How does the Plot Keywords section get filled?

@nick_burfle​ 

It's filled by individual contributors like you and me.  Many of them seem to list every object shown or mentioned, rather than just what is significant.  

I agree wholeheartedly. One of my pet peeves is when IMDb contributors severely overuse and even abuse the "character-says-" and "reference-to-" keywords, plus adding excessive keywords describing what each character is wearing in the title and all the physical objects shown on the screen, whether or not they are important to the plot. This is keyword spamming, and it disrespects our fellow users who actually use the keywords for both research and entertainment.

My solution is to delete (and sometimes correct) these irrelevant keywords. I probably spend just as much time deleting keywords as I do adding them. I consider this a public service to the community, sort of like cleaning up litter or removing graffiti tags in the real world.

I used to care, but since keywords show on the title page and may contain spoilers -- and IMDb for some reason refuses to move them to a separate page -- I've just about stopped voting for what is and isn't "significant". 

IMDb lists the top five keywords for each title on the main page for that title. That is exactly why you should keep voting keywords as relevant or irrelevant for particular titles -- to make sure that the top five keywords are in fact relevant.

And it's difficult to outvote the folks who consider 37 ways of saying people are nude to be more important than the plot or themes or major events.

Occasionally I have seen other users hijack the top keyword spots by upvoting their own spam/fetishistic keywords, but in those situations the best remedy is to simply delete those keywords. I have done a lot of those deletions as well, and the bad keywords rarely come back, and if they do, this forum can be used to ask IMDb staff to step in.

I do totally agree with you that all the "nudity" keywords are excessive and a waste of everyone's time. When contributors use keywords to describe every single body part exposed in a title, it just gets ridiculous.

@nick_burfle​ thank you, that is good to know! The overtagging of minor/insignificant things actually turns out to be helpful for me, since it helps me find anything and everything even remotely related to the subject I'm interested in :p The thing I find myself stuck against is keywords that are not explicitly confirmed by the work itself, so then I have to wonder is this confirmed by the makers of the title and should I go find a reference for that, or is this just a random person's interpretation?

@HanTheGene​ Keywords are never "confirmed" by the filmmakers. Keywords are entirely the work of IMDb contributors (users), with occasional intervention by IMDb staff.

@Michelle​ 

We'll try.  But I also once again encourage you, the staff, to move the keywords off the title page (while retaining a link), to stop the ever-recurring incidence of spoilers ruining our day!  The most relevant items are likely to be spoilers, and it makes me nauseous to upvote trivia just to hide those.

@nick_burfle​ 

The most relevant items are likely to be spoilers, and it makes me nauseous to upvote trivia just to hide those.

Why not just upvote relevant, non-trivial keywords that are not spoilers? That's what I do!

In my experience, I would estimate that only a small percentage of relevant keywords are spoilers.

Curiously, I have observed the work of one or more keyword trolls who specifically upvote spoiler keywords (and only spoiler keywords) for the specific purpose of spoiling the plot. What a weird person(s) who takes the time to do this. 

@keyword_expert​ 

Good advice, as far as it goes.  I do try to upvote non-trivial non-spoilers --- when they exist, which they often don't.

But that doesn't solve the main problem, that when I'm deciding what to watch, the big reveal and/or the ending are more often than I would have thought listed in the top 5, spoiling it for me.  It's more common with short films, but happens in longer ones, too.

Occasionally someone suggests the impractical-to-nonhuman advice of 'don't look there.'  Our brains and vision don't work that way; that's one important reason that spoilers have been eliminated everywhere else on the title page.  I suspect keywords are kept on the page solely due to someone's pride of authorship.  Someday, we shall overcome.  Maybe.

@nick_burfle​ Have you considered changing your settings to display all titles via "reference view" by default? That's what I do.

When you view titles via reference view, the keywords are way, way, way down at the bottom of the page. 

Example: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11466222/reference

(And btw, once again, this title has those stupid variations of "nudity" and "bare-chested-male" keywords on this title. What is up with people who obsessively add these stupid keywords? At least they aren't spoilers!)

@nick_burfle​ p.s. Personally I am fine with (five) keywords remaining on the main page for each title. But the weird thing is that in reference view, the five keywords displayed on a title's main page are not necessarily the top five most upvoted keywords. I think this is a glitch in the programming of the website that has never been fixed.

@keyword_expert​ 

Well, your suggestion got my hopes up.  But it doesn't work, for me; the keywords are right with the stuff I want to see: the plot summary, genres, certifications & parents guide.  I suppose I could click on each on individually using the menu on the right hand side. Ugh.

It doesn't bother you, I hear you.  But I can't believe I'm the only one it does bother.  To me, it's a problem; the solution is trivial both conceptually and in practice (and as a former engineer an unfriendly user interface offends me); and the cost to others would be essentially zero: anyone who wants to see more than 5 keywords is already clicking -- once, while folks doing research, like HanTheGene are using the search function.  Oh well, I'll hunt for another windmill.

I share your peeve with the titillators.  If you need something else to get your ire up, check out a bunch of parents guides.  I've seen cases where using a specific vulgarity is in the spoilers section, but the main section includes entries that start "In the end, ..."  ROFLMAO.