Is that relevant if not everyone is active on forums? It’s not like people only materialized here to complain, since the price increase. In large parts it’s the core that already provided feedback and suggestions in recent years. So no, it’s not only people that came here to complain. That claim of yours we can easily rebuff.
Sure, you can pretend that there is a silent majority, happily using all these tiny fragments of irrelevant feature additions and will happily pay more for exactly that. But the simple truth is that as far as we can tell, their existence is pure theory.
Meanwhile, we have so so so many requests for a tiered subscription system. Also not just since the latest announcements Because people clearly don’t mind paying a fair price for core functions.
And there is absolutely no logical reason why Justin & Co would rather want to force everyone to “enjoy” all the stuff they are coming up with, instead of having customers satisfied with the services they receive for the price they pay.
Best of all are their lame “oh but we want free users to have an ad-free experience!” justifications, while they abandon promises made to paying customers.
Of course it’s relevant. I didn’t say or even suggest that people came to the forum to complain, did I? I said if the forum only represents a small sample of the total number of users, and those that aren’t on the forum are happy with the product, then the comments on the forum aren’t representative of the total user base. Your counter is opinion, not irrefutable evidence that the forum is not only a small sample of the total user base (and a misunderstanding of what I was suggesting).
Neither am I saying that the forum isn’t representative - I can’t know for sure; but conversely neither can you know that it’s the opposite. I’m just saying that in my experience, forums are rarely representative of the total user base for anything, and why should the Trakt forum be any different? If Trakt has a user base in the millions (possible 10s of millions), then the active forum users is a miniscule proportion of this.
This is quite funny… 100% price increase, the community is shitstorming around for days, while justin and co. are completely ignoring the whole topic, but when someone states that a “new perk” is not what it seems, he instantly appears to beat the hell out of the critics.
Yet, still no word about the only interesting topic that the community demands answers for.
The forum isn’t the only demographic to consider though. There are lots of long posts on Reddit where they are angry, canceling their VIP. Same for Facebook, likely similar in other social media. Sure, some users will overlap and post to a few, but that’ll be small. The overriding feeling across all of them is that they have lost all trust in Trakt, are angry over reneging on price honouring and weighing whether what they use VIP for is worth it (in many cases it seems it’s not). There will be many other users who just silently skulk away from Trakt to go elsewhere, who maybe aren’t even aware of this forum, or who are just so disgusted they’ve already walked without voicing displeasure. Then there are many who didn’t even receive the email about the price hike and might only become aware of it when their subscription renews.
Sure, it’s not a complete view of what’s happening, but like polls or reviews done using a small population from differing backgrounds it does show a broad enough view for whether someone is for or against something. The only ones to truly know how this has affected the business are those running it and they certainly aren’t going to tell us!
The fact the way it’s heading is great for you is fine, you must use a lot of the features, but it’s clearly not for others, who only paid as a “donation”. That’s why I think tiering the VIP would be better. A smaller amount for those that don’t really use features, just want to “donate”, a middle rate for a greater range of TRAKT features, and a higher rate for TRAKT PARTNER features that cost the company a fortune to implement and so should be passed on to those who actually use them rather than forcing everyone to pay whether used or not
Tens of millions? I underestimated the extent of your imagination.
Not to mention that this is about VIP users and VIP features. So your imagined tens of millions are indeed irrelevant. Besides the costs they cause and which trakt chose to make the burden of VIPs.
Sure, 10s of millions is probably unlikely. It was claimed to be 2 million 10 years ago, and without a doubt the apps on the app stores will have led to some acceleration I would have thought.
Speculation of course, but you would think that if what you see on this forum is representative of the vast majority of their signed up VIPs, that we’d have seen a U-turn by now. The evidence suggests otherwise - it’s just a logical conclusion. Maybe not what some of the vociferous posters want to consider - but just think about it for a moment. The owners aren’t going to commit commercial suicide, so people are clearly missing something. You just need to take a step back, think about it and consider alternative possibilities.
True, but Reddit isn’t especially ‘active’ is it (looks far less active than here). Even the so called Megathread isn’t particularly 'mega; in numbers. Only the odd post in the past week, plus posts/up votes in the 10s.
I’m only saying the available evidence doesn’t support the view that it’s a mass meltdown.
(Facebook just has a tendance to descend into a cesspit of rabid comment whatever the subject, so I steer well clear of it, period).
Not just the Trakt subreddit though, it’s dispersed among many different ones. Between all social media I’d say the majority are canceling or considering it
That same reasoning came up when they limited free users and began to charge everyone else $60. “They wouldn’t do it if …”.
And Justin constantly claimed that Trakt would be doing oh so well, is financially stable etc etc.
Just for them to suddenly abandon grandfathered prices because Trakt can’t afford it. Huh, that doesn’t really fit their previous narrative, right?
And obviously it’s way more logical to double and quadruple the costs for paying customers, instead of (re)introducing ads for the “tens of millions” free accounts. D’uh.
But sure, let’s just pretend that they have it all figured out. Because it’s unheard of that anyone running a service ever messed it up by bad decisions and ignoring the requests of their base.
“Logical conclusion”, as you said. We only need to take a step back.
And maybe then we will finally understand why a tiered sub system would be terrible for us, why paying for free users instead of them seeing ads is the way to go. And maybe we’ll even embrace Trakt Lite as the hottest shit and not consider it a waste.
Thanks for sharing here! I’ve taken some notes already but do not hesitate to ask your questions about the Trakt VIP Partner Program or Rippple in the topic I’ve just opened.
Let’s try to keep things on topic tho, there are enough (long) threads about pricing/bundling, it will be easier for everybody
How much did it cost Trakt to make you part of their Partner program, though, when it’s only iOS, and why should VIP members be forced to pay that extra when Android only?
The majority that you’ve seen make comment (wherever that might be - and as you say, there will be overlap).
You just don’t know that this isn’t a small sample of the total number of VIPs.
Look - I’ve got no axe to grind here, or is this in any way an attempt to defend the price increase. I’m ambivalent about it, as I do see the value - many on here don’t. I get that.
I’m just saying there is an alternative way to view this, and some of what people are assuming doesn’t appear to be logical or fit the facts. Hundreds of people appear to be cancelling - that appears certain, if people aren’t just saying it. Let’s say the reality is that a few thousands will cancel. Many were grandfathered at $15/yr. You’re not going to have been running a development team on a few thousand VIPs at that rate. So the number of VIPs must surely number well into the 10s of thousands. Just maths.
And when those few thousands cancel they lose that income - next logical step to recoup it? Put the price up again lol. I know for me that’s what worries me. It’s not the price, it’s the sneakiness and backpeddling and pretty much lies. What’s to stop them doing it again in the near future? That’s why I keep recommending tiers to them, prices that are accessible by more users and worth what they actually use Trakt for
Depends how many accept the increase vs those that don’t. Those accepting paying more help offset those that stop their subscription. Only Trakt will know how this balances out, but there will be an increase from some to help counter the reduction elsewhere. There is no way to calculate / estimate this ‘from the outside’.
I’ve been exploring Rippple. My first impression was not all that great. I primarily use an iPad in landscape mode to track my watches. In this mode, I feel that the app tries to put too much on the screen, but loses sight of what is essential. I would prefer not to have the side bars.
That being said, there are also a few things I do like about the app:
The app actually allows me to have a small icon of the streaming service where I can watch a movie or a show, and it allows me show this only for streaming services I actually have access to. Although not perfect, it is a way to quickly see if there is something I can watch.
I also like the ability to check-in a movie or episode by simply swiping. This is far easier than having the 2 clicks needed when using the Trakt app.
Finally I like the ability to combine Up Next with my Watchlist and/or any other list in the “To Watch” section.
I’ll keep using this app for the next couple of months until my Trakt VIP expires. Who knows, I might even decide to keep Trakt without VIP and simply pay for the €10 a year for the app, if that option is still around at that time, given that the developer is now also a product manager at Trakt…
And the forums have been more active then ever with countless new users after this change.
I mean a lot of people may not even know about the changes.
How?
FYI to everyone @marius liked this comment. The guy we don’t know who is in charge is more interested in reading and liking comments supporting him then communicating with us.
What? I quoted you above saying you were happy with the recent developments. You were quite literally defending the price increase. Your alternative view is a defense.
It’s pretty obvious that in the context of my comment, I’m referring to being happy with the recent feature improvements, and not referring to the price increase there.
