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Comment by mistermann | Hacker News Reader

As a (former?) insider, can you explain why on Netflix there is only one view for browsing movies? Many people like myself prefer a listview with no covers, so much more efficient. A very quick slide right to view the already loaded description would be icing on the cake.

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I'm not the insider, but I'm pretty sure the reason Netflix's browsing UX is so poor is that if it were any more streamlined, it would be obvious how few titles they really have.

I suspect it'll get better as they sign more deals and/or produce more of their own content.

Especially outside the US, which is most the world, the library is actually very, very poor. At least 10 times smaller than in the US (while the price is obviously doubled).

This may or may not be obvious to people within the US.

It is to give you the appearance of large selection though they don't. UI gimmicks to steer you away from the low selection problem. Frustrating for a small selection their customer base - mostly tech people who can see through this bull-shit. Annoying, but not enough to quit the service. Netflix knows this. Any smart person who realizes this will feel like an idiot for being taken for a ride like this. Gives up and submits to this treatment as Netflix is rather top of the market in selection for non-linear TV.

I realize what they're doing with the UI, but I also realize that they're not doing it just to be dicks. Netflix has to negotiate content deals with some of the greediest and most short-sighted people in the business world. I wish them the best of luck.

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