What’s odd is that the person responding in Quora who’s speaking as if he has authority on this matter started at Netflix in 2011, 2 years after the contest ended.
The contest started in 2006 and was awarded in 2009.
The contest started in 2006 and was awarded in 2009.
If he started two years later and there was not a trace of the Prize work at the company, that would be an indicator that the competition was not important. If he started and could still see knock-on effects from the competition, that's an indicator that it was important.
Plus, he didn't just start at Netflix. He "took over the small team that was working and maintaining the rating prediction algorithm that included the first year Progress Prize solution."
Yeah, that sounds like he has some authority on the matter.
Its very possible Netflix realized they needed to course correct the UX and as a result the winners algorithm was solving for a problem that no longer applied because it was using assumptions (rating system & no existence of different profiles) that were no longer relevant.
He did work on productionize the 2007 winner, after all.
> Ten years ago, when I was leading Algorithms at Netflix
So... I think he does know a thing or two about specifically this issue.
On a funny note, Jordan Peterson used to be a well known Quora answer writer prior to his current career as an internet celebrity. Source: https://www.quora.com/profile/Jordan-B-Peterson