Any former IMDB users here?
04-27-17, 04:04 PM
#26
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: Any former IMDB users here?
But some of us do, and they're not always so obscure. But saying Wikipedia has complete filmographies for everyone is a pretty big stretch, unless one is largely only concerned with the kinds of folks who routinely turn up in IMDb's admittedly clickbait-minded "news" feed, i.e. "trending" Big Names or otherwise famous folk, old and new.
Last edited by Brian T; 04-27-17 at 04:15 PM.
04-27-17, 04:53 PM
#27
Re: Any former IMDB users here?
I write reviews for IMDB and will continue to do so. Some of the best things I've written have been for IMDB.
I used the Message Boards a lot to share information about old films or ask questions about them, such as literary sources, historical accuracy, other versions, different cuts, particular locations used, etc. I answered a lot of other people's questions also. Sometimes people shared memories about working on films or family members' connections with the films that were often quite interesting. I posted hundreds of things there and I waited too long before trying to copy the best ones because they closed down the Message Boards a day earlier than they said they would. So I lost a lot of great posts. Some I have because I typed them up in a word file first and then copied and pasted, but a lot of them are lost.
I used the Message Boards a lot to share information about old films or ask questions about them, such as literary sources, historical accuracy, other versions, different cuts, particular locations used, etc. I answered a lot of other people's questions also. Sometimes people shared memories about working on films or family members' connections with the films that were often quite interesting. I posted hundreds of things there and I waited too long before trying to copy the best ones because they closed down the Message Boards a day earlier than they said they would. So I lost a lot of great posts. Some I have because I typed them up in a word file first and then copied and pasted, but a lot of them are lost.
04-27-17, 11:28 PM
#28
Moderator
Re: Any former IMDB users here?
I used to read the lists of trivia and goofs, but then Wikipedia came along where writers voluntarily took those bullet point lists and transformed them into encyclopedic prose essays that were better to read. Furthermore Wikipedia allowed greater scrutiny and weeded out apocryphal stories whereas IMDb had almost no oversight and all kinds of incorrect stuff was posted there. Complete filmographies for everyone are also on Wikipedia now.
I agree that a LOT of IMDb trivia and goofs are of no value (such as pointing out that Actor 1 and Actor 2 previously worked together umpteen times, or assuming [frustratingly] that any coincidental similarity between two films is automatically an homage), but the majority of legitimate trivia has not migrated to Wikipedia at all, let alone reformatted into interesting articles.
I never wrote on or even read the IMDB message boards. It seemed all scattered and hard to break into but compared to trying to figure out reddit, it's a breeze. It's too bad the people there didn't formulate some plans for where they would land. Why not work together to set up where they're going? They had time. Maybe they did, I don't know.
