The View : How does disabling the Message Board enhance customer experience?

Apparently IMDb will be deleting all Message Boards in a few weeks. I am curious how deleting the Message Boards enhances customer experience, as they claim in their statement. If anything, it brings more people to the site, as they are curious about certain movies/shows/talent, and they want to discuss and see people's thoughts on the subject. If people don't like the message board feature, then they can choose not to use it.

I don't get this decision. Maybe they are tired of all the reporting on the message boards, and people complaining about others posting views that don't align with theirs. This board is a perfect example of all the reporting that goes on.

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IMPORTANT: IMDb is the worlds most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. As part of our ongoing effort to continually evaluate and enhance the customer experience on IMDb, we have decided to disable IMDbs message boards on February 20, 2017. This includes the Private Message system. After in-depth discussion and examination, we have concluded that IMDbs message boards are no longer providing a positive, useful experience for the vast majority of our more than 250 million monthly users worldwide. The decision to retire a long-standing feature was made only after careful consideration and was based on data and traffic.

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I don't get this decision. Maybe they are tired of all the reporting on the message boards, and people complaining about others posting views that don't align with theirs. This board is a perfect example of all the reporting that goes on.

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That could be it. I wonder how many posts Hester reported on her own.

notice how this happens not long after hester "left"? I wonder how many letters she sent to imdb admins urging them to shut the boards down.

Wouldn't surprise me at all she was protesting to IMDB constantly.

Any liberals here who are upset with the message boards shutting down really have no one but themselves to blame for all the reporting.

A shame because there were some good parts to the IMDB message boards.

Thanks, liberals, for leaving destruction once again in your wake.

This makes me sad. I just started using the boards and was still getting hang of it.

Besides The View after watching movies I would often go on the boards to see about plot points I may have missed etc. Sad that a forum is *beep* down most likely bc people complaining about onlube bullying maybe? I am not sure why

I agree Maria, the exact same with me - and many of us. Often times I would look forward to going to boards of movies or shows or actors that I was interested in, to get others' take on them. If I didn't like a board or a thread or a post, I would just leave and not partake. Not sure the necessity to delete the entire message board function. Frankly, now I will have no reason to even visit IMDB, because if I want to look up a movie or television synopsis, I will just go elsewhere. Same if I want info about an actor - there are many other sites.

Yes, Maria and Alachua!! I first discovered this board years ago. I am a trivia junkie about favorite movies and old TV shows which I never grew out of like Bewitched and I Love Lucy.

I started to visit all my favorite shows and movie sites because a lot of posters had great insights. It was fun to discuss those old shows.

Whenever I watched a new movie, I too would come here to read what others thought. There was always some plot point I missed! Some movies I really loved but other posters trashed them. I didn't take it personally! Just a difference of opinion. Some movies made no sense to me but other posters would clarify them.

Some posters got hot under the collar and some threads were a drag. Some folks would get very angry defending a show but so what. I'd just avoid them. Certain topics certainly didn't enhance MY enjoyment of a show, but that didn't mean I expected them to be deleted just for me.

Seems like another example of the Nanny State deciding what is good for other people. If someone , somewhere, is uncomfortable about something, it must be done away with. So silly.

Good luck finding a "safe space" in this world where you will never be offended.

Facts are not liberals strong suit. Rhetoric is. Thomas Sowell

Hard to say but that is a weird statement. But a lot of Message Boards on IMDB do have their nastiness Some more then others.

Internet Forums are a dying thing unfortunately thanks to Social Media. Though some like City-Data.com Forum are still as active as ever!

There are some shows who Message Boards on IMDB were hoppin a decade ago but get little traffic now or has slowed down considerably.

Friends is a good example of show that a decade to half a decade ago would have over 100 new threads a day! but now it traffic has slowed down. t still get lot of traffic but just not like it use to.

Many TV Shows now have a Facebook group some with over ,000 Members. But the thing I like about Internet forums is that people can stay private

people come here for the message boards. Sure, it started as a way to find out it was and what movie, who directed that movie, etc. but people stay here because of the conversation.

without the message board there traffic will tank.

http://www.hesaidshesaidreviewsite.com/

Yep, they will soon realize that they will most likely lose most of their traffic.

I wouldn't be surprised if they are doing this to "clean up" - by deleting al the boards and accounts, waiting a while, then re-establishing the message board function and make everyone start over with signing up, with more stringent account creations (to weed out the trolls).

Otherwise, what do they think will keep people coming back to this site?

I have to think that the administrators are tired of deleting posts lately. A couple of other boards I go to are ridiculous in all the deleted posts. Stupid people want to troll these boards and now I think IMDB is taking matters into their own hands and ended them all.

It's very disappointing and I don't use social media

It IS disappointing. I don't use social media, I socialize the old fashioned way, with actual people! LOL

But this board filled a niche. It was great to find people who wanted to discuss favorite shows, movies, actors, etc. Not everyone is interested in TV and movie trivia to that extent.

Facts are not liberals strong suit. Rhetoric is. Thomas Sowell

same here, I don't have facebook or twitter or anything else. This site was a great site to easily sign up, converse, and look up shows and movies of interest and go to different boards to get input from other viewers and share views. I especially liked going to a board and seeing what others recommended to watch that were similar to a movie or show I enjoyed. I discovered some really good movies and books throughout the years on imdb site by reading what other posters had to say. It's a real shame that it has come to this.

I agree! I don't post all that much, but I visit the boards every night when I get home from work. Now I wish I had posted more often since it doesn't look like I'll get the chance now.

well, you have just over two weeks to get it all in!

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Increasingly, IMDb customers have migrated to IMDb's social media accounts as the primary place they choose to post comments and communicate with IMDb's editors and one another. IMDb's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/imdb) and official Twitter account (https://twitter.com/imdb) have an audience of more than 10 million engaged fans.

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I'm calling BS on this. Sure maybe their facebook has more people posting comments then any single board, but there is noway it beats all the IMDB boards combined. Also any facebook posting that gets more then 100 replies in it's comments becomes impossible to take part in anyway.

This is probably a cost cutting measure, but I think it's not a smart move for them. The forums is what brings me to IMDB everyday. Without the forum I will only come here when needing to actually look up something.

I just hope Amazon, who owns IMDB, doesn't get rid of their comments/review
section. If they are deciding to pull the plug on message boards on IMDB because they can't keep up with the moderating, I hope they don't do something stupid like get rid of comments feature on Amazon.

And it's interesting that IMDB said that they will release a new feature in 2017 that will allow viewers to comment - I wonder what this will be. Maybe something along the lines of the review feature that Amazon has? Instead of actual message boards, maybe they will just be replaced with Amazon-like review feature.

And I agree about Facebook - it's not the same thing as an anonymous message board. I refuse to even get Facebook, I don't have the patience for or interest in it. I hate when some sites make you actually log in via Facebook to view their full site. Some restaurants and services do that, where to visit their site you have to have a Facebook account. I just take my business elsewhere.

I very rarely post anymore, if at all, and the whole reason I even come to this site, is because of the message boards; of course looking up the info on any given show, movie, actor, etc., is to a degree, the whole point to the site, but of course the message boards are why people stay. I certainly feel that it wasn't what it used to be, or maybe I'm just not going to the right boards, but I still do find good threads to read.

BAH HUMBUG!

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I think they just got tired of people turning other people in. Another IMDB type of page will spring up because what they are doing is cutting off the hand that feeds them. Once these boards are gone I will no longer be on this site

Blah is what I say; it's hard trying to find a good forum, let alone any type of forum, nowadays. Anyone have any recommendations for a good film/tv/catchall for entertainment? I was a reader of Chud.Com back in the day and I know they still have their forums going, but haven't been on in years. How about Ain't It Cool News? I haven't really been on their site in god knows how long, perhaps I'll go snoop around after this post. So aggravating.

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I haven't heard of that website you mentioned, but I have seen this one floating around as a possible place where people from here may go once this board shuts down:

http://imdb2.freeforums.net/


I haven't checked it out it myself, but I may try it as it gets closer

Awesome, thank you so much for the link, much appreciated.

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