I Need To Know : Boards Closure FAQ

Thanks for all the feedback here and on https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/imdb-message-boards. We have gathered our responses in an FAQ at http://www.imdb.com/help/show_leaf?boardsclosurefaq.

Col

I do think you're making a mistake, Col. This is one of the few forums of its kind in the world and second to none in breadth and usefulness. It may be a forlorn hope but nonetheless I hope IMDb will reconsider. These boards are the soul of IMDb. If drastic action seems necessary for some reason, why not wipe them all clean but keep them intact and allow users to start anew? This is too valuable a resource to lose. I'm not sure if this is truly appreciated.

Thank you for your attention.

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I do think you're making a mistake, Colonel

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lol- this made me chuckle. He's not a Colonel. Col is his name (Colin).



**~Not my circus, not my monkeys~**

Yeah, I wasn't thinking at 3 AM! Maybe he'll reconsider now that I've given him a higher rank!

Oh my gosh I'm laughing so much right now but with you, not at you!

Don't worry, you're not the only one who has been calling him Colonel! Hey, better that than Lord and Master.

Thanks, Prelude. I changed it just now anyway. Unless he comes up with a better fried chicken recipe, he doesn't deserve the title!

I was wondering why a guy who made chicken needed ham.

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I was wondering why a guy who made chicken needed ham.

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Maybe for his favorite sandwich The Big Combo.

Had to get one film reference in here.

By the way, WillEd, in case I don't run across you again, you've been a great source of help on this board down the years. Grateful thanks I'm sure from all!

Well stick around, hobnob! We are trying to find a new home board somewhere, we can hang out until IMDb comes back to us crawling on it's knees, after the boycott takes effect.


You never backed away from anything in your life! Now fight!

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we can hang out until IMDb comes back to us crawling on it's knees, after the boycott takes effect.

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I've wondered whether they might change their minds after a time. Doubt it, but you never know.

Hope we can all find you again, wherever it is!

Thanks, you, too. I thought from the Col he was a Colonel, too.

Well, if star-core's wish/prediction comes true and IMDb eventually changes its mind and asks us all back, Col might be demoted to Pvt.!

Like I told star above, I hope we can all find one another again someplace. Good luck, WillEd!

         RIP Lost Board Wikia October 12, 2010 - March 10, 2015 

That PS Triple

Lmao!

I 2nd the motion. :)

Well said!

I just noticed now that Col started a thread on this board as well.

Anyway, I agree with you completely, hobnob. Personally, I think that all the boards should be wiped clean because there are too many dead threads on boards which aren't busy. Some of these threads haven't been active for over 10 years! Why keep them? And then there are those which were started in 2005 and people are still arguing on those threads. What's the point?

Wiping the boards clean and modifying them would be appreciated. Closing them permanently is NOT appreciated.

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Proud to be Canadian!

I think Col doesn't care about the people that have made his site what it is. I don't want to be unkind to the man, he and Amazon can do what they like with IMDB, but I think his decision was awful. And I think it will backfire. My guess is after Feb 20th there will be less traffic to IMDB. Think of all the registered users posting on boards and visiting other areas of the site. I doubt many people will visit the site now that the boards are going/will be gone. I think it's a dumb business decision, Col.

I, too, strongly suspect that fewer people will visit IMDb once the boards close. Oh well, that's life.

~~~~~
Proud to be Canadian!

You can't discuss all those little independent unknown films on FB or Twitter. Most people don't care about them, will ignore you and your post will get lost in all the popular stuff within minutes. The beauty of these boards is people who are fans of these unknown gems hone in on that board and you're talking with like minded people. There is nowhere else on the net that provides that very unique experience. A sad, sad loss.

Pretty much what my fellow forumite from the horror board says

Time is running out

somesunnyday is 100% correct. Those are my sentiments exactly. this is the only place to get that kind of experience.





WE GOT MOVIE SIIIIIGN!

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You can't discuss all those little independent unknown films on FB or Twitter. Most people don't care about them, will ignore you and your post will get lost in all the popular stuff within minutes. The beauty of these boards is people who are fans of these unknown gems hone in on that board and you're talking with like minded people. There is nowhere else on the net that provides that very unique experience. A sad, sad loss.

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I totally and completely agree with this. Please save the boards.

https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/petition-to-keep-the-imdb-messageboards-going#

https://www.change.org/p/imdb-stop-imdb-from-disabling-the-message-boards

"Forget reality, give me a picture"-Remington Steele

Could a staffer please supply a list of all URLs to titles and names found within the database? The approach entertained in /board/bd0000001/view/265787442 is not viable due to very specific obstacles.

Hi, Col. I've got to say I'm pretty shocked at this news. IMDb is the biggest dedicated movie site in the world, and famous for it's message boards. There's a button at the top of every page labelled "Community", the boards closure is effectively killing that community.

It seems like a betrayal for people who have loyally supported and contributed to this site for 15+ years. I can't understand why you would risk losing that loyal fan base. Are hits on the Facebook or Twitter pages in anyway more important than IMDb.com itself? Personally I have no interest in social media sites, this to me is the only really important cinema site. I come here to contribute and converse with other film fans. I believe this site will be fundamentally changed for the worse with the loss of the boards. Like many others have said, without the interaction with other users, this site could become like read-only sites like Wikipedia. Incredibly useful but not nearly as interesting.

I understand that the boards are supposedly not permanent, but especially for the older or less well known films, they contain very valuable information and contributions. What about the boards where actual actors and directors have replied to fans? It seems like an insult to just delete them all. Surely new boards software can be added/updated? But they need to be part of IMDb.com not somewhere that you have to log into another site.

I've never had a problem with trolls or abuse because I simply ignore them. I feel that it risks becoming another corporate website only concerned with generating revenue. If IMDb loses its boards it will lose its voice and its soul.


You never backed away from anything in your life! Now fight!

Very well said, couldn't agree more! The boards are a cultural institution and imdb will suffer from their loss as a whole. (If it's about money, why not put a few adds on it, other comnpanies would try to make a few bucks out of 17000 users in the I Need to Know part alone.)

Totally agree. Plus, they won't even create revenue, bad decision is bad, that's what it is. By shutting down the message boards they will create (they already do) dissatisfaction and resentment among their community/users, not revenue.

I really can't see how facebook and the likes of it are going to help them in any way. To me at least, and I believe to a great many of us here, their decision seems extremely shortsighted. But anyway, what can I say? Some learn the easy way, some learn the hard way. This place is going to die, just as any other community based website has before them when they tried to mute the people. I don't have the data, but I'm pretty sure that 60-70 % of imdb visitors, first thing to do, after reading the cast/story and perhaps a review is to visit the message boards, in all honesty I can't understand their decision; and don't believe their announcements. What I do see though is a systematic effort from all major websites (this one included) to mute the people in the name of PC apparently everything derives from this stance.

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What I do see though is a systematic effort from all major websites (this one included) to mute the people in the name of PC apparently everything derives from this stance.

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That's exactly what this is about. The SJWs and their elitist masters are doubling down big time now they realise they've been exposed and lost the hearts and minds of the people with the election of Donald Trump. There's a civil war brewing, and it won't be won easily, because some powerful players are behind it and those players control the big websites like this one.

The sooner this civil war gets under way the quicker we can drag the cockroaches behind it into the sunlight and finish them. One day, there will be freedom again.

Wet said said. Couldn't agree more.

I love your fried chicken.

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I love your fried chicken.

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In this current state of chaos, that was good stuff.

It's so sad how much you are under-estimating the message boards, Mr Needham. To reduce their value to an unmoderated mix of fact, fiction and off-topic banter shows how far you are missing the point.




If there aren't any skeletons in a man's closet, there's probably a Bertha in his attic.

Why don't you just admit it - it's all about money! You've got yours by selling to Amazon and now they want to squeeze IMDB until the pips squeek!

Loyal supporters that have made IMDB successful enough for you to sell have been given the giant middle finger!

I trust that the same supporters will refrain from buying anything from Amazon ever again.

Do you people really think he is personally reading comments in this thread?

Yes. He deleted my 14 year old account when I confronted him with the truth a few days ago.

Of course he doesn't read the comments. But someone from AMAZON does! Needham has no say about it. He sold IMDB to Amazon and is now just a figurehead with no say in the matter!

Col Needham, can you please reinstate my account: http://www.imdb.com/user/ur1770801/

If you stand up to Amazon, Facebook, and the Copyright Government of The World, we would have your back.
If you stand up against tyranny, and speak the real truth, putting those a-holes on blast, we can reveal them.

Imagine if you said, 'NO', to them.

Looking in your eyes, I see a paradise.
This world that I found is too good to be true.
Standing here beside, I want so much to give you this love in my heart that I'm feeling for you.
Let them say we're crazy.
I don't care about that.
Put your hand in my hand, baby, don't ever look back.
Let the world around us just fall apart.
Baby, we can make it if we're heart to heart.
And we can build this thing together, stand in stone forever, nothings gonna stop us now.
And if this world runs out of lovers we'll still have each other.
nothings gonna stop us, nothings gonna stop us now.

I'm so glad I found you, I'm not gonna lose you, whatever it takes to stay here with you.
Take it too the good times, see it through the bad times.
Whatever it takes is what I'm gonna do.
Let them say we're crazy.
What do they know?
Put your arms around me, baby, don't ever let go.
Let the world around us just fall apart.
Baby, we can make it if we're heart to heart.
Oh, all that I need is you.
All that I ever need.
All that I want to do is hold you forever, forever and ever.

If the trolling has gotten out of hand I think deleting boards like the Politics, Religion, Soapbox, etc., would help. This is the Internet MOVIE Database for a reason and introducing subjects like religion and politics especially just draws trolls in. Maybe it would be better to close up the trash and keep the boards on topic so it will be a more productive community.

I can't believe this. I've been out of touch with this little group for a spell.
I come back tonight and find that it's due to be disbanded.
A bit of a disaster I think.
Take care Hobnob53, nice to have known you.

"My mother isn't quite herself today" - Norman Bates

there's no discussion on many films in this db. IMDB boards are so fantastic that they have threads on every movie, even totally niche.

What good would that do? Every single user would simply be redirected here and start posting about stuff that's got nothing to do with "I Need To Know".

Just look at the current state of the board, the majority of threads have something to do with the recent announcement, and threads that are actually looking for help are getting pushed back


Fine, fine, I'll leave! But first I'm going to bother these peanuts! Hmm? Yes? Hmm? HMM?

Because at this point, who cares?

People are going to post what they want, it's the IMDB apocalypse.

I wonder if we will see a pop culture reference to the imdb.com apocalypse in some film next year.

Today we are cancelling the (IMDB) apocalypse.

If I understand the history of IMDb correctly it was initially a passion project about people and films, a passion quickly adopted by an entire community, a community which enabled your own success.

I wonder if you can identify the specific point at which you decided to turn your back on that community and betray its trust?

IMDB is going from being a town hall meeting to being a library. Where's the fun in that?







WE GOT MOVIE SIIIIIGN!

You can have fun in the library if they don't catch you at it.

I think he is just shutting the boards down because he doesnt any anyone to comment on the fact that he rated Home Alone 3 and Showgirls higher than the original Day of the Dead.