IMDB celebrates 20 years
 

IMDB turns 20 years old on 10/17/2010.

It originally started in 1990 as a database you had to download. It moved to the web in 1992.

IMDB's created an anniversary site to celebrate, including daily celebrity interviews:
http://www.imdb.com/features/anniversary/2010/

I've personally found it to be an invaluable resource over the years for film and TV info, and can barely remember life without it.

Re: IMDB celebrates 20 years
 

I remember first using it in '96 and being a fan ever since. The first few times I went there I looked up so many movies I had seen years before...and checking out where the actors went after that. For instance the older brother from Old Yeller, or the cast of The Boy With Green Hair.

Re: IMDB celebrates 20 years
 

I've used them for years. Probably the only wet thumb in Grandma's ass they've had was the new format they released recently. But that can be changed back via an account option, so it's all good.

Re: IMDB celebrates 20 years
 

I rarely use it. Will never use their forums. They're JUST a database of info to me. Nothing more, nothing less. Also..fuck their rankings...

Re: IMDB celebrates 20 years
 

I like IMDB because I seek out movies, cartoons, TV shows, shorts, etc. that I like that nobody else has commented on and I contribute reviews of them. I have nearly 500 up there so far.

Re: IMDB celebrates 20 years
 

Thanks for the tip. The new format is annoying.

IMDb is an invaluable resource, but the power search is not nearly as detailed as it was a few years ago. I believe that changed when IMDbPro was introduced.

Re: IMDB celebrates 20 years
 

Probably the best place to look up a movie, any movie, but 3 of my biggest pet peeves with it:

-Because so much of it is accurate, people take the info on there as gospel, when it's not flawless.
-The discussion forums on there are probably one of the worst places on the internet (that I see regularly, anyway)
-And most crucially, ever since the advent of serious internet marketing, the user ratings and reviews are pretty much meaningless. I can't really trust anything I see about a movie from the last 5-10 years because I'm sure the feedback is dominated by production interests and rabid fans/haters.

Re: IMDB celebrates 20 years
 

Don't care for their new 20th Anniversary redesign (but you are able to change it back to classic view in the site preferences).

Re: IMDB celebrates 20 years
 

I actually like their message boards. While the signal to noise ratio is pretty bad on the main boards, where else can you go to ask a specific question about a specific movie and get an answer -- often within minutes?

What I don't like is their "Trivia" section. It's very easy to add completely false trivia (no supporting evidence is needed, or even asked for) -- but it's nearly impossible after the fact to remove something from that section, even if you can prove it's an outright fabrication.

Re: IMDB celebrates 20 years
 

^ Yeah, they definitely don't fall short on movie 'geeks'. They give us a run for our money. ;)

Re: IMDB celebrates 20 years
 

Also, their "What movie is this?" board is incredible.

Re: IMDB celebrates 20 years
 

I like their boards the most of any internet forums.

Re: IMDB celebrates 20 years
 

I think it's a great site and use it often.

After I watch a film for the first time, I usually head to IMDB to check out more details on the cast, the trivia and the goofs. It's great to see what an actor/director is up to next as well.

I don't pay much attention to the ratings, but I like using the external reviews link to see what certain other critics/newspapers think of the film to help me decide if it may be worth checking out.

The message boards can have some decent info, and I do enjoy reading the "Things I learned about *insert movie name*" threads as it's usually a nice rip on issues with the film. But to get to the good threads you have to sift through the "is *insert actor* gay?" and "Is xxxx dating yyyy?" type of crap.

Re: IMDB celebrates 20 years
 

Or "[ACTOR] Looks like..." -rolleyes-

Another thing I've come to hate about their boards is the layout, where you have to manually nest the thread once opened, otherwise you can only see one reply at a time. Also, many replies are often deleted, so it makes following an existing thread kind of pointless to me.

That being said, I've been using the site for many years, and doubt that I will ever find a reason to stop.

Re: IMDB celebrates 20 years
 

Like others have said, I use the site purely as a information database only. It is great of looking up filmographies and stuff like that, but the ratings are bull shit and the message boards are where rationality and intelligence goes to die. The moronic:decent post ratio is about 25:1, which makes trying to read through a thread too annoying to bother.

Great info resource though for a quick double check of who was in what type of stuff.

Re: IMDB celebrates 20 years
 

Like others have said, I use the site purely as a information database only. It is great of looking up filmographies and stuff like that, but the ratings are bull shit and the message boards are where rationality and intelligence goes to die. The moronic:decent post ratio is about 25:1, which makes trying to read through a thread too annoying to bother.

Great info resource though for a quick double check of who was in what type of stuff.