Film General : Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

I don't post here much, but I visit and read the boards at least once a day here. Everytime I watch a movie or a new episode of a show, or contemplate watching something new, I don't read reviews. I read the IMDB forums.

Giving the shock announcement that, like many, I first thought was a hack or joke, I wanted to give my thoughts, even though few may ever read them. i struggled on where to post, so many forums for every show, etc. that I visit, but in the end decided here would be the most appropriate.

I honestly don't see how this decision can do anything but turn the site into a ghost town. The message boards are the only reason anyone I know comes here. Dry official information can be found anywhere.

Thus, the only reason I can even fathom for this baffling decision is that they have been pressured or paid off by studios who don't like "average people" (ie not paid reviewers) publically discussing or criticising things. It is much easier to control info on those trashy social media sites (which I don't and never will use). Maybe even fears of being sued by some random actor who doesn't like what someone posted about them. Just look at Ghostbusters 2016 as an example of a studio desperate to silence negative word of mouth.

If this isn't the reason, I can only call this move suicide on the part of IMBD. They replaced offline CDROM Cinemania style software, and they will be replaced by someone else after this decision.

Even though I know someone else will come along, I find it truly sad that ten years of a place known as THE place to go after seeing a movie to discuss it, or before seeing a tv show to aee if it is any good, will now become a footnote in internet history in the same way sites like TV Without Pity has or a distant memory.

The last time I felt someone dealt the internet such a tragic blow was when Geocities was shut down and millions of historically fascinating little websites from the dawn of the internet age were instantly killed.

The fact some company can just shutter something like this is why I still don't put my faith in digital-only media and games that can't be backed up, or the idea that "the cloud" is a good idea to store anythhing.

This coming generation seems to embrace the ephemeral, short disposable Twitter comments, clicking Like rather than making a meaningful comment (as to why!), streaming videos that can be gone the next day... For the first time, I feel old, and that this new world isn't one I can relate to. Following and "liking" others rather than giving your own opinion is not a good culture, I feel, but one the removal of discussion boards here sadly supports.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

I agree with you. There's a weary Orwelian world these people are creating. The absolute shackles of people claiming to be liberal & progressive who are anything but. They are a political cult. Dangerous and a hugely negative force of destruction ushering in complete government rule and control.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

The complete lack of care people seem to have about being tracked, marketed to and catalogued scares and disturbs me too. I am not surprised companies and governments want to do this, but I am at how uncaring it seems so many people are about it. I was horrified, for example, when I learned about Facebook being able to "tag" people and identify them in photos. Most people I've spoken to don't even see the issue. Likewise, so many people seem to love the idea of just waving their phone to pay for things... not understanding the flipside of how much more open to abuse this is.

I don't think all these sort of things are inherently bad, I am just aghast that so few seem to even think about how they might be. Not to mention that so many of these things give others (companies, government, etc) more control over you. Is paranoid of me to be confused why especially young people today seem so keen to hand away their freedoms and privacy for conveniences?

I'm 40 this year; not that old, but old enough to remember the internet being a place where people could come together to make websites, share interests and discuss things. It seems increasingly that the internet now is heading towards being purely a corporate tool, not really "evil" or anything, just existing solely to advertise, sell and track.

Incidentally, I have no political leaning really, certainly not in US politics, but the way the world is headed makes me increasingly sad. That IMDB is silencing average folk's discussions is just a tiny bit of that, but after ten years as a major part of the internet, I think it is a significant part.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

If you havent seen it yet, check out Black Mirror. It has a lot of interesting episodes that deal with the dark side of many technologies that we currently use or probably will use in the near future.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

Saw this the other day and was reminded of Black Mirror

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu3OPaNl3jU

Oh the "national" catharsis of seeing someone we don't like beat. That video you like something you could just life and put into an episode of the show. Was just watching the video thinking: Can't wait for the Black Mirror episode on this.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

Absolutely positive this has nothing to do with "liberals" or "progressives", you utterly ignorant cnt.


Where do butterflies go when it rains? Who goes around & tucks in the trains?

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

^Triggered libtard

Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

There's nothing political about this.

if freaking hilarious when conspiracy theorists try to turn everything into bashing their least favorite party "Liberals did it"

Also I think that you will soon realize this is my signature.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

Here's a liberal saying it's political:


Given the current political climate, where offensive language and hate speech have been normalized thanks to President Trump’s rhetoric, it’s not surprising that IMDb would want to take itself even further out of the fray.



The difference would be she thinks this is a good things. This place being too toxic and all.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/03/one-of-the-worst-comments-sections-on-the-internet-is-shutting-down/

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

That's horsesh!t. Imdb is used by hundreds of millions daily, only a tiny fraction of whom use the message boards.



Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB


That's horsesh!t. Imdb is used by hundreds of millions daily, only a tiny fraction of whom use the message boards.


Speaking of horsesh#t, IMDB gets 250 million unique MONTHLY visitors (source IMDB's very own & recent press release), which works out to about 8 million DAILY. The 2nd part of your diatribe is correct though, only a tiny percentage of those 250 million visitors EACH MONTH are viewing the message boards.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

It's not a diatribe or horsesh!t, I may have got the figures wrong but the statement is still correct. Wanker.


Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

First off it was both a diatribe and horsesh#t, and yeah damn right you got your facts WAY wrong and were called out on it. The statement was only partially correct, loser.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

The gist of statement was correct, fckwit. Where did you come from anyway? Who cares.



Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

Ignorant, Arrogant and Opinionated is no way to way to go through life, little boy.

Where I came from is none of your damn business.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

That's your personal mantra isn't it. It may be too late for you, but keep repeating it anyway.



Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

I'm not surprised you don't care that the message boards are going, because you never once posted anything remotely interesting or useful. You just left crap statements and snarky remarks lying around.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

Says the girl who recently started several threads called Burger Fart. Yes very interesting and useful.



Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

I still have that Cinemania CD in a drawer somewhere. Wasn't that a Microsoft production?

PunchDrunkDumbStruckPotLuckHappyHappy

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

Yes, Microsoft Win3.11 to Win98 era, same as Encarta (and Bookshelf). I still have my CDs too. I loved them in the pre-internet age; Cinemania also introduced me to Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin. Incidentally, Cinemania introduced my grandfather to the whole concept of a "movie database" long after it was abandonware (he was blown away by the video clips!) and he liked the idea so much that he got himself online to use IMDB!

I also have a similar CDROM "film encyclopedia" made by Blockbuster (!) that came with a magazine.

I still remember being sad when Cinemania was no longer released. Interestingly, it's probably more like IMDB will now become (i.e. a factual database, vetted "professional" reviews, and fluff like trailers, clips and trivia, rather than something more user-interactive as it's been for the past ten years).

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

That is a thoughtful, intelligent post (you really DON'T post here a lot). I'd be careful though about getting into too many conspiracy theories. I don't think much of Facebook or Twitter, and I'm certainly not going to join those sites to keep in contact with the IMDB. They have really taken over wide swaths of the internet and really dumbed it down. I think both the IMDB administrators and the Hollywood studios would prefer everything be moved onto Facebook and Twitter because it is more controlled. It's a lot less threatening to have the unwashed masses IMDB users hit the "like" button than freely state their minds about a movie. Still, I doubt the film industry is THAT threatened by the surly comments on the IMDB message boards. And I think they should know they are never going to be able to control the "word-of-mouth" for their movies even on F^ckfacebook and Sh*tter.

It is amazing how much people confuse corporate invasion of privacy and government invasion of privacy. They both happen. They're both alarming. But they're both different. For instance, people quite WILLINGLY give their info. to private companies. I recently did join LinkedIn, which is for job hunting or networking, and they instantly knew all of the OTHER LinkedIn members I had worked with or corresponded with in the last ten years. They almost have to be mining email records to do something like that. Privacy is the main reason I generally avoid "social media" like the plague. It might be WORSE than government spying. The US government is only trying to make sure I'm not a potential terrorist.

It is true that millions of people use the IMDB and only a small fraction use the message boards. But the ones who do use the message boards are often by far the heaviest and most enthusiastic users. If a popular bar kicks out all its regulars, they might be a small fraction of the people who come in there, but they're also the ones who spend the most time and money--and (for better or worse) give the place its character. I don't think it's certain the IMDB will become a "ghost town", but they ARE taking a risk here, and they may regret it. Still, it is ALSO true a lot of users are unhappy with what a cesspool the message boards have become. They were going to have to do SOMETHING about them sooner or later.

"Let be be finale of seem/ The only emperor is the Emperor of Ice Cream"

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

It's definitely sad. I don't post that often either, but I've been a member for over 12 years. These are the only message boards I've come back to over the years. Any other site I've tried just doesn't seem to hold me like this one does as a lover of film and media in general. There are a lot of trash posts, but even those can be entertaining to read. Having an argument about subjective material can be a blast imo.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

The forums have been the very real a$$ end of the IMDB for ages Banjo-oz. Somewhere between 10 and 15000 people post on the forums monthly - if that, with many of them being trolls. Millions and millions of people around the world use the IMDB for movie information daily, and to rate and review films. The forums don't add anything to the film info on this valuable site - and besides, many of the comments only have utterly negative and bitter, unpleasant things to say about actors and films. The amount of wackjobs with bizzare, skewed opinions and agendas is extraordinarily large, and terribly sad. And the election of the vile Donald Trump (aka America's "Predator-in-Chief" has emboldened barely literate right wingers and racist to come onto the forums and say ugly things. These ignorant, ugly Trump Trolls with their guttersnipe comments have really brought down the tone of the boards.

Hollywood couldn't live without the info on the IMDB, and just about anyone in tinseltown will tell you that they couldn't live without the film info and bios on the IMDB, but they recommend that nobody in the business - especially actors and directors, should go anywhere near the forums. And it is good advice.

Think of the Classic Film Board, while the majority of posters here love and even respect the films and stars of the so called classic era, a great many have nothing but negative things to say about modern cinema and know next to nothing about newer films - and barely watch them. Ask yourself what CFB posters such as snsurone, Anjune, I Love New York or the notorious MrsElleryQueen have to offer of value, and you will realize it is absolutely nothing.

Film General is just a black hole in cyberspace filled mostly with trolls, troubled teens, sock puppet accounts, quasi-illiterate right wing religious nutters and homosphobic, sexist hypocrites such as the infamous Trump supporter m-slovak79. The Politics board is a disgrace, and the less said about the Soapbox the better. A lot of dimwitted and disturbed, badly informed people who would be better off and a lot wiser keeping their warped and wounded opinions to themselves are given a voice and allowed to vent here. Is this really a good thing?

The petition against the boards shutting down will garner, at best, between 7 and 8000 votes. These users are a drop in the ocean. The petition would have to garner at least a million to 2 million votes for the folk who run the IMDB to even sit up and take notice. It is not going to garner those votes. Even if we don't like it, the decision to shut down the forums is a sound one for numerous reasons. It is a common misconception among posters on the forums that there are tens of thousands of lurkers who read these boards, but don't post. What an ego-feeding croc of sh!t that is.

It is sad for the many lonely anonymous people who come to these forums for a form of human connection. After all their years on the forums, they will struggle to come to terns with life without them - there will be a huge gap in their lives that they will have to try and fill. For many of them coping with life without the forums will be an experience akin to junkies trying to kick. While these folk may not be physically addicted to posting on the boards, many of them are certainly psychologically addicted to the forums.

I feel sorry for these people - who are generally pretty old or pretty young (there is no middle on the IMDB forums - because folks in that middle have lives and families and hobbies that occupy their time), and I will certainly miss some aspects of the forums, but I do not blame the IMDB for shutting them dowm. The IMDB resourses used to manage the forums would be better served improving the site and making it a better experience for the millions of folk who come here to find information and reviews of film and info about actors, directors, producers, writers ete etc.

Like I say, I will miss some aspects of the forums, and I feel sorry for those folk who need them to fill the gaping void their empty lives, but I couldn't live without the information and reviews I get on the IMDB. Those few regular learned forum users who possess genuinely useful and interesting knowledge about movies and stars and television series can provide this infor for film and actor pages which millions will see, rather than putting it on the forums for a handful of other users to see.

Sorry to be so blunt and frank, but forum users need to face up to the facts. The IMDB is not a charity organization, and I for one hope that it goes from strength to strength and continues to be the greatest, most valuable asset film lovers, fans and buffs around the world have ever had at their fingertips.

None of the above, however, means I will not miss some aspects of the IMDB forums, and some of the users.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

All this coming from a guy who released Wasabi as The Professional 2.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

While a friend/business aquaintance of mine did once change the title of WASABI to THE PROFESSIONAL 2 (on the cover anyway) and release it to the bottom end of the DVD retail market in my country for a very low price (the retailers in stores with a very unsophisticated clientele, buying in bulk, paid roughly the rand equivalent of about $2 for it), I certainly did not do that, and never would. I did, however, for a nice percentage of the sales, help my friend/business aquaintenance sell this film to the rental market for a somewhat higher price. I was broke and needed the money and I have some serious sales and marketing skills, so what can I say. I needed the money thus I facilitated the sales, but I never agreed with M's decision to change the title - and in fact persuaded him to sell it with a double-sided cover (giving rental outlets to choice of hiring it out under either THE PROFESSIONAL 2 or WATSABI. So I am hardly the bad guy here.

I have seen you around the forums for years ebossert. So, are you just misremembering something I once said on the CFB? Or do you know me in real life? If it's the latter, feel free to PM mde, say hello and introduce yourself. But I think its the former, and you are just busking. Because in all my years in the Video, film and DVD industries I was always the guy who stood up for foreign films and art films and fought tooth and nail for them to be released in their original languages under their correct titles. And also strove to create a market for them.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

With Trump as President, the demise of the IMDb Message Boards was the ONE thing I didn't see coming.


Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

I dunno. Since they lost the election, SJWs have been trying to eliminate any open forum for free speech. Obviously they want to push everyone away from IMDB, onto a Fake News site like Facebook.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

You conspiracy theorists are pathetic.

Drumpf uses Facebook and Twitter all the time. He's infamous on how much he uses social media.

Grow the *beep* up. IMDB is not a liberal conspiracy.

Also if you weren't stupid you'd realize it's NOT an open forum.

Also I think that you will soon realize this is my signature.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB


Film General is just a black hole in cyberspace filled mostly with trolls, troubled teens, sock puppet accounts, quasi-illiterate right wing religious nutters and homosphobic, sexist hypocrites such as the infamous Trump supporter m-slovak79. The Politics board is a disgrace, and the less said about the Soapbox the better. A lot of dimwitted and disturbed, badly informed people who would be better off and a lot wiser keeping their warped and wounded opinions to themselves are given a voice and allowed to vent here. Is this really a good thing?


...that's what made it great.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

👍👍

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

I don't "know" any of those so-called troll posters you list. I don't care about trolls. (I certainly don't care about US politics, to be honest, and this isn't the place for that anyway). I have a long ignore list, even though I rarely post, but I think maybe two of the fifty-plus posters on my ignore list ever actually engaged with me, the rest are mostly people who flooded boards with nonsense or were clearly being hostile to everyone just to get a reaction.

The internet is full of idiots, but it is also full of smart, interesting people too. IMO, it it worth risking encountering the former (as one does in "real life" anyway) just to hear from the latter. Social media has just as much spam and toxic rubbish (look at all the Twitter "wars" that erupt over nothing).

While there are certainly people I'm sure who are "addicted" to IMDB message boards, I don't see that as any different (and indeed less harmful) than the *far* more people who are openly addicted to social media like Twitter (updating every inane thing they do), Facebook (a game of "friends") or things like Tumblr or Instagram. At least message boards like IMDB encourages people to engage with other people, even if "only" online. Social media is about limiting your interaction to the length of an SMS text message or mindlessly clicking a "like" button rather than actually responding thoughtfully.

I totally agree that petitions and protests are a waste of time. This isn't the sort of company who cares what the public thinks. Maybe they won't lose anything apart from a lot of goodwill with this move, but I really don't see how losing people who only come for the boards won't impact any profit (they presumably make from ads).

But of course this is all just opinion, as are *your* thoughts. That's what makes message boards fun and interesting: different opinions. If I just want to hear my own, I can talk to a mirror! :)

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

Not really, no - I don't care.

So a website that started originally by a dork who wanted to share his love of movies has been assimilated by the corporate juggernaut to peddle DVD's and popup ads.

Oh well.

Is anything really above the foul stench of capitalism?

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

This is, incidentally, the most frequently I've ever posted on IMDB I think!

Thanks to everyone for the responses, even if they don't agree.

Like I said, I don't post here much (in fact, I've never done so in the "general" boards, only movie and TV show specific ones), but I'm going to miss visiting this place, and learning new things from real people (even the rather crazy ones!) about the shows and movies I watch.

There are so many shows and films I'd have never discovered, much less watched, if not for a post by someone either recommending or even just casually mentioning it.

Sure, the boards for the really big, currently popular shows and films had a lot of trolls (Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Star Wars, etc.) but honestly there are better places to discuss those huge fandoms anyway. For me, it was the boards for small shows and individual movies that were valuable, those that will never have their own website forums but are no less important to people who love them.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

It's a Trump world now - ack!

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

Good thoughts, but let's channel this energy into SAVING THE BOARDS.

Businesses only understand the language of money. Amazon (who now own imdb) want to shut down these boards because they want to control the narrative of what you should like/buy.

SO, we need to apply pressure in the right places. Step 1 is to go on iMDB's Facebook and Twitter and cause a HURRICANE. Explain the importance of the boards, and how they're the only thing that keeps iMDB relevant, as well as the business benefits of being able to market to a like-minded community.

THEN, if they close the boards, do this EVEN MORE so that every single public-facing aspect of iMDB and Amazon is bombarded with reminders of what they did, and begging them to reopen the boards. Be relentless, this will only work when the public outcry is so severe that it becomes bad for business.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

DO you think anyone form their business offices actually read their Facebook or Twitter pages?

Also I think that you will soon realize this is my signature.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

They will when their social media team report that the only thing they're getting back is shower of shít from irate users. It's bad for business because it damages the brand name. Pretty simple stuff, so if you want the boards to survive then head over there and start posting.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

The vast majority of the boards--meaning the TV- and movie-specific boards--are not hives of trolls like the main boards section. They're a trove of discussion and interpretation. It's an archive of regular peoples' reactions to individual films, an archive with historical and academic value. Amazon has decided that all this human communication has no intrinsic value of its own.

Ironically, the announcement claims that this is a humane move--the boards have to go because reading them is not a "positive experience" for the users. But they didn't come to this conclusion by surveying the users, they came to it by looking at traffic data.

I don't think they realize the impact this is going to have. I'm rooting for the site to fail now, and I'm sure it will in the long run as new sites and apps pop up. You can't just erase a thriving 15-year-old community and expect to carry on business as usual. There will be ripple effect.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

I actually understood the shutdown message to mean the non-specific boards at first. I could understand a decision to shut down things like a politics board or technology boards - however well used - unrelated to movies and tv shows or actors and crew. I think if they need to shut something down, leave the specific forums (as this is what is unique about IMDB, there are plenty of other discussion sites for other topics or general discussion) alone.

But no, they are getting rid of everything. That's why I still suspect it is to do with removing negative feedback towards media itself ("x movie sucks!") like Ghostbusters 2016 rather than stopping negativity towards other users; every forum online has trolls! The fact that so many can read a board for a show where the showrunners are criticised for their decisions, or a board for a movie where people tell others not to see it, is something studios don't like not being able to control.

I really don't think its paranoid or a conspiracy theory to note that in this age where Facebook "Like" button pressing is so heavily encouraged, there is no "Dislike" button to be found.

I don't think the site will disappear overnight after this, but I do think people will end up elsewhere when somebody (new or existing site) sees the need and becomes IMDB 2.0. The original here will go back to being simple a database that is only visited occasionally to see "who was in x".

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB


That's why I still suspect it is to do with removing negative feedback towards media itself


Yeah, that's got to be part of it. It seems management is trying to turn this site into some kind of promotional service now. They either don't understand, or don't care, that they're also providing the ONLY place on the Internet where people can congregate to discuss individual films in an unfiltered fashion. Once something else fills that void, this place will be a relic.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB


It seems management is trying to turn this site into some kind of promotional service now



Uh, that's what it always, WAS.

Also I think that you will soon realize this is my signature.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB


there is no "Dislike" button to be found.



There is an angry and a sad button on Facebook.

Also I think that you will soon realize this is my signature.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

Good to see lots of action on Facebook guys, but Twitter needs a lot more attention. Please head over there and bombard every IMDB tweet with pleas to keep the boards open!

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

Sadly, I suspect a lot of folks like me who like discussion boards don't use Twitter of Facebook for the same reasons. Its why IMDB suggesting we use those social media sites instead strikes me as especially ridiculous. It frankly disgusts me how many sites now have "sign in with Facebook/Twitter/Google" rather than their own logins; why would I want all my different accounts to be linked and shared like that?!

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

Well my thoughts are that I'm watching an end of an era. I watched as Joaquin Phoenix was snubbed for Walk the Line, and if memory serves, signed up immediately to pointlessly complain to someone. Actually the point was relief in complaining. Since then I've found lots of information, suggestions, opinions, a *beep* load of trolls. Now I'm concerned that I'm going to lose my ratings history once this website goes bankrupt. It's the best memory bank I have. Over 3k. I'll miss the analysis with distribution and year, sifting through knowing what I've already seen. Seems pointless now trying to hit up 1970s movies to fill in the "by Year" valley. Actually has taken the only fun there is any more out of film. Guess that's the final blow forcing me to read more books.....

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB


I'm going to lose my ratings history once this website goes bankrupt. It's the best memory bank I have. Over 3k. I'll miss the analysis with distribution and year,



You can click at the bottom right of your ratings, Export this list, in .csv, that make it easy to create an excel page, once you have an excel table you can rank them by year rating, and so on.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

I can't believe they are taking away our boards. No more of watching a random movie and then checking out the board.
No more star trek board. No more film general. All of the countless hours of reading people's interesting viewpoints and opinions. It's all gone.

This is a huge loss. Th ey are a bunch of ridiculous over dramatic people to delete these boards.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

There will be another place to go. At least it makes IMDB clean by doing this. I mainly use the reviews to help me watch movies. The boards are just entertainment, they don't often sway me into watching movies.

Re: Thoughts on the demise of IMDB

On the other hand, there are probably a hundred movies I've only watched or even heard of thanks to the boards. Someone mentions a similar film to one I saw on its board, or that a certain actor was great in X... etc.
Top