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“We have decided to disable IMDb's message boards”

imdb.com

121–130 of 340 posts

Re: “We have decided to disable IMDb's message boards”

#121

Another nail in the coffin for the open web! As I mentioned in another comment [1], I read the discussion threads but have never actually contributed to them. I can easily click a link to view all past discussion related to the film I'm interested in without having to sign up and become a member. This would be impossible in Facebook or Twitter where discussion is ephemeral, not conducive to thoughtful expression and…

Agreed on keeping them up. Even if just for the SEO value and organic traffic.

Re: “We have decided to disable IMDb's message boards”

#122
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a comment on Reddit saying that the ArchiveTeam is working on archiving them: https://www.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/5s0iiv/slug/ddbugy5

Thanks for the link. Following the link it appears that the db can is available for download from these two ftp sites : ftp.fu-berlin.de (Germany) ftp.funet.fi (Finland) PS: I have not verified them yet.

Unfortunately, that's just the DB itself, it doesn't include the boards at all.

Re: “We have decided to disable IMDb's message boards”

#123
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does this not run afoul of IP laws?

Archiveteam does not give a flying fuck about some corporation's IP if it means that people's creations can be saved for them and future generations. archive.org, were the data usually ends up, is protected by the law.

Archiveteam does not give a flying fuck about some corporation's IP if it means that people's creations can be saved for them and future generations.

Future generations are likely to be disappointed already, since it seems, sadly, that IMDB has had a rolling expiry of message posts.

http://www.imdb.com/help/show_leaf?boardswhydeleted

If you are certain that the post has been deleted and you didn't do it, then there are two possible reasons: the message has been removed by a moderator or it has expired. Our boards are not designed to store messages indefinitely: after a certain amount of time older threads are removed from the board automatically. This process is called "expiry".

The rate of expiry is adjusted dynamically according to the posting traffic for each board. Threads are removed sooner from a board that attracts a lot of posts than they would be from a board with less activity.

Please keep in mind that the boards system is not meant to be an archival medium, and all posts are subject to expire and disappear sooner or later. This is intended to allow us to manage the resources consumed by each board effectively, and also to promote the ever changing flow of discussion.

Re: “We have decided to disable IMDb's message boards”

#124
post #110
post #42

Thumbs down to whoever decided to close the boards. I'll miss being able to argue about why a movie is rubbish with someone who thinks it's fantastic, or vice-versa. There's some great discussions on some of the movie boards where people talk about the stories and motivations of characters etc. Sure it gets heated sometimes, but that's life. You just navigate around that stuff and find things worth responding to. Sen…

Head to https://letterboxd.com — besides looking and working beautifully, it's designed from the ground up as a social movie site to find, review, track and share great (and awful) watches. The list functionality is superb — Best car chases? Submarine films? Movies where white people solve racism? Got it.

+1 for letterboxd. It offers both great value as a "single player" and a "multi player" website, and is in my eyes a model for what a social network centered around a hobby/interest should be like.

Re: “We have decided to disable IMDb's message boards”

#125

Another nail in the coffin for the open web! As I mentioned in another comment [1], I read the discussion threads but have never actually contributed to them. I can easily click a link to view all past discussion related to the film I'm interested in without having to sign up and become a member. This would be impossible in Facebook or Twitter where discussion is ephemeral, not conducive to thoughtful expression and…

They were implementing a rolling expiry of posts already, so the battle for posterity has probably already been lost (unless IMDB itself has historic records that it will release):

http://www.imdb.com/help/show_leaf?boardswhydeleted

Re: “We have decided to disable IMDb's message boards”

#126
post #86
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So it's less work to simply just destroy one of the most used online forums because a few actors in California feel like they're too old.

For one, complying with the law is pretty important. For another, when your livelihood is based on (to a non-trivial extent) your physical characteristics and appearance, having your age revealed, and possibly aging you out of more glamorous roles, is an important protection to ensure.

I have no idea why this was down voted, it seems like it was a calculated decision. Litigation can destroy a company (just ask Gawker). Being responsible, legally with consequences, for monitoring the entirety of your site for age disclosure is expensive. Not only to do it, but the cost of litigation for when you miss one. That's probably a big part of the calculation.

Someone suggested that it's because moderating is expensive, which is true, but IMDB has been moderating their site for a long time. I don't think the cost of standard moderation was a big part in the calculation, simply because they have been doing it successfully for years. I think they are also aware of the value of their message boards simply by tracking page hits.

Having said that, public figures are excluded from privacies generally granted to the public. There are plenty of public records of everyone that discloses their age, even though they are not a public figure. To pass a law requiring IMDB remove age disclosure with consequences is very bad law. Not only that, the people that are the "victims" have the financial ability to litigate. It's even worse if other publications like tabloids are excluded from this requirement.

Re: “We have decided to disable IMDb's message boards”

#127
post #12

It is incredulous they are calling two weeks notice "ample time" for people to organise alternative contacts with friends they may only know via a handle and manually archive their years of messages. I expected better from IMDb.

That was my reaction as well, but it turns out that most movies don't have messages going back very far. This was by design, it seems: http://www.imdb.com/help/show_leaf?boardswhydeleted

Re: “We have decided to disable IMDb's message boards”

#128
post #42

Thumbs down to whoever decided to close the boards. I'll miss being able to argue about why a movie is rubbish with someone who thinks it's fantastic, or vice-versa. There's some great discussions on some of the movie boards where people talk about the stories and motivations of characters etc. Sure it gets heated sometimes, but that's life. You just navigate around that stuff and find things worth responding to. Sen…

The cost to moderate the boards is probably not insignificant. The revenue they provided (directly) I'm sure made the decision pretty easy to make when looking at it only through the lens of a cold spreadsheet.

Re: “We have decided to disable IMDb's message boards”

#129
STOP BEING SAD!

I mean, stop being sad as in feeling defeated. It's not an end, it's a problem in the continuation. You are hackers, and the announcement gives a very clear clue as to what you can do to solve this problem; archive the content, mirror it, and launch your own decentralized movie discussion platform!

Think about how The Pirate Bay is backed up these days; dozens of TPB mirrors exist to guarantee the continued existence of the service. Decentralization is good. This is good as in it's good to be reminded not to put your eggs in a centralized (and commercially motivated) basket!

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