For the record, I don’t disagree. Great politician-speak, I know :
. However, I also don’t mind them using other resources for new features, including things which generate revenue. There’s a balance. Obviously you feel it’s been skewed in the wrong direction. I respect that. I’ve not experienced anything to make me believe that, but it doesn’t invalidate your viewpoint.
That doesn’t feel like core functionality to me: I don’t use Android Auto. Shouldn’t that be removed to avoid distractions?
That’s funny, I was going to say that “Feature Freeze until ALL issues are fixed” sounds like a campaign slogan - not a realistic approach.
I have a laundry list of small complaints, but I think that Plex is much more stable than it used to be. I’m never asked to “check on” or “kick” PMS any more.
I also really enjoy the core features that have been added. Intro detection is amazing. HDR tone-mapping is amazing. Sonic analysis is really nice.
@HermanMunster the big observation I take from your post is that you feel disenfranchised. There’s a feature you use, but it isn’t reliable for you, and it feels like there’s nothing you can do about it.
Feature development might not distract from core work, but Plex is a lot wider than it used to be. It’s hard to summarize what Plex is any more. It’s less personal, and it’s harder to feel heard.
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I wasn’t being defensive - I was being explanatory.
It’s true my initial response was “You’re wrong, and here’s why” without much trying to understand the OPs reasons. In my defense, I took his initial response as “I’m just gonna ■■■■■ and use superlatives” and so far I’ve been proven right - he’s offered nothing in the way of explaining exactly which problems he’s had, how he’s tried to resolve them. There was another thread here wherein the OPs provided ample evidence with tons of pointers to posts where it appears Plex developers had dropped the ball and failed to address the issues raised. You’ll note that I posted a lot in that thread and was on the OPs side. Why? Because he didn’t just ■■■■■, he provided a sound argument.
As for the “Plex is focusing on new features” argument, I tried addressing that too by saying that perhaps many people like the new features but you’re not interested in them. This is also based on my experience that sometimes a small but vocal minority of people just don’t like change, no matter what.
In general, I was saying “Come on - it’s not that bad” hoping the OP would respond with “Yes it is! What about #1? And #2?” but he failed to take the bait.
As for judgments, most people mean negative judgments but fail to include things like “You look nice today” which is, after all, just a judgment no? And didn’t you start here judging me as defensive instead of assuming the goodwill stance of me simply being informative? 
I know, we are all human, especially on the Internet ('cept the bots, of course).
My speculation -
I think Discovery is partly just a nice feature. I suspect most forum users don’t care, preferring personally-hosted and curated stuff. But my family/friends love the convenience.
And I think it’s partly because it encourages people to open Plex first. That’s good for Plex daily eyeball numbers, which is good for business. It’s good because it encourages streaming (ad) viewership, which is good for business.
As is often the case, it’s not just about viewpoint A vs viewpoint B but more about how many people are in the A camp and how many are in the B camp. My statement to you is not that your experience is invalid rather I believe many more do not have the problems you have. Further, in those people’s cases, it’s demonstrable that the software works. So the question becomes why doesn’t it work for you? In my experience that’s usually an operator error on that person’s part. It’s a common thing. And that it might be better to fully document your problems and try to get them fixed than to complain that a company is working on things to make their product more attractive to users.
I think Plex developers will respond much more readily to a post that says “When I do X, Y, and Z it fails to work correctly. I expected action A but got error E. Here’s my logs” than “Man you dudes should stop adding all this new functionality and address my issues. Now guess what they are!”. YMMV.
That may have been your intent (in hindsight) but your response didn’t convey that at all. That’s a large part of my point. The other being that the OP didn’t really suggest that they expected a reasoned respond to their rant. If I’m being completely honest, the initial post didn’t warrant a response at all.
I just think we should first think to de-escalate rather than inflame these conversations. If we intend them to become conversations. Find some common ground and foster discussions rather than adversarial arguments.
Silly me. I keep trying to save my family/friends $$$ by dropping such subscriptions and using my server instead…
I beg to differ. I think my response did convey that, along with a health dose of “the OP probably doesn’t care and won’t respond with details”.
I didn’t really care if the OP expected a response - I merely posted my opinion on the matter for whoever wanted to read it.
Luckily for me, that was not my intention. It was clear to me the OPs post was merely to rant. So I ranted back. Sue me.
But I did want to put forth the 2 things I’ve been saying about this, one that the heading was unreasonable and two that many, perhaps the vast majority, of Plex server owners and users do not have crippling problems as the OP suggests. I felt certain I wouldn’t be convincing the OP so de-escalation was not on my mind at all.
And of course that was an example of me making assumptions from my own perspective. 
Not a judgment about how others use it.
I generally prefer movies and things that I’ve ripped from media, and many of those movies aren’t available on streaming services. I often won’t buy a physical copy if something is available for streaming.
Vice versa, many of my family members watch trash TV that is available only on streaming services. (I do judge their taste in TV.)
I forfeit; you win this Internet debate by default.
I judge their waste of money on subscription services when such things could be obtained without spending the money. I remember people complaining about paying hundreds of dollars a month for cable TV and vowing to “cut the cord”. Some did. Then they got on streaming services @ like $5.99/month or $10/month or whatever. Then they amassed 4 or 5 streaming services and suddenly they’re back up to hundreds of dollars a month. Seems very wasteful to me as I doubt they are getting their money’s worth from all the different subscriptions they have. Indeed I’ve heard of some services to help you keep track of your subscriptions so as to realize those you are paying for and not using.
In the end, I’m just trying to help my family and friends save money while still having good content to watch.
Wasn’t looking for a “win” but thanks I guess…
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You’ve earned it.
What do I get, ole Don Pardo? 
Herman only used Plexamp as an example. Ironically, it’s a feature you had your own complaints about that you just decided to abandon
Not all users are willing to do that. Some people feel like Plex should have improved that before they added new things.
Features get removed that I like and things get forced into my server that I have no interest in.
A lot of these new features also get implemented without a way to disable them which many people get irritated with
That should never happen regardless of whether new feature development is a primary motivation or not
There is always going to be feature development to attract a new crowd and there’s always going to be a lot of people having problems.
But, if customers of any business feel like they are being ignored it’s not a good business practice
If you like Plex you should be concerned about others feeling that way whether you agree with them or not.
Any company that treats people like that won’t be around forever and trust me, somebody somewhere with a lot of money is looking into a good way to crush all of these types of apps and take control of the market.
That reminds me I need to check my messages on Myspace.
Also, let’s remember this is a feature request. If you don’t agree don’t vote for it.
Let’s be real, it’s unrealistic and unless you see a million votes in that little box at the top it’s never going to happen anyway
You get the idea that sometimes it’s better to trust that other folks’ intentions are good, regardless of hyperbolic posts which seem provocative. To not judge immediately and try to understand the deeper meaning behind their words. You also get my suggestion not to treat fellow posters as adversaries, but equals, seeking understanding.
In general, assume good intentions. When no parties in a conversation do so, it leads to the drivel which this thread has become.
In short, do better. In light of this conversation, I will try to recognize my failures (there have been some) and do better myself.
Not sure who “you” is above. Do you mean me? Assuming you do, my complaints were mostly about playing podcasts. Plex dropped podcasts so there’s no reason for me to complain further.
IMHO such people have unrealistic expectations as I’ve stated several times here.
Then ignore them. Case in point - the new Discover thing. I’m not interested. I ignore it. Not sure which features you mention that you can’t disable.
I’m not sure I agree with that. The company has no obligation to implement its product the way you see fit.
File this under you can’t please everybody
I disagree. I see no reason why I must be concerned about how others feel. Perhaps by you you meant Plex.
Again, this comes to the point of quantification. No company will please 100% of it’s customers. At what percentage should they become concerned? 10%? 20? 50? That is for them to decide. Also, no company is around forever (superlatives again). Many people loath Amazon. Many love them. They will be around for quite some time despite the fact that some people don’t like them. The real question is one of quantity. It’s been my experience that people who b-i-t-c-h about change and new features are usually a small but vocal minority.
I don’t think I ever get a chance to vote for what any company does ('cept maybe the company I work for or run) aside from using my wallet. If you are not satisfied with Plex then take your money and leave.
As it shouldn’t (IMHO).
If someone is happy with a service, I’m curious how they wind up in a forum like this to explain to everybody how they disagree with the issues others are concerned with for 2 days
Just for future reference I think everybody knows by now that whatever we say you disagree
I’m thankful you’re happy with MY server
Cause people that enjoy the service, or at least don’t despise it, can like to see what’s going on with the community, help other users resolve issue or sometimes might even have issues/questions themselves. Plus, this forum has an announcement channel where you can see the changes to different apps or the server itself. This forum is not just for people to just report issues or request features.
Also, don’t forget that this forum is open to anyone with a Plex account, and while there are rules and regulations like most places, people are allowed to voice their opinions on topics even if he goes against the OP and maybe even the majority of the posters. I think this is part of the problem with society now-a-days where people cannot just have discussions without it having to be about people pushing their agendas/viewpoints. Without people being able to give their view points and people at least being open to reading that and having a civil discussion, you will most likely stay within your little circle.
-Shark2k
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This forum is sometimes inscrutable to me. At who (or whoms) was you message targeted?
