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

imdb.com

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

#291

Post by jug »

I understand the gigantic task of moderating boards on the scale that IMDB's probably were, but social network accounts are definitely no substitute as history on these is not tuned for searching. They're flat streams of haphazard comments to whatever is posted on these accounts.

I just now chose to search IMDB's Facebook page for "Star Wars The Force Awakens" for a recent huge movie, using IMDB's supposed "replacement" to these forums. It ought to get no better than this. Top three results:

1. Which film do you think will be the next $2 billion dollar movie?

2. John Boyega to star in Pacific Rim 2

3. Daisy Ridley to star in novel adaption Chaos Walking

None of these are even about the movie I searched, much less a focused discussion! It's completely useless. But that's not because Facebook's search engine is bad. It's searching what has been posted. No, it's because Facebook is not a search engine for catalogued knowledge to begin with. Why? Because Facebook doesn't even contain organized information. It's the wrong tool for this job. It's like going to a pub to extract information rather than going to a library.

This is in extent a problem I've felt has grown worse lately. The big social networks are eating up the web which is not only a loss due to consolidation and reliance on what the giants decide to do (a ton of eggs in very few baskets), but because social networks are tuned to be live or at best "the fresh of today". That works when chatting daily with friends, but not to look up thoughts and opinions on a movie from 1995, or anything else for that matter.

There is also a conceptual difference here, even if social networks did catalogue information to be browsable. They usually work as advertisement platforms and people write reactionary comments, while on a message board people go there in order to indulge themselves in a discussion or get questions answered = much higher discussion quality. Even if the IMDB boards weren't exactly always top quality, they were often much better than the swamps of Facebook.

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

#292

Post by moonshinefe »

brownbat wrote: post #272

I have no idea why we decided that everyone who makes content or provides a service must also be great at moderating commenting systems. Disaggregating comment from content is a great move for the web. It's part of the process of offloading commenting systems to people who are good at running them. There's no reason we couldn't eventually have a browser plugin that appends a forum to a side-panel on every page online…

"I have no idea why we decided that everyone who makes content or provides a service must also be great at moderating commenting systems."

I think the key here is this has been one of, if not the biggest movie rating / db site in the world for years and years and they won't do it. This isn't some poor bloke in his basement struggling to moderate, it's a massively popular website that should have some resources.

Everyone doesn't have to be great at moderating when they start up forums, but a hugely trafficked website that's been there forever should maybe get a handle on it, if they've been offering it for a long time.

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

#293

Post by 2Pacalypse- »

spbaar wrote: post #239
hkmurakami wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I used to moderate the largest English Starcraft forum. We had a pretty low tolerance for poor behavior, and people would cause shitstorms on other forums about our allegedly heavy handed moderation style. I'm no longer active on staff duties but the site is going strong so I'm guessing we did something right.

Team liquid is what I think of when I think of active moderation done right

TeamLiquid has some sensible rules[1] that are being carried out by a numerable sensible staff members[2]. Its longevity speak to the effectiveness of this formula.

[1] - http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/tl-community/17883-tlnet-ten...

[2] - http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/TeamLiquid.net_Staff

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

#294

Post by Amplifix »

Chathamization wrote: post #112
exodust wrote: 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…

There are some really interesting things you find on the message boards: - I once came across a nomadic TV watching club - they'd decide to watch a classic TV series, and then go to the board for that series to hold weekly discussions (you go in one week and see them discussing the first episode, then go in the next week and see them discussing the second, etc.). When the series was finished, they'd announce the next…

Tell them to migrate to reddit. It's perfect for these kind of things.

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

#295

Post by Markoff »

robinhood wrote: post #135
amatix wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I've been using Letterboxd extensively for 6 months now - after 13 years of rating everything on IMDB. The experience of rating and reviewing a movie is superior on Letterboxd, definitely. But when I need discussions about a movie, or if I need to know an exact detail (revenue, soundtrack,...), I still head up to IMDB.

TMDb just yesterday launched discussions for each movie and TV show

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

#296

Post by Markoff »

Narretz wrote: post #132
amatix wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This looks interesting, as I use imdb mainly for lists, and they are too inconsistent to me - there's a watchlist, but no watched-list, for example. Or I haven't found it, because the ui is so inconsistent. Does Letterboxd have the option to export your activity / lists?

TMDb just added Discussions feature, other then that they have watchlist, ratings, etc

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

#297

Post by Markoff »

Jam3s wrote: post #193
amatix wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Hi, I couldnt find the discussion boards for each movie. Either I am blind or this isnt a alternative.

check TMDb, the most known open alternative to IMDb added discussions just yesterday

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

#298

Post by Markoff »

exodust wrote: post #285
wingworks wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The message boards on IMDB is nearly the only reason I ever go on IMDB, just after watching a movie. I never go there for their content since there are much better sites out there presenting the info (themoviedb), + there trailers are terrible slow to load (at least where I live) compared to Youtube or even Apple hosted trailers.

I just checked out themoviedb, but there's a lack of information compared with IMDB. For example technical specs of the film like aspect ratio are missing.

well, at least they have now discussions for movie fans leaving IMDb

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

#299

Post by Markoff »

shostack wrote: post #121
Anthony-G wrote: post #75

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.

i never stumbled upon in boards in Google search results, are they even searchable from outside?

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

#300

Post by Markoff »

jug wrote: post #291

I understand the gigantic task of moderating boards on the scale that IMDB's probably were, but social network accounts are definitely no substitute as history on these is not tuned for searching. They're flat streams of haphazard comments to whatever is posted on these accounts. I just now chose to search IMDB's Facebook page for "Star Wars The Force Awakens" for a recent huge movie, using IMDB's supposed "replaceme…

TMDb which is in service since 2008 just launched discussions for movies and TV shows, feel free to discuss them there, it's also pretty open system which style be preferred by HN readership
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