ephemeral

WTH?? Another service being discontinued? Sooo… I rated hundreds of movies, why?? I suppose they would rather have these extra profiles changed to regular accounts, so they can make more money (or do they want Blockbuster to make money?). Looks like the “netflix prize” won’t benefit me. I don’t really see why removing a useful service from their website, with no replacement, is an improvement to their website (as stated below). Nor do I understand why the removal motivation is because “it is too difficult to understand” (see below). Apparently it is too difficult to “fix” as well; however, I doubt this is the true motivation.

We wanted to let you know we will be eliminating Profiles, the feature that allowed you to set up separate DVD Queues under one account, effective September 1, 2008.
Each additional Profile Queue will be unavailable after September 1, 2008. Before then, we recommend you consolidate any of your Profile Queues to your main account Queue or print them out.
While it may be disappointing to see Profiles go away, this change will help us continue to improve the Netflix website for all our customers.
If you have any questions, please go to http://www.netflix.com/Help?p_faqid=3962 or call us anytime at 1 (888) 638-3549. We apologize for any inconvenience.
- The Netflix Team

Q. What is happening to Profiles?

A:

We will be eliminating Profiles, the feature that allowed you to set up separate DVD Queues under one account.

When? Profiles will be eliminated on September 1, 2008.

Why? While it may be disappointing to see this feature go away, this change will help us to continue to improve the Netflix website for all our customers.

Do I need to do anything? Consider moving all DVD titles in your Profiles Queues to your main account Queue. To do so, log-in and visit this page

How will this impact my account? On September 1, 2008:

• All DVDs currently at home or in transit will be associated with the main account Queue

• All Profiles rental history will be added into the main account rental history

• Your additional Profile Queues will be eliminated. If you would like to keep a copy of each Profile Queue we recommend that you print them out

• Prior to Profiles going away, we will also email you a copy of your Profile Queues

• Profiles movie ratings and Profiles Friends connections will no longer be available

• You will not be able to transfer your Profiles data to a separate new account

• You will be able to set a maturity filter on the main account

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Profiles feature going away

As a Netflix product manager I’m tasked with the wonderful job of helping members find movies they’ll love. But today my job is more challenging as we’ve decided to terminate the profiles feature on September 1. Please know that the motivation is solely driven by keeping our service as simple and as easy to use as possible. Too many members found the feature difficult to understand and cumbersome, having to consistently log in and out of the website.

Continuing to maintain the profiles feature for the passionate few who use it (including myself) distracts us from the mission of presenting to all our members the easiest way to find the best titles for them from the 100k plus on DVD and the 10k plus available instantly.

We will do our best to find better ways for families to share accounts than the existing profiles feature and will continue to invest in improving the website experience in many different ways.

- Todd

Posted by gbiddle616 at 12:06 AM