Some Netflix Users Have Rated 50,000 Shows 134
An anonymous reader writes "Netflix has released some statistics about its users, showing that more than one percent of its customer base has rated 5,000 shows or more, and a few hundred users have rated over 50,000. A reporter for The Atlantic tracked down a few of those extreme users to find out why they do it. Mike Reilly, a producer, heard about the Netflix prize, and wanted to test the limits of the movie recommendation algorithm. Lorraine Hopping Egan has rated about 6,500 movies, but she still uses word of mouth when trying to decide what to watch."
50,000 or 5,000? (Score:5, Informative)
To end the confusion, here's what TFAhas to say about it:
Several hundred Netflix members have rated more than 50,000 filmed entertainment programs. 50,000! To watch all those at a pace of one movie or TV show per day, it would take 136 years.
But those users are just the extreme end of a broader behavioral pattern. About a tenth of one percent (0.07%) of Netflix users -- more than 10,000 people -- have rated more than 20,000 items. And a full one percent, or nearly 150,000 Netflixers, have rated more than 5,000 movies. By contrast, only 60 percent of Netflix users rate any movies at all, and the typical person only gives out 200 starred grades.
Please note that... (Score:2, Informative)
The "more than one percent of its customer base" has rated 5000 shows and not 50 000. In TFA, 50 000 is only displayed for an "elite rater".
Slashdot has a ratings system, too (Score:5, Informative)
Slashdot has a ratings system, too.
You go to http://slashdot.org/firehose [slashdot.org] and look at the articles by clicking on their titles, maybe follow the links they contain to see if the summary is correct and the links work and aren't a trap or anything, then you click the + or the - and pick a category for your reasoning from the inadequate list.
The idea is that when stories like this one come up that are (a) dull, and (b) poorly written, and (c) so is the summary, you can have a voice in saying whether it's forced upon the rest of /. or just scrolls off the bottom of the Firehose, never to be seen again until the inevitable dupe is posted.
But clearly, that ratings system isn't doing a bit of good, because, dayum...
Re:I'm more interested in the opposet subset (Score:4, Informative)
because it's a pain to use after the fact on the computer, when watching on my PS3.
Things netflix needs: To know where credits start in a show, and ignore that you have stopped watching partway though the credits, and not offer you with "resume blah blah" when you have 3 minutes of credits left.
Based on your interest in interrobangs (Score:4, Informative)
I rated the article 4 stars because it used an interrobang [wikipedia.org] in the article title
Based on your interest in interrobangs, you may like the State Library of New South Wales [nsw.gov.au] and Propaganda Against Recreational Substance Use [drugfree.org].