It’s added regardless of what you do. There is no intention necessary. It adds. Period.
Part of ‘what to expect’ was managed users would not have access. Plex broke that with watchlists and it was bringing in content that shouldn’t have been, by their own definition.
Your opinion isn’t relevant - it does not work correctly. Unselected streaming sources still show. The Watchlist issue of unrestricted content access happened.
It rendered it unusable due to breaking managed users. It’s also client side, not server side. I think you’re misunderstanding how this release works as well.
You’re still confused.
There was no choice. It’s added no matter what. Click the hidden X? Still adds Discover to your Home as pinned source and all streaming services show up in search and alongside your own content.
That’s all anyone wants - because there was no way to avoid getting Discover added.
Please, please read that last line again. You think this was a selection or a choice. It was not.
It adds whether you click or not. That’s the part you’re missing. There is no choice, option, or intention.
It’s not determined by the server, it’s not restricted to people who have opted into a beta. If you don’t click on the big button and instead close it, it still adds.
There is no option. All users had Discover added no matter what.
And we are telling you that without clicking that button… It still gets added.
There is no opt-in. There is no opt-out.
You have Discover now. Everyone has Discover now. You get search results for other services even if you don’t have any services selected.
“Forced” is an absolutely accurate way to phrase it, because all users have been forced to this update. You clicked the button - cool. You like it? Also cool! I’m glad you’ve got a feature you enjoy.
People who didn’t want it, didn’t select it, didn’t ask or opt-in also got it and it has broken things and caused issues already.
So please, stop posting misinformation that you can simply ‘not click the button’. That isn’t how this release was pushed.
"I know I had to click on something to get Discover functionality added.
How about you?"
That is not true. You had the option to either click the “Get Started” or “Read More” (or something in that general manner), but both did you did not have the choice to not install it. The functionality was already installed, your only choice was if you wanted to read a few lines about it before you started using it, or just start using it straight away. There was no option to not use it, and if you have a look at the plex website it´s pretty clear they have changed their whole business model and it´s completely centered around this discover bs. There will be no way to opt out.
So what this tells me is that they can sneak anything they like back in at any time.
This was my whole problem with Plex requiring internet access, when one of the biggest strengths was that I could use it in the North Pole with no internet connection, just my external disk and a laptop and a Roku device if there was a TV about.
The more I read about this the more it seems like a suicidal act to the business.
I remember when Sky took a posiiton on the Roku board, they were providing code for the NowTV devices. They pushed Roku to block sideloading Plex, so we did some network packet inspection and some were able to block the IP’s for upgrades.
We may have to do the same thing with Plex, figure out what it is doing and where, we might end up renaming files and blocking IP’s, I do this for my browser to block auto updates. I never thought I would need to with Plex because they were on my Trusted list but a stunt like this changes the trust level.
I used played a low spec sniper game on my mobile and iPad, then they moved a lot of the code to the server and the latency became a factor, they lost hundreds of thousands of users, including paid ones.
I do not want Plex to treat me as a drone, I want FULL control of the devices in my household, I want them to work whether I have internet or not. I do not want to be made waiting while it “calls home” and I do not want data derived from my viewing, my collection or anything to be created and shared.
I can see this action splitting developers at Plex and some Core Management too. I would ask such good souls to post the source of Client and Server from around 5 years ago on the Torrent networks such a Pirate Bay… We can then fork that into oPlex or Olex or whatever.
Honestly, if Plex can’t see how WRONG Discover is then their days are numbered, it was an arrogant move to introduce it and such arrogance will likely mean that even if there is a switch the analytics will still go on under the hood.
What we need is a version that works with no internet and that does not “call home” at all, not for data sharing, updates, nothing, updates should be done with FULL DISCLOSURE and then it is up to the user to decide.
Honestly, every time Plex introduced new “features” I had to brace myself, I have lost count how many times I lost everything. Sometimes I was foolish enought to upgrade the server, sometimes the client got flakey because I had not upgraded the server.
I hated the UI changes they forced on us a few years ago (which they U-turned) I had to hide the channels nonsense they put in the client.
It is all TMI for me, I have built my library into the content by the way I access it.
Part of what Netflix has lost is simplicity, it dumped the worst bunch of content into it’s library, I am talking movies that have a 3.x rating on IMDB and make you want those 2 hours of your life back. Now I have to look up every movie and series on IMDB, then add it to my list if I really want to see it some time, do nothing if I am agnostic and give it a thumbs down to tell Netflix this is a crock of nonsense.
This is why Netflix is losing subs, they forgot their core, quality programming, not some “surprise me” option which should really be called “annoy me”. I refuse to use it and the more they P me off the more likely I will cancel it. There is a lot I could recommend to Netflix that Plex has and I might not have been adverse to Plex providing front end to Netflix to allow me to filter out the nonsense, but I will not trade such utility for my data.
I know this is how some Internet stuff works, but I don’t use that stuff, no social media nonsense, tools that that frustrate their efforts and config in my router that blocks SIDN or want.
As I have said, release a Plex Lite or Plex Classic from 2015/16 era, do not even support it, we can manage in the forum as long as the source is on Github as PlexClassic or PlexLite so not lost in the plethora of what is there already. We need it to be a separate app in Roku Library and no auto updates on any platform.
The alternative is that Plex knows it will lose us and it does not care because it has sold it’s soul and is looking to check out of the project anyway. This is a lesson they should teach at Harvard, “how not to screw up your reputation”.
So far I have opted out because I have not loaded Plex in weeks now.
I plan to spend some time looking at plex server and client over the next month but with them disconnected from internet. I want to see where the network traffic goes and block it, then see what falls over.
If I can’t get it to work it will become a project and I will not use Plex until I have it.
In the short term I will test alternatives such as Kodi and Jellyfin.
It is ironic that it will be easier to install alternatives than it is to make Plex work safely, YES my data is a safety matter.
I dumped WhatsApp when Meta Facebook decided it was going to share my data, now I use Telegram and Signal, what surprised me was how many of my contacts were already on there.
I guess it will be the same with Plex. I would like to support Plex financially if it did not pull this stunt, I still think that there is a way to monetise your userbase while protecting their identity and data.
I think Jellyfin may be a good fit for you, especially as an open source project with significant controls.
You didn’t opt out btw, there is no opting out, you just don’t have Discover pinned. Its client side. You’ll see it if you search or add to a watchlist.
I don’t want this. I disabled it, yet it appears in my sidebar. I don’t need this, this is not what I paid money for.
I don’t need my users hitting me up about this, asking how to disable it, asking me to deal with problems rising from this.
I think Jellyfin will be tough transition, I am not clear if it is a server or a client.
OpenWrt needed a front end on it and along came Luci,
I imagine it will be the same for Jellyfin, if I can make it work on my quite beefy router that may save me some power consumption if I can make it turn power on and off of USB HD that has my library.
I am going to look as Rasberry PI too as I have one in a drawer doing nothing, hopefully it is too damn small to cope with AI overhead of Discover nonsense.
I researched Jellyfin a bit yesterday. Looks to be the same type of server/client setup, albeit far more limited in options. Also took another look at Emby as well.
I can see an exodus happening as they shift more and more away from personal media. I know they don’t care about losing one or two server owners, but I don’t think they’re calculating the 10-20 client only users they’ll each take with them.
