Just got the email… NOT happy!
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I have nothing much to add that hasn’t already been said by other posters on here but wanted to add my name to the list of people who are severely disappointed in the way this has been implemented.
I clicked through too quickly on my girlfriend’s Samsung TV Plex App and enabled all of the sharing with friends by mistake on her account. Fortunately I’d seen, for my own account, on a web browser what I’d inadvertently signed her up for and then played hunt the menu to disable it for her.
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This seems to be the new default. I just made a new burner account and ignored the prompts on app.plex.tv to “share with friends”. On second log-in, I go to edit profile and get this. I will be deleting this new account.
On old versions of Plex Web (local) there are no prompts or ways to edit this information.
ahh, interesting, but in that case too late for me as I have already deleted all my watch history.
And the counters probably contain info from servers I no longer have access too (yep I used hetzner for a long time)
I could request plex delete all my data, but it seems that will delete my whole account, therefore losing my lifetime Plex Pass!
So looks like I will just have to try and ignore the counters.
If you remember what it was you watched, I believe you can search for it in the discover (specifically discover and not local server) and it will be marked watched there and you can delete it. That also means that there must still be a record of what you watched if you only delete/remove from “my watch history” since it is still showing as watched for me after deleting. The question then is if both marking unmatched + removing actually is enough to remove the record or if Plex still has data on it.
If you go this route, one piece of advice is that you can mark unmatched via the show itself and not just seasons/episodes, which will speed up the process if doing it manually.
Right? That is the most insanely alarming email I have received, from a service I value(d?).
This is absurd. Plex has been increasingly adding features that make it less a service/platform and more a content aggregator/distributor/advertiser.
I don’t want this. Plex has been a spectacular solution for self-hosting and streaming media to friends and family, but it is increasingly spending time and energy on features that are antagonistic to that role and they are driving me to find an alternate solution provider.
Because this is ridiculous.
I don’t want your free TV. I don’t want your podcasts. I don’t want your media. I don’t want your friends lists. I don’t want this to be yet another social network.
I want a streamlined, self-hosted, private collection of streaming media. I don’t want to know I can watch something on Netflix, I want to know if I have it.
I don’t want to know that someone who I share my server with watched something on Apple TV. What the insanity is happening in this organization?
I don’t give a damn that I can “turn it off” (I’ve done this twice now!), it’s very alarming that it exists as a feature at all.
TL;DR: Stay in your ■■■■■■■ lane, Plex.
I want to know where I can communicate feedback that will be seen by Staff, because I want to be heard about this bullshit.
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I share my server with three family members.
I would like instructions - step by step -.on how to prevent these emails from been sent to me with info about what my users are watching and to my family members with info on what I am watching. Actually, disabling this monstrosity altogether once and for all.
I am the server admin after all so I should be able to do it without involving my users and it should be an easy thing to do, right? Right?
I am afraid though that it’s not going to be that easy after what I’ve seen so far. Editing and disabling options in several places in the hosted Plex app, sometimes buried at the bottom of pages and even the footer on the email which then again directs you to another place.
You can easily* manage your email notifications here
*Emphasis mine
Thanks.
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This is exactly how I feel… Hell I’d even pay to keep it “core” only. Just self hosted with updates to core to keep it secure etc.
So @plex I’d PAY to keep all those podcast, friends, free tv and music nonsense OUT of my server!!!
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Per-user account settings
These need to be repeated under each regular (i.e. not “managed”) user account.
-
to disable the bar that says “Activity by X” on all your movie and TV show preplay pages: go here https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/settings/online-media-sources and scroll down. Disable “DISPLAY ACTIVITY FROM MY FRIENDS ON DETAIL PAGES”
-
to disable all those free media sources: go here https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/settings/online-media-sources and disable all the sources under “General” you don’t want.
Hint: “Disabled for managed users” will not disable it for you, since you are a regular user, not a managed one. -
on the same settings page, you can disable Discover as well
-
set the Watch History, Watchlist, Ratings, Friends List to “private” by going here https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/profile/edit scroll to the bottom and “Edit” the Privacy Settings. In the same dialog, set the Account Visibility to “Friends only”. Save.
-
on this page https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/settings/account you can disable the syncing of “Watched” data and Ratings from your personal Plex server to your account. This will render most of the things in 4) almost useless.
However, this will also prevent your account from syncing back these status data to a second or replacement Plex server of your own. (And to servers which are shared with you.) -
Go through your list of Plex friends https://app.plex.tv/desktop/#!/friends and remove those from which you don’t wish to see any activity.
Plex Friendship and media sharing are now separate things – i.e. you can keep on sharing your media with them. -
Verify the email notification settings for your account as well and adapt them to your wishes: https://www.plex.tv/email-preferences
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So, I have several dozen users. You’ve now enabled a feature that is terrifyingly invasive and must now be disabled per user?
My God. What is happening at Plex HQ?
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Many thanks for your response, effort and patience.
I don’t recall ever seeing such a convoluted procedure in my life.
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Second this for the helpful response, I’m now sending it out in emails and DMs to people using my servers…
Thanks for this. Can we somehow automate this with an API somewhere? I cannot ask quite a few of my users to go through this. So I’d like to automate it.
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Sorry, I am unable to tell.
Thanks. I’d also suggest adding a link to eMail preferences https://www.plex.tv/email-preferences within your list. At least three of these auto enabled for me even after I’d disabled everything else.
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How the HELL did anyone at Plex think it was a good idea to enable this by default? And yes, it was by default, I never clicked any button to enable it, neither did any of the friends I talked to about their data being sent to me.
Time to look in to Plex alternatives, ■■■■ like this is NOT OK.
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Bloody hell, this had to be hidden on purpose.
Beyond stupid!
I recall this menu and had set everything to private.
Instead they pulled FB and reset everything.
Plex staff are such ZUCKS at this point.
I would like a refund on my lifetime pass at this point.
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STOP
Push an update that disables this by default NOW!!!
then we can enable as those who see fit
Any other excuse is garbabge
Perhaps a class action legal response is the only way to get this through your heads.
No one here wants this!!! Repeat.
DISABLE IT NOW AS DEFAULT!
Send the update by end of day and apologize for being inept idiots for this entire thing
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Have the teams send an emergency update and disable this share feature by default by end of day today.
No one wants this!!
No excuses you have the ability to send emergency updates, use it now
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I don’t often post in the forums, just come for the reading… I just wanted to express my unhappiness with this. I was kinda spooked getting that email through. Unhappy with my viewing being passed onto other folk i share my server with.
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