Unfortunately, that's not how it works. If the film is in production then it shouldn't have release date, though: that could be deleted and so will disappear all the reviews, until the actual release.
"It will be released", but there are already 9 external reviews... (leaving aside the 80 user reviews). So where does your film exactly stand in terms of production?
The official website also show external reviews, so I am afraid you cannot claim that the film is unreleased (believing of course that these external reviews are genuine and not part of a marketing plan...)
The film is finished. It’s in festivals at the moment. I’m getting a lot of fake negative reviews from one user (platypuschow). The film had 17 organic user reviews until he came along and began destroying it because he believed the 17 good reviews were “fake”. Who spends their time making fake reviews about their own film?! Ridiculous. It’s absurd that people can create as many accounts as they want and review the same title dozens of times negatively. Unfair.
Ricky: I could be wrong, but I think that Vincent is recommending that IMDb remove the user reviews and parents guide sections from the entire web site, as opposed to removing them just for one film, which is not possible for you to do. (There isn't even a parents guide section for your film yet, anyway.)
Ricky: I agree that it is a problem if one person is creating multiple accounts to submit negative ratings and user reviews for your film. However, you will need to be able to prove that before you can expect the IMDb staff to take any action.
In any event, though, your film The Fear Footage screened at the Edmonton Festival of Fear in October and the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival in November, and it is screening at Another Hole in the Head Film Festival in San Francisco tonight. In fact, it won an award at the Edmonton festival. So the film is definitely not going to be removed from the database.
That’s fine. But how can I stop reviews from coming in? Is that possible? This is destroying the film’s future sales and it’s not even publicly available yet. This is a real issue!
Ricky: Are you going to be present at the screening in San Francisco tonight? If so, you should encourage the viewers to submit ratings and reviews to IMDb. At least that will help balance out the reviews.
let us also face it: you are are talking about 7 negative reviews posted in December, against an over all of 80 reviews, a lot of them praising the movie, and with a big break between July and the already mentioned ones in December.
There may be a multiple account issue, but at this stage, I do not call that: "destroying the film". If I were you, I would more worried on the rating (5/10 from 141 voters), because that is the first thing people see when looking at a name page. Far less people bother to dive into reviews.
These negative reviews have all come in the last 2 weeks. All 70+ of them. If this was your film, you would be infuriated. I don’t deserve to be sabotaged like this. I wish all reviews could be removed, good and bad. The film began with 17 positive reviews from the first screening. How were 124 reviews added in two weeks without the film playing anywhere? Is that not a red flag?! A lot of them are positive also because I’ve had to reach out to everyone I know asking them to combat his overwhelming negative reviews.
OK, sorry, I had not the reviews sorted by date :( Anyway, what you did for tonight screening, as advised also by Gromit, is the best way to fight for your film.
Now let us also see what IMDb staff will have to say about your claim.
Yea, I want my film taken down. If IMDb doesn’t monitor their submissions enough to notice that 99% of the bad reviews rolling in to a film that isn’t widely available are from brand new accounts with no activity other than a negative review on this film, then they should’nt be in their positions. Red flags should’ve went off immediately! It’s absurd.
I've merged your threads together now - please ensure you keep all issues concise and in one thread, this will ensure we're able to help out the best we can without causing additional confusion.
Our aim is to be the most complete and reliable source of movie, TV, and entertainment information on the web. In order to continue offering our users an accurate and trustworthy service, it is our policy not to alter or delete any kind of correct/factual information from our records.
With this in mind, as your title has had a release (at festivals), we cannot remove this from the database or revert it's production status to anything prior to 'Released' - we're also unable to remove all reviews, positive or negative. However, if you identify any reviews you believe to be ineligible, you can report these via the Report this button listed on each review. Our editors will investigate these requests and remove the reviews if necessary.
Also, please be aware IMDb publishes weighted vote averages rather than raw data averages. Various filters are applied to the raw data in order to eliminate and reduce attempts at vote stuffing by people more interested in changing the current rating of a movie than giving their true opinion of it.
The exact methods we use will not be disclosed. This should ensure that the policy remains effective. The result is a more accurate vote average.
Joel, i want my title removed. I wrote/directed/ and edited the film and I want it removed. I trusted IMDb’s review process far too much. I was unaware that anybody could just create a new account at the drop of a hat and send a negative onslaught to my film. It’s completey unprofessional! Every negative review on my film is from brand new accounts with no activity other than the negative review on my film, over 80 in the last two weeks!!! is that not a red flag?!?
It’s absurd that they conduct themselves like this. They should be more worried about the integrity of the films on their site rather than getting new accounts.
There are nine ”professional” reviews now included, based on the festival screening (I assume). The user average is now 5/10 and there seems to be many 10/10 reviews (well, at least now).
I don’t personally see any real ”negative onslaught”. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of great films (in my opinion) that have a 5-6/10 average on IMDb. User reviews should always be taken with a grain of salt anyway.
Update: reviews sorted by review ratings descending, 25 reviews on the first page (out of 104), all rated 10. Out of these 25, only one repeat one has already posted reviews, i.e. 24 repeat 24 are from first time contibutors.
You’re 100% right. I reached it to everyone I know asking them to review the film so I could combat this negative onlslaughy from a guy that hasn’t even seen the film. That’s why mojority of those 10/10 reviews are brand new accounts. I had no other choice but fight fire with fire or the film would be at 1/10 by now. I can’t just sit by and allow multiple brand new accounts to destroy my film and not fight back.
Nobody who has complained that negative reviews (on IMDb) hurt the financial success of their movies has ever proved that the reviews impacted the success. I have my doubts that we make judgments about the review system on account of these complaining studios.
For big hollywood films, no, for small independent films, it absolutely hurts! If a film draws your interest from a premise or trailer, what is the first thing you do? Goto rotten tomatoes or IMDb. Now if that rating on there is great you may become even more interested. But If that rating on there is terrible, you’ll most likely forget about it or put it on the back burner.
1/10 The Fear Footage: Cookie cutter movie I wasn't going to see this for a host of reasons but decided to give it a go if only to be proven right. An independent found footage movie from first time writer/director Ricky Umberger Fear Footage tells the story of a missing police officer through his body camera. The film is an anthology and oddly short at just under the 70 minute mark..... https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4503514/
Yea, he claims to have just watched it at a film festival in San Francisco last night, yet he’s in the UK. Impossible. IMDb should be smart enough to catch that. He’s responsible for all of the negative reviews on my film, he lives and breathes IMDb and wishes to be a filmmaker, so he despises anybody that actually is a filmmaker.
"Location information is based on the locale the user provided when they registered with the site, not when they voted. An example: if a Swiss national registers with IMDb and enters their location as Switzerland, then visits the United States and sees a movie at a festival while in the US and then votes for it, the vote will be recorded as coming from a non-US user." I think that covers that point, also this is coming across as a bit of a personal attack now and that makes you look bad. If you want people to empathise with you maybe don't attack others.
Also I note your movie has 5 reviews from the same account, IMDB how is that possible I thought the system prevented that? And they are all 10/10's may I add.
This is no personal attack. The guy isn’t in the US, he’s just pretending that he saw the film so that he can review it badly. I know what he looks like and who he is, he wasn’t at last night’s screening. What makes more sense- a troll attacks indie films and destroys their ratings for pure enjoyment, or, a filmmaker attacks a troll for no reason at all?! Two weeks ago, my film was fine with its 17 reviews. Within the last two weeks it’s gotten over 160 reviews with 80% of them being 1/10 ratings from brand new accounts? No extra promo, screenings or anything. That doesn’t seem fishy?! And yes, there are a lot of brand new accounts that rated the film positively, but that was from me reaching out to dozens of people asking for their help to combat the nagativity.
The person in question isn't here to defend himself though is he? Speaking of the person you say you'd recognise them but didn't you say above that you weren't going to be at the screening?
Anyway the 10/10 reviews look as fishy as the 1/10 Ricky, it could be argued either way. My advice to you is to do what you're doing, and wait for things to settle down. If it's one person he'll likely get bored, if it stays consistent then maybe that's just what folks think of your movie. This is IMDB, the rating and reviews on here will not alone define your movie :)
I wasn’t at the screening, but I had a podcast present the film for me. I know of every ticket sold.
Easy to say “don’t get upset over it, it’s just a movie” when it wasn’t you who spent a year of your life creating it, and another 6 months getting it into film festivals. For what? To see it get sabotaged by a guy with endless time on his hands?
I agree the 10/10 reviews do look just as fishy, but you must’ve missed the part where I explained how I reached out to about 70 people, asking them to review the film positively to combat the overwhelming negative reviews from a person that hasn’t even seen the film. Im ok with negative reviews, I’ve gotten a few from websites, but I’m not ok with a blatant sabotage.
So pardon me but here is what I'm taking away from that.
Your movie had flawless reviews? Then suddenly you started getting negative reviews? You for some reason believe it to all be coming from one single person? And to counter that you went to 70 people to give fake ratings and reviews for you?
Right, you must understand how this looks?
Again, just keep doing what you're doing. Don't go doing anything rash like trying to have your movie taken down as it clearly means a lot to you. This is just a storm you need to weather, keep your chin up and don't let negativity cloud your own judgement.
Listen to this and tell me it doesn’t sound strange...
My film has been on IMDB since around June. From June until two weeks ago, it only received 17 reviews. That’s 6 months with only 17 reviews, i want to mention that it played at 7 film festivals in that time.
Two weeks ago a guy leaves comments under the trailer on YouTube saying how these positive reviews of the film on IMDb and websites must be fake. He had no proof at all, and it’s completely false, but this was his claim. He mentioned how he will “even the reviews out” on IMDb because people shouldn’t try to “fix the game”. By the way, he promptly deleted all of these comments.
Beginning the next morning until today, the film has received over 85- 1/10 ratings. In the last two weeks it’s only played at one festival. So only 17 reviews in the first 6 months while playing in 7 film festivals. 85 negative reviews in the past two weeks while only playing at 1 film festival (which was just last night). Majority of these reviews before last night were claiming to have “just seen the film at a festival”, which was impossible because it didn’t play anywhere on those days. Until last night, it hasn’t played anywhere since November 8th. These reviews are clearly fake and sabotaging.
Strange?
What was I supposed to do? Let this guy destroy the film’s rating and not fight back? Just let this occur? The film would be at 1/10 by now had I not reached out to everyone I know to help. I hated having to do that, but it was either that or allow the film’s rating to diminish to 1 or 2. I’ve worked too hard for that.
By the way, the film didn’t have flawless ratings. It was at 7.8 with those 17 reviews.
I never said it wasn't strange but the 10/10 reviews from the same accounts are pretty strange as well as well as the duplicates and similar wording. Like I said before if its one person he'll get bored but at this stage you still haven't provided anything concrete that it is. Stop getting so upset about things that are out of your control, take a breath, put on a happy smile and just carry on promoting your movie. If this were a troll then stressing you out like this would be a victory for them. Just move on, stay positive.
I’m going to stay positive, i just look at IMDb completely different now. I thought it was a legit movie reviewing site, I see now it’s nothing more than a different type of social media. A place for trolls to lurk, seeing which indie film they can sabotage next.
I just want to state that I disagree with Vincent's position on barring reviews on IMDb. The site would be dead to me in that case, and years of work rendered a complete waste of time (as opposed to the minor waste of time it may be now).
Just thought I should state my opinion since I see that complaints in the past related to closing the message boards and lowering the standards of reviews seem to have gone largely unopposed here until after they were implemented--by which time it was too late.
Fair enough and no problem. And I do not pretend to advocate, support or lobby anything, just my own 2 cents.
My main point is that I rely on IMDb for factual, and rather objective data. But reviews (and the Parent guide, but this is another story) are not, by essence. And obviously they are a source of endless disputes, as witnessed by this topic (among other issues like their numbers, or the occasinoal disappearances). Anyway, I will keep away from these topics :)
Except some reviews (and content advisories) are factual and objective. Conversely, sometimes information about cast, crew, plot, running time, sound mix etc. is inaccurate (but at least they [apart from plot] have no chance of being opinionated).
I see that complaints in the past related to closing the message boards and lowering the standards of reviews seem to have gone largely unopposed here until after they were implemented--by which time it was too late.
IMDbmember: I see the situation differently. When the impending closing of the message boards was announced here (about 2 weeks in advance of implementation), there were hundreds of responses in opposition to that. But nonetheless, IMDb went ahead with their decision and deleted the message boards.
On the other hand, when IMDb lowered the standards of reviews (to allow reviews as short as 50 characters), I don't think that they publicly announced that in advance. That decision has received some opposition on this board, but unfortunately we have not gotten enough support to get the staff to change their mind about allowing 50-character reviews. It's never too late to change that decision, as IMDb could simply decide to impose a longer minimum length for all future reviews, which I hope they will consider doing.
I often look at Trivia and Gooofs before I watch old TV show episodes and after I read Reviews - by the Prolifics - to find Reviewers I read often They can explain some to the confusing parts to me and list character names so I can find the actor's page
To gromit82, I didn't mean opposition after the announcement, but before where in posts here some people complained about the message boards and review length limits. I wasn't active here then, but I've seen some of those older posts without opposing views given. In other words, I assume it more difficult to persuade IMDb to reverse course than to argue against a certain course before it's taken. Hence why I felt I should offer an opposing view here.
To Vincent Fournols, I agree that IMDb is a useful source for factual information and that that isn't mainly the function of the reviews. Personally, however, that's not the main appeal of the website for me. I could get the info elsewhere and often do when it comes to more specialized film concerns. I visit IMDb so frequently for the personal user experience (the ratings, reviews, lists) and, formerly, the community experience, which of course has diminished greatly without the message boards or private messaging. Different strokes, I suppose.
And I suppose that's probably more than enough said by me off the topic of the OP.
MykolaYeriomin
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Unfortunately, that's not how it works. If the film is in production then it shouldn't have release date, though: that could be deleted and so will disappear all the reviews, until the actual release.
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ricky_9lgxwbh8bjdyn
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Vincent_Fournols
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But the main question is whether your film is to be considered as released or in production. And we could help you better if you shared its URL...
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ricky_9lgxwbh8bjdyn
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ricky_9lgxwbh8bjdyn
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Vincent_Fournols
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So where does your film exactly stand in terms of production?
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Vincent_Fournols
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It does not help your case here by doing so.
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ricky_9lgxwbh8bjdyn
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gromit82
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In any event, though, your film The Fear Footage screened at the Edmonton Festival of Fear in October and the Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival in November, and it is screening at Another Hole in the Head Film Festival in San Francisco tonight. In fact, it won an award at the Edmonton festival. So the film is definitely not going to be removed from the database.
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ricky_9lgxwbh8bjdyn
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ricky_9lgxwbh8bjdyn
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Help!!!
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Joel
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4 years ago
Thanks for your post.
I've merged your threads together now - please ensure you keep all issues concise and in one thread, this will ensure we're able to help out the best we can without causing additional confusion.
Our aim is to be the most complete and reliable source of movie, TV, and entertainment information on the web. In order to continue offering our users an accurate and trustworthy service, it is our policy not to alter or delete any kind of correct/factual information from our records.
With this in mind, as your title has had a release (at festivals), we cannot remove this from the database or revert it's production status to anything prior to 'Released' - we're also unable to remove all reviews, positive or negative. However, if you identify any reviews you believe to be ineligible, you can report these via the Report this button listed on each review. Our editors will investigate these requests and remove the reviews if necessary.
Also, please be aware IMDb publishes weighted vote averages rather than raw data averages. Various filters are applied to the raw data in order to eliminate and reduce attempts at vote stuffing by people more interested in changing the current rating of a movie than giving their true opinion of it.
The exact methods we use will not be disclosed. This should ensure that the policy remains effective. The result is a more accurate vote average.
I hope this helps.
Joel
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ricky_9lgxwbh8bjdyn
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eboy
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I don’t personally see any real ”negative onslaught”. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of great films (in my opinion) that have a 5-6/10 average on IMDb. User reviews should always be taken with a grain of salt anyway.
23
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Just thought I should state my opinion since I see that complaints in the past related to closing the message boards and lowering the standards of reviews seem to have gone largely unopposed here until after they were implemented--by which time it was too late.
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