How? What were you previously doing that you can’t do now?
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Able to make searches w/o garbage results among other things. I don’t want anything showing up in my searches that aren’t on my server. I do not want their streaming options. I do not want their live options. I don’t care what they add if I don’t have to pay extra, it doesn’t add garbage in my searches to confuse my users, and it doesn’t start sending everything I do back for them to monetize. It should report what is on my server that matches my search and absolutely nothing else unless I authorize it.
Turn it off then. You’ve been able to do that for a while now… And if ‘your’ users don’t like it, they can turn off the search results as well.
Something for which there is no evidence of them doing.
Why can’t you just say you don’t like it and would rather be able to disable it entirely (which is something they’ve already committed to adding options for) without all the hyperbole?
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I’ve only been able to disable the search since right after I posted that. I updated it after posting it and gained the ability to disable the search result for me. Users don’t do well with finding things like that and disabling them. That’s more work for me and confusion for them.
I didn’t say there was any evidence of them monetizing the data, but it’s a huge step when they suddenly start checking all of my searches against the web instead of just my server. Nobody should have to put up w/ that unless they agree to it.
That was an update that came very quickly after the Streaming Service Fiasco started. Fortunately in this case (or unfortunately for other cases) it was in such an Alpha state that it returned like “Cultured” Adult Film results in the search because they weren’t marked as “NSFK” on whatever server had them so Plex was forced to fix that pretty quickly. So the ability to turn off the Streaming results from search has been around since like a week after it came out, so it’s been here for a month. Not having auto updates on you’ll only know about any fixes when you do an update
The buttons suggesting to watch TV series in paid websites (and displaying the price) when I have all the seasons in my server has confused the hell of my users. Not allowing to disable this thing on the server side is really bad.
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Same here and my users.
It is either very poorly thought out or Plex does not care that much about personal media anymore.
Well, these things have been discussed in-depth. Please accept that this feature is unwanted by some and that additional info about paid services is a pain ita for some users (while it is not worth mentioning for others). Please also accept that the “off switch” is a high priority for some.
There is no need for these kind of questions which provoke always the same kind of answers.
You - the person asking the question - are pretty well aware of the fact that a “complete off” of that feature is not possible currently (but has been asked for in a heated tone).
Let’s see if it ever will be.
Is it really that hard to give any user enough credit to take his or her concerns seriously?
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There is a fundamental disconnect between Server Owners and the Plex Organization as to who is the caretaker for individual users. We both lay claim to them.
On paper, Plex has the better claim, but in practice I think they’d lose a ton of users if we all collectively took them with us.
Most of the heat Plex experiences from us is on behalf of our friends and loved ones. If they’d pause for a moment to consider how deeply we’re all tied to this piece of software before making large moves, they might be a bit better off.
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My users do not know what Plex really is, they think my server is ‘plex’. It’s such a pain to explain it to them and how to differentiate between ‘my’ content and ‘Plex’ content and now even more with the ads for other streaming services.
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Same, bro… same. To them, “I” am Plex. They wonder why I do the things I do, and I have to explain that it’s not me doing it.
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That’s very true. To my family members who use my Plex server I am Plex. It’s my server and if anything changes they come running to me. Users don’t generally understand the changes, and I suspect that’s part of what Plex was counting on. They stuff all that extra junk in there and people start clicking on it. Instead they come running to me and I have to explain or fix things. I don’t need that hassle.
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Part of taking a concern seriously is figuring out what the concern is. If someone doesn’t like a neighbor’s Christmas decorations that’s one thing, but if it is “In the way” that’s a completely different issue.
So that was a logical question. How is the 30ft tall snowman “in the way”?
If it’s “In the way” because I don’t like it that’s not really in the way.
On the other hand if it’s in the way because it blocks all the sun that hits the turnip garden, that’s definitely in the way, but others might not see that if they just see that it doesn’t cross out of their yard.
Asking question is the furthest thing from not taking concerns seriously.
Personally I understand managing things for other users. My Sister’s account & my Dad’s account only access my server, so anything they see is going to be just what I have. But I also have their login credentials so I can fix problems when they have them. Anyone who wouldn’t be able to manage things on their own the person managing it should have access to their account, &, as an account setting, can make those changes without them having to worry.
The problem then comes down to the rest. For other users those options shouldn’t reside with the server owner. They can’t actually. My other sister & her husband also have access to my server, but that have access to at least 2 other servers, maybe more, & they don’t have their own server at all.
So what happens if I turn it off for all users? That’s where the problem is. Say it just turns it off, but they can turn it back on. What happens if I see it on & turn it back off? See where I’m going? I don’t have their login credentials because they can mange their own stuff. My dad actually could, but he just doesn’t want to, so I manage his more or less.
Now the only real issue is if someone has a LOT of users, but at that point it’s no longer being used as a personal media server, it’s a business one, in which case Plex TOS specifies you are allowed to use it for your immediate family & those “Whom you will be responsible for” so if you really have so many users you can’t handle it, that’s your issue & you can’t expect Plex to cater to it.
My family thinks of me as “Plex” as well, for the most part, but if it’s too difficult to talk to your users maybe you need to educate them better or have someone else handle it instead
They’re users. I do IT work all week long. The last thing I want on my time off is to spend too much time chasing after things that some company changed that I have no rights to fix and have to explain to my users or fix for them. It’s not that it’s “difficult.” It’s a pain in the ass that I’m not going to deal with. Snide comments about finding someone else to handle it does absolutely nothing to fix it.
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Trying to decide if this is condescending, or insulting? Either way, there’s a good reason I normally scroll past your novels.
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Sorry, you’re right, that was out of line. But I’m annoyed at how you & others just keep glossing right over the actual issue.
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If you control it via your server what happens to people who don’t want YOUR setting that YOU chose FOR them?
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What happens to people who have access to multiple servers?
They said it’s going to be a per-user setting, instead of a per-device setting, at that point you’ll be able to change their settings from your phone, computer, whatever so long as you have their credentials. It being unfinished sucked, & we’ve already been over how stupid that was, but we have to deal until the fix comes out.
- But taking control away from users will hurt more than it helps. Plain & simple. Don’t just ignore that problem that would be created by your wanted solution, if you really want them to consider it, propose a way it can be implemented to give you what you want while not causing other problems. This is a Feature Suggestion thread, not a Feature Complaint thread
- What happens when a User wants it on but the server thinks it should be off? (Or vice versa) Someone said “They can just turn it back on” but what happens when the server owner turns it back off? If they both have access to it & it’s a server setting how do they override the server’s settings for their account? The only solution I can think of is to have it be a User not Server setting, which is what it is supposed to be when they implement it.
- What happens if a user has access to 2 servers & 1 has it on, the other has it off?
Sorry for being “Snide” but unless you can think of solutions to those problems telling us again that you don’t like it doesn’t contribute to the conversation
Been using Plex since 2016 but this was the update that finally pushed me to try out other solutions.
We had a good run. 
You just described half of my users. They think I AM PLEX. Plex has to work like Netflix and co, and it kind of was. I can just tell a new user “Install the Plex app and tell me the 4 letters in your screen”. And that’s it. The only complain I had was that the default installation parametrization should be the “good for the majority”. Sometimes I had to help people to go through the settings to change something, most times the parameter in the subtitles to avoid transcoding, that parameter should be by default in the best option for the majority…
Some of my users are elderly, they barely can use their phones. Just installing the app can be a problem. And they are in the other side of the world.
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I don’t think the best solution is going to be a server side option. I suspect the best solution is per account. The worst solution would be per app or client where it would have to be changed on every device. That would be unmanageable and I couldn’t fix it for my users w/o physically having access to each device. Something that could be set in the account in the web would let me log in as them and fix it. (Or I could spend 30 - 45 min walking them through doing it which I don’t want to do.) They’re sure not fixing it themselves most of the time. That’s assuming it does get fixed. I’m skeptical right now because the garbage they’ve foisted on us w/ this. I’d be happy to see them walk this garbage back in a usable way but I’m not expecting it w/ the course they seem to be on.
Edited to add: Actually the best option would be to make this opt in. Then anyone who wants it can turn it on. Everyone who hates it can leave things alone and not have to deal with it.
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This is so true!
The other point is that these users are ONLY using Plex because I told them to install it to access my server. They could care less if it is Plex or some other client app and they would be more than happy to move away from Plex, if I requested it in the future.
I believe this describes the majority of Plex users: followers of the server admins.
It is the same thing the movie companies have always known and streaming companies are learning: those who control the content have the power.
I’m not sure Plex understands this yet, or they do and they are attempting to gain power by offering their own content source. However, they don’t fully control that content yet either.
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