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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”

#31

Post by edraferi »

type0 wrote: post #26

I've found some of my favorite movies on iMDB in recommended movies threads. It's sad that they don't think it's worth it to keep. I get that their forums are infested with trolls, but they could just relaunch it on new a platform. Hell take discourse, pick some good posters as moderators, move the good threads and archive the rest. Amazon is already doing the forum thing on DPreview, why can't they just copy the con…

> Amazon is already doing the forum thing on DPreview, why can't they just copy the concept to iMDB?!

Can you elaborate? I checked out the DPReview forums[1]. They seemed solid enough, but no obvious connection to Amazon.

Does AWS have some forum-as-a-service product I'm not aware of?

[1] https://www.dpreview.com/forums

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

#32

Post by MichaelMoser123 »

dsr_ wrote: post #10

Translation: "We thought we would get a community of fans for free. We didn't realize that maintaining a community requires active engagement, setting rules for behavior and enforcing them. We really didn't think anyone would bother being a troll. This is all too expensive to do properly."

i think it might have something to do with litigation. Wikipedia says that they have been sued by actors that got their age revealed on the message board https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IMDb#Litigation

And now California has a new anti-ageism law; wikipedia says "The bill forces IMDb to comply with requests by the actors featured on its pages to remove information about their age"

so they might have decided to close the message board for fear of litigation.

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

#34

Post by tomstuart »

edraferi wrote: post #31
type0 wrote: post #26

I've found some of my favorite movies on iMDB in recommended movies threads. It's sad that they don't think it's worth it to keep. I get that their forums are infested with trolls, but they could just relaunch it on new a platform. Hell take discourse, pick some good posters as moderators, move the good threads and archive the rest. Amazon is already doing the forum thing on DPreview, why can't they just copy the con…

> Amazon is already doing the forum thing on DPreview, why can't they just copy the concept to iMDB?! Can you elaborate? I checked out the DPReview forums[1]. They seemed solid enough, but no obvious connection to Amazon. Does AWS have some forum-as-a-service product I'm not aware of? [1] https://www.dpreview.com/forums

DPReview is owned by Amazon.

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

#35

Post by exodust »

edraferi wrote: post #31
type0 wrote: post #26

I've found some of my favorite movies on iMDB in recommended movies threads. It's sad that they don't think it's worth it to keep. I get that their forums are infested with trolls, but they could just relaunch it on new a platform. Hell take discourse, pick some good posters as moderators, move the good threads and archive the rest. Amazon is already doing the forum thing on DPreview, why can't they just copy the con…

> Amazon is already doing the forum thing on DPreview, why can't they just copy the concept to iMDB?! Can you elaborate? I checked out the DPReview forums[1]. They seemed solid enough, but no obvious connection to Amazon. Does AWS have some forum-as-a-service product I'm not aware of? [1] https://www.dpreview.com/forums

Amazon acquired Dpreview in 2007, but as far as I can tell it didn't change anything to do with the site or forums. Those forums have pretty much remained unchanged for a long time.

Less trolls on forums where the subject matter is focused, and requires interest in digital photography. IMDB subject matter can be anything related to movies including how hot this or that actor is, or how ugly or crap they are! This will spawn heated debate, but that's fine by me. A sad loss, the IMDB forums are amusing and reveal a lot of varied opinion and expression.

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

#36

Post by sunshinejoy »

roryisok wrote: post #27
5_minutes wrote: post #19

Perhaps I'm oldfashioned but all the discussions that happen on the "social web" are very scattered, volatile and basically instantly forgotten. So I don't really find that a good argument to delete these archives. That they're overal low-quality discussions, that's true, though. I guess it has more to do with "Focus", and that comes before "Nostalgia".

I agree. Keeping archives of decade old arguments between random strangers seems like a waste of digital resources. It's like taking and storing minutes for the water cooler conversations in your office. I wonder how many petabytes of forum content there is out there on the web

That's a great analogy.

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

#37

Post by yoodenvranx »

roryisok wrote: post #27
5_minutes wrote: post #19

Perhaps I'm oldfashioned but all the discussions that happen on the "social web" are very scattered, volatile and basically instantly forgotten. So I don't really find that a good argument to delete these archives. That they're overal low-quality discussions, that's true, though. I guess it has more to do with "Focus", and that comes before "Nostalgia".

I agree. Keeping archives of decade old arguments between random strangers seems like a waste of digital resources. It's like taking and storing minutes for the water cooler conversations in your office. I wonder how many petabytes of forum content there is out there on the web

> seems like a waste of digital resources

Yes, that's exactly the same what Sumerians did say back a few 1000 years ago. Why keep all these clay tables about ordering wine? Who is gonna be interested in that kind of stuff in 10 years?

Don't you think that such an archive would offer a nice glimpse into our current culture a few hundred years in the future?

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

#38

Post by onion2k »

sgift wrote: post #15
onion2k wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue we won't lose anything. IMDB message boards aren't exactly a trustworthy source of information.

Neither is HN for that matter, would you be as indifferent if HN decided to delete all comments?

I wouldn't be indifferent, but also I wouldn't defend keeping them in terms of having value outside of my sentimental affection for what I've written that's been up-voted.

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

#40

Post by Strom »

This is incredibly sad news. I have been a regular reader of IMDb message boards for over 15 years now. It's the last actual forum that I still visit.

There's so much valuable information stored on those boards, it's a tragedy to see it get deleted. Sure the most popular movie threads might be filled with toxic flamewars, but the long tail of more obscure movies has reasonable discussion and human recommendations of other similar movies. It's precisely this why I'm extra sad about this whole situation. It's not difficult to find a community to talk about the next Star Wars, but there aren't really any places where discussion (in English) about 20 years old Dutch movies happens.

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