Suggestion for Netflix

Alt Text, a Netflix subscriber, has a suggestion for another Netflix feature which would allow you to share the love of movies with your friends, but I think it has flaws. On the surface, it looks good. What if you could have Netflix send a movie to a friend on your behalf? It wouldn't count against the movies you have out. It would be a useful referral tool, so that your friend could see the advantage of receiving a movie in the mail without having to sign up first. The friend would be able to keep the movie as long as they like and return it directly to Netflix. If they want more, they have to subscribe. This would work if you were confident you understood your friend's taste in movies/tv.

However, it wouldn't work if you used it as a way to steal movies or spam people. What if your friend proved untrustworthy? Without payment details, who would hold them accountable? Do you want to pay for it if the disc goes missing? Would your friend mind if you gave Netflix their address? This method is too risky for you and Netflix.

Still, I think it speaks well of the Netflix service, that it fires our imaginations, gets us thinking about it. Fans all over the Web are working on ways to interact with Netflix. I think that's cool.