Please, Jeff Bezos! Please don't let me be exposed to ideas contrary to SJW dogma. If you don't create a safe space for me on the Internet Movie Database, IMDb, this precious snowflake will melt away.
Well, apparently that type of person will no longer have to worry. Amazon has announced today, February 3, that the IMDb message boards, as close to a web tradition and institution as you can get, will be shut down. Apparently people are unable to simply ignore trolling or posts which with they disagree according to the shutdown rationale. Here is the announcement that Mr. Bezos has folded to a small percentage of whiners by shutting down what many consider to be the most interesting message board on the Web.
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IMDb is the world’s most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. As part of our ongoing effort to continually evaluate and enhance the customer experience on IMDb, we have decided to disable IMDb’s message boards on February 20, 2017. This includes the Private Message system. 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. The decision to retire a long-standing feature was made only after careful consideration and was based on data and traffic.
Yeah, enhance the IMDb customer experience by shutting down what is probably its most popular feature. For many people, their first encounter with a internet message board was often the IMDb message boards which have been around for over twenty years. Please continue explaining why you are joining organizations such as NPR and many liberal periodicals in shutting down readers' comments:
Increasingly, IMDb customers have migrated to IMDb’s social media accounts as the primary place they choose to post comments and communicate with IMDb’s editors and one another. IMDb’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/imdb) and official Twitter account (https://twitter.com/imdb) have an audience of more than 10 million engaged fans. IMDb also maintains official accounts on Snapchat (https://www.snapchat.com/add/imdblive), Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/imdbofficial/), YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/imdb), and Tumblr (http://imdb.tumblr.com/).
Because IMDb’s message boards continue to be utilized by a small but passionate community of IMDb users, we announced our decision to disable our message boards on February 3, 2017 but will leave them open for two additional weeks so that users will have ample time to archive any message board content they’d like to keep for personal use. During this two-week transition period, which concludes on February 19, 2017, IMDb message board users can exchange contact information with any other board users they would like to remain in communication with (since once we shut down the IMDb message boards, users will no longer be able to send personal messages to one another). We regret any disappointment or frustration IMDb message board users may experience as a result of this decision.
IMDb is passionately committed to providing innovative ways for our hundreds of millions of users to engage and communicate with one another. We will continue to enhance our current offerings and launch new features in 2017 and beyond that will help our customers communicate and express themselves in meaningful ways while leveraging emerging technologies and opportunities.
This move is already shaping up to be a PR disaster for Jeff Bezos whose Amazon.Com owns IMDb. A check of the messages at IMDb reveals that the people are not happy about this. A few sample comments:
The message boards are the only reason i regularly use IMDb. I use them to read about theories and interpretations about movies, as this is probably the easiest way to find them on the internet. I know that the boards, especially TV show boards, are overridden with trolls and such, but that can be fixed. Other sites don't delete the messaging, why should IMDb? This is stupid.
I'm losing my favorite way to discuss movies!!!!
This is a unique service. Social media is no substitute. I come here on a daily basis, I might come here once in a blue moon after this. Please reconsider.
Crap idea. Why do you think people come here?
I truly think this is the worst idea you've people have come up with. The IMDb message boards is probably the main reason why the site is so probably in the first place. Shutting down the boards will only decrease it's popularity.
I can imagine pageview/ad revenue falling dramatically. What kind of business sense does that make?
So, the solution to all the spammers and trolls is to nuke the community? Seems a tad extreme.
By taking away the boards, you'd be taking away my incentive to visit IMDb. This is terrible!
Goodbye I guess then. When the boards are gone, so am I. I can look up info and trivia about shows and movies on multiple sites. This was the only one I could come to and be able to talk and read about discussions for all my favorite shows and movies easily and all on one site. When I can't do that anymore, I have no more use for your site. So goodbye.
Seriously, how is social media supposed to be a substitute for the platform of discussion that takes place in these message boards? I'm incredulous at the suggestion that the boards are not heavily used; I frequent many different boards that are regularly engaged in user traffic and discussion. One of them is for a show that hasn't produced a new episode since about 2004, but is still visited by fans on a daily basis, who are steeped in conversation about their favorite content.
Don't do this!! Huge mistake! The message boards are such a big part of why people visit this site. I've been using them for over 14 years and I always check out the boards after watching a movie - especially an older movie. If trolls / spammers are the problem, you can higher mods to filter those out and a lot of times you can find volunteer mods. Don't get rid of the message boards!
Of all the stories your humble correspondent has written over the years in which readers' comments are quoted, there has never been a case where a contrary opinion on a subject has never been expressed...until now. The messages from the readers are unanimous: getting rid of the IMDb message boards is an incredibly stupid idea.
