscriptions are outpacing cancelations, but that doesn't say what share of households kicked off due to the crackdown ended up subscribing. It will be interesting to see how the crackdown affects viewership numbers (if Netflix even mentions that in the months ahead).
The size of the new subscriber numbers is surprising, but I don't think it's entirely unexpected that there would be a rush of new subscriptions for some percent of households that got kicked off but wanted to keep watching. The question is whether that increase will continue or whether everyone kicked off who wanted to subscribe has done so already, in which case their quarterly new subscriptions will return to pre-crackdown levels.
If that's the case then I'm not convinced they haven't shot themselves in the foot still. The large influx of subscribers is certainly good insofar as it's increased revenue, but missing revenue projections in spite of that makes me think that a high percent of those were for the lowest tier plan, which Netflix is planning to 86. How many of these new subscribers will hang around once their plan (which they've avoided paying for until now) gets even more expensive?
If it turns out that they've lost more viewers than they've gained subscribers, then they may have traded social relevance for weaker-than-projected revenue gains. Revenue gains which may not survive a pricing shakeup so soon after being established. There's already a lot of sour public sentiment over Netflix's penchant for canceling series; if their next big IP falls flat because there's less people taking about it then I can't imagine that bodes well for their long term growth.
Edit: Also, I'll be interested to see if the crackdown increases Hulu and Prime's subscribers. Just because Netflix is forcing people to finally pay for streaming doesn't mean they'll choose Netflix.
It's not a popular opinion, but it's correct. People can say they are going to leave netflix because of the password sharing drama, but there's one huge thing that netflix provides that can't be...
It's not a popular opinion, but it's correct. People can say they are going to leave netflix because of the password sharing drama, but there's one huge thing that netflix provides that can't be matched by piracy: convenience. Netflix simply provides a much more convenient and user friendly experience to it's users that most people wouldn't want to sacrifice. In the end, Netflix keeps winning, piracy's general audience remains the same, and the world keeps on ticking.
My parents used to pay for netflix and I pay for prime and we shared accounts. Since the password crackdown I decided to not make my own account. Partially because I have other services, and...
My parents used to pay for netflix and I pay for prime and we shared accounts. Since the password crackdown I decided to not make my own account. Partially because I have other services, and partially because I don't want to give in to their scheme.
However, this has really highlighted to me how awful the UI of other platforms really is. I've actually given up browsing for something to watch on them because you only see the same 20 films regardless of what arbitrary category you look at. I'll either check out my lists or just research films on other sites and use justwatch.com to see if it's available anywhere.
It was way better when everything was on one streaming service, but in the past few years everyone wanted to dip their toes into this goldmine and now suddenly streaming is actually starting to...
It was way better when everything was on one streaming service, but in the past few years everyone wanted to dip their toes into this goldmine and now suddenly streaming is actually starting to become worse than cable (i dont know how that's possible, considering streaming was supposed to be the cable killer) but corporate greed is making it so cable is becoming a better use of your money.
We still have cable at our house mainly because of sports, but there's also a few programs that we would have to pay YET ANOTHER subscription to watch, which is simply not going to happen. To be quite honest, there is no good option right now. Especially with hulu and netflix both having subscription tiers that feature ads (which was another major thing streaming had over cable), it's really becoming less and less worth it to stack up on these streaming services. You're paying for ads on multiple streaming services, the costs add up to a significant amount per month, and cable isn't really that much better in terms of value.
We as consumers basically have no good options at the present moment (besides piracy of course), and the situation does not look like it will be improving any time soon, especially with the news that netflix is still gaining subscribers. I wish I could say I was surprised, but I'm not.
It's so insane that more people subscribed to this. It's gonna lead to this type of shit across all the other platforms too. When Netflix showed you can actually benefit from the password sharing...
It's so insane that more people subscribed to this. It's gonna lead to this type of shit across all the other platforms too. When Netflix showed you can actually benefit from the password sharing crackdown it's only a matter of time before the rest of the streaming services follow suit. Really disheartening stuff.
It is insane, and it's actually hard to blame netflix for this at this point. It's entirely the end user's fault for endorsing this type of behavior by either starting new subscriptions or...
It is insane, and it's actually hard to blame netflix for this at this point. It's entirely the end user's fault for endorsing this type of behavior by either starting new subscriptions or renewing old ones.
You are right, but not entirely. Of course piracy existed for a long time, but when movie piracy started happening, yes, it wasn't easy, you also needed to know the right person who would grant...
You are right, but not entirely.
Of course piracy existed for a long time, but when movie piracy started happening, yes, it wasn't easy, you also needed to know the right person who would grant you access to FTP. But when you did, the experience was great. You could just download movies from the Internet, they were free of those unskipabble ads and trailers straight to the movie. You could play it on any device you wanted as well. And all of that was for free, you just needed to know a little bit.
Then p2p sharing apps came in and made this available to much larger number of people. You still would need to know a bit to convert that to DVD for example, but anyone knew how to play those on their computer.
Netflix became popular, because it introduced the same benefits (being more friendly toward customer, giving ability to stream to anyone, and it was affordable). So even those people who had no problem with pirating stopped, because this was more convenient.
Unfortunately that experience is degrading, publishers love exclusivity forcing people to have multiple subscriptions, jacking prices up, in many cases forcing ads. Basically it's the streaming version of the shit that customer was dealing with.
The thing is that a lot of things also changed on the piracy side since then.
For example, look at the links listed there and tell me Netflix is easier than this:
Yeah, I guess you're right. I wasn't really aware of the vast landscape of sites like that. I just really knew about p2p, guess I'm a bit behind you could say. If it's truly that easy, why are...
Yeah, I guess you're right. I wasn't really aware of the vast landscape of sites like that. I just really knew about p2p, guess I'm a bit behind you could say.
If it's truly that easy, why are people still feeding into netflix's idiocy? It doesn't make any sense, netflix isn't providing better service than these websites anymore so I do wonder what it is keeping people on their platform.
Lazy, as "don't want to change things that already work for your and are happy with". I mean you joined tildes on June 9th (I joined day later) I suspect your reason was similar to mine. Tildes...
Lazy, as "don't want to change things that already work for your and are happy with".
I mean you joined tildes on June 9th (I joined day later) I suspect your reason was similar to mine. Tildes existed already 5 years ago, yet we had no idea about it, because we weren't looking for alternatives. We were happy with reddit.
My point is that convenience is no longer the winning thing that Netflix still has. It is the inertia.
The analogy works only to a point though. I found out about Tildes because of all the buzz around people Reddxiting and when I came here I liked what I found, but it was clear at first sight that...
I mean you joined tildes on June 9th (I joined day later) I suspect your reason was similar to mine. Tildes existed already 5 years ago, yet we had no idea about it, because we weren't looking for alternatives. We were happy with reddit.
The analogy works only to a point though. I found out about Tildes because of all the buzz around people Reddxiting and when I came here I liked what I found, but it was clear at first sight that it really isn't a Reddit replacement (and isn't meant to be although it was touted as one by some people on Reddit). I like it because it feels like the '00s internet. After a brief hiatus I've gone back to Reddit because it has all my niche content in one app which while less user friendly than what I used to use, still does the job more conveniently than fiddling with Beehaw or Lemmy.
As with Netflix, just being about to point and click at one app just works.
I think you're highlighting a false or misleading contradiction. I know the password crackdown was both legal and financially sound for Netflix. That doesn't mean I care. I am entitled to show my...
I think you're highlighting a false or misleading contradiction.
I know the password crackdown was both legal and financially sound for Netflix. That doesn't mean I care. I am entitled to show my dissatisfaction as a consumer when a good deal ceases to exist.
I'm not concerned with Netflix's bottom line, that is their problem. I'm concerned with mine.
I know it's not a popular decision but I don't necessarily think Netflix is a dick for doing it. I knew people who were sharing a single account with 4 or 5 households. These were well off folks...
I know it's not a popular decision but I don't necessarily think Netflix is a dick for doing it. I knew people who were sharing a single account with 4 or 5 households. These were well off folks too, they just don't feel like entertainment is worth spending money on even if they consume a metric ton of it. Netflix is not expensive, especially compared to what it replaced.
I have too many peers making comfortable six figure salaries who just pirate everything because they don't care and it's taken away a lot of the empathy I used to have for piracy. The idea that they would simply never watch film/television or play games if piracy was not an option is asinine. If everyone decided to pirate like they did there would be nobody left to make the content they so voraciously consume.
I never understood that logic. The person using their login wasn't paying, is that not piracy if they weren't at least immediate family? It's like running a cable TV line over to your neighbors...
I never understood that logic. The person using their login wasn't paying, is that not piracy if they weren't at least immediate family? It's like running a cable TV line over to your neighbors and people are angry the cable company is cracking down on it.
That said, I might quit Netflix if they don't change their interface. All their algorithms gives me these days are stuff I don't want to watch and stuff I've already watched and I know there's a lot more it isn't showing me. At least add a proper search with filters. I just don't get why these rich companies can't implement a simple search. Amazon's search is even worse.
I feel like Steam has the right way to do it, you can filter a number of ways and even using tags. Imagine netflix copies that and the library - allowing you to put movies into your own lists and create dynamic lists that use those search filters & various ways to sort to populate it. You know, let me customize it.
Valve is directly motivated to help you find what you are looking for, because if you do, they make a sale. Netflix's motivation is much less direct. Whether you find what you are looking for or...
Valve is directly motivated to help you find what you are looking for, because if you do, they make a sale.
Netflix's motivation is much less direct. Whether you find what you are looking for or not, the financial effects (if any) are hard to measure and difficult to separate from other factors. The most likely effect is that you feel slightly better or slightly worse about continuing your Netflix subscription, but that's a very difficult thing for them to quantify and interpret.
Another benefit that Valve enjoys is that it is privately owned by just two people, which offers a lot of flexibility in deciding which features to develop. If the owners want to massively overhaul some feature, then they can just do it.
Also they are not tied to shareholders who only care about their own pockets. Private owners can run things however they want and can choose to favor a good customer experience over making 5% more...
Also they are not tied to shareholders who only care about their own pockets. Private owners can run things however they want and can choose to favor a good customer experience over making 5% more profit every year.
If you're already raking in billions, then just chill, provide a good service and ride the wave. You've made it and can have most anything you could want in life, stop fucking over millions of people who don't just so the number in your bank account increases a tiny bit and you have even more money you'll never spend on your lifetime.
My thing is, Netflix already charged extra for multiple devices. They added a profiles feature, explicitly so you could have multiple people under one account. If I pay for 4 devices, why should...
The person using the login wasn’t paying, is that not piracy
My thing is, Netflix already charged extra for multiple devices. They added a profiles feature, explicitly so you could have multiple people under one account. If I pay for 4 devices, why should it matter where those 4 devices are located, and why would it be considered piracy if one of those 4 devices is my son’s or my friend’s ?
I don't think it was a very good model to begin with. Unlimited account sharing leads to a situation where people that can concoct ways to share accounts get to pay less money, from something...
I don't think it was a very good model to begin with. Unlimited account sharing leads to a situation where people that can concoct ways to share accounts get to pay less money, from something simple like you and your ex still using the same account even after splitting, to complex schemes where a bunch of people who barely know each other get together to use the same account (pretty common in college!).
Which is just completely orthogonal to anything about the company and its service. It's like if you got a discount on your Netflix subscription if you can prove that you can bench 200 lbs. Why?
I always thought it was stupid when people said this would cause Netflix to lose subscribers. I think most people sharing passwords aren't splitting the cost AND I think that a ton of people would...
I always thought it was stupid when people said this would cause Netflix to lose subscribers. I think most people sharing passwords aren't splitting the cost AND I think that a ton of people would rather pay for a new subscription than not get to finish their shows.
I figured it wouldn't kill Netflix, but I wasn't expecting it to be this drastic. Though my manager was telling me this morning that her mom and sister both had to get their own accounts over the...
I figured it wouldn't kill Netflix, but I wasn't expecting it to be this drastic. Though my manager was telling me this morning that her mom and sister both had to get their own accounts over the weekend as they were using hers. I guess they implemented a profile transferring system, which is nice.
Not at all surprised by this. My parents used to share a Netflix account with one of my uncles and when this password crackdown was first announced, my dad was quick to say that he would just get...
Not at all surprised by this. My parents used to share a Netflix account with one of my uncles and when this password crackdown was first announced, my dad was quick to say that he would just get his own account. People love convenience and paying for Netflix is still more convenient than finding a torrent, waiting for it to download and then watching.
It's also just not that expensive, assuming you watch it a lot. I don't, which is why I cancelled my subscription, but this idea that their business model doesn't work if people aren't allowed to...
It's also just not that expensive, assuming you watch it a lot.
I don't, which is why I cancelled my subscription, but this idea that their business model doesn't work if people aren't allowed to share their $15/mo account with half a dozen other households is silly.
I think to be fair, if I was 25, just out of uni and used to splitting the costs with my roomies I might resign myself to sailing the high seas. When I was 25 there was no such thing as streaming...
I think to be fair, if I was 25, just out of uni and used to splitting the costs with my roomies I might resign myself to sailing the high seas. When I was 25 there was no such thing as streaming so we all did that.
You can watch quite a few shows online, for free, without torrents. Though it does require at least some search skills to find those places and I suppose at least some internet savvy not to end up...
You can watch quite a few shows online, for free, without torrents. Though it does require at least some search skills to find those places and I suppose at least some internet savvy not to end up somewhere too fishy.
Oh you definitely can but speaking for myself (and I suspect other older Millennials with kids) it's not worth the time it would take vs paying for everyone in the house to have whatever they want...
Oh you definitely can but speaking for myself (and I suspect other older Millennials with kids) it's not worth the time it would take vs paying for everyone in the house to have whatever they want on demand
I think something is off here. Anecdotally speaking, I've only ever heard of people around me IRL cancelling Netflix. Here they are reporting more users and declaring victory after one or two...
I think something is off here. Anecdotally speaking, I've only ever heard of people around me IRL cancelling Netflix.
Here they are reporting more users and declaring victory after one or two quarters. Let's see where they're at in two years.
Until then, all this is is coordinated PR statements for their shareholders and something for people to argue over on the internet for fun.
What's your demographic though? I'm 42 with kids and elderly family. Subscribed to HBO Go, Disney+, Amazon and Netflix. Theres tons of stuff to watch on all of them (I don't watch tv much but my...
What's your demographic though?
I'm 42 with kids and elderly family. Subscribed to HBO Go, Disney+, Amazon and Netflix. Theres tons of stuff to watch on all of them (I don't watch tv much but my family does).
I have Netflix signed in on my mum and aunts computers so they can watch it. If Netflix begins to crack down properly, I'll probably just get accounts for them. Its just down tojconvenience.
None of my elderly family use any apps, it's broadcast TV only for them. And if not that, then they have pirate IPTV boxes because piracy is actually pretty commonplace in small town Canada given...
None of my elderly family use any apps, it's broadcast TV only for them. And if not that, then they have pirate IPTV boxes because piracy is actually pretty commonplace in small town Canada given our generally reduced access to content and media.
The greater friend group is very app based but they all have access to so many other services that it's not worth keeping Netflix for one or two originals, especially not when they all have access to a Plex server or three.
Netflix has already started cracking down here so that's why many have already cancelled and not felt the need to renew or get a new subscription.
Fair enough, just different contexts. Here the boomers broadly speaking tend to be less tech savvy but everyone has at least a smartphone so apps tend to be the easiest way for them to access...
Fair enough, just different contexts. Here the boomers broadly speaking tend to be less tech savvy but everyone has at least a smartphone so apps tend to be the easiest way for them to access content since their kids can just set everything up
My only thought when they made the announcement was "they're finally going to get that free lunch." We'll see what happens in a few years, as others said, but I only see this blowing over even...
My only thought when they made the announcement was "they're finally going to get that free lunch." We'll see what happens in a few years, as others said, but I only see this blowing over even more.
This enforcement isn't even horribly inconvenient, it's a standard password/account policy that Netflix simply didn't have (it's not even in the old US TOS). I get the frustration, as well, but because of how not big an issue was, I sort of saw Netflix coming out ahead of this.
Are you trying to tell me that the droves of people threatening to ditch Netflix over this policy was a minority of crybabies who were gonna give Netflix their money anyway? Or did Netflix have a...
Are you trying to tell me that the droves of people threatening to ditch Netflix over this policy was a minority of crybabies who were gonna give Netflix their money anyway?
Or did Netflix have a hit show that spurred a 6 million boost in subs?
I'm sure many people left. The (nearly) 6 million is just the net change. I chose to stay myself because I was (still am) watching stuff on Netflix, so it seems fair and makes sense to pay the...
I'm sure many people left. The (nearly) 6 million is just the net change.
I chose to stay myself because I was (still am) watching stuff on Netflix, so it seems fair and makes sense to pay the 4€/month. I'm sure a lot of people are the same. We never said we'd ditch Netflix, and we didn't.
I stayed because my parents (who I live with) use it and I didn't want to go on a long-winded explanation to my elderly dad about how to set up his own Netflix account, when he struggles with...
I stayed because my parents (who I live with) use it and I didn't want to go on a long-winded explanation to my elderly dad about how to set up his own Netflix account, when he struggles with technology as-is.
Yeah, I think I said this on Tildes before--I could have rigged something up with my server and vpn setup to make my IP address and my brother's (the main account owner) appear the same, but my...
Yeah, I think I said this on Tildes before--I could have rigged something up with my server and vpn setup to make my IP address and my brother's (the main account owner) appear the same, but my brother works hard and has kids to take care of and I figured the savings weren't worth putting him through having to deal with the tinkering on his side.
I know people are upset and they’re going “back to pirating” and this is going to cause a “lot of people to flee Netflix.” I get that this pissed a lot of people off but first and foremost, corporations are not your friends and they can pivot however they want. This was purely a business decision for Netflix and it was an accurate read on their market.
I know this is not a popular opinion but just want to throw it out there.
Nobody who says stuff like "well time to sail the seven seas" or whatever is ever representative of the broader market. A lot of normal people don't know how to torrent, and even if they do they prefer the convenience of something like Netflix. There's no learning curve, you don't have to wait to download something, people will cough up 7 bucks a month to get Netflix with ads (or 16 to get it without ads) because they don't have to do anything, it's already downloaded on like every smart TV.
Even if you know how to torrent sometimes getting access to invite only sites can be difficult.
Some ISPs also crack down heavily on it unless you're doing it the right way with end to end encryption.
Hell, I know how to torrent, have access to the right sites and even know how to set up the media servers, transcoding, etc for whole home streaming and I still use Netflix because it's still more convenient.
I disagree with their move to block password sharing but I never did that anyways. So until they just really kill themselves with fees and roadblocks that apply to me: I'll probably just keep my Netflix subscription.
I've done it for years with just public trackers. Getting an invite is difficult indeed but not required to be independent of streaming services.
But.. I can't store as much as Netflix can so people I share the account with do still use it.
I've been massaging the idea of switching streaming services to a cheaper one and I think that may be successful.
Public trackers stop being sufficient the moment you need foreign language channels and/or good subtitle files. 4K very soon after initial release can also be a problem on public trackers, same for "historic" movies or shows.
I'm aware, I just don't have a private tracker I can use. It's fine if you filter some releases and subs are generally fine... With some exceptions.
Well.. yeah all of that is true but I don't have any access to a private tracker.
I did say that public trackers are sufficient and not good.
Even still, it provides me with enough options to fill a Plex environment.
Piracy is sort of no bueno on Tildes so I won't explain my setup too much, but the way I'm doing it pretty much makes it as easy as selecting a show from a list on my phone and waiting an hour.
I would prefer a private tracker because it reduces noise/trash output, but I haven't been able to snatch an invite.
I don't think just Googling "[movie or episode title] srt" has ever failed to find a missing subtitle file for me.
You make it sound like a lot more effort than it actually is. The days of private trackers is pretty much over now, and in most countries, the ISPs are pretty lenient/blind. All I do is leave my laptop on overnight and it takes maybe a couple hours tops to download a high quality torrent of a long running TV show.
All you have to do is find a site (not naming any on here), download qbittorrent, and copy in the magnet link whenever you see something you like.
I use Jellyfin myself, but I'm sure most people, especially those living on their own, would be more than happy to just watch in VLC straight out of file browser, so your whole 3rd paragraph is pretty much nonsense.
See, this is the bit where that whole process breaks down for me. The point of streaming services is that I don't need to seek out what I like. I don't watch much tv but my wife, for example, can just flick through various shows until she finds something interesting to binge. I can flip through age appropriate stuff for my kids. My batty aunt gets her trashy reality tv served up to her by the algorithm. My battier mum gets her period dramas. Everything works on all the devices my family uses because the apps are optimised.
The only thing I need to do in all this is pay about a hundred bucks(SGD not USD) a month for Netflix, Disney+, HBO and Amazon prime combined. It is ridiculously convenient and I have more than enough stuff to deal with on a daily basis already.
This is both a little rude and a massively sweeping assumption
Well that's fair enough. I mostly just find programmes and movies from people recommending them, but I can understand liking the algorithm.
It's not about just the algorithm. It's about not doing another tech thing just to turn my brain off. I don't watch Netflix expecting engagement; I get plenty of that at work. I also don't like to jump through hoops for content. I'm already maintaining my RPi, a small server at home, a couple cloud ones... It gets tiresome. 15 year old me had the time and energy for it, 40 year old me just doesn't.
This, honestly, is true for a lot of things as I get older. Could I save myself a few dollars by torrenting? Of course. Do I prefer the convenience of Netflix even if I have to pay $12 a month? You bet!
I'm not nearly as techy but yes, this.
Fair enough.
I think this works in a more homogenous media environment but when the household watches content in English, Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, and Korean finding out stuff via word of mouth is a bit hit and miss apart from the major media events on the scale of Rings of Power or House of the Dragon.
Even though I with some planning could know in advance what I want to watch, I still need a reliable setup that makes the content easily available on my TV, my tablets and phone - keeping the progress and history in sync, having the correct sound and subtitles and so forth. I could probably do this, but I don't see the time and effort is worth the hassle to save maybe €40 a month.
Jellyfin does metadata, progress and subtitles automatically. Best part is that it's free! You just need an old computer running the server and you can mostly leave it alone forever.
This has not been my experience. 10 years ago I used to torrent TBs of media with impunity but now, even with months between and even over super obscure material I instantly get a letter and, once, even a phone call explicitly warning me about illegally downloading and distributing copyrighted material. I was told by two ISPs (Cox and Spectrum) that if I get X number of warnings a year they will be forced to terminate my service.
I've pretty much stopped because of it since I don't want to deal with VPNs and my Plex server already has a lot of stuff on it.
This is also another issue. With Netflix I don't have to wait overnight to watch a show. I can just watch it right away. Your comment basically just described why streaming services are far more convenient for the average person.
I think between fracturing of services, series cancellations, not being released on physical media and media series being locked up (Infinity Train, etc) , I think more tech savvy people are starting to torrent/usenet/stream record.
It's so dumb that you have to have like 2 or 3 streaming services to watch 1 show because Peacock has season 1-4, Netflix has 5-6 and Peacock or someone else has season 7. (Outlander is like this). Before Disney+ sI remember ome of the Marvel movies were like that. Thor 1 was available on service 1, Thor 2 on service 2. It was a huge PITA to try to watch the series before Thor 3 came out.
It's not that hard to set up an Emby server that is automatically fed files from Sonarr and Radarr. Torrenting and hosting a media server is so much easier than it used to be.
And... Use a VPN for your torrent client.
I think a lot of people are pirating via online movie streaming sites which are pretty easy to access (I won't link to any specimens here but they can easily be found by a quick web search) and not really any more or less convenient than Netflix (except that they have more content).
I voted your post regardless of the truth annoying me. But you are right. I quit Netflix years ago due to their "shitification" of themselves, but it always hurts watching these companies double down on garbage thinking.
Opinions be damned, the numbers tell the story and Netflix was clearly right.
I've gone back to pirating because I simply can't afford to subscribe to half a dozen services (or more), but I still haven't cancelled Netflix. Their cost may get me to the point where I do a 1-3 month round robin of services over the course of a year to binge, first Apple+, then Netflix, then Prime, then HBO, etc. But I'm not sure when it'll get to that point personally. Netflix just has so much content; I can almost always find something I want to watch on it for me or my kid.
I got to the point of doing that a couple of years ago. I just wasn't watching enough TV to justify having multiple subscription services.
I keep YouTube Premium as I do watch a lot of content on there, plus I use Google Play Music.
But then I would sub to Netflix for a few months. Long enough to catch up on any shows I wanted to watch. Then if I found myself getting bored, or a show was on another service I didn't have, I'd can the Netflix sub and go to Hulu, or whatever.
I did move in with my girlfriend this year though, and she watched enough Netflix that she keeps a permanent subscription, so I get to steal that.
I have gone back to Piracy, at least for movies though. If there's a movie I want to watch, and it's not on Netflix I'll steal it from the internet but that's more about convenience than anything.
My drive for acquiring movies mainly comes from hitting Just watch to find out where I can watch the movie I want to watch only to find out it's available for rent only on Apple TV or something equally stupid.
I'll freely admit it's not any kind of moral grandstanding. I just want to know that when I'm going try to watch Vampire's Kiss that I won't need to play streaming roulette.
Same. I watch my favorite shows every 5 years or so. Each time they move to a different streaming service and I got tired of it. I finally just bought them on Blu-ray/DVD and ripped them into Plex. Now I always know where they are. I also found that collecting movies/tv shows (especially rare ones) is almost as fun to me as watching them.
I just don't watch enough TV. I'm not even watching anything made this decade right now, I'm halfway through TNG for the 37th time.
I haven't been grabbed by any new shows this year, and I spend more time on YouTube anyway. Still, sometimes I want to watch a movie or stream something for background entertainment. I pay a few dollars for a debrid service and stream through a desktop client that is far from perfect. It's good enough though. I strive to keep my life as free of faff as possible. I cannot stand faffing about. The faff-reward ratio here is within acceptable range.
That is where streaming services lose me. Convenience is the sole driving force here. When I have to juggle 3 different subscriptions and some premium channels on each service to see all the things I want to see, they've defeated their own selling point.
You're 100% on the money. People spend entirely too much time online and live in this constant feedback loop which they think is reality when its not. Pretty much anything on Reddit is just saturated with a specific mindset. So much so that people defend piracy. Telling someone they shouldn't pirate a videogame and they're not entitled to play every game that comes out if they cannot afford them is actually a controversial opinion and will get you downvoted--heavily.
As long as it's not your money on the table? Sure. How many of your friends are salaried as opposed to holding a piece of the pie?
I developed software for a living years ago, I didn't personally mind some piracy but it was still a concern, enough to spend time integrating a licensing scheme. Otherwise what's the point? My earnings came directly from sales.
I get that capitalism left untethered will kill us, but let's not pretend we don't need money to live.
I understand; that was the whole point of my reply. It's easy from that standpoint to say "we creators don't care about piracy", but yours is not the voice of creators actually going all in and risking their livelihoods for their art. In that case, yeah, piracy matters a whole lot more.
Good luck!
Like the Hogwart's Legacy protests. Surely everyone was going to protest that only for it to sell like gangbusters.
Happens all the time. When you have no connection to normal people it's difficult to realize nobody really cares about any of this.
I care a lot about opposing Rowling's rhetoric but this game is pretty low on my list of unethical purchases compared to most other things I buy. Not because trans folks are lesser, but because so many other daily evils are greater. Clothing is made by kids in sweatshops, smartphones contain highly toxic metals mined by children and impoverished people wearing zero protective gear, plastic is destroying our environment, etc.
If I was going to protest against every injustice, I would literally never leave the house. Although, I would have to because I couldn't burn the environment-destroying fossil fuels used to heat my house so I would need to go somewhere warm and mooch off someone else's environmental sin. Makes me wonder if perhaps piracy actually is okay if you're stealing from JK Rowling.
I bought the Harry Potter game. She's a billionaire whether I buy it or not. Might as well enjoy a series I love. I liked that the devs were inclusive toward trans folks (sirona). Best I can do is vote for people who support trans rights and call out bigotry when I see it. I will continue to vocally oppose JK Rowling, but I would probably go enjoy any Harry Potter media just like how I watch shows on Amazon prime even though Bezos is a piece of work.
You kind of have to approach media from a death of the author perspective these days or you'll never enjoy anything.
I disagree with you there. You rightly point out that, to some extent, 'There is no ethical consumption under capitalism'. You also are not wrong to say that within this system there are greater evils than buying something from an already famous and rich transphobe.
However, if we take a look at some of the most exploitative products we engage with, we'll notice that many of them are needs, and not wants.
Clothing: is it possible to buy ethical clothing? Probably, if you have money. If you don't, you can't just not buy clothing. As clothing is a basic human need, often there is no choice but to purchase unethical clothes.
Smartphones: Okay, this is a bit less obvious, as phones aren't a basic human need. But increasingly in this society it is harder and harder to live without a smartphone. You can so it, sure, but the impact in your life would be huge.
Heating: again, this is a basic human need.
Plastics: plastics are everywhere and they're also very cheap. It is of course possible to cut down on your plastic usage, but it can be expensive and time consuming.
The list goes on. Transportation, entertainment, and food are all things we need and must find ways to balance them in our everyday lives. Many people choose to cut meat or chocolate out of their diet because it's an easy (compared to say smartphones) way to reduce their unethical consumption.
All this to say, you have to pick your battles. And in my opinion, not engaging with Harry Potter media is one of the easier ways to reduce unethical consumption. Harry Potter based media is not a need, nor is it particularly difficult to avoid. Just because other things are worse, doesn't make supporting something less bad okay, especially when it's really easy not to support it.
Finally, regarding death of the author. I don't know where you live, but unfortunately The Author is not dead. Not in the UK at least. Rowling remains an active political force against trans people in the UK, and is a figurehead of sorts for the TERF community. She continues to damage the lives of trans people, including fostering an extremely hostile anti-trans community. One only needs to look to the death of Brianna Ghey earlier this year to see that anti-trans sentiment in this country is alive and well.
Another author we are often called to kill with death of the author is Orson Scott Card, who famously holds homophobic views. And in this case, I do feel this thinking applies. By and large, in buying Card's books you are just supporting a single homophobic man. He is not a political force, not is he socially relevant. For death of the author to be relevent, the author must be, to some extent, already dead. Rowling is not, and worse, she sees the financial support that she gets as endorsement of her views. When asked how she sleeps at night on twitter, she replied: "I read my most recent royalty cheques and find the pain goes away pretty quickly". Obviously this is slightly tongue in cheek, but it is very telling. As long as we continue to support Harry Potter, we are also supporting Rowling, her views, and her supporters, no matter how much we cry Death of The Author.
Does anyone have tips for lists of problematic culture personalities to avoid?
Just thinking of Asian, South American and Middle Eastern authors, there are many, many that come above Rowling the list of my potential boycotts due to their bad ethical views. Going for just her seems arbitrary to me.
It gets way, way more complicated if you include other arts, actors, sports people, content creators and so on.
Even more so if we want to avoid food items produced on occupied land, unethical animal conditions and go the whole way with ethically problematic goods for various reasons. I can eat apples instead of oranges farmed on occupied Palestinian land, and so on.
Without some large database of personalities to avoid, this is a lot of effort for miniscule impact for me as one consumer/person/user. Even in the most rudimentary utilitarian terms, I'd help the same social causes more by spending that same time on, you know, combatting the actual issues instead of researching/boycotting public figures.
Cutting consumption of physical items reduces impact because I'm buying less. With entertainment I'm just swapping items for similar ones.
I really enjoyed your comment, as I think you make several good points. I wanted to write a longer, well-reasoned response, but it's been a long and busy day so I'll say this: you've given me several things to think about. I think your point about the Harry Potter game being heavily in the "want" category was an excellent counterargument to my original comment. Similarly, I think you make a very solid argument about JK Rowling's level of political activism being a relevant metric to help judge whether she should get our money.
Thanks for the interesting and thought-provoking response!
The game was never going to fail due to boycotts, the boycotts were to raise awareness. It's a fucking Harry Potter game it's gonna make more money than God. But now people are marginally more aware of how awful Rowling is and that was the point. Even if it was only a dozen people in the world who changed their minds about buying it, that's important for awareness.
The important thing was we made Girlfriend Reviews cry.
Its an interesting feedback loop. Social media wants engagement, so the type of content generated skews towards engagement (i.e. ragebait). So the type of content viewed skews towards
those engaged. That doesn't mean reality is engaged, it just means the type of content created is engaged.
Social unrest, subscription unhappiness, BLM, anti-BLM, antifa, anti-antifa. Ultimately none of its nearly as big of a deal as it is made out to be because 95+% of media is for-profit and benefits from the latest anti drag queen book reading, or school shooting, whether you care about it or not. The more they can convince you that you should care about it, the more you will, and the more they capitalize on the only metric that matters: quarterly earnings.
I'm interested to see if as Tildes matures they still have the same type of content making it to the front page compared to Reddit. People made as big stink about Netflix subscriptions, and they made a big stink about Reddit's API changes. It doesn't look like it matters for Netflix... I wonder how big of an impact there will be on reddit when the dust settles (clearly reddit is going to take longer to make sense of due to the content creator to content viewer relationship, and tools each one chooses to use for their engagement).
Interestingly the article mentions that while they blew past new subscription expectations they actually underperformed revenue expectations, and that their share price dropped 6% as a result.
The article also mentioned that Netflix is saying new subscriptions are outpacing cancelations, but that doesn't say what share of households kicked off due to the crackdown ended up subscribing. It will be interesting to see how the crackdown affects viewership numbers (if Netflix even mentions that in the months ahead).
The size of the new subscriber numbers is surprising, but I don't think it's entirely unexpected that there would be a rush of new subscriptions for some percent of households that got kicked off but wanted to keep watching. The question is whether that increase will continue or whether everyone kicked off who wanted to subscribe has done so already, in which case their quarterly new subscriptions will return to pre-crackdown levels.
If that's the case then I'm not convinced they haven't shot themselves in the foot still. The large influx of subscribers is certainly good insofar as it's increased revenue, but missing revenue projections in spite of that makes me think that a high percent of those were for the lowest tier plan, which Netflix is planning to 86. How many of these new subscribers will hang around once their plan (which they've avoided paying for until now) gets even more expensive?
If it turns out that they've lost more viewers than they've gained subscribers, then they may have traded social relevance for weaker-than-projected revenue gains. Revenue gains which may not survive a pricing shakeup so soon after being established. There's already a lot of sour public sentiment over Netflix's penchant for canceling series; if their next big IP falls flat because there's less people taking about it then I can't imagine that bodes well for their long term growth.
Edit: Also, I'll be interested to see if the crackdown increases Hulu and Prime's subscribers. Just because Netflix is forcing people to finally pay for streaming doesn't mean they'll choose Netflix.
It's not a popular opinion, but it's correct. People can say they are going to leave netflix because of the password sharing drama, but there's one huge thing that netflix provides that can't be matched by piracy: convenience. Netflix simply provides a much more convenient and user friendly experience to it's users that most people wouldn't want to sacrifice. In the end, Netflix keeps winning, piracy's general audience remains the same, and the world keeps on ticking.
My parents used to pay for netflix and I pay for prime and we shared accounts. Since the password crackdown I decided to not make my own account. Partially because I have other services, and partially because I don't want to give in to their scheme.
However, this has really highlighted to me how awful the UI of other platforms really is. I've actually given up browsing for something to watch on them because you only see the same 20 films regardless of what arbitrary category you look at. I'll either check out my lists or just research films on other sites and use justwatch.com to see if it's available anywhere.
It was way better when everything was on one streaming service, but in the past few years everyone wanted to dip their toes into this goldmine and now suddenly streaming is actually starting to become worse than cable (i dont know how that's possible, considering streaming was supposed to be the cable killer) but corporate greed is making it so cable is becoming a better use of your money.
We still have cable at our house mainly because of sports, but there's also a few programs that we would have to pay YET ANOTHER subscription to watch, which is simply not going to happen. To be quite honest, there is no good option right now. Especially with hulu and netflix both having subscription tiers that feature ads (which was another major thing streaming had over cable), it's really becoming less and less worth it to stack up on these streaming services. You're paying for ads on multiple streaming services, the costs add up to a significant amount per month, and cable isn't really that much better in terms of value.
We as consumers basically have no good options at the present moment (besides piracy of course), and the situation does not look like it will be improving any time soon, especially with the news that netflix is still gaining subscribers. I wish I could say I was surprised, but I'm not.
It's so insane that more people subscribed to this. It's gonna lead to this type of shit across all the other platforms too. When Netflix showed you can actually benefit from the password sharing crackdown it's only a matter of time before the rest of the streaming services follow suit. Really disheartening stuff.
It is insane, and it's actually hard to blame netflix for this at this point. It's entirely the end user's fault for endorsing this type of behavior by either starting new subscriptions or renewing old ones.
You are right, but not entirely.
Of course piracy existed for a long time, but when movie piracy started happening, yes, it wasn't easy, you also needed to know the right person who would grant you access to FTP. But when you did, the experience was great. You could just download movies from the Internet, they were free of those unskipabble ads and trailers straight to the movie. You could play it on any device you wanted as well. And all of that was for free, you just needed to know a little bit.
Then p2p sharing apps came in and made this available to much larger number of people. You still would need to know a bit to convert that to DVD for example, but anyone knew how to play those on their computer.
Netflix became popular, because it introduced the same benefits (being more friendly toward customer, giving ability to stream to anyone, and it was affordable). So even those people who had no problem with pirating stopped, because this was more convenient.
Unfortunately that experience is degrading, publishers love exclusivity forcing people to have multiple subscriptions, jacking prices up, in many cases forcing ads. Basically it's the streaming version of the shit that customer was dealing with.
The thing is that a lot of things also changed on the piracy side since then.
For example, look at the links listed there and tell me Netflix is easier than this:
https://kbin.social/m/tech/t/223827/-/comment/956393
Yeah, I guess you're right. I wasn't really aware of the vast landscape of sites like that. I just really knew about p2p, guess I'm a bit behind you could say.
If it's truly that easy, why are people still feeding into netflix's idiocy? It doesn't make any sense, netflix isn't providing better service than these websites anymore so I do wonder what it is keeping people on their platform.
Because people are lazy and only start looking for alternatives when they are unhappy.
You say lazy, I say prioritising convenience.
Lazy, as "don't want to change things that already work for your and are happy with".
I mean you joined tildes on June 9th (I joined day later) I suspect your reason was similar to mine. Tildes existed already 5 years ago, yet we had no idea about it, because we weren't looking for alternatives. We were happy with reddit.
My point is that convenience is no longer the winning thing that Netflix still has. It is the inertia.
The analogy works only to a point though. I found out about Tildes because of all the buzz around people Reddxiting and when I came here I liked what I found, but it was clear at first sight that it really isn't a Reddit replacement (and isn't meant to be although it was touted as one by some people on Reddit). I like it because it feels like the '00s internet. After a brief hiatus I've gone back to Reddit because it has all my niche content in one app which while less user friendly than what I used to use, still does the job more conveniently than fiddling with Beehaw or Lemmy.
As with Netflix, just being about to point and click at one app just works.
I think you're highlighting a false or misleading contradiction.
I know the password crackdown was both legal and financially sound for Netflix. That doesn't mean I care. I am entitled to show my dissatisfaction as a consumer when a good deal ceases to exist.
I'm not concerned with Netflix's bottom line, that is their problem. I'm concerned with mine.
I know it's not a popular decision but I don't necessarily think Netflix is a dick for doing it. I knew people who were sharing a single account with 4 or 5 households. These were well off folks too, they just don't feel like entertainment is worth spending money on even if they consume a metric ton of it. Netflix is not expensive, especially compared to what it replaced.
I have too many peers making comfortable six figure salaries who just pirate everything because they don't care and it's taken away a lot of the empathy I used to have for piracy. The idea that they would simply never watch film/television or play games if piracy was not an option is asinine. If everyone decided to pirate like they did there would be nobody left to make the content they so voraciously consume.
I never understood that logic. The person using their login wasn't paying, is that not piracy if they weren't at least immediate family? It's like running a cable TV line over to your neighbors and people are angry the cable company is cracking down on it.
That said, I might quit Netflix if they don't change their interface. All their algorithms gives me these days are stuff I don't want to watch and stuff I've already watched and I know there's a lot more it isn't showing me. At least add a proper search with filters. I just don't get why these rich companies can't implement a simple search. Amazon's search is even worse.
I feel like Steam has the right way to do it, you can filter a number of ways and even using tags. Imagine netflix copies that and the library - allowing you to put movies into your own lists and create dynamic lists that use those search filters & various ways to sort to populate it. You know, let me customize it.
Valve is directly motivated to help you find what you are looking for, because if you do, they make a sale.
Netflix's motivation is much less direct. Whether you find what you are looking for or not, the financial effects (if any) are hard to measure and difficult to separate from other factors. The most likely effect is that you feel slightly better or slightly worse about continuing your Netflix subscription, but that's a very difficult thing for them to quantify and interpret.
Another benefit that Valve enjoys is that it is privately owned by just two people, which offers a lot of flexibility in deciding which features to develop. If the owners want to massively overhaul some feature, then they can just do it.
Also they are not tied to shareholders who only care about their own pockets. Private owners can run things however they want and can choose to favor a good customer experience over making 5% more profit every year.
If you're already raking in billions, then just chill, provide a good service and ride the wave. You've made it and can have most anything you could want in life, stop fucking over millions of people who don't just so the number in your bank account increases a tiny bit and you have even more money you'll never spend on your lifetime.
My thing is, Netflix already charged extra for multiple devices. They added a profiles feature, explicitly so you could have multiple people under one account. If I pay for 4 devices, why should it matter where those 4 devices are located, and why would it be considered piracy if one of those 4 devices is my son’s or my friend’s ?
I don't think it was a very good model to begin with. Unlimited account sharing leads to a situation where people that can concoct ways to share accounts get to pay less money, from something simple like you and your ex still using the same account even after splitting, to complex schemes where a bunch of people who barely know each other get together to use the same account (pretty common in college!).
Which is just completely orthogonal to anything about the company and its service. It's like if you got a discount on your Netflix subscription if you can prove that you can bench 200 lbs. Why?
While I agree with your post it makes me also wonder if the same sentiment could be applied to Reddit?
Definitely. Depending on the subs you follow, Reddit is mostly back to normal.
I always thought it was stupid when people said this would cause Netflix to lose subscribers. I think most people sharing passwords aren't splitting the cost AND I think that a ton of people would rather pay for a new subscription than not get to finish their shows.
I figured it wouldn't kill Netflix, but I wasn't expecting it to be this drastic. Though my manager was telling me this morning that her mom and sister both had to get their own accounts over the weekend as they were using hers. I guess they implemented a profile transferring system, which is nice.
Not at all surprised by this. My parents used to share a Netflix account with one of my uncles and when this password crackdown was first announced, my dad was quick to say that he would just get his own account. People love convenience and paying for Netflix is still more convenient than finding a torrent, waiting for it to download and then watching.
It's also just not that expensive, assuming you watch it a lot.
I don't, which is why I cancelled my subscription, but this idea that their business model doesn't work if people aren't allowed to share their $15/mo account with half a dozen other households is silly.
I think to be fair, if I was 25, just out of uni and used to splitting the costs with my roomies I might resign myself to sailing the high seas. When I was 25 there was no such thing as streaming so we all did that.
Reddit, presumably, tends to lean that way.
You can watch quite a few shows online, for free, without torrents. Though it does require at least some search skills to find those places and I suppose at least some internet savvy not to end up somewhere too fishy.
Oh you definitely can but speaking for myself (and I suspect other older Millennials with kids) it's not worth the time it would take vs paying for everyone in the house to have whatever they want on demand
You don’t even need to be internet savvy. Freevee and Tubi exist.
I think something is off here. Anecdotally speaking, I've only ever heard of people around me IRL cancelling Netflix.
Here they are reporting more users and declaring victory after one or two quarters. Let's see where they're at in two years.
Until then, all this is is coordinated PR statements for their shareholders and something for people to argue over on the internet for fun.
What's your demographic though?
I'm 42 with kids and elderly family. Subscribed to HBO Go, Disney+, Amazon and Netflix. Theres tons of stuff to watch on all of them (I don't watch tv much but my family does).
I have Netflix signed in on my mum and aunts computers so they can watch it. If Netflix begins to crack down properly, I'll probably just get accounts for them. Its just down tojconvenience.
None of my elderly family use any apps, it's broadcast TV only for them. And if not that, then they have pirate IPTV boxes because piracy is actually pretty commonplace in small town Canada given our generally reduced access to content and media.
The greater friend group is very app based but they all have access to so many other services that it's not worth keeping Netflix for one or two originals, especially not when they all have access to a Plex server or three.
Netflix has already started cracking down here so that's why many have already cancelled and not felt the need to renew or get a new subscription.
Fair enough, just different contexts. Here the boomers broadly speaking tend to be less tech savvy but everyone has at least a smartphone so apps tend to be the easiest way for them to access content since their kids can just set everything up
My only thought when they made the announcement was "they're finally going to get that free lunch." We'll see what happens in a few years, as others said, but I only see this blowing over even more.
This enforcement isn't even horribly inconvenient, it's a standard password/account policy that Netflix simply didn't have (it's not even in the old US TOS). I get the frustration, as well, but because of how not big an issue was, I sort of saw Netflix coming out ahead of this.
Are you trying to tell me that the droves of people threatening to ditch Netflix over this policy was a minority of crybabies who were gonna give Netflix their money anyway?
Or did Netflix have a hit show that spurred a 6 million boost in subs?
I'm sure many people left. The (nearly) 6 million is just the net change.
I chose to stay myself because I was (still am) watching stuff on Netflix, so it seems fair and makes sense to pay the 4€/month. I'm sure a lot of people are the same. We never said we'd ditch Netflix, and we didn't.
I stayed because my parents (who I live with) use it and I didn't want to go on a long-winded explanation to my elderly dad about how to set up his own Netflix account, when he struggles with technology as-is.
Yeah, I think I said this on Tildes before--I could have rigged something up with my server and vpn setup to make my IP address and my brother's (the main account owner) appear the same, but my brother works hard and has kids to take care of and I figured the savings weren't worth putting him through having to deal with the tinkering on his side.
Is It Cake Too definitely did this.