Closure - only one reason I can think of…
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Anamon — 9 years ago(February 09, 2017 05:22 PM)
I for one am definitely going to be more wary of where I choose to participate in an online community going forward, though I guess there will always be a risk that even a non-corporate, community-led board could go away at any point (though not as callously as Amazon has done here).
It would be very nice, although very improbable, if most people would make this a part of their choice on where to spend their time and contribute their work. If those projects who care the most about preserving community-contributed work, would for that very reason also be the ones that get the most and best contributions.
I'm not at all anti-business, either. But the fact is that companies running projects like this profit financially from the work of volunteer contributors. For the system to be fair, users should either get a piece of the pie and be compensated for their work (unlikely), or be ensured that their work will not be locked-in, made proprietary, and effectively be exploited by corporate interests, but will stay in the hands of the public, which is what they probably wanted when they contributed it in the first place.
Of course, even non-corporate projects can go down. That's why I think a very important thing is to make community-contributed data always available to be copied, mirrored, and reused. IMDb actually does this for the main database parts of the site, although not under a permissive license, and it doesn't include reviews or forums. But a project that depends on community contributions should, in my opinion, also allow that community to use those contributions themselves. -
lafierose — 9 years ago(February 07, 2017 08:54 PM)
The announcement is a joke. If they cared about the community the slightest bit, they'd at least lock the boards and keep them archived. Static archives don't break the bank. And the Facebook page as a way for the community to interact? Imagine all of IMDb's message board activity, every single post, appended to the same unstructured thread, and you get an idea of how well that would work as a replacement. I don't know another place where you could post a question about ONE specific cast or crew member and hope that anybody would ever actually find it.
I totally agree on this. I would love for the boards to be archived, because I have learned so much from the boards that I wouldn't have learned anywhere else. Again, the boards should be archived. For example: I recently watched a tv show that has long been canceled and there was something that I was curious about and the board had the answer.
My first thought after reading about the forum closer was, too, that the reviews and ratings will probably be next. Criticism and arguments are not good for business.
If the reviews and rating systems go and that's
if
they go, I'll delete my account and just walk away. It would be useless for me to have an account.
Just a side bit, I know I haven't posted as much on the boards or review anything in a good long while, I still will miss the boards and reading them. Yet, the small hope that is inside me hopes that the boards will remain, but I doubt they won't. -
JosephCurwenJr — 9 years ago(February 08, 2017 03:25 AM)
Totally forgot (and didn't care) that IMDB was the property of Amazon. Of course the explanation is there, not their petty and illogical arguments ; they won't have to spend effort for moderation (and money I guess, I wouldn't moderate here for free).
Possibly the petitions and messages will keep the boards but they'll find a way to restrict our freedom of speech in a way or another. -
Janine-The-Barefoot — 9 years ago(February 08, 2017 08:05 PM)
Anamon, I think there's a lot of truth in what you're saying. I AM a Prime Member and when I went onto the site, which used to have discussion boards of their own and have just made them disappear "POOF", I noticed that all of the help sections related to their discussion boards are still there. They even offer you LINKS to get to them! But all the links do is lead you in a circle back to another section related to their "communities" and how they operate. Great, but good luck finding them because THEY ARE GONE!
So I wrote them a letter saying that I'd be watching (and buying) much less from here on out because IMDb is my source of choice for info on what I want to watch, which includes their own programming. Since they are taking away my primary resource for data, I mentioned (quite politely) that I would respond by purchasing fewer of their "Prime" products for revenue. Cause turn about seems like fair play. They take something away from me that I value and I take my dollars to eBay because Amazon values money. I also added that since they were going to free up a whole bunch of my viewing and resourcing time, that I would use that to track down every company they own and stop purchasing from them as well. I'll keep the membership, I'll just spend the minimum required to pay for the 99 dollar a year service charge which will be quite easy given that membership includes free shipping and some serious discounts on things you have delivered monthly and bi-monthly.
But I want to support the little guy so I'll go look for small, independent companies and people who sell out of their houses on eBay because although I'll have to wait a bit longer than 2 days for delivery, at least I won't be paying anyone to screw me over!
Oh and in closing, I should also add that someone on the boards mentioned that the studios are actually pretty sick to death of all of us here on IMDb. They think that our conversations are costing them revenue. And apparently some of the members have gotten advanced info on films and such and have come here to share it before anything gets released. So, I figure the studios have a financial arrangement with Amazon (how could they not given all of the visual media "A" sells?) and have put at least some pressure on in order to get these boards shut down. Since nobody really cares about the consumer (they'll get our money somehow), we on this board simply aren't a consideration for any of them at all. But there are lots of other places devoted to visual media and they have boards as well. So, to quote Serenity "You can't stop the signal" we can just go somewhere else to keep the conversations alive and if we happen to trash all of this in the process, well we've still got the right of free speech and let's hope that lasts longer than our right to privacy or the laws that once existed to strictly regulate monopolies and corporate purchasing so our country wouldn't end up being run by conglomerates instead of "The People".
Wow! I'm really a crotchety old gal aren't I?
"You told me I had nothing. But you were wrong. I have love, I have hope and I have faith." -
brch2 — 9 years ago(February 07, 2017 02:41 PM)
Amazon's reply when I emailed to let them know this move was going to cost them my Prime membership and any further business
"Hello,
We appreciate that you took the time to share your concerns with us.
Although IMDb.com is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon.com, it is a separate site and operates independently. We recommend you contact IMDbs support staff directly via the form located at http://www.imdb.com/helpdesk/contact_form with any concerns you might have regarding their message boards.
I hope you have a great day."
I don't think they care one bit about this site.
Someone ever tries to kill you you try to kill em right back. -
jonkennedy — 9 years ago(February 07, 2017 04:18 PM)
I just used the contact form
http://www.imdb.com/helpdesk/contact_form
to let them know of my displeasure about closing the boards - and I suggest everyone else do it, too. There is nowhere else on the internet that has a discussion board linked directly to each film individually that I know of. This is a travesty and I'm getting a bit mad about it. -
Janine-The-Barefoot — 9 years ago(February 13, 2017 01:06 PM)
I did that JK and now I'm on report to determine if they want to throw me off the board completely in the 7 days we have left to talk to each other, make last comments on shows we've seen and share final memories about the times we have spent here and how much this loss hurts along with trying to find
someplace, anyplace
we can go to find each other when this place shuts it's doors to us forever.
As I see it, they're going to take this action one way or the other and I don't want to rock a boat that's going down anyway.
I've been reported only once before and then, I believe the person who did it asked to have it taken down both because it was not an issue I had created and because my comment was an attempt at keeping the peace and not actually even the comment in question.
So now, I'm afraid to say anything to anybody about how frustrated and sad I am because there are only 7 days left and my position here is so tenuous.
So I honestly wouldn't recommend to anyone that you complain to the site unless you don't care if they kick you off early. Me, I'm just even more sad and more frustrated then I've already been and now I'm afraid to talk about it.
*And this is clearly NOT an attempt to incite ANYTHING. In point of fact I'm trying to warn people that you don't want those kind of letters in your inbox and being on the site for whatever time we have left is more important to me than going to war with anyone.
"You told me I had nothing. But you were wrong. I have love, I have hope and I have faith." -
met1981 — 9 years ago(February 07, 2017 07:34 PM)
Never thought about that, it actually makes sense. However, my guess is that IMDb doesn't know how to or can't monetise the boards, as it's the only portion of the site that is going to be shut down. As we know, IMDb is nothing more than an advertising space for Amazon, and the message boards don't seem to help with that purpose, so it's getting shafted. Blaming the trolls looks nothing more than a scapegoat to me, as they'be been here for ages.
My other theory is that IMDb is interested in forcing the userbase migration to Facebook and other social networks, so they can better targets their ads for Amazon products, especially Prime Video subscription. And by moving the discussions to social media, they are also freeing themselves of the burden of having to moderate the discussions, delegating that task to Facebook, Twitter or any other useless social network.
In the end, it's all about the money. If maintaning discussion forums are not making Mr. Bezos and Amazon's shareholders money, or not enough, then it's going to be shut down without further considerations. -
DarrenDirt — 9 years ago(February 08, 2017 03:38 PM)
I submitted MY feedback, I hope THOUSANDS of others do the same.
THERE IS A REASON THEY ONLY GAVE US "2 WEEKS" TO RESPOND TO THIS SHUTDOWN. Because many will not even KNOW about it until it's too late!
(my submission)
Just like thousands of others I am very disappointed to hear of the closure of the IMDB Message Boards.
In addition we do not buy your reasons, but hey you are a business, you can decide to end something that costs more than it is worth to maintain.
But PLEASE we ask that you just ARCHIVE the Message Boards do not just NUKE IT. This content has been user contributed for > 10 years FOR FREE and having 2 weeks to be aware of its removal let alone deal with it is unheard of on the web!
Think of how/why IMDB started and GREW to the point of Amazon buying them out.
You are getting rid of a LOT of its value, and claiming Facebook Twitter etc. will replace it = a JOKE in comparison and you know it. The older conversations about older titles and individuals = will vanish into the #MemoryHole and will not continue on Facebook Twitter etc. Stop lying to people, just acknowledge as a business you can't keep up moderation or whatever!
But we ask that you please keep the forums available for at least another 12 months, even if in a read-only state (but preferably INDEFINTELY) so folks have a decent chance at keeping what they have contributed for a decade or more. Maybe even make available "Export All" feature (perhaps with usernames "anonymized" but still cross-linked among posts).
ANYWAY, you are likely ignoring this kind of feedback , but just in case you might consider that in 4 days there are more than 3000 people who took the time to sign this petition: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/petition-to-keep-the-imdb-messageboards-going (and this is just ONE petition, which is not easy to hear about).
For this ANTI-community decision, you WILL lose customers, and possibly even Amazon shoppers. Reconsider! Or at the very least, give the community more time.
(/my submission)
Chipping away at a mountain of pop culture trivia,
Darren Dirt. -
moisan4 — 9 years ago(February 09, 2017 04:06 AM)
I agree. The real reason message boards are closing is because of advertising money, not the lack of money the boards generate. Look at the figures for movies with huge opening weekends, and massive drop offs after that. It's a trend that has become far more drastic over the years. One of the main reason is because word spreads quickly when even movies with massive marketing campaigns are bad movies. I suspect most of IMDB's revenue comes from the film and TV industry, so when people get wise to crap entertainment they wont pay to see it. So if IMDB is getting pressure from their advertisers that bad word of mouth is hurting their product then they'll attempt to stop bad word of month.
Just stop using IMDB altogether, and use an alternative. Then well find out if IMDB's priority will be to their advertisers, or their customers who see the advertisements. Because without site traffic, advertising is useless. -
DarrenDirt — 9 years ago(February 09, 2017 09:22 AM)
ArchiveTeam.org has a project going, but they need help!
See this thread:
http://www.imdb.com/board/bd0000043/nest/265905912
https://archive.is/vnvFK
Chipping away at a mountain of pop culture trivia,
Darren Dirt. -
grumpy_otter — 9 years ago(February 09, 2017 06:43 PM)
I've been coming here for 12 yearsto discuss. I don't post a whole terribly lot, but when i do my experience has been overwhelmingly positive. As with anything on the internet, to avoid drama do not create nor respond to it. I've had wonderful substantive discussions with other users.
I am very sad the boards will be going. -
ImReallyANarc — 9 years ago(February 10, 2017 07:48 AM)
I have read several different theories and I think this is the most plausible. I don't buy for a minute their "official" reason; there are hundreds, if not thousands, of very active message boards with unpaid community moderators that don't cost a whole lot to maintain. Considering IMDB's traffic and all the photos and videos hosted on the site, they can't spare a little server room for these message boards for the slice of their daily visitors that use this feature?
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Film_o_philiac — 9 years ago(February 10, 2017 05:13 PM)
Something is amiss mate - I don't buy that they're buddying up with Facebook for one minute
I don't buy that it is to do with the "trolls", there have been kids on here for years and it has never bothered them
The proof is in the pudding - the ceo has said himself:
concluded that IMDbs message boards are no longer providing a positive, useful experience for the vast majority of our more than 250 million monthly users worldwide
That sounds like a sales pitch to me - the usage of the word "positive" and "useful" is also interesting indeed.
Telling you, they don't want people calling foul on beep films (especially
their
beep films/shows). -
ImReallyANarc — 9 years ago(February 10, 2017 06:07 PM)
I don't buy that it is to do with the "trolls", there have been kids on here for years and it has never bothered them
Not to mention that, complaints about the lack of moderation aside, it's easy enough to just add somebody to the ignore list and report the really offensive stuff.
Yes, there are trolls and a-holes. And yes, there are people who learned how to exploit the reporting systems. But in all honesty, compared to Youtube and many other heavily-trafficked sites, the trolls really aren't too bad here. -
FriedEggMan — 9 years ago(February 13, 2017 01:43 PM)
The proof is in the pudding?
What does that mean? The proof of WHAT is in the pudding?
Dont you mean "The Proof of the pudding in is the eating"?
Puddings are not receptacles of proof.
It means you have to taste the pudding to know if it's any good.