I also put laundry pods in the little compartment even though they say to just toss them into the thing where the clothes go. I do this because

1. The pre-rinse cycle will just flush out all the detergent before the actual cleaning cycle

2. The plastic shit that dissolves to release the detergent was getting all over my clothes and fucking shit up doing it the way the package instructs you.

One of my former room mates had the same problem with the washing machine. They were two compartments and you put the main detergent in the smaller one. In practice it didn't make much of a difference, but still.