Perhaps they could run their own servers, if they don’t like it.
If a server admin is going to put all the time, effort and resources into running a server to share with their friends, shouldn’t that admin have some say in how their content is shared? Why do the users get the veto vote?
TO BE CLEAR - Not saying I’m in the “give all power to the server admins” camp, but I DO fully understand the logical reasoning behind such a request.
You do. However, turning off discover and the watchlist is a step beyond how your content is shared. It’s an entirely separate matter which you should have no level of control over outside your own account.
It’s no different from server admins having no power to decide whether users sharing their content can use Plex’s own ‘Movies & TV’ content.
I agree with this and is a reason I’m not fully happy with the current search toggle for “More Ways to Watch.” I am glad there is at least an option now, but don’t think this is the correct solution to the problem.
No, I don’t. My content is being mixed in with other content sources and this is causing confusion for users, which adds to the burden of being a “Plex Support Representative.”
DISCLAIMER - I only present the other side of this debate to show how it is a reasonable request. Not that I’m actually asking for it myself at this time.
Should you also get control over how your content is displayed for users who share multiple servers? Which server should get precedence when duplicate items are present? Who gets to decide that?
You get control over what is shared. You don’t get control over how that is displayed at the far end.
How exactly? My experience of IT-challenged individuals is that they tend to stick to a very set process (usually the thing they got shown when they first used a device or application). Yet seemingly there’s vast hordes of users out there who don’t know how to use plex but are happily digging around in the discover hub and adding things to their watchlist without any clue how any of it works?
I guess we differ on what is a ‘reasonable’ request.
There could be a good solution to this which would let the server admins fix things like this. Let the users designate a primary server. Then the server admin could set defaults and the settings for things like this from the primary server be their settings. That way for those of us that only have one server people watch all they’d have to do is set it as primary and we could continue on.
Sure, why not?
Why is that an unreasonable request? It’s my stuff, not theirs. I’m doing them the favor, not the other way around.
Don’t Netflix, Amazon, Pluto, Tubi all get to decide how their content is displayed? I don’t see them forced into a defined set of standards.
Plex initially started as a tool to empower admins. It appears that it is attempting to swing the scale of power to the users.
Again, I’m not saying this is wrong, but it does present a host of problems on the admins, who usually end up fielding all the support calls.
DISCLAIMER - I only present the other side of this debate to show how it is a reasonable request. Not that I’m actually asking for it myself at this time.
Who gets precedence? Why should your views override the other server admin? Or indeed the user’s view about what they want to see.
Ahh, so it’s a ‘reasonable’ request because if you don’t get your own way then you’ll just take your ball home…
Code and publish your own server and client applications and you can have as much say as you like in how anything and everything is displayed in it.
I mean that’s one way of looking at it… I’d be intrigued to see if the Plex developers agree with that assessment of why they decided to fork and improve on XBMC way back when.
I’m still a little confused about why all these calls from (presumably) IT-illiterate friends & family keep coming in from changes which don’t impact on core functionality. If you explained to someone the steps to load up Plex, browse to a piece of media and watch it before these recent additions then those steps still hold true now. Why are all these people who apparently need a lot of hand holding going rogue and clicking on everything in sight now?
You’re assuming users are IT literate. I have typically loaded up the Plex software and configured it when I am with them. If things change they freak out and don’t know what to do. They’re users. It’s what they do.
I’m really not.
Illiterate users (in my experience) follow the same process time and time again. They don’t deviate. Discover and the Watchlist haven’t changed the process for loading up plex, browsing a library, and watching a piece of media. They provide additional functionality but only if you go looking for it.
For someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing and is simply following instructions they have been given (or indeed anyone just watching local media), the functionality of using Plex to watch something now is no different than it was before Discover was added. Which is why I’m confused as to why/how all these users are now going off-piste…
I could understand if it was that users were contacting admins because something new had appeared and they were unsure about it, which has the simple answer of just telling them to ignore it. But it keeps being implied that users are getting stuck into the new features and then getting confused, which just seems odd behaviour for the less IT-savvy amongst us.
This happened to more than user of mine. One asked why I have one show on the server but is unable to play for example (he was in the discover section and discovered something with no sources). The reason for that is that, as stated multiple times from multiple users, ppl don’t know what plex is or can’t differentiate the different sources, even if it seems odd to yoi.
You forget that putting something on the home screen makes ppl click it, tech savvy or not, that is why companies pay lots of dollars to be preinstalled, even if the product is bad. This is why mcafee sells subscriptions, this is why ppl use Samsung apps.
Your argument has a flawed premise.
Anyhow, I agree that server admins should not be able to control client interfaces, its not even theoretically possible due to the ability to have more than one source but there should be a better separation and plex should do a vastly better job and not trick ppl into their content. The current state is just confusing.
Your users are different from mine. It changes like that and I either get a call that something changed and they can’t explain what it was or they don’t call me and they start clicking on things. That’s worse. This is easy enough to fix if I know about it on a PC I just have them give me remote access. Much less so on a tv, tablet, phone, or other device. Up until now they have known that if it’s on my Plex server it’s safe to click on and doesn’t go anywhere. Now? Who the hell knows?
I using you to quote, but I’m not picking on you.
However, I see this come up time and again; not only in this specific thread, but across the forums, in general.
They are not your users. They never were. They have always been Plex’s users. It may be that you introduced them to the platform/service, but they created a Plex account, not a “Server Admin X” account.
I understand the sense of ownership folks feel. It’s natural. You’ve carefully curated a collection of content and shared it with other users, the intent being to provide them with an alternative solution to the myriad of streaming services available and their walled-garden approach to media availability.
I also understand how it can be frustrating when Plex introduces features to its users which affect how they view and consume content.
But context is important. It’s been beaten into the ground in this thread time and again, but you, as an admin, should have no special control over another user’s experience other than how the content which you specifically share is presented.
Plex users can potentially have access to several sources of content in Plex, and have been able to for a while. That content originally was in the form of multiple servers being shared with them. And for awhile now, Plex has had their own online media sources.
You, as a server admin, can (and should only be able to) control what content is shared with the users to whom you share. Period.
I understand that you feel that these services’ content is being mixed with your own, and that that constitutes a crossing of some line. However, it’s not really fundamentally different than a user who has multiple servers shared with them seeing content from all of those servers when they search.
You’re wrong. They’re my family. They only connect to my server. They’re only using Plex because of my server. They have no interest in the other stuff Plex is adding. I have to take care of them. They’re my users. Plex is just the vehicle we use. At least up until now. Waiting to see how this works out and evaluating options. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there in the same situation. And if I move to some other software they’d still be my family and users but they’d be using whatever software I switch to. The day they call up Plex at 2AM because “your server isn’t working right” is the day they become Plex’s users.
What, do you think, will those users do if the server admin switches to embed for example?
I guess that would depend upon your message to them. You could tell them Plex won’t work anymore, which would be inaccurate at best.
You’re missing something here. I as an admin am used to controlling how things work on my network and with my gear. That’s what I get paid for at work and that’s how my Plex server works. My family expects me to maintain it. I’m the admin. They don’t have any clue what to click on and don’t want to deal with it. IMO what Plex is doing here is moving things away from our servers and forcing people to cloud based stuff. That’s not what we have Plex for. I’ve got Netflix and Amazon and other options if I want the cloud stuff. So do they. This just adds confusion and complexity. And no I have no intention of EVER adding any of the streaming services to Plex. It doesn’t belong there.
What?
Not sure I understand what you mean.
Why would the users I share my content with stay with plex if my content is gone? What for?
If I serve my content in emby, they will install emby and remove plex.
I would tell them “We’re not using Plex anymore. We’re changing to XXXXX. I’ll update your software next time I get a chance.” Which is part of they’re my users not Plex’s. They only run Plex to access my server.
They do have a point here. One of the questions here is “Who’s users are they?” It looks like Plex has decided they want to make them their users and not our users which is what I’ve seen w/ people who run Plex servers.
