🎙️ AMA: From Rippple to Trakt

[sahara]

Really nice to invent some guidelines after what you did just because you don’t like the user responses, haha.

[CajunRob]

@kcador

This has been explained already above in this thread.

Well not really because I asked some very specific questions and gave you the opportunity to “sell” Rippple here to us a bit and expand on the cost etc but you don’t really seem interested in doing so. Nor did you address my question regarding the process for existing Trakt VIPs deciding to give Rippple a spin.

@kcador

No, they are not.

Well that’s a definite eyeopener then. Not only is Trakt stabbing us in the back they’re additionally twisting the knife a little. I had wondered why there hadn’t been the same amount of complaints about the increase as had manifested itself last time from users in other countries.

I definitely hope VIP users realize or search and discover how trivially simple it is to use a VPN and access the AppStore in a country that still gets a now even more drastically cheaper access to Trakt.

This might be the biggest boneheaded decision yet.

[neilcgardner]

@CajunRob

I definitely hope VIP users realize or search and discover how trivially simple it is to use a VPN and access the AppStore in a country that still gets a now even more drastically cheaper access to Trakt.

This might be the biggest boneheaded decision yet.

You’re presumably not an Apple user? You cannot access Apple AppStores in other countries by using a VPN to change your geolocation. It’s possible by other means, but it is more involved than most people will bother with.

[Sigwolf]

@kcador

@Sigwolf

Regardless, it is what Trakt is actually doing.

This is your perception. If you feel like you are overcharged or underserved, you can cancel your subscription.

@Sigwolf

No one is pretending tiering would be a silver bullet, but it would be, at the very least, a choice for end users to not have to pay for a bunch of features that are not needed by them.

This has been answered already above, you rarely use 100% of the subscription you pay to services. If you feel overcharged or underserved, you can cancel your subscription.

Ah, that’s what this whole situation has been missing… petty arrogance and pointless repetition from a Trakt employee.

Do you think anyone here is not aware that we can cancel our subscription?

Thank you for making it crystal clear what this company thinks of it’s paying customers.

You also seem to be really stuck on drawing the false equivalency between Trakt and streaming services. Even overlooking the obvious fact that Trakt does not actually provide any content, you have to be aware that most streaming services offer subscriptions at different prices depending on what features the end user wants.

[jmxd (Jamie)]

Trakt’s original function would have been perfectly sustainable more than fine. What isn’t sustainable without raising prices is the desired growth of the company and it’s value, lets be clear on that.

[wnjo0009]

@kcador

I value transparency but

Never a great way to start a sentence. As a self confessed valuer of transparency, care to give your opinion on the recent spate of thread unlistings and outright account removals (it seems)? I see all of kraftynic’s messages have disappeared all of a sudden. That doesn’t sound very transparent to me.

[neilcgardner]

@jmxd

Trakt’s original function would have been perfectly sustainable more than fine. What isn’t sustainable without raising prices is the desired growth of the company and it’s value, lets be clear on that.

In your opinion, and for your use-case.

I’m a long time user of Trakt, but it was never essential for my use. I therefore used it ‘casually’ for years, but could have walked away from it at any time.

Recent developments have made it the essential hub for our family, with multiple people relying on it every day. Had it remained restricted to it’s “original function”, that would not have happened. There will be other Trakt users that fall into the same category, and new ones joining due to the extended functionality.

I think a lot of original Trakt users need to realise that the product is evolving - building on its original intent, and attracting a new type of user. For those longer term users who want it to be only what it was in the early days, it is maybe time for them to accept that their and Trakt’s future is no longer aligned, and they are best moving to another product.

In the words of good marketing campaigns "if you aren’t enthusiastic about the proposition, then maybe you’re just not part of the target audience’.

[jmxd (Jamie)]

If you think you are their audience you are mistaken. The power users with their own media automation is what was Trakt’s original audience. Their new intended audience is casual streaming service users.

[neilcgardner]

I’ll ignore picking you up on the contradiction in that statement.

[sahara]

Sure. The problem is not the increase per se. It is how they did it, what they did beforehand and what they do now. Actually, yes the increase is also an issue once you go back on your words.

[kcador (Kevin)]

@sahara

Really nice to invent some guidelines after what you did just because you don’t like the user responses

They were not invented because we didn’t like some feedback. We had to write them because we saw some of those unwritten rules we had that were broken. What in the Guidelines do you find is targeted at “feedback we do not want to hear”?

@Cinhd

only response to my heartfelt comment was a thumb up . I guess we really AREN’T listened to and Trakt doesn’t care about it’s users

And thanks for that comment! I didn’t feel like I should answer, hence the thumbs up. We listen, the thumbs up was my way to let you know I’ve heard you.

@CajunRob

Well not really because I asked some very specific questions and gave you the opportunity to “sell” Rippple here to us a bit and expand on the cost etc but you don’t really seem interested in doing so. Nor did you address my question regarding the process for existing Trakt VIPs deciding to give Rippple a spin.

Here, I was answering about the Partner API Program because I have answered above on how it works (for third-party developers, for users and for Trakt). I’ve also shared some features and differences with Trakt in my previous message.
My goal is not the (over)sell you on using my app instead of Trakt. If you don’t feel the need or the appeal, it’s fine.

@Sigwolf

Do you think anyone here is not aware that we can cancel our subscription?

This wasn’t about awareness, this is about the choice to cancel if you feel with 60$ you’d be underserved or overpriced.

@wnjo0009

As a self confessed valuer of transparency, care to give your opinion on the recent spate of thread unlistings and outright account removals (it seems)?

This has nothing to do with transparency. We now have our Community Guidelines written. Posts, messages and users are being moderated based on those rules.

[CajunRob]

@kcador

Here, I was answering about the Partner API Program because I have answered above on how it works (for third-party developers, for users and for Trakt). I’ve also shared some features and differences with Trakt in my previous message.
My goal is not the (over)sell you on using my app instead of Trakt. If you don’t feel the need or the appeal, it’s fine.

Understood.

To help you understand where I was coming from, I am (in your view undoubtedly mistakenly) viewing this partially along the lines of the fact that it seems to me that my Trakt cost is going to $60 but it now includes $5 for Rippple and $55 for Trakt (obviously with some other “partners” getting a cut too). And I can’t get out of the extra charge for your App. It’s a “perk” that wasn’t there before but is being included now conveniently at the same time the cost doubled.

Please don’t take this as me singling you out, but I haven’t even looked at any of the other “partner apps” because none of them have bothered to make themselves viewed here or tried to make us aware of their offerings. So, at least thank you for being somewhat transparent here and responsive in a somewhat hostile environment. In fact far more so than anyone from Trakt.

Yet it really does make me question why some of your development isn’t being incorporated into the various Trakt apps. I’d much rather see it done in such a fashion than having to have 2 apps for essentially the same service. There are aspects of Rippple that seem far more polished and eye pleasing to be honest than the official App but then at the same time there’s obviously things missing too because they were never a part of your development.

A true integration of your work into the Trakt App would at least show us some development from Trakt for the better maybe. Mostly because it’s something that maybe could be steered by public input and demand.

[kcador (Kevin)]

@CajunRob

To help you understand where I was coming from, I am (in your view undoubtedly mistakenly) viewing this partially along the lines of the fact that it seems to me that my Trakt cost is going to $60 but it now includes $5 for Rippple and $55 for Trakt (obviously with some other “partners” getting a cut too). And I can’t get out of the extra charge for your App. It’s a “perk” that wasn’t there before but is being included now conveniently at the same time the cost doubled.

This is not the case. As a third-party developer, I am not receiving 5$ out of your subscription. This is really not how it works (I wish ). If you happen to get your Trakt VIP subscription via Rippple and the referral link that is in the app, I, as a developer, will get a share of that subscription. But if you are already a VIP, I get nothing. If you decide to go VIP another way, I get nothing.

Your subscription is not used to finance or fund (or whatever) third-parties. It is used mainly to cover Trakt’s core business costs that are infrastructure and the team. I understand the timing gives this impression but the team was just busy doing some things while we had to increase our prices.

The biggest thing that increased (almost doubled) our cost was the database replication which was needed from a service stability and data integrity point of view. That was the main driver behind the price increase.

@CajunRob

Please don’t take this as me singling you out, but I haven’t even looked at any of the other “partner apps” because none of them have bothered to make themselves viewed here or tried to make us aware of their offerings. So, at least thank you for being somewhat transparent here and responsive in a somewhat hostile environment. In fact far more so than anyone from Trakt.

We didn’t announce other partnership yet but we (and third-party developers) are working on it. I’ll announce when we have news about that. Also, thank you!!

@CajunRob

Yet it really does make me question why some of your development isn’t being incorporated into the various Trakt apps. I’d much rather see it done in such a fashion than having to have 2 apps for essentially the same service. There are aspects of Rippple that seem far more polished and eye pleasing to be honest than the official App but then at the same time there’s obviously things missing too because they were never a part of your development.

Some things are planned and I’m sharing some of Rippple’s insights every day with the team.
But also, it takes time and the idea is not to make Trakt more like Rippple or the other way around. It’s to learn from one another and take the best things from Rippple to “feed” Trakt and make it better.
If you have some specific things from Rippple you’d like to see in the official app or website, please share, I’m really interested in that!

@CajunRob

A true integration of your work into the Trakt App would at least show us some development from Trakt for the better maybe. Mostly because it’s something that maybe could be steered by public input and demand.

and

[Sigwolf]

@kcador

@Sigwolf

Do you think anyone here is not aware that we can cancel our subscription?

This wasn’t about awareness, this is about the choice to cancel if you feel with 60$ you’d be underserved or overpriced.

Ohhh, I see now… it wasn’t about awareness, it was about unnecessarily stating the obvious, again, three times now.

You win. Cancellation processed. It is a real shame how quickly Trakt has gone off the rails, and how little those in charge value their users.

“If you don’t like our changes, just go away” is certainly an interesting business decision, but I guess that is where we are. I give up.