IMDb editors, the line has been crossed this time.

Come on, this seems fun. Anybody with "the power" out there?

Editors, don't you sleep on this one. I have all the evidence you need, in case you weren't convinced enough with my submission I made... wait! Another thing to point out which I didn't in the main post.

I submitted the request on 22 Jan. It took them close to 4 days to decide and finally stamp it with "declined" and the ridiculous "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. If your submission was placed via the IMDb.com Desktop title or name page submission form, you now have an option to provide evidence with your additions, as well as corrections or deletions. Please go to your Contribution History, re-load the submission reference and tick the box “provide an explanation to assist in processing this submission” and “check these updates”. The field will become available in the submission form. For all other submissions, please see our Help Site for further information or details on how to contact us." stuff.

So please, come here, inspect the "evidence" and let's get done with this. Solve this and I will return to my self-imposed exile from this forum. Amidst all this rant, there's a concerned contributor worried about data accuracy on the site. Perhaps he's too concerned with it or "obsessed", the word you might like to use here. But he knows what he's doing. It's your turn to turn up now.

I really can't understand what you're up to but something IS wrong for sure. Let me tell you what I did, for example. I submitted, knowing what it'd possibly lead to but just to prove a point, a deletion request for the crime genre, and guess what, you approved it. Check #210123-155550-439000 for more. But well, you didn't apply that to the page. Same happened to another movie. I submitted twice and you accepted the removal twice but only to make a fool of me by not applying it to the site. Luckily enough I check the site after a submission is approved. 

I don't know what you guys are up to, but this HAS to be fixed. I can't just stand by and watch you sit idly as vandals ruin title pages. IMDb has always been important to me, but if you don't fix it, it will NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN. Another user suffered the same fate on this forum and called you guys out for supporting vandalism indirectly. I guess the user's words gave me strength to speak up, even if for one last time on this place I left out to depression one year ago.

For the last time, editors, please, PLEASE. You've got to approve my request. That's only how this should end. This is a concerned, worried contributor writing.

Update: I have been provided with another of those pretentious messages:

"Hi there,

Thanks for getting in touch about your genre submission.

It looks like our editors haven't quite made it to your request yet and will be reviewing it soon for you.

For a little background - updates submitted to IMDb aren't immediately available online but are first be checked and processed by members of the team to make sure they're formatted correctly and should be listed on IMDb.

We do this to make sure IMDb remains the world’s most accurate and authoritative source of Series, Movies and Video games!"

Wow. The loop has started. Another five days. Another declination yet to be slapped with. And irony died a thousand deaths at that "first be checked and processed" part. Why the hell are they taking so long to process these requests? We know they can't check each title like that. Other titles are having genre submissions processed quicker than this, maybe in a few 14-15 minutes, but they are, at least. 

I am not happy doing this. Editors, PLEASE. Stop testing my patience and misinforming people. You want all the world to visit your site but can't bother to check the accuracy of the data? There's evidence out there for you, but you just can't stop turning a blind eye to that, can you? This is the last time I am doing this. One this thread is completed, I'll be gone for good because coming here brings back some really painful memories. So please hurry up. Every day wasted is every day thousands and millions of people misinformed. 

And don't you forget Google draws data from IMDb, at least for genres. If for some reason it changes due to your stupid error, IMDb will never have a bit of the reliability for me, and let's face it, not for everybody. Lucky for you, not everyone is as obsessed as me, because truth be told, people don't really care about IMDb anymore. 

It's just that I can't simply watch. I promise this is the last time I am here on this forum. Kindly resolve this and I'll be pleased to go away and never come back. Waiting and still waiting. But I won't stop until you reinstate the genre. No more lies. No more vandalism. Not at least with new titles, I repeat.

The Processing Times page

https://contribute.imdb.com/times

currently states they have 549 genre submissions dating back to 23Jan to revue.

You said that genres for this title have been altered more than once.

I suspect that triggers the contribution being placed into the "for human eyes" bucket.

I'm not sure exactly what they do to verify genre (but I'm fairly sure they _don't_ watch the film), nor what sources they would consider credible for this data type. Perhaps that's the question you should ask: for a film from this country, what would be a credible source for verifying genre? Especially since Action is a Subjective genre in the guideline.

For God's sake editors, are we really doing this? Having so many sources is just akin to the general public knowing what genre Master is in. Nobody's talking about a Vijay film as a crime thriller. They know it is a masala action film. 

Don't believe me? Read what the viewers have said:

Thalapathy Vijay's 'Master' Reviews: Fans Call The Movie 'a Complete Action Entertainer'

One critic even pointed out:

"The action sequences, which have been a highlight in Lokesh's previous films, are kind of overlong here." 

You can't have overlong action sequences if it isn't an action movie. Hear out other critics:

- "The brilliant action sequences, where the stunt master works in tandem with the editor (Philomin Raj) almost makes you forget all that. The fights are rooted to reality, at the same time, brimming with innovation, with the pre-climax fight in particular, conceived and executed brilliantly." 

- "Vijay stars in the year's first masala action film. Be it Maanagaram or Kaithi, Lokesh pushed the bar when it came to action. He doesn’t disappoint with the action in Master, but he does slightly go overboard. Possibly because he felt it’s a star film and audiences won’t mind some degree of overindulgence? The pre-climax action stretch, featuring both Vijay and Andrea Jeremiah, is a bit of a downer, especially when you compare it with a similar chase sequence in Kaithi involving lorries."

- "You know you are in pure Vijay territory when the action hero sends a hip-flask sliding across a Metro station platform to prevent a train door from slamming shut and saving the bad guys from his ire. You aren't supposed to nitpick over little things out here. Go with the flow."

And oh, OH. The directorial statement has been found. That's it:

The acclaimed director Lokesh Kanagaraj spoke with the fans live on his social networking page yesterday. Speaking about the film, "The film has both Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi, so the action will be an highlight portion to watch out for. That's all I can say for now," says director Lokesh.

What more do you need when the director himself says it's an action film? Do we need it in writing now?

Wake up guys, please! What more evidence do you want now? 

Come on, editors. How long are you going to ignore this thread and the evidence it carries? Just because you approved something inaccurate doesn't mean it can't be fixed. Vandalism exists, and if someone doubts that, I am feeling rather strange to tell you all that some vandals had added "Family" genre to R-rated titles such as Machete, Predators, Untraceable, Halloween, Crossing Over etc. And that was because the editors approved them. Yes, and while they were quick to remove them later when I submitted the requests, they actually declined even that when I first submitted the request to take down family genre from these titles.

Same seems to have happened with Master. One needs not to prove the editors are right because they can be wrong, and it has been proven on multiple occasions. So defending them brings nothing. All I want them to do is reinstate (this word because action genre was listed previously here, it's not something that never was on the title) the genre. If they want to verify, they have all the references and sources here. A simple Google search too would resolve this. But the fact that they're trolling users like me with their time-wasting tactics is ridiculous. How the hell did they approve a vandal's troll edit but not a longtime user's correct edit?

So many questions, so little answers. Editors, this isn't a joke. You're yourself turning IMDb into an unreliable source daily and with each passing day I regret spending so much time fixing things here after verifying them across the whole internet. So take your time, not all of it.

Goddamn it, editors! You guys are out of your goddamn mind!

They declined once again, and listen to their stupid explanation:

"Your contribution has been declined. We did not capture a specific reason during processing." The hell's that supposed to mean? Are you trying to exact some sort of revenge? Not only this, all my recent submissions have been declined. Wow.

You should be ashamed of yourself. You guys, hiding behind computers, are a real disgrace. Well, you are shameless and so am I.

Take this.: 210128-183511-754000

I won't stop at any cost. Approve it, honorable, respected, esteemed, acknowledged geniuses. Use your damn brains and CHECK THIS THREAD. You guys are the kings of trolling and vandalism. You HAVE to approve this at any cost. I will keep doing this even if it results in my account getting terminated. You guys have no idea how much data accuracy matters to people like me. 

You have even entertained confused users like Harshad and approved his at-times incorrect submissions that carried no evidence whatsoever. While here I am, with all evidence for you. You are just not ready to see it. I thereby call for some "powerful" editor to come and resolve this or else I will tell everyone else to stop trusting IMDb. Learn something from Wikipedians, who use internet sources to develop a consensus and then list a genre. You have no idea of the folly you're committing by declining and delaying. Go on, have your stupid revenge on me.

For the last time, I am NOT stopping the addition requests. The more you delay, the more worthless you and your platform get. Face the facts and implement the right action. For God's sake that's enough of your tyranny. Or wait. If you can't list action, remove crime and thriller too. Make it fair and square. I mean... what the hell is wrong with you people? You found a nonexistent source calling this a crime film but found none of the millions of sources calling this an action thriller? This is beyond science.

And well, to conclude the last post, I am still NOT sorry for sounding rude. You've earned it rightfully. I have seen what being kind to you people does. Adding the genre started as a request but your arrogance and ignorance is the reason it's no longer a request. You know the right word. And I don't want to see any user supporting the editors. I might have given up genre addition requests for titles that were out of my control, but I'm telling you all this, that if editors don't approve this request, they're betraying all of us and wasting our precious times. Do NOT trust them or encourage their bullying. 

I wish I could just delete my account and go to sleep, but that's too difficult for someone like me who has been here for more than 7 years taking care of the data regulated here. Huh, IMDb editors are like judges who're willing to declare the judgement without even looking at the evidence. And yet, I have to beg them to look at it. Editors, this time it's not done. Especially this time. I promise you if you solve this, I will NEVER come back here. Good for all of us, even if in a negative way. But just LOOK at the thread, you're making me cry. 

The fact that you're ignoring the evidence is worse than not approving my request. It's a matter of trust and reliability, and no longer just your rules and regulations anymore. Don't close this thread, or by doing so you'll show everyone your true colors. I am already seeing them, and I am losing more and more faith in what I believed was the best movie site on Earth. Well, that was something. Now it's your turn.

Some more evidence for you, from classification boards across all the world:

- "Master is an action film from India about a professor, JD, who is sent to teach at a juvenile reform school for three months. He clashes with an unscrupulous man, Bhavani, who controls the school’s young inmates to cover up his own criminal activities. The film is in the Tamil language, with English subtitles. The film contains highly stylised fight sequences using a variety of weapons including guns, knives and a high-tech bow-and-arrow. There is some blood and injury detail depicted." - Australia

- "MASTER is a Tamil language action drama in which a popular teacher is sent to look after the inmates of a young offenders institution. Several scenes of violence include those in which people are repeatedly stabbed, with blood in the aftermath of violence. Improvised weapons are also used, and these include a metal bracelet deployed as a knuckleduster. The bracelet is also used to repeatedly smash a man's knuckles, with accompanying wound detail. There are also several fight scenes, which include repeated heavy and targeted blows. Many of these scenes are accompanied by threat." - UK

Another reference:

"Tamil action thriller 'Master', starring Thalapathy Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi, will have its digital premiere on Amazon Prime Video on January 29, the streamer announced on Wednesday.

"I am certain that the interesting duel between John and Bhavani will take the audiences on a roller-coaster ride of action, and drama," the actor said in a statement."

Hey - thanks for getting in touch. I've checked out the title in question and in my opinion I agree that it's an action movie and not a crime movie primarily. I've added the action genre and removed the crime genre.

I will say - genres are subjective. While I agree with you and have updated the title in this case, I can absolutely see why somebody would say this is a crime movie as the plot of the movie revolves around the stopping a criminal from doing crimes.

For my two cents I think a crime movie should have criminals as the protagonists and for the entire plot to centre on crime - something like The Bling Ring.

Now lets talk about processing times. Genres should be processed the next working day after submission but sometimes volumes and staffing levels mean they can go unprocessed for longer. We don't want this to happen but it's an unfortunate side effect of using people to review data.

If you contact us through the contact form and your submission is still pending we are always going to ask you to wait until it's been reviewed - that's just our procedure. I'm sorry if that annoyed you, but there's not much point in discussing a hypothetical via email when another team could process and accept a change ten minutes later.