Netflix Gets Rid of All User Reviews

The days of posting and reading user reviews on Netflix are over. As of Friday, the streaming service has removed all of its customer reviews for TV shows, movies, and other programming from its website.

The removal of the user-submitted reviews isn’t exactly a surprise. According to Variety, Netflix notified customers last month that it would be removing the feature and as of July 30, fans were no longer allowed to post new reviews. The notice to users also stated that the streaming giant would purge all of the existing reviews by mid-August, a move that effectively wiped away over a decade worth of reviews. Stranger Things alone had around 4,000 reviews for the series before they were removed.

So why did Netflix choose to eliminate and purge user reviews? The official position is that there has been a steady drop in usage of the feature, which is what the service sites on their help page when one searches for how to post a review.

“Netflix customers were able to leave reviews on Netflix.com until mid-2018, when reviews were removed due to declining use,” the statement says. However, some fans think that the user reviews were terminated due to a combination of reasons, including negative reviews on some of the service’s original programming.

The loss of user reviews comes on the heels of another development with Netflix’s service that has users talking as well: the incorporation of ads and commercials. Earlier this week, a Reddit user by the name of WhyAllTheTrains posted about their experience, noting that they had finished an episode of Rick and Morty on Netflix and, instead of airing the next episode, the service played a trailer for Better Call Saul. They also noted a timer in the corner of the commercial, but there was no option to skip. The user noted that they had to sit through the whole ad before the next episode of Rick and Morty would play.

Netflix users weren’t particularly happy about either development took to social media about them, though at least in the case of the reviews it’s a change that is likely here to stay. Netflix told Variety that the reviews had no effect on recommendation algorithms.

“The reviews and our redesigned ratings system (thumbs up/down) n ever contributed to how we approach personalizing recommendations for members and writing a ‘bad’ review never had any bearing to whether a title was recommended to another viewer or not,” a rep told Variety.

You can check out some of the user reactions to Netflix’s termination of user reviews below and be sure to let us know what you think about the change in our comments section below.

Pouring one out for user reviews

Blame the algorithm

But why?

Ridiculous

Covering up for poorly-reviewed shows?

Bad for business

There’s always IMDb