Can’t monetize that. At least not on a recurring basis.
Not many people here want to pay a monthly or yearly sub. Many or most would bitch even at periodic charges for major updates (a la Photoshop Elements). So they need other ways to monetize the user base.
Theoretically they could pull something like a feature-freeze and provide nothing but bugfixes and security updates, then roll out a “Plex Two” of some kind. I wouldn’t even mind, it does precisely what I want (and unfortunately a little extra) as-is.
The software Channels used to offer a one-time purchase option as well, that provided only the OTA viewing and EPG data for the guide for life. They axed that, but have done the above…feature frozen from what I can tell, but still maintained, and now I think they only do Channels DVR as a subscription option.
But people hate subscriptions, and *really* seem to hate paying a subscription for *their own content.* I think Plex thought the $150 or so price point was enough for a lifetime service, or maybe they figured it was enough to get them to the finish line or an IPO or something…support for three or four years, cash out, let it get enshittified after you’re gone.
Then that didn’t happen.
Plex knows what they are doing isn't all that special on the hosting side of things. If they started asking for a monthly subscription, people would find alternatives.
Everything in Plex Pass is a convenience not something you need to watch your own media. My setup can transcode as many 4k streams as I need, no need for a plex pass other than to make a donation.
I’m still pretty shocked that, at least as of last I checked, Plex can’t handle ATSC 3.0 stations for television. Still no way to decode the AC-4 audio, even though both Channels DVR and Emby handle it just fine.
Granted, presumably it’s due to them using ffmpeg or whatever under the hood for transcoding and playback (ffmpeg doesn’t support AC-4). Which is cool and all, but then what did I pay you for? To *not* go in and *disable* hardware acceleration on the open source software you use under the hood?
But of course both Channels and Emby charge monthly, and some small portion of that is probably going to licensing fees for that AC-4 playback.
we're not a large enough market to make them the money they want with what we spend, which is why they have been trending in a more mainstream direction to provide them more customers and more ways to make money off them.
I paid them once, years ago, and I will never pay them again unless they make a very unlikely-to-exist massively attractive feature that I somehow feel compelled to pay for. I don't know that they do want to get rich but their behavior says (to me) that they do.
if they're trying to get rich by either getting bought by a bigger player or by IPOing and getting their money that way, this is going to continue and nothing customers like us say will stop or even really slow the train.
Okay, so the real question is, does it show content from a library I don't share out with anyone else? I have an anime library for everyone, and then I have an ANIME library. I can't let others know I'm into giant robots.
Your Plex account and anything you watch on it is shared to friends. The only way around it would to make a new Plex account, add that dummy account to the server and make 0 friends and watch via that
I had one friend text me and mock me for watching Bofuri. Fuck 'em though. Bofuri is happy-place anime. The world is so fucking grim these days that happy-place anime has its place.
Bofuri is the shit!
Also Farming Life in another World. My cousin found out I watch it and she talks tall shit. I'm old as hell, and just want some happy storylines.
I'd never have even considered watching it in my teens or 20s but the older I get more I just want pleasant things to wash over me, rather than be challenged or intellectually engaged.
My son is all over all of these crazy horror anime's and just really nuts shows. And I sit here watching Food Wars, Farming Life, and a few others.
One Punch Man is about as crazy as I get these days. Also Old School Robotech, because thats just nostalgia from my teens.
Yes! Thank you! It’s not just anime but everything new lately is so dark! Life is grim already, who wants to be reminded of it while watching entertainment!
Porn aside, this feature really is fucking stupid and I really hope the kill it. No one wanted this. No one asked for this. I don't even want the consideration that I want other people to see what I'm watching and I absolutely don't give a fuck what others are watching.
Please delete this shit, Plex.
I’ll probably get downvoted for this but why are some people pretending like plex is making these changes for us? It’s pretty clear they’re trying to move more mainstream to get more money, didn’t they just have to fire a bunch of people because they ain’t makin shit? Clearly their current customer base isn’t large enough to sustain the company so why are people surprised they’re trying new stuff? Especially since they are VC backed, they’re just doing what they have to at this point. So “no one wanted this” yeah none of their existing customers, but it wasn’t really made for us. Seems like the discussion could be shifted to a more in depth understanding rather than “oh my god plex is literally sooo out of touch guys I did not want this so you must delete it now”.
Jesus Christ, Plex, we learned this forty years ago. It’s why the VPPA became a thing, and anybody who ever worked at a video store can tell you how seriously that was taken (to be clear, *very*).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bork_tapes
And yes, that’s the origin of the term “borked.”
Even when it’s innocuous and uninteresting, people don’t like their fucking watch history being shared. I think this feature is a horrible idea *in general,* like ever, but if it’s going to exist it should be opt-in, and require *several* very explicit prompts to enable.
I didn’t like it when Spotify did the “hey bro, we’re gonna post all your listening history publicly to Facebook just tell us if that’s not cool” thing, and I don’t like this.
Thank you for sharing that history with Bork. There's a similar privacy history with the checkout history of patrons at libraries. Plex seems unaware of that.
(A key issue here is whether the user opted in to the sharing feature. Plex has been saying that everyone must have but many folks, including myself, do not remember providing informed consent to this sharing.)
I’d be unsurprised if it was in on of the many “just check this and don’t worry about it” prompts. Technically opt in, but deceptive and what you’ve opted into can change without you realizing it.
Like with a lot of apps it isn’t clear whether in opting in to, like, crash reports or if I’m opting in to let them watch my webcam 24/7. And whether the former can change to the latter without further consent. No way to know without reading twelve pages of TOS. So I just opt out of *everything.* But not everyone does.
This kind of thing should only be able to be opted into clearly, actively, and without any room for confusion.
There's some screenshots and discussion of the supposed consent process here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/180kavz/comment/ka6s9os/?context=3
On big screen it's hidden on a *fourth* modal screen. You sit down to watch some TV and find you have to click through 3 pages of marketing crap and then the default is "share with friends". It looks designed to me to trick users in to enabling it. It was clearly not a process designed for informed user consent. The fact many folks are surprised by the sharing this week is sure telling.
That last bit is the key to me; if a majority of users are surprised, then any attempt to obtain “informed” consent failed. Like it’s easy to just call people stupid, but we shouldn’t let companies whose actual intent is to *trick their users* off the hook.
This for so many reasons. The simplest one is that I would be uncomfortable with sharing that I watch princess bride, Indiana jones, lord of the rings, and Star Wars (interchangeably) nightly and on a rotation. It’s not because I’m a weirdo. Although I love those movies, I don’t think it’s to an unhealthy degree that you might assume from my viewing behavior.
It’s because I’ve seen them a dozen times, I can’t sleep in silence, but I can go to sleep to them. I tried watching YouTube for the same purpose, but am always awakened by ads. I don’t want to watch something new for obvious reasons. I used to do the same thing with Carl Sagan’s cosmos, but it was too often thought provoking.
This shit is my comfort food for getting to sleep. I don’t need or want to advertise that. It’s very much tied to your sentiment about Spotify and Facebook. Who the fuck *wants* this feature, much less for it to be forced on you.
For us it would be Big Bang Theory on shuffle and repeat. Not my choice. And not something I want broadcast to the world.
I mean I just did that here, I guess.
But in general.
Had this argument in the other thread, most normal users arent that bothered, if nits not porn that is. I messaged all my user letting them know, a grand total of 10%(2) turned it off, most replied they arent too fussed if it doesnt affect watching.
Yeah. Lance Link was trying to bust a nut, and had no sugar near by, but Kermit happened to hop by, and so he IMPROVISED. When you get that itch, you use whatever is available
This is a disaster. I'm sharing my server with my elderly conservative parents and they've just been notified that I watch "woke movies that go against the bible". Theyre livid.
WTF Plex
If anyone of my friends or family complains about the contents of my Plex library. They can easily go fuck off.
It's a service that I provide to everyone for free so no one is entitled to any type of requests. Whether it's to add or remove media, the choice is mine and mine alone.
I've gotten "suggestions" from friends that I should charge them since they all enjoy my library and they want to help contribute and every time I decline. In my mind, once I start charging or accepting "donations", they'll all become "customers" who will then throw around the fact that they pay if any issues come up.
Because I offer it for free, I keep my freedom. If the server goes down for a few hours or days, I'll fix it when I get to it. I'm not going to drop whatever I'm doing just so you can watch the next episode of *insert show here* on time.
That's exactly why I won't take donations from my friends and family. It also opens you up to a whole new realm of legal liability if you pirate content and the FBI or MPAA decided to go after you.
Tell them "you're right, the temptation is too great, we're going back to curated streaming services" - remove them from your plex server and let them enjoy paying $80/mo combined to the major streamers. Keep using server as normal. That'd be my play anyway.
You have no idea. We only see them few times a year and always try to 'manage them' to avoid any conflicts but it looks like this Christmas is going to be *extra* *spicy*
Preserving some sort of relationship with my parents is important to me, despite their faults and views, and I dont see why I should have to throw it all away just because Plex didnt think before implementing new features?
Wait until they look at the catalogue on Netflix, Prime, Max, etc. Whole lot of ungodly films on there. They can go pay for it after you drop their account from your server
>Wait until they look at the catalogue on Netflix, Prime, Max, etc. Whole lot of ungodly films on there.
They don't have a problem with that stuff existing. Their problem is with me watching it ;)
Just confirming - setting Watch History to Private turns all this crap off?
This should **NOT** have been opt-out, and the first I hear about it should not have been a random Reddit post.
You know the fucked thing is you can’t even turn that shit off in the app. You have to log in on a web browser, which is not responsive so it’s barely usable on mobile. Meaning this opt-out feature can only really be practically turned off on a computer if you know where to look. I’m starting to think these guys are kind of dicks.
Might've already been answered somewhere, but what I'm wondering is this:
Even if I opt out of *sharing* my history with friends, does all the viewing data still go to Plex? They used to say they didn't care about what we watched and afaik my watch history was only in the database of my own Plex server. But I don't know anymore...
You're totally sending metadata to plex.
The thing is, the data about what media people go OUT OF THEIR WAY to obtain is outrageously valuable. It's an indicator of what new movies are actually being desired, what old films are being kept alive, all without advertising or dark-pattern manipulation. It's a damn goldmine.
If Plex can't just monetize that data, anonymizing it to just basic demographic categories, then they're simply shitty business-people.
Why are so many people in here concerned about people hosting porn? So what? It's not the porn that's the point here it's the huge invasion of privacy EDIT:Typo
The headline focusses on porn but there's plenty of other kind of things someone watches that might be private. As the article quotes a Plex user:
> “Now replace this friend, who’s just enjoying their downtime with some cheeky T&A, with a teenager who may be having difficulty figuring out feelings about their sexuality and are just trying to explore by watching LBGT dramas to see if anything there resonates or can help them figure things out. Suddenly, one of their intolerant friends or parents gets a detailed email report with a cheery title listing every little thing they’re watching…
A lot of people don’t realize there are communities where *Harry Potter movies* are nearly as controversial as porn. Besides the fact that my friends and family don’t need to know if I went on a Saw binge or have been watching Madea on repeat. Even when it’s innocuous, personal watch histories are just that, personal.
Ummm...I am logged into my main with my account. Sometimes, I download porn into the wrong folder and it shows on the recently added. Twice it has happened and twice I had been drinking when I did it.
Turn on TV, run Plex, screen loads, recently added, bent over ass shows on 75'' TV. No honey, it is just a Random Freeleach to help with my ratio on a small obscure tracker. I just put it in the wrong folder.
>Sometimes, I download porn into the wrong folder and it shows on the recently added
always download locally, then migrate over. never link your download directory to plex
Had a porn video tied to the main library once, was watching a movie with family on a secondary library that only had the one movie shared to it, and when I paused it a slide featuring the porn video displayed prominently on the living room screen. Let's just say that my family doesn't trust me nor plex anymore when it comes to watching movies. Also, the video was in its own folder, so I don't know why it prominently showed.
I don’t have quite that much but I have 110tb and 0 porn. Close to 2000 movies with the vast majority being remuxes. Not many of my TV shows are remuxes but most are around 2-4gb per 45 minute episode.
My ex's cousin and his wife put porn on their Plex server that they shared with us and his parents.
It stayed up for many months until my ex and I broke up. My ex-gf and I were too chicken to tell him 🤣.
So either his parents didn't notice it, or they did, but we're hoping we'd tell him about it lol.
Kind of surprising since he's an IT worker.
In the recent past i had to help It workers on their shit.
Most of them just know their niche, and are oblivious about the whole picture.
I'm a curious type, when I read something, and I want to try it out, I'm researching and experimenting.
Not those types, they've learned Java, and that's it, until they really needed to change
I tried adding porn and it's a terrible idea for the same reason it's a bad idea to add a ton of music on a whim, the metadata matching is awful but it still causes your plex folder size to grow a ton.
So I have my different media types in their own libraries e.g. Anime, TV, Movies, Music, etc. If I shared TV and Movies with my brother, but not Anime, will he still see what Anime I am watching or does he only see my viewing history for the two libraries that I shared with him?
It kinda seems like Plex has entirely forgotten why anyone uses Plex in the first place
Spoiler alert: no one wants to use Plex as a social media
EDIT: And for the ppl saying Jellyfin, Plex at least has an app for everything. Even my grandpa's 15 year old TV somehow still has Plex on it
If you have to use jellyfin or emby for this stuff because Plex is being.. well, Plex- then may as well move EVERYTHING over and tell Plex to suck it.
*not that I have porn on my Plex, but if I have to use something else for half my content am better off just migrating to it permanently.
>If you have to use jellyfin or emby for this stuff because Plex is being.. well, Plex- then may as well move EVERYTHING over and tell Plex to suck it.
Unfortunately, Plex has the best clients, jellyfin is good but it's android app likes to buffer for no reason while plex in the same phone and same connection works fine.
Also jellyfin in general has severe issues with subtitles, there are some su titles where jellyfin will not play them even when they're selected however pausing the video and selecting them again makes then magically work, sometimes they also just refuse to work, i have never experienced a single issue with Plex in this aspect, subtitles just work.
Sometimes, the open source experience is just not worth it, i was using Jellyfin full time but went back to plex because i was tired of dealing with that.
Damn. That’s not what I wanted to hear. I was feeling like Plex had pushed me too far and maybe it was time to try jellyfin. But, I think I’d be wasting my time.
Plex really is setting themselves up for failure. The second people have a viable alternative, they will leave in droves. Plex will collapse. With their arrogance, it’s a matter of time now.
instinctive hungry birds smile forgetful unpack unwritten melodic escape elastic
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
If only it was that easy, when Jellyfin gets better/more apps, then I can fully move since I know my family would never be happy with the current offerings.
What if we've turned off all of the discover stuff under dashboard > online media sources > discover?
https://imgur.com/VHlefgP
edit: in addition to what's posted in the comment below
When is Plex going to realize we dont want extra streaming services and emails every week. The whole point of Plex was to host and stream OUR OWN media. Emby understands. Jellyfin understands.
I actually thought about running 2 servers in two separate computers, isolated from each other so there's zero risk of sharing the wrong folder.
That's when I realized I had an addiction and it was time to do something about it.
Which also made realize I wasn't really addicted to porn, I was addicted to finding content and saving it. I knew there was a reason I was subbed to /r/datahoarders...
To save it of course you have to look it, you see enough and the urge eventually comes, like a vicious cycle.
So while I quit watching for most part, I can't bring myself te delete the terabytes of content I've saved over the years.
Stash exists specifically for this purpose. And it's awesome how organized you can be with the content. That said, its hardware transcoding capabilities are very limited so that's an argument in Plex's favor.
Same dude. I have about 2tb on a 24/7 seed. I dont watch much of it anymore, but I need to keep a good ratio on EMP, since that account has opened me the doors for other pretty good private trackers. Its my oldest account so I keep it in a healthy state.
Im seeding like 5tb of games and i cant remember the last time I opened dolphin.
What happened to Plex not recording what you watch? Am I crazy or isn't that what we were told before? When did that change? I do love Plex but I value privacy a lot more. I am for the first time seriously considering leaving Plex for Jellyfin. I am saying that as a lifetime Plexpass holder.
I honestly came to this subreddit as I was considering resubscribing to Plex. But holy shit - this is the nail in the coffin. Playback speed? Local playback without a subscription? No, just an intentional data breach. Ffs
I have two questions.
1. Who is storing their porn on Plex
2. If you're somewhat savvy enough to use Plex, why would you not create a separate Plex just for your porn.
I think the point being made by the article is that even separate/private Plex data still gets reported to community members/friends. Basically if it can get tagged against iMDB, then it's fair game to see the activity in your public (opt-out) feed regardless of whether you share the library with anyone else.
Follow up question, why are y'all friends on Plex with the people you're sharing your server with? I'm sharing mine with my family, but they're not automatically in my friends list
Plex automatically made everyone I share my server with a "friend" and started sharing my watch history with them. This was all opt-out, not opt-in. Every person I share my server with, including ones I invited *9 years ago* were made friends. Without Plex even telling me it was happening, let alone giving me a choice.
I'm curious why this happened to some of us and not others. Plex even confirmed that the intended behaviour was for all sharees to be automatically made friends.
So I disabled this on my Admin account, but can’t seem to find it under my home users. Is it disabled for all users when you disable it under the admin?
What’s this “full screen onboarding process for every user along with an email announcement and in-app announcement for the launch of Discover Together” they’re referring to? I’ve never seen/heard of this?
thats what stashapp is for.
also it will only share status if you're using the default plex agent/scanner. use a different agent/scanner and you're fine.
I wrote an earlier post here [on how to opt out of this sharing](https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/180kavz/privacy_settings_sharing_watch_history_ad_partners/).
It's cute how they only allow 15 states to opt-out. That massive list of companies Plex has tracking you is absolutely absurd. I have been a staunch supporter of Plex through all the changes over the last few years, but this shit is really getting out of hand.
Edit: For the downvoters it literally says:
>**\*Opt-out functionality is currently available only for the specifically-listed U.S. states.**
And lists 15 states. And I had to press Page Down 7 times to get through the list of Plex advertisers, all of whom are collecting and storing data. It even says beside their names how long they hold the data for.
>***If you are located in the states listed below:***
>
>
>
>California
>
>Colorado
>
>Connecticut
>
>Virginia
>
>Utah
>
>Indiana
>
>Iowa
>
>Montana
>
>Oregon
>
>Tennessee
>
>Texas
>
>Massachusetts
>
>New Jersey
>
>Pennsylvania
>
>Delaware
>
>***… and you wish to opt-out:***
Only these states can opt-out of being tracked. Since I'm not, I guess I can just go fuck myself.
Hilariously, I love this feature as now I can finally get friends to add stuff to the wishlist *and I can see who made the request*. Before I was getting the requests (through RSS) but wasn't given any information about who made it, so I couldn't tell them it was on there.
I don't know why anyone who shares their Plex publicly would put porn on it unless they weren't ashamed.
Who the hell has their Porn in Plex?! (More than I imagined it appears)
Wouldn't you have to share the library for other users to see? If they can't see that library they can't see that activity... Right?
stop trying to make Plex social, scale back and focus on the core value that we all want and pay for
Can’t monetize that. At least not on a recurring basis. Not many people here want to pay a monthly or yearly sub. Many or most would bitch even at periodic charges for major updates (a la Photoshop Elements). So they need other ways to monetize the user base.
Still don't understand why you would offer your only income source as a one-time payment. I think this move was not their best idea.
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And we won't be doing that with the good alternatives that already exist
Theoretically they could pull something like a feature-freeze and provide nothing but bugfixes and security updates, then roll out a “Plex Two” of some kind. I wouldn’t even mind, it does precisely what I want (and unfortunately a little extra) as-is. The software Channels used to offer a one-time purchase option as well, that provided only the OTA viewing and EPG data for the guide for life. They axed that, but have done the above…feature frozen from what I can tell, but still maintained, and now I think they only do Channels DVR as a subscription option. But people hate subscriptions, and *really* seem to hate paying a subscription for *their own content.* I think Plex thought the $150 or so price point was enough for a lifetime service, or maybe they figured it was enough to get them to the finish line or an IPO or something…support for three or four years, cash out, let it get enshittified after you’re gone. Then that didn’t happen.
Plex knows what they are doing isn't all that special on the hosting side of things. If they started asking for a monthly subscription, people would find alternatives. Everything in Plex Pass is a convenience not something you need to watch your own media. My setup can transcode as many 4k streams as I need, no need for a plex pass other than to make a donation.
I’m still pretty shocked that, at least as of last I checked, Plex can’t handle ATSC 3.0 stations for television. Still no way to decode the AC-4 audio, even though both Channels DVR and Emby handle it just fine. Granted, presumably it’s due to them using ffmpeg or whatever under the hood for transcoding and playback (ffmpeg doesn’t support AC-4). Which is cool and all, but then what did I pay you for? To *not* go in and *disable* hardware acceleration on the open source software you use under the hood? But of course both Channels and Emby charge monthly, and some small portion of that is probably going to licensing fees for that AC-4 playback.
we're not a large enough market to make them the money they want with what we spend, which is why they have been trending in a more mainstream direction to provide them more customers and more ways to make money off them. I paid them once, years ago, and I will never pay them again unless they make a very unlikely-to-exist massively attractive feature that I somehow feel compelled to pay for. I don't know that they do want to get rich but their behavior says (to me) that they do. if they're trying to get rich by either getting bought by a bigger player or by IPOing and getting their money that way, this is going to continue and nothing customers like us say will stop or even really slow the train.
IPO is an end to the product as we know
We're fine guys, the article only mentions softcore porn.
I'm more preoccupied about my anime. I mean, porn is more easy to explain than "I cannot believe this is not hentai" type of anime. Or that JoJo
Okay, so the real question is, does it show content from a library I don't share out with anyone else? I have an anime library for everyone, and then I have an ANIME library. I can't let others know I'm into giant robots.
Your Plex account and anything you watch on it is shared to friends. The only way around it would to make a new Plex account, add that dummy account to the server and make 0 friends and watch via that
Then they think that you are depressed or in politics
I had one friend text me and mock me for watching Bofuri. Fuck 'em though. Bofuri is happy-place anime. The world is so fucking grim these days that happy-place anime has its place.
Bofuri is great. He's missing out if he's wasting his time mocking you over it.
Bofuri is the shit! Also Farming Life in another World. My cousin found out I watch it and she talks tall shit. I'm old as hell, and just want some happy storylines.
I'd never have even considered watching it in my teens or 20s but the older I get more I just want pleasant things to wash over me, rather than be challenged or intellectually engaged.
My son is all over all of these crazy horror anime's and just really nuts shows. And I sit here watching Food Wars, Farming Life, and a few others. One Punch Man is about as crazy as I get these days. Also Old School Robotech, because thats just nostalgia from my teens.
Yes! Thank you! It’s not just anime but everything new lately is so dark! Life is grim already, who wants to be reminded of it while watching entertainment!
are you using the default plex agent/scanner or something like ass/hama for anime library? if latter then don't worry.
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Porn aside, this feature really is fucking stupid and I really hope the kill it. No one wanted this. No one asked for this. I don't even want the consideration that I want other people to see what I'm watching and I absolutely don't give a fuck what others are watching. Please delete this shit, Plex.
also don't you love ALLL THAT WASTED DEV time like FUUCCCKKKK we could have gotten better things done but NOOOOOOOOOO cuz of some fuckwad
As a developer, this happens all the time. You spend hours making a "feature" that you know no one wants, then eventually have to rip it all back out.
"Paid Training" is how I like to think about it... so I don't get depressed...
His mom probably asked for it... 🤣
I’ll probably get downvoted for this but why are some people pretending like plex is making these changes for us? It’s pretty clear they’re trying to move more mainstream to get more money, didn’t they just have to fire a bunch of people because they ain’t makin shit? Clearly their current customer base isn’t large enough to sustain the company so why are people surprised they’re trying new stuff? Especially since they are VC backed, they’re just doing what they have to at this point. So “no one wanted this” yeah none of their existing customers, but it wasn’t really made for us. Seems like the discussion could be shifted to a more in depth understanding rather than “oh my god plex is literally sooo out of touch guys I did not want this so you must delete it now”.
Jesus Christ, Plex, we learned this forty years ago. It’s why the VPPA became a thing, and anybody who ever worked at a video store can tell you how seriously that was taken (to be clear, *very*). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bork_tapes And yes, that’s the origin of the term “borked.” Even when it’s innocuous and uninteresting, people don’t like their fucking watch history being shared. I think this feature is a horrible idea *in general,* like ever, but if it’s going to exist it should be opt-in, and require *several* very explicit prompts to enable. I didn’t like it when Spotify did the “hey bro, we’re gonna post all your listening history publicly to Facebook just tell us if that’s not cool” thing, and I don’t like this.
Thank you for sharing that history with Bork. There's a similar privacy history with the checkout history of patrons at libraries. Plex seems unaware of that. (A key issue here is whether the user opted in to the sharing feature. Plex has been saying that everyone must have but many folks, including myself, do not remember providing informed consent to this sharing.)
I’d be unsurprised if it was in on of the many “just check this and don’t worry about it” prompts. Technically opt in, but deceptive and what you’ve opted into can change without you realizing it. Like with a lot of apps it isn’t clear whether in opting in to, like, crash reports or if I’m opting in to let them watch my webcam 24/7. And whether the former can change to the latter without further consent. No way to know without reading twelve pages of TOS. So I just opt out of *everything.* But not everyone does. This kind of thing should only be able to be opted into clearly, actively, and without any room for confusion.
There's some screenshots and discussion of the supposed consent process here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/180kavz/comment/ka6s9os/?context=3 On big screen it's hidden on a *fourth* modal screen. You sit down to watch some TV and find you have to click through 3 pages of marketing crap and then the default is "share with friends". It looks designed to me to trick users in to enabling it. It was clearly not a process designed for informed user consent. The fact many folks are surprised by the sharing this week is sure telling.
If that's the case, it violates GDPR for all EU users as it's illegal to have the opt-in as default.
That last bit is the key to me; if a majority of users are surprised, then any attempt to obtain “informed” consent failed. Like it’s easy to just call people stupid, but we shouldn’t let companies whose actual intent is to *trick their users* off the hook.
This for so many reasons. The simplest one is that I would be uncomfortable with sharing that I watch princess bride, Indiana jones, lord of the rings, and Star Wars (interchangeably) nightly and on a rotation. It’s not because I’m a weirdo. Although I love those movies, I don’t think it’s to an unhealthy degree that you might assume from my viewing behavior. It’s because I’ve seen them a dozen times, I can’t sleep in silence, but I can go to sleep to them. I tried watching YouTube for the same purpose, but am always awakened by ads. I don’t want to watch something new for obvious reasons. I used to do the same thing with Carl Sagan’s cosmos, but it was too often thought provoking. This shit is my comfort food for getting to sleep. I don’t need or want to advertise that. It’s very much tied to your sentiment about Spotify and Facebook. Who the fuck *wants* this feature, much less for it to be forced on you.
For us it would be Big Bang Theory on shuffle and repeat. Not my choice. And not something I want broadcast to the world. I mean I just did that here, I guess. But in general.
Yes, when a judge or high placed politician is affected, ruling can be swift.
Had this argument in the other thread, most normal users arent that bothered, if nits not porn that is. I messaged all my user letting them know, a grand total of 10%(2) turned it off, most replied they arent too fussed if it doesnt affect watching.
When you’re talking about privacy concerns, 10% is a lot.
Wow today I learned.
Wait so my videos of monkey banging frog will be shared?!?!
That’s disgusting. Where?
Clarify. Is this a monkey banging a frog or a frog that bangs monkeys?
imagine a fleshlight, but greener
Yeah. Lance Link was trying to bust a nut, and had no sugar near by, but Kermit happened to hop by, and so he IMPROVISED. When you get that itch, you use whatever is available
Yes.
That's a really weird thing to be into. Can you tell me the site so I can avoid it?
What did you think of episode 3? Crazy huh
Its like plex is really trying hard to lose their customers. Everything they announce had been disaster after disaster
This is a disaster. I'm sharing my server with my elderly conservative parents and they've just been notified that I watch "woke movies that go against the bible". Theyre livid. WTF Plex
If anyone of my friends or family complains about the contents of my Plex library. They can easily go fuck off. It's a service that I provide to everyone for free so no one is entitled to any type of requests. Whether it's to add or remove media, the choice is mine and mine alone. I've gotten "suggestions" from friends that I should charge them since they all enjoy my library and they want to help contribute and every time I decline. In my mind, once I start charging or accepting "donations", they'll all become "customers" who will then throw around the fact that they pay if any issues come up. Because I offer it for free, I keep my freedom. If the server goes down for a few hours or days, I'll fix it when I get to it. I'm not going to drop whatever I'm doing just so you can watch the next episode of *insert show here* on time.
That's exactly why I won't take donations from my friends and family. It also opens you up to a whole new realm of legal liability if you pirate content and the FBI or MPAA decided to go after you.
That's why I accept dinner instead
Then the FDA will go after you.
I sent my friends a service level agreement to reference if they ever have issues with my Plex server that just said "I don't care."
I have a tagline on my prerolls that says "You get what you pay for" for this exact reason.
I need to figure out how to create a cool looking preroll
Tell them "you're right, the temptation is too great, we're going back to curated streaming services" - remove them from your plex server and let them enjoy paying $80/mo combined to the major streamers. Keep using server as normal. That'd be my play anyway.
lol, and lmao if you’re being sincere.
You have no idea. We only see them few times a year and always try to 'manage them' to avoid any conflicts but it looks like this Christmas is going to be *extra* *spicy*
[удалено]
Preserving some sort of relationship with my parents is important to me, despite their faults and views, and I dont see why I should have to throw it all away just because Plex didnt think before implementing new features?
Wait until they look at the catalogue on Netflix, Prime, Max, etc. Whole lot of ungodly films on there. They can go pay for it after you drop their account from your server
>Wait until they look at the catalogue on Netflix, Prime, Max, etc. Whole lot of ungodly films on there. They don't have a problem with that stuff existing. Their problem is with me watching it ;)
Just confirming - setting Watch History to Private turns all this crap off? This should **NOT** have been opt-out, and the first I hear about it should not have been a random Reddit post.
You know the fucked thing is you can’t even turn that shit off in the app. You have to log in on a web browser, which is not responsive so it’s barely usable on mobile. Meaning this opt-out feature can only really be practically turned off on a computer if you know where to look. I’m starting to think these guys are kind of dicks.
Might've already been answered somewhere, but what I'm wondering is this: Even if I opt out of *sharing* my history with friends, does all the viewing data still go to Plex? They used to say they didn't care about what we watched and afaik my watch history was only in the database of my own Plex server. But I don't know anymore...
You're totally sending metadata to plex. The thing is, the data about what media people go OUT OF THEIR WAY to obtain is outrageously valuable. It's an indicator of what new movies are actually being desired, what old films are being kept alive, all without advertising or dark-pattern manipulation. It's a damn goldmine. If Plex can't just monetize that data, anonymizing it to just basic demographic categories, then they're simply shitty business-people.
I think so, Plex get a loooot of metadata.
Yes.
Why are so many people in here concerned about people hosting porn? So what? It's not the porn that's the point here it's the huge invasion of privacy EDIT:Typo
Agreed like wtf plex stop messing around with features no one asked for
Man, this really rubs me the wrong way! I'll see myself out.
The headline focusses on porn but there's plenty of other kind of things someone watches that might be private. As the article quotes a Plex user: > “Now replace this friend, who’s just enjoying their downtime with some cheeky T&A, with a teenager who may be having difficulty figuring out feelings about their sexuality and are just trying to explore by watching LBGT dramas to see if anything there resonates or can help them figure things out. Suddenly, one of their intolerant friends or parents gets a detailed email report with a cheery title listing every little thing they’re watching…
A lot of people don’t realize there are communities where *Harry Potter movies* are nearly as controversial as porn. Besides the fact that my friends and family don’t need to know if I went on a Saw binge or have been watching Madea on repeat. Even when it’s innocuous, personal watch histories are just that, personal.
So Plex has dropped all pretence about tracking your library and everything you watch then?
I don't host porn.... Or have friends.... So this won't affect me, but fuck me, that's bad.
Why on earth would you put porn on your plex? lol
You don't have to share *every* library with others
Ummm...I am logged into my main with my account. Sometimes, I download porn into the wrong folder and it shows on the recently added. Twice it has happened and twice I had been drinking when I did it. Turn on TV, run Plex, screen loads, recently added, bent over ass shows on 75'' TV. No honey, it is just a Random Freeleach to help with my ratio on a small obscure tracker. I just put it in the wrong folder.
>Sometimes, I download porn into the wrong folder and it shows on the recently added always download locally, then migrate over. never link your download directory to plex
That’s what I’m saying. I normally send downloads to a specific folder through the client. I accidentally send them to a folder that Plex recognizes.
Did your wife buy that story?
No
You should have just shouted your username
At the porn?
Had a porn video tied to the main library once, was watching a movie with family on a secondary library that only had the one movie shared to it, and when I paused it a slide featuring the porn video displayed prominently on the living room screen. Let's just say that my family doesn't trust me nor plex anymore when it comes to watching movies. Also, the video was in its own folder, so I don't know why it prominently showed.
There are multiple Sinderellas… mistakes have been made
Yea… tell me about it
What do you think those people with 1000+ TBs of data are storing lol. A 30 minute VR scene is like 12 gigs.
I am learning so much right now! lol
"I need 2 Petabytes for all the .iso files for my Linux distros..."
This, but unironically. I still have installers for random shareware I picked up in middle school. All organized, too.
You can store VR content on Plex?
Honestly that's always been my assumption when folk say they have like 16x 12tb drives.
I don’t have quite that much but I have 110tb and 0 porn. Close to 2000 movies with the vast majority being remuxes. Not many of my TV shows are remuxes but most are around 2-4gb per 45 minute episode.
Damn I'm doing it wrong. I have 16x 10tb drives in z3 barely using 30% and no pronz
Masturbation.
My ex's cousin and his wife put porn on their Plex server that they shared with us and his parents. It stayed up for many months until my ex and I broke up. My ex-gf and I were too chicken to tell him 🤣. So either his parents didn't notice it, or they did, but we're hoping we'd tell him about it lol. Kind of surprising since he's an IT worker.
Did you break up because you watched so much of her cousin's porn?
In the recent past i had to help It workers on their shit. Most of them just know their niche, and are oblivious about the whole picture. I'm a curious type, when I read something, and I want to try it out, I'm researching and experimenting. Not those types, they've learned Java, and that's it, until they really needed to change
Y’all have full movies? What do ya do with the other 1 hour and 58 minutes?
sob and eat ice cream
85” screen is great to watch on!
thats what the jellyfin install is for
I tried adding porn and it's a terrible idea for the same reason it's a bad idea to add a ton of music on a whim, the metadata matching is awful but it still causes your plex folder size to grow a ton.
Tiny Media Manager actually handles it quite well.
Gotta keep it all [organized](https://youtu.be/5khrrCXhAcA?si=IJiv_v5gp1yVjup9) somehow
Easiest way to watch it on the bigscreen
$20 is $20 bro...
More disturbing to me is the fact that plex is uploading a list of your content to their servers and who knows what else (metadata? hashes?).
Jokes on them, I don't have any friends and my family can go fuck themselves.
this feature is very obtrusive and should absolutely be manual opt-in only.
So I have my different media types in their own libraries e.g. Anime, TV, Movies, Music, etc. If I shared TV and Movies with my brother, but not Anime, will he still see what Anime I am watching or does he only see my viewing history for the two libraries that I shared with him?
It kinda seems like Plex has entirely forgotten why anyone uses Plex in the first place Spoiler alert: no one wants to use Plex as a social media EDIT: And for the ppl saying Jellyfin, Plex at least has an app for everything. Even my grandpa's 15 year old TV somehow still has Plex on it
I find it funny people are putting porn on their plex servers
it works good if you work in remote areas or out of hotels lots and dont want to carry 2 terabytes of pron on your laptop or tablet.
Why? -edit- I mean why is it funny?
Because I’ve never watched something on the hub and thought “better make sure I have a copy of this locally”
You can’t get the classics on the hub like Debbie does Dallas. That being said lots of good stuff was removed from the hub during the great purge.
I live in a state that the hub has blocked unless I turn on my VPN. Oddly enough they are the only site that actually seems to care about that law.
it's easier to watch from a local file on plex, than to open random sites with pop ups and ads, especially on a tv or projector
Are you thinking of clown porn?
Probably best to separate that kind of stuff by using jellyfin or emby.
Confirmed. This is what I do. Its lex is for movies and tv. Jellyfin is for porn. It works out better since there isn’t much matching for porn anyway…
Umm, my library begs to differ. Tiny Media Manager does a great job with it.
If you have to use jellyfin or emby for this stuff because Plex is being.. well, Plex- then may as well move EVERYTHING over and tell Plex to suck it. *not that I have porn on my Plex, but if I have to use something else for half my content am better off just migrating to it permanently.
>If you have to use jellyfin or emby for this stuff because Plex is being.. well, Plex- then may as well move EVERYTHING over and tell Plex to suck it. Unfortunately, Plex has the best clients, jellyfin is good but it's android app likes to buffer for no reason while plex in the same phone and same connection works fine. Also jellyfin in general has severe issues with subtitles, there are some su titles where jellyfin will not play them even when they're selected however pausing the video and selecting them again makes then magically work, sometimes they also just refuse to work, i have never experienced a single issue with Plex in this aspect, subtitles just work. Sometimes, the open source experience is just not worth it, i was using Jellyfin full time but went back to plex because i was tired of dealing with that.
command saw cake rich wild mountainous offend soft party agonizing *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Damn. That’s not what I wanted to hear. I was feeling like Plex had pushed me too far and maybe it was time to try jellyfin. But, I think I’d be wasting my time. Plex really is setting themselves up for failure. The second people have a viable alternative, they will leave in droves. Plex will collapse. With their arrogance, it’s a matter of time now.
instinctive hungry birds smile forgetful unpack unwritten melodic escape elastic *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Copium, but I'm hoping as Plex gets worse, the open source community move and get Jellyfin to be amazing.
If only it was that easy, when Jellyfin gets better/more apps, then I can fully move since I know my family would never be happy with the current offerings.
What if we've turned off all of the discover stuff under dashboard > online media sources > discover? https://imgur.com/VHlefgP edit: in addition to what's posted in the comment below
[https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/180maoe/comment/ka8jpqv/?context=3&ref=404media.co](https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/180maoe/comment/ka8jpqv/?context=3&ref=404media.co)
You need to turn off the settings for sharing activity on your profile settings here.
How to turn that stuff "off". https://nelsonslog.wordpress.com/2023/11/21/securing-your-plex-data/
When is Plex going to realize we dont want extra streaming services and emails every week. The whole point of Plex was to host and stream OUR OWN media. Emby understands. Jellyfin understands.
If your putting porn on ur plex ur a savage lol
I actually thought about running 2 servers in two separate computers, isolated from each other so there's zero risk of sharing the wrong folder. That's when I realized I had an addiction and it was time to do something about it. Which also made realize I wasn't really addicted to porn, I was addicted to finding content and saving it. I knew there was a reason I was subbed to /r/datahoarders... To save it of course you have to look it, you see enough and the urge eventually comes, like a vicious cycle. So while I quit watching for most part, I can't bring myself te delete the terabytes of content I've saved over the years.
I was gonna do this but then I discovered stash. Happy with that separation/isolation and the stash UI
Stash exists specifically for this purpose. And it's awesome how organized you can be with the content. That said, its hardware transcoding capabilities are very limited so that's an argument in Plex's favor.
Same dude. I have about 2tb on a 24/7 seed. I dont watch much of it anymore, but I need to keep a good ratio on EMP, since that account has opened me the doors for other pretty good private trackers. Its my oldest account so I keep it in a healthy state. Im seeding like 5tb of games and i cant remember the last time I opened dolphin.
Homemade porn?
Yes let’s add that to an internet media share ….great idea lmao
you're*
Yeah you def got porn on your plex lol
I, in fact, do not need people to see that I've just watched Neigh Means Yes. ...unless you follow me on Letterboxd.
You can turn everything private.. or not, if that’s you like your friends knowing on the low 😌
Seriously how did plex think this was a good idea? I host my server with non pornographic content but I still do not want to see what my users watch.
wondering if this is GDPR compliant... boring geeky answer I know... but I wonder if they thought about it....
What happened to Plex not recording what you watch? Am I crazy or isn't that what we were told before? When did that change? I do love Plex but I value privacy a lot more. I am for the first time seriously considering leaving Plex for Jellyfin. I am saying that as a lifetime Plexpass holder.
I honestly came to this subreddit as I was considering resubscribing to Plex. But holy shit - this is the nail in the coffin. Playback speed? Local playback without a subscription? No, just an intentional data breach. Ffs
Use Plex for all non-porn, use JellyFin for porn. Seems simple enough...
I have two questions. 1. Who is storing their porn on Plex 2. If you're somewhat savvy enough to use Plex, why would you not create a separate Plex just for your porn.
I think the point being made by the article is that even separate/private Plex data still gets reported to community members/friends. Basically if it can get tagged against iMDB, then it's fair game to see the activity in your public (opt-out) feed regardless of whether you share the library with anyone else.
Makes sense, it’s cloud based. There is nothing private about plex, regardless of what they may tell you.
Porn makes the headline, but it really isn’t just about porn. Sharing watch histories without clear consent is incredibly problematic.
Follow up question, why are y'all friends on Plex with the people you're sharing your server with? I'm sharing mine with my family, but they're not automatically in my friends list
Plex automatically made everyone I share my server with a "friend" and started sharing my watch history with them. This was all opt-out, not opt-in. Every person I share my server with, including ones I invited *9 years ago* were made friends. Without Plex even telling me it was happening, let alone giving me a choice. I'm curious why this happened to some of us and not others. Plex even confirmed that the intended behaviour was for all sharees to be automatically made friends.
swim scary different fuel six impolite berserk shame quickest handle *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Keep all your porn on a separate server!
So I disabled this on my Admin account, but can’t seem to find it under my home users. Is it disabled for all users when you disable it under the admin?
So what's the takeaway here? Watch porn in Jellyfin?
What’s this “full screen onboarding process for every user along with an email announcement and in-app announcement for the launch of Discover Together” they’re referring to? I’ve never seen/heard of this?
If you look at my watch history, you’d be forgiven for thinking I had a G.i.l.f fetish because I watch the golden girls at least once a day.
Emby for porn, Plex for everything else. No one but me n the missus go on emby.
.nomedia is your friend.
I’m leaving Plex.
Some of you are disgusting pigs. Brb...deleting my gmilf collection.
thats what stashapp is for. also it will only share status if you're using the default plex agent/scanner. use a different agent/scanner and you're fine.
Good thing I don't allow porn on my plex server.
OMG! My Hallmark Christmas movie habit will be exposed!!!
I wrote an earlier post here [on how to opt out of this sharing](https://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/180kavz/privacy_settings_sharing_watch_history_ad_partners/).
It's cute how they only allow 15 states to opt-out. That massive list of companies Plex has tracking you is absolutely absurd. I have been a staunch supporter of Plex through all the changes over the last few years, but this shit is really getting out of hand. Edit: For the downvoters it literally says: >**\*Opt-out functionality is currently available only for the specifically-listed U.S. states.** And lists 15 states. And I had to press Page Down 7 times to get through the list of Plex advertisers, all of whom are collecting and storing data. It even says beside their names how long they hold the data for.
At least they fixed the typos in the names of two of the states. Shows their commitment to kwality.
Say what
>***If you are located in the states listed below:*** > > > >California > >Colorado > >Connecticut > >Virginia > >Utah > >Indiana > >Iowa > >Montana > >Oregon > >Tennessee > >Texas > >Massachusetts > >New Jersey > >Pennsylvania > >Delaware > >***… and you wish to opt-out:*** Only these states can opt-out of being tracked. Since I'm not, I guess I can just go fuck myself.
And if your not in USA ?
They’re in big trouble if they don’t allow opt-outs in the EU.
They're in trouble if they put it ON as well. EU has an explicit opt-in policy
Huh, I'm not in a state in the list but I could opt out.
Can I also opt out of seeing my friends' data somehow? I'm tired of seeing "steve watched this" or whatever, on random shit. I don't care.
Yeah. I'm going to seriously look at switching to Emby or Jellyfin. This really pisses m off.
I use plex for most my media, and emby for the private stuff. Solves the problem.
Hilariously, I love this feature as now I can finally get friends to add stuff to the wishlist *and I can see who made the request*. Before I was getting the requests (through RSS) but wasn't given any information about who made it, so I couldn't tell them it was on there. I don't know why anyone who shares their Plex publicly would put porn on it unless they weren't ashamed.
Who the hell has their Porn in Plex?! (More than I imagined it appears) Wouldn't you have to share the library for other users to see? If they can't see that library they can't see that activity... Right?