The Walking Dead : Interesting post about the Boards closing

This was posted in the forum on the IMDB support page about the closing of the message boards. The poster claims to have been an employee of IMDBup to you whether it sounds genuine or not. Personally, I think it's 100% authentic:


"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!"


https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/imdb-message-boards?topic-reply-list%5Bsettings%5D%5Bfilter_by%5D=all

not this again

I would have bumped the thread if I'd found it

And the real reason the boards are closing can never be stated enough.




"I was cured all right!"

It makes no senseand it's an extremely ill-advised business move.
They will probably lose about 80% of their engaged audience. Everyone will go to competitor websites. And the smart competitors.will build the kind of message boards that cover each movie, actor or show individually. IMDB will be a ghost town in 3 months.

First off, no. They looked at the board traffic vs. overall site traffic. It's so small, that it was insignificant.

Second, that guy in the OP is definitely a fake. If he was an actual employee, he's a disgruntled one that is presenting his opinions as facts. But the reality is, the company looked at the metric, determined that it costs more than it was profitable to keep the message boards, and decided to shut them. That part is true, but the way it's being presented is false.

It would be hard to believe the IMDB message boards are not a significant source for engaged visits. However, I can only speculate.

And even if just a small percentage of visitors used the message boards.those are the people who create membership profiles, and spend hours on the site, daily. By their very nature, message boards keep people coming back.

And IMDB's message boards are somewhat uniquein how the platform allows for full-on threads and posts for individual movies, TV shows, actors, etc. In other words, they have a somewhat unique producta niche. The platform has already been built. They just need a more efficient way to sustain it. Why not make the message boards a part of a more "enhanced" version of the IMDB membership.

Saaaaayyyy.for $10 a month, you get access to the message boards, early movie trailers, discount opportunities for things like printable movie passes to national chain theaters, etc, etc.

Think out of the box, IMDB. You can eitherA) Figure out a way to keep something nobody wants to see go (and make it a profit generator for you). Or.B) Disappoint a lot of members, and lose quite a few of them to your competition.