If you've kept an eye on IMDB after they killed their forums, they immediately moved to advertising themes for the pages for major releases. Studios can pay for a complete color and image "theme" on the IMDB page for a given movie. I said this when IMDB killed their forums, but I strongly believe it had little or nothing to do with the "trolls" and was instead a reaction to the failure of movies like Ghostbusters.

When many consumers will go to a website like IMDB before deciding to attend a movie, negative reviews can influence their decision. Comment sections, especially, can create a strong impression. (So can the user reviews, which i'm surprised the IMDB still allows.) I think that by making their pages less interactive, IMDB hoped to control the message a little better and I think they sold this to the studios. Cutting off more lively user feedback allows the studios and the IMDB to project a more positive image of a film.

Like Netflix, who is moving to thumbs-up and thumbs-down instead of stars, I expect that the IMDB will eventually get rid of its point-based system. That will be all the confirmation I need to conclude that I was right about them.

But isn't - or wasn't, historically - 6.8 a rather low rating for anything on imdb? Seems like there were always enough fan-boys for anything to get 8.something or better, no matter how awful. For something to get 6.8 on imdb it must be a real stinker.

It got 60 % here. An this site is really harsh! So a 6.8 on IMDB doesn't seem manipulated.

@AlienFanatic said:

If you've kept an eye on IMDB after they killed their forums, they immediately moved to advertising themes for the pages for major releases. Studios can pay for a complete color and image "theme" on the IMDB page for a given movie. I said this when IMDB killed their forums, but I strongly believe it had little or nothing to do with the "trolls" and was instead a reaction to the failure of movies like Ghostbusters.

When many consumers will go to a website like IMDB before deciding to attend a movie, negative reviews can influence their decision. Comment sections, especially, can create a strong impression. (So can the user reviews, which i'm surprised the IMDB still allows.) I think that by making their pages less interactive, IMDB hoped to control the message a little better and I think they sold this to the studios. Cutting off more lively user feedback allows the studios and the IMDB to project a more positive image of a film.

Like Netflix, who is moving to thumbs-up and thumbs-down instead of stars, I expect that the IMDB will eventually get rid of its point-based system. That will be all the confirmation I need to conclude that I was right about them.

6.8/10 to my mind is pretty high. It's what got me to go to the theater for the first time in over a year.

The user reviews on there seem to be pretty accurate and given the mostly negative reactions, I'd gather that there's some shady business going on with the number rating. And yeah, I have no doubt they'll remove those too, eventually.

There's no doubt in my mind they killed the message boards on there to eliminate negative discussions about movies made by their benefactors in the studio system.

Imdb got rid of their message boards because there was too much discussion on how terrible most of the new movies are and how politicized Hollywood has become. Hollywood and their stupid celebrities shove their idiotic political stances into everything, they're nothing more than a giant propaganda machine. The downfall of Imdb was inevitable anyways, ever since they got bought by Amazon.

It had 7/10 on imdb when the movie was in its first week of release.

@mitsuko_soma said:

Imdb got rid of their message boards because there was too much discussion on how terrible most of the new movies are and how politicized Hollywood has become.

Like I said...

@domremy said:

It had 7/10 on imdb when the movie was in its first week of release.

Of course it did. 7/10 is believable to people who know about IMDb and high enough to get them into theaters. It'll end up around 6/10 more than likely after theatrical release is done. The IMDb game is rigged for the studio system.

@mitsuko_soma said:

Imdb got rid of their message boards because there was too much discussion on how terrible most of the new movies are and how politicized Hollywood has become. Hollywood and their stupid celebrities shove their idiotic political stances into everything, they're nothing more than a giant propaganda machine. The downfall of Imdb was inevitable anyways, ever since they got bought by Amazon.

I didn't like how every time I wanted to read what others had to say about a particular movie; more frequently than not...it seemed like there was always someone finding a reason why a movie was being racist. That was the part that was getting annoying to me. I guess you could tie that in with negative comments, but that was already mentioned. They did keep the reviews and the number rating, and I've got my fingers crossed that doesn't go. It was also nice being able to see all the info about a movie all on one website. I was sad to see them remove the forum, however that's why I became a member of "The Movie DB."

@mitsuko_soma said:

Imdb got rid of their message boards because there was too much discussion on how terrible most of the new movies are and how politicized Hollywood has become. Hollywood and their stupid celebrities shove their idiotic political stances into everything, they're nothing more than a giant propaganda machine. The downfall of Imdb was inevitable anyways, ever since they got bought by Amazon.

The one thing that gives me the creeps about IMDB is how Col Needham keeps popping up in photos with celebrities at special IMDB events. It's like he's found his personal "in" with the A- and B-listers and thinks it's fun to hobnob with the hoi palloi. Of course, what he doesn't seem to realize is that these folks only tolerate him because the IMDB is an effective tool for producers and casting agents so they need it for networking. I just think it's unseemly to act like a fanboy when you're supposed to be a pro.

Maybe that was the real reason he started imdb.

@AlienFanatic said:

@mitsuko_soma said:

Imdb got rid of their message boards because there was too much discussion on how terrible most of the new movies are and how politicized Hollywood has become. Hollywood and their stupid celebrities shove their idiotic political stances into everything, they're nothing more than a giant propaganda machine. The downfall of Imdb was inevitable anyways, ever since they got bought by Amazon.

The one thing that gives me the creeps about IMDB is how Col Needham keeps popping up in photos with celebrities at special IMDB events. It's like he's found his personal "in" with the A- and B-listers and thinks it's fun to hobnob with the hoi palloi. Of course, what he doesn't seem to realize is that these folks only tolerate him because the IMDB is an effective tool for producers and casting agents so they need it for networking. I just think it's unseemly to act like a fanboy when you're supposed to be a pro.

He sold out. I don't blame him, most people would do the same thing in his situation. He can take a truckload of money and mingle with celebrities, or the opposite route of them trying to put you out of business and make your life a hell.

What he should do is take that money and go start a new movie website. Or maybe he is delusional and thinks the celebrities are his "friends", who knows.

@mitsuko_soma said:

@AlienFanatic said:

@mitsuko_soma said:

Imdb got rid of their message boards because there was too much discussion on how terrible most of the new movies are and how politicized Hollywood has become. Hollywood and their stupid celebrities shove their idiotic political stances into everything, they're nothing more than a giant propaganda machine. The downfall of Imdb was inevitable anyways, ever since they got bought by Amazon.

The one thing that gives me the creeps about IMDB is how Col Needham keeps popping up in photos with celebrities at special IMDB events. It's like he's found his personal "in" with the A- and B-listers and thinks it's fun to hobnob with the hoi palloi. Of course, what he doesn't seem to realize is that these folks only tolerate him because the IMDB is an effective tool for producers and casting agents so they need it for networking. I just think it's unseemly to act like a fanboy when you're supposed to be a pro.

He sold out. I don't blame him, most people would do the same thing in his situation. He can take a truckload of money and mingle with celebrities, or the opposite route of them trying to put you out of business and make your life a hell.

What he should do is take that money and go start a new movie website.

If I'd made that money I'd go into VC and invest in engineering or medical. Hollywood just isn't a high-growth industry and it's too volatile. I admire that Needham built a one-of-its-kind database that came to dominate its category. But unlike Elon Musk, who went in a completely new direction after selling Paypal, Needham is still lingering around the edge of the red carpet and manhandling the talent. To me, that just comes across as a nerd trying to ingratiate themselves with the popular kids. You're smarter than them, so go your own way and find new castles to conquer, imo.

It's an interesting theory as to why IMDb made the incomprensible decision to get rid of their community, I doubt it's right. Forums are after all for people who have seen a movie. I know some people go not having watched it, but most people don't I'm sure. Unless they want spoilers galore.

If the theory is right they should have got rid of the rating system.

And couldn't the studios but the whole page of their movie (promoting it) a while before the forums went?.

@tmdb65271336 said:

If you've kept an eye on IMDB after they killed their forums, they immediately moved to advertising themes for the pages for major releases. Studios can pay for a complete color and image "theme" on the IMDB page for a given movie. I said this when IMDB killed their forums, but I strongly believe it had little or nothing to do with the "trolls" and was instead a reaction to the failure of movies like Ghostbusters.

When many consumers will go to a website like IMDB before deciding to attend a movie, negative reviews can influence their decision. Comment sections, especially, can create a strong impression. (So can the user reviews, which i'm surprised the IMDB still allows.) I think that by making their pages less interactive, IMDB hoped to control the message a little better and I think they sold this to the studios. Cutting off more lively user feedback allows the studios and the IMDB to project a more positive image of a film.

Like Netflix, who is moving to thumbs-up and thumbs-down instead of stars, I expect that the IMDB will eventually get rid of its point-based system. That will be all the confirmation I need to conclude that I was right about them.

I thought it was Trolls combined with the studio support in that because the trolls were ruining their positive reviews and marketing plans with negative "publicity" at alarming rates, IMDB had to broker a deal with the studios or face a lawsuit because it was really beginning to hit their pocketbooks. So now you have the combination of two: removal of the bad publicity of trolls and positive propagation and support of new productions. They were beginning to be held liable for not removing the troll posts about their reputations and bad publicity and couldn't keep up with the deletion of those kinds of posts to satisfy the studios.