T

32 Messages

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270 Points

Saturday, August 27th, 2022 8:04 PM

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Minimum Number of Characters to Write a Review

I thought the minimum number of characters to write a review was 150. I'm getting an error message, "Sorry, your review is too short. It needs to contain at least 600 characters." What happened to being succinct, precise/concise, to the point, not wordy?

This conversation has been merged. Please refer the main conversation:

Remove Required characters from Review

48 Messages

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866 Points

2 years ago

It's a great idea. We'll get some far better reviews out of this. What's the point of 150 chacters? 

68 Messages

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598 Points

@laduqesa​ It can't be serious, you have no capacity to write more than 100 characters here.

48 Messages

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866 Points

@rlwieneke​ You clearly prefer the sort of review that says "Great film and acting. Loved the music". i'm ecstatic that this sort of guff can no longer pollute the review section. This is not my problem that people have short attention spans. 

68 Messages

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598 Points

@laduqesa​ Look friend, the main thing is: nobody here wants to ban the big reviews or impose a low maximum number of characters. You can have it, but we, objective writers and readers don't care about what you prefer at all, we just want the freedom to write and read what we consider necessary and not waste time with junk, that's exactly the point about the reviews, to avoid the trash content and advise people about it.

Anyone could still choose what kind of text they consider more useful.

The question is, why exclude very interested people from producing helpful material for some others???

I would like to know what @Michelle and @Vic think about it. The official rules I already know.

(edited)

48 Messages

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866 Points

2 years ago

Great idea. We'll get many more decent reviews out of this. What's the point of 150 characters? 

68 Messages

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598 Points

@laduqesa​ It's so funny you CAN'T even write 2 different short sentences without repeating yourself my friend...

16 Messages

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168 Points

2 years ago

No, really the idea is to stop you from writing a negative review over a positive review. People who enjoy a movie or tv show are going to be inclined to write a lot more than a person who didn't enjoy it and is going to see the new limit and just not bother since they didn't like it..

Like many things this site is now doing, it is to cultivate positive and highe reviews for tv shows and movies, even then they do not deserve it. 

But it is their site and their rules, so all you can do is post with filler in your reviews, good or bad. Odd sare the good one will still get through, though there seems to be a concerted effort to now allow bad ones.

16 Messages

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168 Points

This appears to be the case, because a site that only allows positive reviews is one you know you can't trust.

68 Messages

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598 Points

@Thanatos0042​ I have to disagree here my reviews being negative or positive they are short, I don't want to go deep and spoil or being too personal, what I want from a review are few impressions that just brief enough for me to decide if it interests me or not, if it's worths my precious time.

If I want an analisys about a movie I search for professional critics job not bunch of crazy cinephiles

16 Messages

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168 Points

I'm not sure what we are disagreeing about? I believe the 600 character limit is to dissuade people from writing reviews. I prefer short reviews too, to get to the point. Very rarely do I want a long review - though I can certainly write them if required.

and I'd never really look for a professional critic, paid by the word and paid for certain reviews. That being said, lots of crazy fan reviewers out there too. I always take it all with a grain of salt when it comes to reviews.

68 Messages

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598 Points

Actually I got what you said and it's an intelligent way of seeing what's happening, truly the crazy fans will probably be inclined to write bigger texts than the ones who didn't like a media and will give up to try to develop a longer review. But still it's totally frustrating, I mean I can get really valuable informations in a negative review, the IMDB staff should worry only with offensive stuff, and opinions should be judge by helpful or not buttons!

It's very upsetting, writing reviews is a great hobby for many.

4 times what it was is unacceptable!! Why not 300 to see how it works??

I hope to see this site wither due to such disrespect for those who dedicate themselves to feed this platform.

IMDB stay with your long and big pieces of garbage! I'm gonna write for my own social circle, you go to hell!! You can shove this huge chunks up to yourselves!

(edited)

16 Messages

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168 Points

I agree, I think they over did it, I think a situation of "by degrees" might have worked better. But one thing you can often count on is over-reaction.

I only hope things go downhill for as long as they are dishonest and deceptive with regards to reviews and rating.  Not every bad review is "review bombing" and not every good review is legitimate. There are bots on both sides of the issue.

36 Messages

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374 Points

2 years ago

Why does the contribution rule state that a minimum mandatory 600-word count is required? I've read plenty of shorter reviews; many are brief paragraphs or a few words - including the newest ones. It's as though we're asked to spend an hour or two writing an essay. Readers look for general impressions, not a life story. If people want in-depth, they can read the 100s of online reviews in every type of web publication.

Very discouraging and time-consuming.

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Contribution Word Count

Champion

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14.5K Messages

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331.1K Points

600 characters

36 Messages

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374 Points

@Peter_pbn​ I meant to write characters. Thanks for the correction. My observation remains the same.

35 Messages

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874 Points

2 years ago

My review is not accepted, because it is too short. The problem is that the remark "Sorry, your review is too short. It needs to contain at least 600 characters" is there before I begin to write!!

The film I want to review is this and here is the review I want to post:

_________________________________________________________________________________

Rather an adventure than a crime film

I have seen other crime series, like [link=tt0094525] and I found them more interesting than this film. Poirot as well as [link=tt1734537] had to solve really complicated cases, the were true detective stories. This film is dedicated more to action/adventure than to the solution of an unpredictable crime, by using a detective's capabilities.

I am rather disappointed because I like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes, especially when portrayed by Jeremy Brett.

My vote 6/10.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Please note that I have seen reviews already posted containing some ten words. What's going on? It's not the first time I am posting a review, but is the first time that I see it a  priori found as too short!

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Review length question

8.6K Messages

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176.8K Points

2 years ago

? ?

ItsJustSlater - 23 Reviews

IMDb member since July 2013

Rubber (2010)
28 August 2022
https://www.imdb.com/review/rw8493084/

Sorry, your review is too short. It needs to contain at least 600 characters.

Sorry, your review is too short. It needs to contain at least 600 characters.
Sorry, your review is too short. It needs to contain at least 600 characters.

.

(edited)

4 Messages

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98 Points

2 years ago

This new requirement surprised me. I just wrote a review, but I think I wrote more than needed, just to get the minimum character amount. I don't see where it says if they include spaces in the character count. I hope they are, as that is the usual way of counting character totals.

There are online character counters which I will have to use from now on. I don't write many reviews. Just wrote my 36th, but I've been a member for 16 years, so that's not a lot. :/ 

(edited)

32 Messages

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270 Points

2 years ago

It isn't just about the writer, but consideration for the reader as well. I have special needs/disabled (e.g. attention deficit disorder) ss who have a difficult time reading/processing lengthy expositions. Those who wish to write lengthy descriptions can still do so, but don't exclude those who wish or need to read less. 

35 Messages

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874 Points

2 years ago

Recently, I am asked for a minimum of 600 characters for a review, whereas there are published reviews with far less characters than that. In addition to this, I have sent reviews with less than 600 characters, have been accepted and published. Is it a new regulation please, or what. One more thing. Before finishing my review, I see written "your review cannot be accepted because it does not contain 600 characters", or something like that. What's going on please?

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Reviews

35 Messages

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874 Points

2 years ago

Recently, I am asked for a minimum of 600 characters for a review, whereas there are published reviews with far less characters than that. In addition to this, I have sent reviews with less than 600 characters, have been accepted and published. Is it a new regulation please, or what. One more thing. Before finishing my review, I see written "your review cannot be accepted because it does not contain 600 characters", or something like that. What's going on please?

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Reviews

13 Messages

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352 Points

2 years ago

Hello, as a regular movie reviewer, I have been struggling with 600 character limit that was put one or two weeks ago. But today, I realized that I am not the only one dealing with that. I was reading recent reviews from some other users and found these:

https://www.imdb.com/review/rw8538333/?ref_=tt_urv

https://www.imdb.com/review/rw8527636/?ref_=rw_urv

I am not reporting them. Please don't remove their reviews. It will be very discouraging.

On the other hand, this one is from someone with over 4000 reviews. It is slightly over 300 characters. Check the Likes he received. It is listed #1 in "Featured" ranking. 

https://www.imdb.com/review/rw7647233/?ref_=rw_urv

I just want to tell that sometimes there is not much to say about a movie or you can express all your opinions in less than 600 characters. Don't you think it is a bit too high? Why not reduce it to 300 characters for example?

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled The problem with 600 character limit in User Reviews. Have you noticed these?

35 Messages

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874 Points

@stimpy_tr​ 

A review must be helpful, mustn't it? Too long reviews usually are not. 600 characters mean a very long review, which I seldomly read.

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83.7K Points

@stimpy_tr​ 

 I was reading recent reviews from some other users and found these:

You seem to be against the new threshold of 600 characters, but the two reviews you link to are very good examples of why a minimum number of characters is needed. They are, honestly, pretty bad.

13 Messages

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352 Points

@Marco Of course, I am against it. Haven't you read the third one I gave? The guy received 1494 Likes with a 300 character review.

(edited)

2.8K Messages

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83.7K Points

@stimpy_tr​ I have read the third one you gave. I personally don't consider it a good review. The reason is because I feel a review should not just tell me IF someone liked a movie or not but also WHY. And some information about the movie would be nice to have as well. This review just tells me a bunch of people liked this film very much. I'm happy they liked it, but it doesn't tell me if I'd like this film or not because the writer hardly gives us any concrete information about the film or about the good or not so good elements of it and why they are good or not so good elements. Why do you consider it a good review?

I fail to see why the fact that quite some people have given this review a thumb's up should matter one way or the other. I assume that a lot of these people simply liked this film and were voting up because this person is also very positive about this film. If that's the case, they haven't really voted for the review itself I feel.

262 Messages

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8.2K Points

2 years ago

This feels wrong in my opinion. 

There shouldn't be a limit on how many characters are needed for a review. Some people give elaborate reviews, some give short precise reviews, but they all have some value. 

I don't know if I will make reviews in the future, given how restrictive things are becoming. 

10.7K Messages

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225.4K Points

Well, any viable alternative would necessitate the involvement of machine learning algorithms.

35 Messages

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874 Points

2 years ago

Well, I think it's about time to know what IMDb have to tell on the subject. Do they reply here, or not?

36 Messages

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374 Points

@nessun​ No, they don't. There are one-off answers from IMDb employees stating company policy - that is it. 

35 Messages

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874 Points

Thank you for your reply. In this case there is no use to discuss further. 

10.7K Messages

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225.4K Points

Hi, nessun. I don't know if you noticed, but the founder of IMDb did finally post on this thread, and his take away is that the people complaining about this increase of limit believe that numbers of characters mean numbers of words. I find such a response to be akin to gaslighting.

68 Messages

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598 Points

2 years ago

@Michelle , @Vic , @Marco ,

Just let me know when IMDb reconsiders this draconian, authoritarian, arbitraty, repressive, tyrannical, totally partial and not democratic measure.

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83.7K Points

@FilmCritic10​ This way over the top post of yours suggests you think I work for IMDb, so perhaps it's worth pointing out that I do not work for IMDb.

68 Messages

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598 Points

@Marco

I never said you work for IMDb, but you and @laduqesa are the only ones with that exclusionary, sectarian, sad attitude to be advocating for the extermination of approximately 90% reviewers contributions.

As you can see upthread, this new rule has been around since the end of August. The new series about LotR has premiered September 1st. It currently has 3,765 reviews: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7631058/reviews

Dahmer premiered September 21st and currently has 343 reviews: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13207736/reviews

Even if the new rule does cut the number of reviews way down, how many reviews do you need for a particular title? How many do you read before deciding whether or not you wanna see a certain title? 

68 Messages

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598 Points

Why is it so costly for any employee to answer or discuss properly at least for fun and respect for some devoted members here?

68 Messages

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598 Points

@Marco​ I just deluded myself that you were an active member trying to help some way.

But it seems I was wrong.

2.8K Messages

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83.7K Points

@FilmCritic10​ 

the extermination of approximately 90% reviewers contributions.

We both don't have the (exact) stats, but I really don't think it's as high as about 90%.

I just deluded myself that you were an active member trying to help some way.

I'm not on this board daily and recently was on a 1,5 week holiday, so perhaps I'm not as active as you might have thought. That being said, I think we have to agree to disagree on this particular issue. Most short reviews I see on IMDb I consider to be bad or even very bad, so I think it's a good idea IMDb has raised the number of characters needed for a review.

2 Messages

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60 Points

2 years ago

I have to agree with the consensus here. Quantity does not equate to quality. In fact, since this rule has been implemented, I've seen a decline in quality reviews. Many people "stretch out" their reviews, and the result is terribly written reviews. No more short, witty and concise reviews that help me form an opinion about a TV series or movie. Please take a look at what people have been writing to meet the minimum character requirement and reconsider this policy, pronto! 

(edited)