A Few Thoughts on the Demise of the IMDb Message Boards

Written by Scott Edwards

‘The Internet is a communication tool used the world over where people come together to bitch about movies and share pornography with one another.’
– Holden McNeil - Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

When seeing that IMDb was shutting down its Message Boards on my news feed last night, this quote was the first thing that came to my head and I feel like it has never been more true. Bitching about movies has become common place around the internet, but what is the main reason for this? The only thing that I can really blame it on is the Internet Trolls out there that are looking for a fight. I have been on several boards where the conversation is going great about a possible plot hole or what could have made the movie better when someone joins in and says that everyone is stupid for even talking about this movie. This is a troll and it has become common place on these boards and takes away from a good conversation that could have gone somewhere fantastic.

Although IMDb is not citing this as the reason, there is really no other reason that makes sense for this to happen. Not wanting to have to police all of the threads on the site is understandable, however the site loses what made it great to start with, actual interaction with the fan base that was for the most part very welcomed. Even though I never really got into posting on the message boards, I did love to see what other people thought about the movie I just watched and sometimes it even helped me to see something that I might have missed. Losing this is going to be like losing one of my best friends and while I can respect the decision to close it down, it does not mean that I have to like it. Here's what IMDB had to say about the shut down:

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.

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 and official Twitter account have an audience of more than 10 million engaged fans. IMDb also maintains official accounts on Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube, and Tumblr.

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.

So what they are trying to say, is that the message boards are no longer enjoyable or that they are tired of all of the complaints that the Trolls have caused over the past couple of years. I check message boards all the time on some of my favorite movies and they have new posts from a few months ago to a few weeks ago, so the traffic is there. I don’t want to put words in their mouth about why this change is being made, but the other methods that they say to go to and chat about movies are really out of the way and do not send traffic to the website, and it's wishful thinking on my part to believe that these alternate destinations are going to be a great place to discuss movies in detail. 

All and all, this is an ever changing world and everyone needs to be able to accept the changes that are coming down the line, while the little Trolls start to get their way. It is a sad commentary on today’s world that the only way someone can get attention is by starting fights on the internet, I truly do pity them. The internet should be a fun place to visit, get your news, read reviews, watch movies or videos and share them with your friends, yet that seems to be going on the wayside as of late. People give into these Trolls and acknowledge them and egg them on, giving them a reason to exist. It is a sad day when the largest movie database has to bend to the will of people that have nothing better to do than to start fights, and it is a sad day for all of the users who are probably going to pop over to Rotten Tomatoes where their voices can still be heard.