271 Messages
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5.3K Points
How many years do you have to contribute for IMDb to trust you?
I have 23, yes TWENTY-THREE consecutive years as a Top Contributor under my belt, but STILL I am receiving the nonsense rejection messages about once a month.
This is the latest one: #260209-221902-676000 It says "Reason Unable to verify.
Your contribution has been declined. We have been unable to verify your contribution. Unfortunately, we were unable to accept your submission as we were unable to verify the information provided."
Yet again, this is for the death of somebody. You may remember my previous posts when I have included such revered sources as the BBC and The Times and still received that stupid message back from IMDb. Admittedly the sources I gave this time were not quite as world-famous as those, but I did give three of them! Maybe when I reach my quarter of a century as a Top Contributor, you will finally start trusting me.
Accepted Solution
Michelle
Employee
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18.3K Messages
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322.3K Points
1 month ago
Hi Vande -
Twenty-three years of contributing is truly an incredible achievement. We sincerely appreciate your long-standing dedication and the care you consistently put into your submissions. Your efforts have played a meaningful role in shaping what IMDb has become today.
After reviewing your recent submission, I can see the primary issue is related to the date of death. Unfortunately, we were unable to independently verify the specific date through our standard verification process, and the news source provided did not confirm the exact date. Because maintaining accurate and fully verifiable information is essential to our editorial standards, we were unable to approve the entry as submitted.
To clarify, the supporting source you included is valid and credible. However, since the exact date could not be confirmed, we would recommend either including an additional source that verifies the specific date or, if the exact day is unknown, submitting the month, year, place, and cause instead.
If you’re able to provide a source confirming the specific date, I would be more than happy to review the submission again. In the meantime, the death month/year/cause has been approved and is now live on the site.
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ACT_1
8.9K Messages
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180.2K Points
1 month ago
@Vande
vande
Joined May 1999
https://www.imdb.com/user/ur0335397/
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Michelle, Employee
Thursday, February 5th, 2026
Top Contributor Leaderboard - January 2026
https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/data-issues-policy-discussions/top-contributor-leaderboard-january-2026/698574cc41cbbf299d56ab50
https://www.imdb.com/contribute/leaderboard/2026/1/
Rank 77 - vande with 6667 approved items. Rank has increased.
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bradley_kent
1.7K Messages
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28.8K Points
1 month ago
So far as I know, a "standard verification process” has never been fully explained with details that a contributor could follow to verify submissions. It remains a tightly held secret that only the staff apparently knows, and is apparently often very subjective and personal.
Respect for longtime, prolific contributors seems often nonexistent. There are contributors who, in their areas of expertise, probably know much more than the staff will ever know.
If IMDb’s ”editorial standards” depend on "accurate and fully verifiable information,” perhaps IMDb should place more trust in longtime contributors who have already proven themselves by generously donating their time and energy and knowledge to help make IMDb more accurate than it already is.
P.S. If I make a mistake (and, as a human, I do), I admit it and work to correct it.
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