IMDb is shutting down their message board
#76
Challenge Guru & Comic Nerd
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
Yeah, while I'll miss the boards a lot, I'll still use IMDB frequently for genre checks (for Challenges) and for parental advisory/rating info (teenager at home).
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John Pannozzi (08-10-20)
#77
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
I've written hundreds of reviews for IMDB, mostly for films/TV shows that no one had previously commented on, many of them undeservedly obscure. I accept the fact that hardly anyone reads them, but if some of the sentiments expressed here portend a continued exodus of IMDB users I wonder if it's even worth it to continue.
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John Pannozzi (08-10-20)
#78
DVD Talk Legend
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
I had some good times reading the old IMDB baords about a decade ago before the big changes. Some cool fanfic were posted there but were gone after the update. I hadn't really checked the baords since then.
#80
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
They should re-institute the boards for titles (movies, TV) and let the celebrity-specific boards remain dead. People can just use Google to find out if an actor is gay or has had plastic surgery.
#81
DVD Talk Legend
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
I'm going to avoid the site now that the boards are gone. I can find filmographies on wikipedia.
#82
Senior Member
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Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
Their message boards really came in handy for classic films and TV shows. Very little trolling there as most of the posters had a sincere reason to ask questions or share information. I learned a lot from them on a classic movie I had just watched on TCM or a TV show that I had binged-watched on DVD or streaming service.
I wish they could've kept those up for anything up to say, 1980. Seems like the newer films and shows always had the worse trolling and arguments going on.
I wish they could've kept those up for anything up to say, 1980. Seems like the newer films and shows always had the worse trolling and arguments going on.
#83
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
I loved the boards for obscure films, most anything pre-1980 would have a very high percentage of good posts to troll / useless posts. I never even bothered for modern films; those aren't my preference anyway, since (IMO!) 95% of them are garbage, and deserve many of those troll posts.
I'm surprised nobody has spoken of the huge elephant in the room; the euphemisms for the boards being axed is the usual bullshit... They wern't harming anyone; the real reason is that they weren't making dear old Amazon any money, so they were just shut down, and POOF! with the wave of a wand, some *invaluable* movie history / facts / genuinely insightful information is GONE...
Like many, many others, the boards for the older, B movies, obscure films genuinely added to my enjoyment and intellectual satiation of a hobby I love: film. I'd go there to gain insight into some cerebral films / some obscure gem, and now that's gone due to a Amazon's greedy, rapacious, and decidedly unfriendly ban hammer...
This was another underhanded, evil move by a huge corporation. All information is ephemeral, and with the press of a few keystrokes, history disappears and is so shaped.... A sad day.
I'm surprised nobody has spoken of the huge elephant in the room; the euphemisms for the boards being axed is the usual bullshit... They wern't harming anyone; the real reason is that they weren't making dear old Amazon any money, so they were just shut down, and POOF! with the wave of a wand, some *invaluable* movie history / facts / genuinely insightful information is GONE...
Like many, many others, the boards for the older, B movies, obscure films genuinely added to my enjoyment and intellectual satiation of a hobby I love: film. I'd go there to gain insight into some cerebral films / some obscure gem, and now that's gone due to a Amazon's greedy, rapacious, and decidedly unfriendly ban hammer...
This was another underhanded, evil move by a huge corporation. All information is ephemeral, and with the press of a few keystrokes, history disappears and is so shaped.... A sad day.
#84
DVD Talk Legend
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
I'll miss it too. Where else would I have learned that the kid who played Jack in the 1990 remake of Lord of the Flies grew up to become a criminal and drug addict?
#85
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
Those boards had information and discussions that are not found anywhere else online or at least without some serious searching and surfing.
I actually watched a movie over the weekend and I immediately went to the boards as I usually do out of habit before remembering that it was gone and I was actually saddened because I liked reading other peoples thoughts and info on the movies. I don't have anyone to discuss movies with in my real life and this board as much as I love it doesn't compare to the volume and real discussions (the occasional trolls aside) that the IMDB boards had. I would actually be willing to be a paid subscriber to the site if they kept the boards up.
#86
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
I've written hundreds of reviews for IMDB, mostly for films/TV shows that no one had previously commented on, many of them undeservedly obscure. I accept the fact that hardly anyone reads them, but if some of the sentiments expressed here portend a continued exodus of IMDB users I wonder if it's even worth it to continue.
I also thought the forums were a good source of information that would find it's way into the "Trivia" section for each show. Even if IMDb required more proof than just somebody stating a fact in a forum, the forums often yielded the links to outside sources of verification. Can't see them getting much info like that going forward.
Last edited by Brian T; 02-21-17 at 05:03 PM.
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John Pannozzi (08-10-20)
#87
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
It would be nice if, instead of eliminating the one truly democratic aspect of the site -- the forums -- they'd crack down on the absolutely jaw-dropping amount of fake reviews -- pro and con, but mostly pro, and for shit movies -- that get posted to pages for low-budget films made by nobodies and hacks that are all too willing to hire companies that specialize in planting fake reviews and star-ratings to artificially drive up the rankings with glowing praise or abject hatred, most of it rarely digressing from a set number of words or lines. While I don't rival Ash's numbers, I've posted many long-form and extended capsule reviews over the years, often about lesser-known films, and have striven to be as transparent and explanatory as possible, but when you visit a page these days for some newer no-budget movie you think might be obscure -- deservedly or undeservedly -- only to discover it's mysteriously got dozens, even hundreds of unanimously positive reviews plus a 9.8/10 score despite having been released maybe a month or so beforehand, it doesn't exactly encourage you to write an honest review (at best, it just leads to a bunch of reviews taking the contrary position in extremis to more quickly adjust the ranking back to where it should be. It's not unlike seeing what passes for "reviews" on Amazon these days, where "Great" or "It was well-packaged I love it" is apparently all the literacy and dexterity required for getting something accepted. It certainly makes one miss the "old days" of, like, five years ago, when most people actually tried to help their fellow moviegoers (or shoppers, as the case may be). I wouldn't be surprised if IMDb eventually discourages genuine reviews as well, and just lets marketing shysters flood every movie's listing with fawning praise. Just imagine all the perfect 10 movies there would be!
I also thought the forums were a good source of information that would find it's way into the "Trivia" section for each show. Even if IMDb required more proof than just somebody stating a fact in a forum, the forums often yielded the links to outside sources of verification. Can't see them getting much info like that going forward.
I also thought the forums were a good source of information that would find it's way into the "Trivia" section for each show. Even if IMDb required more proof than just somebody stating a fact in a forum, the forums often yielded the links to outside sources of verification. Can't see them getting much info like that going forward.
I tend to seek out kung fu movies, Japanese movies, anime, sentai, and, lately, a lot of classic TV western episodes and older documentaries. When I started reviewing in 2001, very few kung fu movies had reviews, so I had the field to myself for a while there.
#88
DVD Talk Hero
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
IMDB is hip to know that their forums are infiltrated by 4Chan types. Those kind of attitudes (anywhere) drag everything down. If we allowed those kind of people to post here, there wouldn't be anyone left here. Shame they couldn't take a stab at strict rules and moderation to curb those people.
Look at Youtube. When every comment sections is infiltrated by hateful comments about Jews and [that word us white guys aren't supposed to say], what good does that do? You can't watch a clip from a Marvel movie without the comments going to crazy-land.
#89
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
Youtube, Facebook, and all the similar social media sites are 100x worse than the imdb message boards, the lowest of the low in gutter trash and ridiculousness. Yet, they still exist. Why? Because they continue to put $$$$ in their creator's pockets.
IMDB / Amazon couldn't care less about the content of their site, the care only for the almighty dollar, and what types of deals work best to their corporate advantage.
Never mind that the forums were *text*-based, and because of that, probably only consumed 0.001% of the (extremely bloated, graphical) main imdb bandwidrth.
IMDB / Amazon couldn't care less about the content of their site, the care only for the almighty dollar, and what types of deals work best to their corporate advantage.
Never mind that the forums were *text*-based, and because of that, probably only consumed 0.001% of the (extremely bloated, graphical) main imdb bandwidrth.
#90
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
Having just finished Nocturnal Animals, it's too bad I can't go there to see what's been written about the opening credits.
#91
DVD Talk Godfather
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
I never visited the imdb boards, but I have to put Yahoo! comment sections out there as the worst...especially since the election. Every backwater closet asshole has been given a voice and they are loud and proud over on Yahoo!.
#92
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
Other than this one guy I liked to follow because he wrote bizarro reviews, the message boards were all I did there. He only reason to back now is to check actors/crew on a movie or see if it was shot on film or what the OAR is. I won't use it nearly as much now.
#93
DVD Talk Legend
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
Well, IMDb is getting rid of their character pages on December 6. While I generally agree with their statement in some respects, although I think this is one more thing to cut down on costs, these were sometimes valuable. Not all that upset but I assume there are others who have used it in the past.
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/top...mdb-characters
After in-depth discussion and examination, we have decided to simplify the display of Characters on IMDb, focusing our on-going efforts towards title specific character details. While in concept, we love the idea of character data spanning across all titles, in practice we do not feel our past experience lived up to expectations. The majority of our previous character pages were dead ends, without any related content, providing a confusing and disjointed experience. The filmography credits were often unusable, and the bios many times were inconsistent given numerous disparate story lines. While the previous experience had drawbacks, we truly appreciate all the hard work of everyone who contributed to characters over the years. That said, as of today, we are simplifying the experience, allowing us to retain the character concept while building a foundation for future growth.
With today’s release we have begun this transition. Our new character experience will support title specific images, quotes, and keywords. Moving forward we will no longer support character filmography, biographies, videos, character lists or polls. To aid in this transition, we are temporarily retaining our prior character experience until Dec 6th. This will provide our users time to archive any character lists, polls or biographies which they previously created or contributed towards. If you wish to migrate any character lists or polls, we recommend rebuilding the content with an image list. Existing character lists can also be archived by selecting the “Export this list” option. During this transition, we have temporarily retained the character search option, but will suspend support after Dec 6th. In the coming months, we plan to re-enable character search based on our new experience.
We understand this is a significant change which was made only after careful consideration. We appreciate your understanding.
With today’s release we have begun this transition. Our new character experience will support title specific images, quotes, and keywords. Moving forward we will no longer support character filmography, biographies, videos, character lists or polls. To aid in this transition, we are temporarily retaining our prior character experience until Dec 6th. This will provide our users time to archive any character lists, polls or biographies which they previously created or contributed towards. If you wish to migrate any character lists or polls, we recommend rebuilding the content with an image list. Existing character lists can also be archived by selecting the “Export this list” option. During this transition, we have temporarily retained the character search option, but will suspend support after Dec 6th. In the coming months, we plan to re-enable character search based on our new experience.
We understand this is a significant change which was made only after careful consideration. We appreciate your understanding.
#94
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
Can't say I was even aware of some of those features, unlike the forums, but it does seem like yet another way to cut users out of the equation now that they've become a corporate shilling machine.
But hey, now we've got The IMDb Show to compensate!
(I watched about 30 seconds, click-skipped through the rest, and will never watch it again. Superficial YouTube-grade hipster shit).
But hey, now we've got The IMDb Show to compensate!
(I watched about 30 seconds, click-skipped through the rest, and will never watch it again. Superficial YouTube-grade hipster shit).
#95
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
This bums me out. Pretty much every movie I watch after I finish I go to the message boards to see what is on there to find out stuff. I know there is a bunch of tools and trolls on there but it is also literally the only place that certain information or trivia or facts about a specific movie is found at all. I tend to get obsessive about movies I love or that just interest me so I want to know EVERYTHING about the movie and I have never found another place that had as much info or discussion about these movies despite having to weed through some crap at times.
#96
DVD Talk Legend
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
Well, seems like they've also removed user reviews from the main page of individual movies. You can still access them from the side bar.
#98
DVD Talk Legend
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
Only a matter of time it seems
I actually prefer using Letterboxd nowadays.
I actually prefer using Letterboxd nowadays.
#99
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
I panicked because I thought they'd removed my reviews when I went to check a title today. But you have to click on "User Reviews" now to access them. Adding an extra step like that discourages even more people from reading the reviews. I've got 729 reviews up now (I started doing them in 2001) and I wonder if it's even worth posting them anymore.
#100
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: IMDb is shutting down their message board
Still, I'm not surprised if they're really doing this. The whole site has been stealthily co-opted by Hollywood marketers (enabled by Col Needham's desperate need to arse-creep and whitewash celebrities). In terms of soft-balling, it's becoming the equivalent of the phony "Movieland" style magazines of the 1940's, not unlike pretty much every "entertainment" show on TV and the web right now. Thankfully, one can learn about the darker realities of the industry through the site's "news" section, thanks to it aggregating stories from other sites that don't feel so compelled to polish Hollywood's knob. But I'm sure eventually even that section will consist of "selected" news items only.
Incidentally, if like me you keep track of your film ratings through the site or its app (nothing against Letterboxd; it just didn't exist by the time I'd already rated thousands of movies at IMDb), it's worth exporting the list every once in a while just in case they do decide to disable that feature some day. I don't really see that happening as the star ratings undoubtedly have their value to studio the marketing sluggos, but one never knows.
Presumably you've got them backed up elsewhere for safe keeping or future re-posting elsewhere?
Last edited by Brian T; 12-11-17 at 09:53 AM.