If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.
— Henry Ford

But sometimes, I really want a faster horse.

Netflix in 2012 was a super fast horse. It had a simple but massive catalog of movies and shows, solid recommendations, and basic library management. Compared to my limited local media library it was great. You could actively tune your tastes and rate things with a 5-star system.

Netflix today is very different. It’s not a library—it’s an experience. Instead of reliably showing me what I “have” and recommending what I might like, it shuffles content on each interaction, sometimes changing the cover images of shows in real time, like some black-market charlatan. It has no meaningful catalog, no real categories—just short-lived, auto-generated groups like “Binge-worthy” or “Festive spirit.”