jack_hailey's profile

13 Messages

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270 Points

Friday, January 5th, 2024 6:33 PM

STAFF and contributors: Les Adams, longtime contributor, update

Les Adams, a longtime IMDb super contributor, has moved to assisted living (at 89) and retired from submissions.  2023 was the first time ever he was not among the top contributors (he's currently ranked 49th overall in IMDb's contribution history).  Anyone wishing to contact Les can post something here and I'll forward it to him or send your comment to me, jhailey at hotmail dot com, and I'll send it on to him or provide you with an address.  You can find his IMDb list of accomplishments, as horn-5, here: https://www.imdb.com/user/ur0312403/  He was also a frequent contributor to the old community-help listserve, back in the oughts.  He's the editor of "Shoot-Em-Ups," a catalogue of every Western of the sound era (Arlington House, 1978). If you look at "Shoot-Em-Ups," you'll find the same attention to details and accuracy that he brought to IMDb.  I hope Col Needham sees this note and will testify to the enormous contribution Les made to the database over the years.  Les donated his papers and vast collection of books, lobby cards, stills, and more to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas.  ~Jack Hailey

Employee

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7.2K Messages

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178.3K Points

9 months ago

@jack_hailey Thank you for the update.  I can indeed testify to the enormous impact Les has made to IMDb over decades of contributing.  We will miss him. I have fond memories of many interactions with Les on the old Contributors Help message board. I hope he is being well cared for and that he can still enjoy watching the movies he loves. 

Employee

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7.2K Messages

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178.3K Points

Les is also the 10th largest contributor to IMDb plot summaries too with nearly 7,000 -> https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?sort=alpha,asc&plot_author=les%20adams%20%3Clonghorn1939@suddenlink.net%3E

13 Messages

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270 Points

Thank you, Col, for your comments and for jumping in quickly.  I'll send yours and other comments to Les today -- and will update him if other comments come in.. 

8.4K Messages

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175.3K Points

@Col_Needham​ 😎

??

horn-5
IMDb member since April 1999
https://www.imdb.com/user/ur0312403/

Add to "Quick Links"
https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?plot_author=les%20adams  :  6,963

https://www.imdb.com/search/name/?bio_author=les%20adams :      66

- - -

Contributor Hall of Fame
https://contribute.imdb.com/czone/hall_of_fame

* Top Plot Summary Writers
* Top Mini-Bio Writers
Does Not have 
   Top  Titles     Contributor
   Top  Names  Contributor
   Top  Reviewers
   etc...

.

(edited)

Employee

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5 Messages

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444 Points

9 months ago

Les, what amazing accomplishments and what a deep impact you have had on the accuracy, authority and comprehensiveness of IMDb. Thank you for your contributions. Your legacy will live on for years to come. We will miss you. 

10.6K Messages

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225.3K Points

9 months ago

Thanks for the update, Jack Hailey. Well, I hope assisted living proves to be a reasonably-comfortable experience for Les Adams. Dealing with establishing a last will and an advance directive can be an exhausting experience too,

Employee

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17.2K Messages

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310.6K Points

9 months ago

Hi @jack_hailey -

Thank you for the update. Les' vast knowledge of Westerns was astounding and will leave a legacy here at IMDb with all his contributions over the years.  Like Col, I also have fond memories of Les, in both handling many of his contributions directly and communicating with him through the old Message Boards and CS channels.  He will indeed be missed and I wish him the best in his transition!

Champion

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1.1K Messages

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51K Points

9 months ago

Truly an inspiration to many of us... I will never forget his endearing lovely-grumpy personality in the old message boards. A wise man and a tireless contributor.

Jack, please thank him for sharing all that knowledge with us and the world. I wish him all the best!

10.6K Messages

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225.3K Points

Yeah, I remember that.

13 Messages

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270 Points

"lovely-grumpy" is exactly right.  Thanks.

181 Messages

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4.8K Points

9 months ago

Thanks for sharing this, Jack. When I joined IMDb as a Data Manager 12.5 years ago, I spent a lot of time working with Les through the Contributors' Help board. We fixed a bunch of data/policy/contribution issues together, and IMDb is all the better for it. Here's to you, Les. Tom

2.7K Messages

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82.7K Points

9 months ago

Thanks for this update @jack_hailey. I fondly remember Les' posts on the ol' Contributors Help board. I learned quite a bit about Westerns this way. Thanks to him, I was introduced to and learned about the term 'Poverty Row', for example.

The amount of knowledge and a strong desire for accuracy combined with his lovely-grumpy personality was and remains inspiring.

IMDb surely is a better and more complete place thanks to him. I wish him all the best!

61 Messages

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1.5K Points

8 months ago

I first met Les when he took me to task for "correcting" a bunch of B-western credits because I didn't realize Gail Pictures had tampered with them when they reissued the films.  Oops.  We got along better after that.  I loved reading his posts on the Contributors Help board and hope he finds contentment in his new home.

13 Messages

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270 Points

Thanks, David.  I've forwarded your message to Les. He's been appreciating all the comments.  ~Jack

1 Message

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60 Points

6 months ago

I greatly admire the dedication that kept Les Adams at his self-appointed task as a top contributor. I have the highest regard for his services to the database. I have edited a few of his plot summaries for concision or to correct a mistake and i just submitted another correction tonight -- which brought me here to have a conversation with him about that specific summary. Imagine my sadness when i heard he is gone.

God bless Les Adams for his years of selfless work.

Thanks.

(edited)

13 Messages

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270 Points

Catherine, I will forward your comment to Les. My guess is that he'll be supportive of your request that edits to his summaries -- for spoilers and for snark -- receive IMDb-review approval. He wrote on the Contributors Help bulletin board of his fallibility. He did complain once (nearly 20 yearsago?) that someone changed a summary he'd written and, in the process, gotten facts wrong.  It's possible that incident resulted in a lock on summaries he'd posted. ???

The main reason he included his email address in his byline was his enjoyment of exchanges with other contributors, exchanges that often led to friendships (and to his editing the plot summary in question). 

(edited)

45 Messages

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1K Points

3 months ago

Let all remember how Les Adams was praised in FEB 21, 2023 in this wired.com article.

https://www.wired.com/story/superusers-behind-imdb-the-internets-favorite-movie-site/