On second thought: Netflix won't cancel profiles

After a deluge of negative feedback from angry customers, Netflix has announced that it will not be removing its profile feature.

"You spoke, and we listened. We are keeping Profiles," reads a message Netflix customers received Monday afternoon. "Thank you for all the calls and e-mails telling us how important Profiles are. We are sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused. We hope the next time you hear from us we will delight, and not disappoint, you."

In the Netflix community blog only a couple of weeks ago, it was announced that the company would be terminating the profiles feature on the first of September to "keep [the] service as simple and easy to use as possible."

Profiles were designed to allow multiple users to share a single account, forming their own individual rental queues. The system proved to be ideally suited for families and college students. But because only a "very small minority" used the system, Netflix said it believed removing the feature could help simplify the overall user experience.

At least 1,284 blog comments, an untold amount of e-mails, and an online petition with 3,247 signatures later, Netflix recanted. The company said it was due to the "well-reasoned, sincere responses" from long-time members who depend on their profiles.

User responses ranged from profanity-ridden threats of a switch to Blockbuster, to calm explanations of how removal of the feature would provide an even greater inconvenience to subscribers.

One commenter remarked, "Our son loves to rewatch movies. With the current system, he can keep a movie for three weeks and it does not impact any of our selections. Eliminating his queue would mean we must log in every time we return a movie to determine which movie we want next."

Apparently, the solution Netflix presented to concerned multi-profile users was less than adequate. One user exclaimed, "What I can't believe is that to save a copy of my secondary queue of 250 DVDs, you guys are recommending I print it out. What year is it again? I'm supposed to print out this gigantic list of DVDs and re-enter all the information manually later?"

Now that Netflix has put the spotlight back on its profiles, and the public has seen how well-liked it is, perhaps the service will now see more users taking advantage of the feature.