New Contribution Feature (Beta): IMDb Answers

Hi,

Today we are launching a beta for a new contribution feature, IMDb Answers.

IMDb Answers surfaces high-value content that is missing from IMDb. These gaps are shown as an updating feed of questions with calls to action for contributions to add the missing data.

The feature is focused on ensuring we have the right content coverage for multiple countries (e.g. the release date for a movie in the US, France, Germany etc; what the correct poster is to show for a TV show in GB, Italy, Spain, India; What the certificate for a movie is in Canada, Mexico, Brazil etc)
The question feed can currently be prioritized by: 1) real-time pageviews by IMDb customers from a country; 2) movie showtimes data for a country for movies currently in theaters.
Contributors can then answer these questions, sharing their knowledge more easily, and with a bigger impact.

The underlying contribution interfaces for adding data are the same, contributions count to your end of year contribution numbers, and you can track the status of your contributions as usual. All we are doing is providing a new way to access contribution by actively surfacing gaps.

The feature can be found here https://contribute.imdb.com/gaps?ref_=gap_gs_post

This thread has been created to allow our contributors to provide feedback, suggest improvements and record any issues found.
Cheers,
Rachel

Responses

bulmapunkrocker

188 Messages

•

7K Points

5 years ago

Hello Rachel
Thank you for this chance.

I have chosen Japan, Genre, Popular, Feature Film, but IMDb Answers showed me an Indian film, an Italian in-production film, and a South Korean film. In a second try, with the same parameters, IMDb Answers was a Hong Kong film.
I'm a little confused.

Cheers.

Rachel

Employee

•

161 Messages

•

5.9K Points

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback. What the feature does is show titles that are being looked at (in a real time window), or are in theaters from a particular country. In the examples you have called out, users in Japan will have been looking at the titles. We will make this clearer in the help text for the feature.

One additional feature we are considering is the addition of a filter for title production country . This would allow you to see the most popular Japanese titles being looked at by customers in Japan (or any other country). From your description above, I think that is what you would find useful?

Cheers,

Rachel

5 years ago

bulmapunkrocker

188 Messages

•

7K Points

Thank you for your answer.
Yes, indeed the second option would be more useful as a contributor.

5 years ago

Rachel

Employee

•

161 Messages

•

5.9K Points

Thanks, I've added it to our backlog of feature requests.

5 years ago

joseph_lee_jones_1j6zeucj9j04t

17 Messages

•

390 Points

New Contribution Feature (Beta) When's it going to end?

5 years ago

sai_arun_muthusamy

262 Messages

•

8.2K Points

5 years ago

So is this sort of a "questions asked and answers given" section like what TVTropes has with its Headscratchers section?

Rachel

Employee

•

161 Messages

•

5.9K Points

Hi,

I'm not familiar with that feature myself.

Cheers,

Rachel

5 years ago

braham_mohammed_ali

11 Messages

•

528 Points

5 years ago

is IMDb going to add more countries to this feature in the near future ?
I was looking for the possibility to specifically contribute to TUNISIA.

Rachel

Employee

•

161 Messages

•

5.9K Points

Hi,

We are looking to extend the feature for other countries. It would be good to start collating that list (and I have added Tunisia to our backlog).

Thanks for the feedback!

Cheers,

Rachel

5 years ago

orit_feldner

1 Message

•

100 Points

hi Rachel, please add Israel (when you will extend to other countries), thanks, Orit

5 years ago

payton_6w14xv81zz12k

16 Messages

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580 Points

5 years ago

Hi,

Nice feature but you might want to fix the link in contributors' "Contribution History" page.
Under "Do you want to help IMDb by adding missing data?" the hyperlink for "IMDb Answers" leads to
https://contribute.imdb.com/updates/history/gaps?ref_=gaps_ra_history"

Also, maybe it's on purpose, but there's no gaps for video games apparently.

Rachel

Employee

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161 Messages

•

5.9K Points

Thanks for the detail. We are looking at improving the link experience.

Regarding Video Games, the feature works on trending titles for a country of any type, then filters the list to the title type you select. In this instance, there are no video games meeting the trending threshold (I've added this to the backlog of items to address as we have had a couple of reports of contributors running our of items in the feed).

5 years ago

marco_lacson

3 Messages

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160 Points

5 years ago

Hopefully Phillippines will soon be on the list.

Rachel

Employee

•

161 Messages

•

5.9K Points

Thanks for the feedback. I've added the Philippines to our backlog.

Cheers,

Rachel

5 years ago

ole_jon_tveito_6942635

33 Messages

•

1.4K Points

5 years ago

I'd like to contribute, but not only in one country, but in general.
I'd also like to contribute to Norwegian movies, which I'm an expert on.

Rachel

Employee

•

161 Messages

•

5.9K Points

Hi,

Thanks for the feedback. Are you interested in Norwegian movies that are popular in Norway?

I'll add that country to our backlog.

Cheers,

Rachel

5 years ago

ole_jon_tveito_6942635

33 Messages

•

1.4K Points

I'm interested in all types of films, as a film buff.
I try to see all Norwegian movies, but I see 800 films a year, so I try to see everything quality that comes my way. I've also contributed with much over the years to help imdb be better, and make imdb more interesting to Norwegian users, after almost 20 years as a member.

5 years ago

Rachel

Employee

•

161 Messages

•

5.9K Points

Thanks for the feedback, and all of your contributions.

We are looking at ways to make the feature more flexible so that our contributors can see data missing from titles and names that they would be interested in adding.

Hearing all of the ways our contributors would like to do this is very helpful to the team.

Cheers,

Rachel

5 years ago

bulmapunkrocker

188 Messages

•

7K Points

5 years ago

Helllo.

It is possible to add an Explanation Box when we request the deletion of a language that is not featured at all in a poster?
Since there is no chance to explain why we are removing a certain language from a poster, it takes very long for the unaccurate languages to be deleted.

Example #191107-175542-825502 (No Latvian language at all in this poster)

I have more submissions that are not so delayed, claiming Japanese language posters have Portuguese, Indonesian, Icelandic, French, English, etc, when there is not a single word in those languages.
Also Korean language posters claiming they have languages like Tagalog, Italian, Indonesian, Portuguese, when again it's not factual.

Thanks in advance!

erik_h_dl9kden2rhs7c

1 Message

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80 Points

5 years ago

I'd like to verify goofs and trivia, I don't follow celebrities and junk, but I do love goofs and trivia.

Rachel

Employee

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161 Messages

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5.9K Points

Hi,

Just so that I can understand correctly, you would like us to surface titles that do not have goofs and trivia?

Cheers,

Rachel

5 years ago

gromit82

Champion

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7.5K Messages

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276.6K Points

5 years ago

Rachel: I would like to question how the people with missing "children information" and "parent information" are determined.

Some people listed on IMDb don't have any information listed about how many children are because they don't have children (although they might in the future). If a person doesn't have children, are we supposed to enter a trivia item for them to say "Has no children"?

On the other hand, everyone has, or had, parents. And sometimes that information is already on IMDb. For example, I saw a question "Who are the parents of Tahnee Welch?" even though that information was already in the first sentence of her IMDb bio and her first biographical trivia item. Similarly for Margaret Qualley, where the info was in the second sentence of her bio and her first biographical trivia item.

***

Also, the feature shouldn't ask for the running time of films that haven't been released yet. For example, I selected the list for running times of films currently in theaters, and one of the films I was asked about was Death on the Nile (2020), which isn't scheduled to be released anywhere for more than 10 months.

Rachel

Employee

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161 Messages

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5.9K Points

Hi,

The children/parent issue is a bug we are working on addressing. When this is fixed, there is an option to select 'No Children'

Thanks for the feedback on not making contribution an option when the data is not available. We have an item on our backlog to do this (which is more important for certain data types like certificates (or running times, as you mention), which are usually only available in the weeks prior to release.

Cheers,

Rachel

5 years ago

Rachel

Employee

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161 Messages

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5.9K Points

Hi,

Apologies for the delay, but we have just addressed the bug with the family relationship data type.

You should now have no issues.

Cheers,

Rachel

5 years ago

Marco

2.8K Messages

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83.7K Points

5 years ago

I believe on this page (https://contribute.imdb.com/czone), there were some links on the right where contributors could help out in specific areas. If I'm not mistaken, there was one asking contributors to look into titles that had the genre Short attached to them while also having a running time of over 45 minutes listed. Why take these away? Wasn't it possible to keep them both around?

Rachel

Employee

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161 Messages

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5.9K Points

Hi,

You aren't mistaken, there were two additional links within a Data Research section on the /czone which has been replaced by the IMDb Answers box:-

1) Popular Titles with No Quotes -> https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?has=!quotes&languages=en&num_votes=1000%2C&title_type...

2) Shorts with a Running Time over 46 mins -> https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?runtime=46,&title_type=short

These are both Advance Title Searches which to not include a quick link to contribute the missing data (as IMDb Answers does).

We re-used the 'Data Research' slot for the IMDb Answers feature.

Would it be useful to have them linked from somewhere else, or would you prefer to bookmark them?

Cheers,

Rachel

5 years ago

Marco

2.8K Messages

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83.7K Points

I fully agree with Phil. I didn't ask for (just) myself, but for the community of contributors.

5 years ago

bulmapunkrocker

188 Messages

•

7K Points

I agree with Phil G and Marco too.

5 years ago

Rachel

Employee

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161 Messages

•

5.9K Points

Hi,

Good feedback, thanks.

Do you have other examples of this type of Advanced Search that it would be useful to include at the same time we re-instate the ones that were previously linked?

Cheers,

Rachel

5 years ago

Marco

2.8K Messages

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83.7K Points

According to the bio trivia guide (https://help.imdb.com/article/contribution/names-biographical-data/biographical-data-guidelines/GMT9...), ""same birthday as" someone else, unless it's particularly interesting because of some kind of very significant connection between the two people (other than being a twin, which should be explicitly noted), is no longer accepted." However, there are still quite some of these out there: https://www.imdb.com/search/name-text/?trivia=same+birthday+as

According to the same guide "Bio trivia items should add directly or indirectly to the distinctive attributes of a person and provide/give an insight to that particular person rather than common trivia that could apply to most other people (i.e. "is a vegetarian" or "likes dogs").". This means a person's star sign should NOT be listed, yet it is for quite a bit of people: https://www.imdb.com/search/name-text/?trivia=star-sign. The same goes for people's blood type: https://www.imdb.com/search/name-text/?trivia=blood+type

5 years ago

Marco

2.8K Messages

•

83.7K Points

As I've said over a year ago (https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/blocking-tv-shows-that-cant-be-that-old), there are no blocks on adding an impossibly early year to most title types. In said thread, I explained why I believe certain years are the earliest years for those title types. Any listings from before that time are wrong.
So would you add the following?
TV series from before 1931: https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?title_type=tv_series&release_date=,1931-01-01

5 years ago

Rachel

Employee

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161 Messages

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5.9K Points

On this one specifically, it looks like a number of these are 'series' that were released theatrically.

5 years ago

Marco

2.8K Messages

•

83.7K Points

Yeah, the cartoons (like Betty Boop) can be seen like that. But that's not the same as a tv series. (just like a serial is a whole other animal than a tv series)

5 years ago

gromit82

Champion

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7.5K Messages

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276.6K Points

Rachel: What Marco said. If the title isn't a TV series, it shouldn't be listed as such. Theatrical series aren't meant to be entered as TV series.

Not to mention that among the entries in Marco's search result above, we also have titles that look like they have been assigned to the wrong year, such as "US Presidential Elections" (1928), "US Midterm Elections" (1930) (both supposedly BBC television series), and "FoxyTV" (1916) (more likely a 21st century show than one from the World War I era). There's also "WSB News" (1922), which appears to be oriented toward describing the radio station of that name rather than something eligible for IMDb listing.

5 years ago

Marco

2.8K Messages

•

83.7K Points

Do you have other examples of this type of Advanced Search that it would be useful to include at the same time we re-instate the ones that were previously linked?

Any word on this?

4 years ago

bulmapunkrocker

188 Messages

•

7K Points

5 years ago

Hello Rachel

As stated by gromit82 and Phil G, the "+ Add children details" doesn't work. Browsing the new feature I found River Phoenix's sister Rain, she has a son, clicked the button, and it took me to https://contribute.imdb.com/updates?update=nm0681095:name_relation.add.1&ref_=contrib_gap_trend Nowhere to add the requested information.

Cheers.

Rachel

Employee

•

161 Messages

•

5.9K Points

HI,

As I mentioned above, this is a bug that we are working to address.

Thanks for the feedback.

Cheers,

Rachel

5 years ago

bulmapunkrocker

188 Messages

•

7K Points

Thank you.

5 years ago

Rachel

Employee

•

161 Messages

•

5.9K Points

This issue has now been fixed.

Cheers,

Rachel

5 years ago

Rachel

Employee

•

161 Messages

•

5.9K Points

5 years ago

Hi,

We have just make an update to the IMDb Answers experience when submitting alternate titles. If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know.

Cheers,

Rachel

Zlogorek

31 Messages

•

1.7K Points

Hi, Rachel!

Are you planning to add other countries to the list of available? In particular, Russia or any countries of the former Soviet Union? Both for alternative titles and for posters, as well as for the plot outlines.
I contribute alternative titles rather often.

Thanks!

5 years ago

ACT_1

8.6K Messages

•

176.8K Points

5 years ago

Announcement: Dec 3 2019

Japanese Alternate Titles
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/japanese-alternate-titles
We're very pleased to announce that alternate titles
can now be contributed in Japanese script (Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana).

Mike, Employee
.

co_ed

6 Messages

•

330 Points

5 years ago

Hi Rachel,
I contributed two Goof contributions that have been approved under Revealing Mistake however they have yet to show on the film's page.

Revealing Mistake: Ref #191205-034737-993000
Revealing Mistake: Ref #191205-031149-999000

Are you able to assist in this regard or advise as to how to proceed next?
Thank you

nimatrix

1 Message

•

122 Points

5 years ago

My speciality is on Iranian / Persian language movies but unfortunately they are not on this list at the moment:
Why you are not trying to add more option?
Do you have any plan to expand the new contribution feature to the new country/language?

Thanks

Rachel

Employee

•

161 Messages

•

5.9K Points

We are looking to support additional countries in the future.

5 years ago

Mohammad_ebz

8 Messages

•

180 Points

Hello @Rachel

2 years have passed but a significant number of languages and countries have not been added 🙁, please allow participation in languages such as Arabic, Persian, Urdu, etc. that have similar characters. Of course, countries are also very imperfect; Please hurry, the imdb website has been active for 30 years but is still lagging behind in multilingualism. Thankful

3 years ago

Rachel

New Contribution Feature (Beta): IMDb Answers

bulmapunkrocker

Rachel

bulmapunkrocker

Rachel

joseph_lee_jones_1j6zeucj9j04t

sai_arun_muthusamy

Rachel

braham_mohammed_ali

Rachel

orit_feldner

payton_6w14xv81zz12k

Rachel

marco_lacson

Rachel

ole_jon_tveito_6942635

Rachel

ole_jon_tveito_6942635

Rachel

bulmapunkrocker

erik_h_dl9kden2rhs7c

Rachel

gromit82

Rachel

Rachel

Marco

Rachel

Marco

bulmapunkrocker

Rachel

Marco

Marco

Rachel

Marco

gromit82

Marco

bulmapunkrocker

Rachel

bulmapunkrocker

Rachel

Rachel

Zlogorek

ACT_1

co_ed

nimatrix

Rachel

Mohammad_ebz

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