Classic Film : IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

I imagine they'll still have people - perhaps even, gasp *paid* people - to make sure the info on the newest Hollywood films is accurate, but do you think they give a rat's ass if The Defiant Ones is listed as "film noir", or not, because of what some anonymous IMDb user who knows something decided to do? I think the data will suffer heavily, and they won't care in the least.


Here's to the fools who dream

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

Or whether they have every single unbilled appearance of Charles Lane, Frank Faylen or William Pawley.

It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

Yep. If you (or anyone) wanted to write an exhaustive encyclopedia of character actors, where would you turn first? Obviously the information here isn't always perfect - but for years it's been a great first step towards learning more, whether one is doing it professionally or just for fun. They could have expanded the scope actually by making an active effort to recruit people who know something about areas they're deficient in - I know for example that an awful lot of older Iranian films aren't listed - but they never bothered, never really even provided that much encouragement. It's always been run on the cheap and just as with Amazon we should be grateful for everything that's there and not expect anything. I guess since it's free in a sense we can't complain - but it could have been much, much more if they'd cared to water and weed the garden instead of just let it grow wild.


Here's to the fools who dream

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

It actually made Variety and the first three words are "blame the trolls."

http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/imdb-message-boards-shut-down-1201977581/

If they wanted to get rid of trolls, all they had to do was charge a moderate fee per year. Let's say 25 dollars to be charged on a credit card, one account per card. Trolls can at present easily come up with new email addresses and even cell phone numbers to register here. Some have as many as 40 concurrent accounts. I'm sure they don't have 40 credit cards and they're not about to spend 25 dollars for each new account at IMDb.

Note - they could always refund the yearly fee through Amazon purchase credits. The point is to nail users to a credit card to minimize trolling and also have legitimate addresses on file.



It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

Every once in a while somebody would start a thread asking if people would pay for the use of the forums, and my response has usually been "sure if they hire administrators". I guess they didn't care to bother to find out if that would have been popular or worked. I think they just plain don't care anymore about this site at all, and if everybody disappears it won't mean a thing, they will lose nothing from their perspective.

One site I'm on does charge for forum usage - $13 a year - and it certainly keeps the trolls away completely.

Here's to the fools who dream

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

You should have an honorary IMDb PRO account for your lifetime, for all your contributions.

That was the first thing I thought when I saw your thread.. After all you have done for them. At least we appreciate it.

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

Aww thank you - I do appreciate it.

It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

I totally agree with you Clore.
I feel as though all of the thousands and thousands of data I have added over the years was all a waste. Like you I felt as though I was a part of a community, even if I did not post on the boards as often as others.
I am going to miss the boards, the wealth of info and the many great people I have felt that I had grown to know in a small way.
Farewell all of you wonderful people.

"Dr. Pretorius. He's a very queer looking old gentleman."

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

I don't feel it has been a waste, but I did think that we were all in this together. And as far as not being able to make money off the boards is concerned, they could have considered polling us about that. They do sell ads here and I would have been willing to contribute a yearly fee as long as they mandated a credit card as part of the registration process. That alone would have cut down on troll activity.



It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

clore_2

I'd agree to that. Yearly or monthly fee. Would cut down the jerks.

I still wonder Why?

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

If they wanted to, they could have easily come up with a solution. My idea at least stimulates Amazon business by turning the yearly fee into a purchase incentive.

It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

im from australia and i use these forums to read about new movies etc

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

clore_2

Bummer hearing of the fall of imbd.

Always savored our discussions which helped further brainstorm my writing.

Was in touch with telegonus. Hope we keep in touch.

Been the Grand Time.

E-Mail, Thrillers, Boards

Yup, and I've just opened a second Yahoo e-mail, which is a bit of a pain, not sure when to issue it but that seems as good a place to use for people I know here as my regular e-mail has been hacked a few times and I only keep it for,--ahem!--sentimental reasons .

The stuff on Thriller is worth saving. I'm amazed, as of this past week, of how draconian the admins have become in these parts re message boards. Some of the best conversations I've had on-line on World War II was with a military scholar on the Tora! Tora! Tora! board. That was a few years back but not that far and now it's gone. Swift and I had a great exchange on the Laird Cregar boards some years back,--good grief, it's not one of the busier "star" boards--also gone. Dang! They've been gettin' nastier for a while now.

Do you know Joey Gabriel's sire The Last Drive-In, a treasure trove for classic horror, sci-fi and noir fans? She's a professional singer and very eccentric but not crazy, as horror fans tend to be, though she's been using IMDB links of late and that may vanish. It's not the easiest place to navigate but once you get the hang of it it's pretty good. Our discussions of various Thriller eps were extensive and in-depth.

Re: E-Mail, Thrillers, Boards

by clore_2 » 10 hours ago (Fri Feb 3 2017 23:27:18) Flag ▼ | Reply |
IMDb member since February 2002

If they wanted to, they could have easily come up with a solution. My idea at least stimulates Amazon business by turning the yearly fee into a purchase incentive.

telegonus -

It's one of those 'Dark Mysteries' as to the Fall of imdb.

One thing I've always noticed is how easy one can be considered a "troll". Often, one may criticize a certain film in a respectful way (like my contempt for BONNIE & CLYDE), then some oversensitive fan will tell me to stick to TRANSFORMERS. Often, "trolls" are imagined. Once a label is established, it becomes misused and overused. If you don't like someone's pride and joy, they report you to the administration for 'trolling'.

"If you don't always fully agree with me, then go watch your explosions and chases."

For the record, WAR OF THE WORLDS & THIS ISLAND EARTH, not only had explosions, but were the pioneers of it.

And, yes, I noticed how decent threads were deleted. And there was a rise of the troll invasion.

I can send you my E-Mail. Let me know how.

Been making considerable progress with the script that contains many inspirations from our brainstorming, which has helped my writing immensely. My appreciations.

Do make a point to see Mario Bava's RABID DOGS/KIDNAPPED. The ending was a true surprise shock. Would have perfectly fit for the HITCHCOCK HOUR or an early crime THRILLER with horror elements.

We need to save as many of our threads as possible. Our THRILLER Threads were classic. As I said, it could have been edited into a book.

Do make a point to see Mario Bava's RABID DOGS/KIDNAPPED. A true sleeper, far better than you might initially think. The ending is a real surprise shocker. It's on Youtube and DailyMotion, only with no sub-titles. I found a copy at my local library. And get this, the remake will be coming out soon. Stick to the original.

It will be great to keep in touch.

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

The Wikipedia model....which I an not terribly fond of as a method of getting good information. Truth is what the last poster said it was....

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

Well, a dumb, dumb decision, but I guess I've been a bit dumb myself, thinking I've been having "a positive experience;" always so enlightening to be told by others what I'm thinking and feeling.

I've participated on the CFB for only a couple years, but have had hundreds - hell, maybe thousands - of lively and edifying discussions on the boards for individual films, directors, players, shows and so forth since 1999. As with any public forum, there are those with their own agenda and peculiar purposes, but I've always found it easy enough to avoid unpleasantness or getting drawn into personal squabbles and feuds, and in all that time, have found it necessary to put only four other users on permanent "ignore," and have never been "red-lettered" or whatever it's called.

The email notification feature has alerted me to replies to comments made weeks, months and even as long as ten years earlier, rendering a unique, "never-ending discussion" quality to the boards that is unlikely to be recreated elsewhere. The only way to really end them is to willingly kill them.

I've signed the petition and lodged my formal protest for whatever good it will do.

If it doesn't, a valuable resource will have been pointlessly discarded and, in spite of occasional troublemakers, intelligent discourse will have suffered another unnecessary blow.



Poe! You are...avenged!

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

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I'm really sorry to hear about this. The message boards, and in particular the CFB, have been a major part of my film education, particularly my classic-film education. I also enjoyed the Books board a lot and got some great recommendations, and had some great conversations, there.

I've also made good friends with several people I encountered on the various message boards.

It's also startling that they are giving us such short notice. Some people don't even log into IMDB more than once a month or less. If they don't log in before the wiping, they will encounter a huge shock when they try to.

Anyway, Clore, can you give us the method to wholesale copy a thread again? You gave it a year or so ago but I don't recall the method. Thanks.
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Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

To save a thread, put the page in nest view. Then do a right click with your mouse and click on "Save as..."

You have to follow this procedure for each page if a thread has more than one and make sure to note that in the saved file's name.

It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

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Thanks. Then do we save it to our "Pictures" folder? Also, will the file/image stay as it is forever, or will it eventually be blanked or expire somehow?

(I don't know if my questions make sense -- I'm not very tech savvy.)
.

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

You can save it to any folder that you want. I made up one just for IMDb in the My Documents folder. It will last for as long as your computer lasts. I've got a few that go back to 2002. I had a whole bunch disappear when my PC failed in 2009, but a few had been archived to other storage such as DVDs just because they were special to me.

So if you save a page today, and someone deletes their posts, you'll still have them.



It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

With their claim that imdb has 250 million users worldwide, I guess they've run the numbers and seen that what, 50,000 users participate on the message boards?Small potatoes I presume given they're shutting it down.

A damn shame seeing as how the website grew due to user contributions and lively discussion.

Whenever I watch a film with a difficult plot twist, or complex structure, I'll view the movie's message board and it's kind of amazing how often another film goer will start a discussion about the same questions I have. I'm going to really miss that.



Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

All this. Plus the sheer entertainment of certain threads; witness my all-time favorite (unfortunately with many deleted posts over a decade-plus), Charles Castle's review of Cocktail

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094889/board/nest/3647340

Here's to the fools who dream

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

In the spirit of your post, my two favorite IMDb threads:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000590/board/nest/37096347?ref_=nm_bd_1 &

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000097/board/thread/86724452

Who says this is not a positive experience anyway?

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

Edgar and Nicole sittin' in a tree, k-i-s...





Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

Jeezuz! That's real archaelogy. I don't know a single poster in those two threads, except you, Boomer! I know, it's not the CFB, but even so...

Verily I say unto you, I would have expected to find TexasJohnBapster or one of those...

Some of the monikers are remarkable.


🔺


Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

I know, right? How can Edgar Allan Poe : Dating Nicole Kidman? not make tears of laughter run down your cheeks?

And they plan to eliminate these boards? Destroy a work of art such as this?

It's a crime against humanity, I tell you.

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

Cocktail has a pretty active board for an old film.

I hadn't heard of Charles's thread before, 10 years holy crap. I liked where Charles dissed a commenter who didn't realize Charles's posts were "written in character"?!? WTF?

This from Charles was pretty good, too: "I'm not gonna give away the end of the movie not because it will be a spoiler, just because its a waste of my time. "

I have the Cocktail soundtrack on vinyl somewhere, haven't listened to it in 25 years, although I did play it a lot at the time. Best song I remember is David Wilcox's Hypnotizin Boogie:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvOkt2lhxFQ

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience


Whenever I watch a film with a difficult plot twist, or complex structure, I'll view the movie's message board and it's kind of amazing how often another film goer will start a discussion about the same questions I have. I'm going to really miss that.



This board really came in handy for me when I saw "Inception". I had so many questions, and so did others!

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

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BTW, I'm guessing the real reason is they failed to find a way to jam tons of ads onto the message boards.

Whereas, the movie pages themselves are all full of ads, especially ads for Amazon.

Follow the money.
.

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

Even though I haven't posted at CFB in years, I'd still been a reader of it for over ten years and am sorry to see it and the boards in general going by the wayside.

What I find fascinating about this is reading all of the theories on why. Obviously it comes down to money and numbers, but there's an additional element that I haven't seen discussed much and I'm curious to know if others feel the same way.

Some people don't see what the big deal is because they'll turn to facebook or whatever other outlet.

I think for some people, people who don't remember life before the internet, there is zero appeal in anonymity and it feels like a waste of time to people who are accustomed to sharing every little thing about their lives.

Anonymity isn't something that these younger generations crave in the slightest. They just don't get the point of discussing something anonymously and they want everyone to know their opinions on whatever subject whether it's trivial or substantial because it's all apart of being of that 'Look at me! Everything I do/say/think is of international importance and must be photographed/discussed/documented/celebrated!' Look at me!!'

The young people who are interested in anonymity, unfortunately, want to use it so that they can engage in various forms of trollish activity.

It seems like there's this complete disconnect regarding anonymity where you have a younger generation that interprets anonymity as an invitation and a license to act like an ass. It's only when people are posting as themselves that they concern themselves at all with general netiquette and even then it depends.

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

Good point. Could also be that casting agents want to see pics of posters, looking for their next reality star. IMDb employees are on tv now, these days, with the awards season.

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

Good points about the anonymity, and I would add one other:

Cell phones.

People are increasingly using phone as their primary or only access to the internet. Virtually NOBODY is going to post something as lengthy and thought-out as you have on their phone. You don't get into long, detailed, paragraphs-at-a-time discussions with people when you're all using phones while standing in line for a movie ticket, or waiting around between classes, etc. This has led to forum chat becoming much more "chatter" and much less like the conversations we've had through these boards since the early days of the internet. I went back to a site this past summer that I had abandoned in early 2009, and one of the first things I noticed is how many more people were just posting memes, videos, and one-word joke responses to things. And I'm talking about a site that is heavily monitored and troll-free, and also one where the average forum user age is almost certainly north of 30. When forums begin to look little different from Twitter or Facebooks posts - anonymity or not - what's their function anymore?


Here's to the fools who dream

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience


Unfortunately, these days the number of people using the boards is dwindling. And in many cases the discussions going on there are evidently not living up to basic standards of civility. Where does that leave the vaunted institution of IMDb's message boards?



Was a time when IMDb's message boards were very lively indeed, but anyone who's visited in recent years has seen a steep decline in quantity and quality of discussion.


http://screenrant.com/imdb-discussion-boards-closed/




🔺


Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

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By the way, can someone start a thread of other good forums to discuss films? I would myself but I don't want to get all the notifications now because my email isn't working so great.

For instance, one forum I know of is http://www.britmovie.co.uk.
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Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

I have no idea how to use the other social media.
I have no idea how to really share my ideas in a back-and-forth way on Facebook.
I have no idea how to create a user name on Facebook that is not connected to my e-mail address.
What about the user reviews? Are they disappearing too?
How does one play games and do trivia on those sites?

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

I don't meant to be snarky (in this case) but learning those things is not that hard...and not that different then the way you use a regular website.
I think it is obvious that this kind of community is emigrating to social media...Facebook and Reddit in particular. It sore of like what happened circa 2000 to usenet.

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience


I don't meant to be snarky (in this case) but learning those things is not that hard...and not that different then the way you use a regular website.
I don't take you to be snarky at all.
I just need some direction as to how to do the same things on one of those social media sites as we regularly do here:
--How do we post (on one of those sites) under a user name that is not our own real name?
--How do we post (on one of those sites) without giving our e-mail address and knowing it will not be used. Yes, of course, IMDb HAS my e-mail address, but, over the years, I have come to trust that they will only use it to pass on PMs.
--How do we have real live interaction on the subject(s) of our choosing, e.g., Classic Film? Politics, etc.
--In short, where are we supposed to go to continue what we do here? Where can I find my friends from this site?

I should say I do all my posting from a desktop computer in my home.
I am still using a keyboard and mouse.
I have a very large screen which helps me since I have a corneal problem and need the big screen.
I do a lot of copying and pasting while playing the GG.
I just don't know how to do these things from an i-pad or a smart phone.
I use a keyboard and mouse because my fingers are too big and my eyes don't focus on a small smart phone window (it is just too small)

It sore of like what happened circa 2000 to usenet.
Yes, I remember those days too.
At that time, I was using a BB format on Prodigy and the BB format was broken up then too.
When Prodigy was no longer available, I found I could still do Bulletin Boarding from the IMDb (If you click on my user ID, you will see that I have been on the IMDb for 14 years).

So the question remains:
Where can I go now and still do (there) what I have been doing here?

I am on FB too. But, FB gives me no anonymity and cramps my comments by making be feel as though, if I say the wrong thing, all my Friends and Family may see me in a different (perhaps negative) way. I like to keep some degree of anonymity while politely interacting with people who share my interests on some subject. FB does not give me that anonymity. I don't know about other social media apps. Which do and which don't?

What about the FB site for the IMDb--isn't it linked into my e-mail address automatically?

Could we all go over there and still be able to play with Classic Film trivia and games (like the GG)?

Will the re-structured IMDb still allow us to post (and read) user reviews?

I CAN adapt to new conditions, but I need a little help from my friends.
I like--and always have liked--active Bulletin Boards.
Where are they in the suggested social media?


Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

I haven't posted here regularly in years but I am sad to see this place go despite a troll invasion. So much of my knowledge of classic and foreign films was because of the recommendations and reviews from the regulars who used to post here about a decade ago.

We're to blame, Folks.

IMDb has given world-wide public access to people who truly love movies enough to talk about them with others. It kept "adult supervision" of the site to a minimum. It wanted to see if people would "act adult" on an mostly unsupervised playground.

After many years, IMDb and Amazon realized that too many people were taking advantage of the system. There were too many "children" or childish people posting and reposting messages here. Gaming and abusing the system is way too easy for many.

Who is responsible for IMDb's decision? We are, fellow OPs and commenters. We didn't employ self control over our "power", and the result has come back to bite us. We were certainly given years of experience by IMDb and Amazon to learn the painful lesson.

For me, it has been a joyful trip provided by IMDb and Amazon. Thank you !!

E pluribus unum

We're NOT to blame, Folks.

Actually Jack,if you had gone on the Help Desk yesterday you would have found an admin (whose profile is now wiped) who went "rogue" and explained what has really happened,which I copy/pasted in time:

"This is no surprise whatsoever. I've worked at IMDb (the worst and most discouraging experience of my professional life ) and believe me, the company is a soulless, empty corporate shell that has one goal: to sell advertising. It's not about movies, TV, or being 'guardians of data' - everything is about making money. The entire site is setup to sell advertising, and movie data is simply a means to achieve that. End of story.

The reason IMDb is getting rid of the message boards is simple: they can't be monetised. If IMDb could make money out of the boards, they'd be staying, but there's no cash in it for them, so they're getting axed. The sell-outs who run IMDb will have looked at the 'metrics' (a risible corporate buzzword the Data Team loves so much) and decided that traffic is not high enough for them to make any real money.

It really is that simple. I've experienced first-hand the obsession with metrics, and making money (at the expense of customer satisfaction), and it really is pathetic to behold. No decision is made at IMDb without greed being factored into the equation, and believe me, they will also shut down certain data sections at some point if they get in the way of making money. Forget the fact that the site has compiled 20+ years worth of important data - if one of the sections can no longer be monetised effectively (Literature, for example), they'll just get rid of it.

In financial terms, keeping the message boards live costs IMDb basically nothing, bar the human cost of maintenance, which - when considered in the context of the site's huge annual profit margin - is less than miniscule.

There's no point complaining about it, making suggestions, or suggesting alternate, viable solutions - the hacks at IMDb don't give a toss. There's no money in it for them, so they're not interested. They'll fob you off with the usual hollow platitudes, but make no mistake, the IMDb that people love died years ago. Now, the site is just a shiny, corporate plaything, pimped out by Amazon for the purposes of making money, with greed - not customer focus - being its primary driving force.

One final note: it probably burns IMDb that the majority (over one third) of their users come from China, the audience for which is far less valuable to advertisers than, say, the USA and the UK. Only about 5% of IMDb's users come from the UK, which is ironic considering the site originated in England. But, I digress - this post will, of course, be deleted, but what the hell. I don't care!"

I disagree completely

Some of the most notorious individuals had scores of accounts. Jeez, one day I must have reported three dozen individual naeemak accounts for posting porno avatars. Then there were a couple of others who came here from FG to "teach us a lesson" and wreaked havoc with multiple accounts, often using them to gang up on a user. It was easy to spot them, there were certain trends that repeated with the introduction of each "new" ID. Sometimes it was blatant - no attempt was made at all to hide the fact that poster A was actually poster B, formerly known as or still posting as poster C and so on.

Was that out fault?

You know whose fault it is? Mine. About 15 years ago, the admins (they were actually present then) posted in FG and Actors and Actresses, the two most trafficked forums at the time. They solicited input for ways to make the boards better. I suggested something similar to the span filter that Hotmail used - a way to put a user in a phantom zone per each individual's taste. It wasn't to deny anyone's right to free speech, just anyone else's right to only pay attention to that which they wanted to.

The suggestion thread turned into a war zone after that, all sorts of accusations hurled at me and also all sorts of defenders came out to counter them. I decided to just sit back for a couple of days and then came back to thank my defenders and point out how I had been stalked and harassed during those two days that I sure wished I had such a feature already.

This was the conception of the ignore button and after a while, the IMDb fell on that as the panacea for all ills. No need to report, just put on ignore. But the troll armies learned that if a bunch of them reported, they could get threads deleted because it is now an automated process. Sometimes. There were cases where inflammatory remarks of a racist nature stood up for days, weeks even.

This led to speculation that the admins were in on it - that they actually had so little to do that they were the trolls, they were fostering hostility just for their own kicks and since they were the first level of complaint, they could manipulate that before it hit the next level.

Regardless, this is hardly the fault of any legit poster. There are plenty here who just come to post about film and nothing else. One young woman was frequently the target of insult and the only reason could have been because she avoided all nonsense. With some of these twisted types, the more you ignore them, the angrier they get even though they'll publicly excoriate you for attempting to deal with them instead of just ignoring their obvious provocative attempts.

But you see, they did not win. They've lost also because now they have one less place to troll. It's more difficult to do that when a site is monitored. The only satisfaction that I'm getting out of all of this is that I won't inadvertently run into them here on the boards. I'll no longer open up a response to me to discover it's you-know-who again with a new account and he's come to tell me to "suck my cock you homo."

I was already weaning off this site. This merely hastens my farewell.

It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me

Three cheers, clore_2



I had weaned off as well.

It is the trolls who lost, not us.

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

Here's a post from IMDb founder Col Needham on the Contributers Help board on Feb 3rd:


MovieAddict2016 (member since 2001) wrote:

But the message boards for individual films and TV shows are some of the most invaluable resources for entertainment discussion on the entire Internet - removing them is going to hurt IMDb, and it's going to hurt film discourse. There's been more times than I can recall that I've seen a complex film or television show and immediately logged in to the IMDb forum for those titles and joined the conversation or read what other people had to say about them. That's all going to be gone, and that's a real punch in the gut to the film and TV fans this site has catered towards for the past 15 years.


Needham replied on Feb 3rd

These are fair points, but you do not have the whole picture: only the tiniest minority of customers read those boards and an even smaller set post there. The type of unique and insiteful content you describe mostly* belongs in the permanent parts of IMDb like in user reviews, trivia, goofs, plot synopses and the FAQ feature for titles and in the various biography sub-sections for names. These are sections which are used by hundreds of millions of users and are nearly all on modern platforms (we still have some work to do). This type of content can be fully be fully included and made searchable across all of IMDb's interfaces and services. Boards discussions are an unmoderated mix of fact, fiction and outright trolling which is ephemeral in nature, and is only really available on our desktop site (our mobile site has limited boards features some of which in turn are accessed by our apps).

Just keeping the old boards software running and the time we spend dealing with the fallout from abuse on the boards is preventing us from creating better features that benefit all users and from adding permanent content to IMDb.


-----

6 months ago on the imdb getsatisfaction help board, BAJackson asked

Can someone on the inside explain to me how important the message board feature is to the company?


Col Needham replied:

As gromit82 indicates, the message boards are not a core function of IMDb. IMDb has over 250 million users per month and only the tiniest fraction of those visit the boards and even fewer post on the boards. The boards therefore make up an insignificant percentage of overall IMDb page views. It is difficult to specifically sell advertising against message board content for obvious reasons so the only ads which run there are low price run-of-site banners at the top/bottom of a subset of boards pages where we would typically only earn revenue if a customer clicks-through and signs up for whatever is being advertised. On the other hand, managing the boards and operating the technology behind them is disproportionately costly since the board systems are so old. While we do not comment in detail on specific aspects of IMDb's business, it is easy to draw the obvious conclusion behind the financial cost vs. benefit of the boards system.

From a traffic, resources and expenses perspective IMDb would be much better off without boards. There are some community benefits though and boards without a significant troll population flourish with interesting discussions and genuine community which is why we keep them around. Due to technology limitations we have to enforce an expiry policy on most boards so much of the discussion is temporary and therefore valuable content is often lost to keep the system operational. We are always looking at better ways to preserve this type of content and we have some thoughts on providing better mechanisms to transfer useful boards content into the permanent parts of the database.

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

Thanks for this post, glen.


From a traffic, resources and expenses perspective IMDb would be much better off without boards.


. . . it is easy to draw the obvious conclusion behind the financial cost vs. benefit of the boards system.


If the conclusion is so obvious then why were the boards established in the first place? Internet forums have been around since the eighties and their operational requirements were well known twenty years ago.

jj



Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

I suppose in 1999 or whenever back in the day, imdb was using leading edge software for the forums. It was before social media and they felt they could use the forums to build an online community to drive traffic.

Today the forums are a pain in ass boat anchor to imdb, and they want users to discuss the latest blockbusters on the imdb Facebook page.

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

They reached too far. We don't need a message board for every person that served a sandwich to John Goodman. Or every individual who drove Meryl Streep to the set.

When I first got here, what were there - four or six boards?

A couple of years ago when the hostilities here were at their worst because of a few who shall not be mentioned, I called for an Amazon boycott since they were doing nothing about the troll and deletion issues. The primary miscreant thought it was very amusing, quoted my post a number of times. But in the end, that person has lost as much as I have - now he'll have to go back to trolling chess.com or Wikipedia. According to the post above, one could say my boycott had as much of an impact as his trolling - Amazon could not make money off the boards. Perhaps there were others such as myself who will now shop elsewhere.



It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

I'd forgotten that, you can add a forum for any cast member on a film, personal assistants, cello coach, sword maker, photo double, animal wrangler.

That's A LOT of forms / potential forms kicking around.

Re: IMDb's massive waste of space

Here's a RHPS fan wannabee.. Played the part of an auditioner in something called "Submissions"..

Angela Theresa Collins

IMDb needs to cut the fat, figuratively and literally with wannabees such as this one..

Re: IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive experience

Yeah, thanks for sharing that, Glen.

I'd say that if the problem is that the message boards are running on a technology platform that is too old, the solution isn't to get rid of the boards. It is to move them to a more modern platform.
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