IMDb is scrapping message boards after determining that online discussion on the site caused more grief than good.
IMDb founder and CEO Col Needham released a statement Monday revealing message boards on the popular film website were to be shut down due to the user experience suffering because of them.
“After in-depth discussion and examination, we have concluded that IMDb’s message boards are no longer providing a positive, useful experience for the vast majority of our more than 250 million monthly users worldwide.”
All threads over the past 16 years were erased.
Shutting down the entire message boards might seem drastic, but when trolls overtake what’s supposed to be a forum for discussion, they dilute it past the point of no return. Without providing more moderation, there was no way IMDb could safely ensure the message boards weren’t a harmful environment.
For movie connoisseurs actively engaged in IMDb’s message boards, it’s a tough blow. Developing a sense of community and having it erased might be difficult to understand. Users launched a petition to bring the forms back, which has received 11,000 signatures. Unfortunately, the actions of trolls forced IMDb to shut down threads and move on. It wasn’t worth the headache.
IMDb is a valued website for the film community. The message boards catered to a small percentage of users, so shutting them down shouldn’t impact the site as a whole. Deciding to end engagement within the boards might have been a tough call, but it was probably the right one.
“there was no way IMDb could safely ensure the message boards weren’t a harmful environment.” So to protect the snowflakes, the solution is to toss the baby out with the bathwater? This was a colossally ignorant thing to do.
Please do not accept the narrative that trolls brought down IMDB. The place has always had trolls; most message boards do; and indeed most of the internet does.
Amazon made this decision due to pressure from the film industry. In-depth criticisms and negative feedback on their products are now no longer pinned to the IMDB page of that product via the message board section; instead that criticism is relegated to to the flighty and temporary nature of social media reaction threads, lost to anyone coming to the film after the initial 24 hours. This is a major win for the film industry and a major loss for film aficionados. The trolls were only an excuse.
If true, the film industry has wasted their time. Their products suck, and nothing short of good products will get people back in the theaters. In the end, the product is what matters. Someday they will learn that.
This makes utterly no sense whatsoever.
Every Internet forum that ever existed had trolls. They had trolls, spammers, liars, and just plain people who don’t have much of a life. Most forums and websites deal with it by having moderators, report buttons, bans, and etc. They don’t shut down the entire forum section.
This is a real shame. Most movie message boards were pretty awful, but a few were also really good. If nothing else, there is no longer any viable method for discussion on there. Overall, this is a net loss for IMDB.