leonard_david's profile
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Monday, December 4th, 2017 10:48 PM

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Title Literature Pages

As Col mentioned in his recent announcement (https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/upcoming-changes-to-several-imdb-features-du6man1opd5q0), we are implementing several changes to IMDb. 

One of those changes is the deprecation of the Literature title sub-pages. The pages today are a mix of media related to the title,including: books on which the title was based; academic articles about the title; and even some written interviews related to the title. The Literature title sub-pages have generally received very little customer usage. 

While we understand that some of you may be disappointed with this decision, it’s worth noting that your contributed data will not be lost. Taking down the Literature title sub-pages will enable us to build a more compelling experience in the future.


Some areas that we’re exploring are: possibly introducing a more obvious tie between a title and a book,and potentially enabling you to vote on how closely the title aligns to the book.  When we move forward with any new Literature functionality, we’ll leverage your contributed data.

Thank you.

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

Restoring the "literature" section for title pages

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7 years ago

Posted December 4 2017 10:48:01 PM UTC

One of those changes is the deprecation of the Literature title sub-pages.
The pages today are a mix of media related to the title, including:
books on which the title was based; academic articles about the title;
and even some written interviews related to the title.
The Literature title sub-pages have generally received very little customer usage....

by Leonard, Official Rep
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/people/leonard_david
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You have Before and After samples ?



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ACT_1: See http://web.archive.org/web/20160629142954/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061418/literature for an example of what a Literature page looked like before.

There doesn't seem to be an "after" version; the Literature pages have disappeared altogether.

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2.1K Points

Since the IMDB is owned by Amazon.com and the literature pages that have ISBN numbers that when clicked on, redirect them to their amazon webpage where the book is listed, I am very surprised that they are being taken down.  The literature section may have gotten little activity, but it also likely was responsible for people buying those books on Amazon.

I am very disappointed as of the more than 10,000 updates I have sent over the last 15 years, about half are literature listings.

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ACT_1: See
http://web.archive.org/web/20160629142954/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061418/literature
or an example of what a Literature page looked like before.
There doesn't seem to be an "after" version; the Literature pages have disappeared altogether.
by gromit82, Champion
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Little bit confused reading message by Leonard, Official Rep 

One of those changes is the deprecation of the Literature title sub-pages


OK. Well, this is one of a few features at IMDb I do not use 

as I do not read books  

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The Da Vinci Code (2006)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382625/reference
Other Info
box office/business
release dates
filming locations
technical specs
literature listings  <<
NewsDesk

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382625/literature 
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There is this ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Da_Vinci_Code_(film)
The Da Vinci Code is a 2006 American mystery thriller film
... based on Dan Brown's 2003 best-selling novel of the same name.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Da_Vinci_Code
The Da Vinci Code is a 2003 mystery thriller novel by Dan Brown.
It follows symbologist Robert Langdon ...




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Hi, gromit82. Using Bonnie and Clyde (1967) as an example, the information can thus far still be viewed in the submission interface: https://contribute.imdb.com/updates?update=tt0061418:literature_scrp.correct/literature_novl.correct/literature_adpt.correct/literature_book.correct/literature_prot.correct/literature_iviw.correct/literature_crit.correct/literature_essy.correct/literature_othr.correct or simply https://contribute.imdb.com/updates?auto=legacy/title/tt0061418/literature. I'm assuming that the ability to do this will be eliminated some time around the New Year's day, since the IMDb staff will most likely want to count up the contributions to the literature listings. It'd be an ungrateful shame if they simply threw away the stats along with the data.

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O, by the way, the ability to view the residual information went offline some time ago, perhaps in 2018, 2019 or 2020, so the previous post is no longer valid.

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7 years ago

https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/why-is-literature-a-gray-link-for-every-title-in-the-databas...

For every title in the database, Literature appears as a gray (supposedly inactive) link
-- even if the film does have Literature to list.
Below, you can see an example,
where Bonnie and Clyde (1967) has Literature as a gray link.
But, in fact,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061418/literature
shows that the film has eight different items listed under Literature....
Posted 3 years ago (September 21 2014)
gromit82, Champion
Joined on June 30, 2013
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/people/gromit82
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hi gromit82 -
Thanks for reporting this,
I have alerted our technical staff who will take a look as soon as they can.
Once I hear something I will post the information/updates here.  Thanks!

Following up on this particular issue with the Literature section,
this section will be migrated to Java in the near future,
during this migration the issue will be addressed.

by Michelle, Official Rep
Joined on November 26, 2012
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/people/michelle_4969048




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7 years ago

This is very disappointing, but I sense that it is a byproduct of so few movies being adapted from novels, along with so few novels, scrapbooks, guides, dictionaries and encyclopedias being adapted from movies.

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7 years ago

More Info moved to IMDb Pro !!


Announcement: Updates to Box Office on IMDb Title Pages & IMDbPro
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/announcement-updates-to-box-office-on-imdb-title-pages-imdbp...

We are pleased to announce the release of expanded boxoffice performance available on IMDb title pages including:
•USA gross
•Worldwide gross
...

Additional box office performance of a title
includingshooting dates, copyright holder and theatrical rentals
is now available to IMDbPro members

With this change, we will deprecate the title box office page from IMDb...

IMDb is passionately committed to providing innovative ways
for our users to engage with our content
and we appreciate your continued support of IMDb

Posted December 5 2017 6:30 PM
by Daud Lightman, Employee
Joined on December 4, 2017
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/people/daud_lightman
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The Da Vinci Code (2006)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382625/reference
Other Info
box office/business
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382625/business : Gone!



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It was announced, you don't have to tell us.

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Hi, ACT_1. Please give Mr. Surly no mind, and accept my thanks for referencing the other topic.

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Jeorj Euler

Upcoming changes to several IMDb features
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/upcoming-changes-to-several-imdb-features-du6man1opd5q0?topi...

More Info moved to IMDb Pro !!
by ACT_1
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WE could add more "moved to IMDb Pro" when It is announced

Next all the Titles and Name pages  ??



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https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/update-to-list-pages

Today we are announcing an update to the List pages
on the IMDb desktop experience.
This update is part of the broader site changes announced recently
(https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/upcoming-changes-to-several-imdb-features-du6man1opd5q0).
After in-depth discussion and examination,
we have decided to simplify the features and functionality for lists...

Posted December 6 2017 7:51 PM
Karen, Official Rep
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/people/karen_iqd0iufjast8t



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7 years ago

Leonard, I was interested in the Literature pages until I realized that they "are a mix of media related to the title".  Most adaptations don't even link to their adapted Literature.

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I used to submit to the literature section the movie novelization of the screenplay books under "Adaption of Literary Source" until told by the IMDB staff that those books should be placed under "Original Literary Source".  Now even that is off the table.

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Hopefully, the literature section will eventually be brought back, and the policies as to what kind of book belongs in each category will be clarified.

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7 years ago

This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled IMDb literature.

Frankly, the entire External Reviews section blows!  I'm not even remotely interested with what some feeb on You Tube thinks about a movie nor do I give any weight to "user reviews". I am however, most irritated to see the decimation of the Literature section at the IMDB. Literature wasn't just book adaptations and source material but also printed reviews and production process protocols and essays and all sorts of, thoughtful, scholarly information on the medium that isn't remotely in existence on the Web's braying, posturing and, frequently, infantile, collection of  social media cacophony.

Note: This conversation was created from a reply on: User-submitted reviews are terrible.

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That's a good point, about printed reviews.

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7 years ago

I would recommend that before re-introducing the literature section (which I do support), the staff should announce the proposed new policies for the section for discussion here.

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7 years ago

The ill-advised and short-sighted decision to vaporize the Literature section and displace the various areas that I mentioned initially serves only to make the IMDB a much less valuable and useful asset to anyone serious about the medium in general or a particular title in particular.  I know it was noted that "most users never access the Literature section" as someone expounded previously. Well, I have been accessing the site since the mid-1990s and have never made a single decision based upon a "User Review", nor bothered with any of the ubiquitous "Lists" as I consider that the vast majority of both are at best trivial and at worst posted "white noise".  More people attend professional wrestling than Shakespeare in a theatre, so I don't think that raw usage numbers connotes any kind of quality assessment or value.

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It would mean a lot to us if a famous novelist with an expansive portfolio would make a public statement about this matter, but that's just wishful thinking. IMDb, even though it may be a household name, is not really on any major media outlet's radar. Most people maybe only visit IMDb, once in a while, just to take a quick glance at cast lists and filmographies.

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To be fair, I doubt that famous novelists might care about literature listings - most of the literature in the listings was mainly specific film theory books. Novelists will usually care more about representation of their adaptation and writer filmography. 

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I suppose what I had in might was a philanthropist who does teaching work from time to time. Ha.

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7 years ago

Strongly disagree with the removal of literary sources, at least with respect to credited source material.  Apart from making the credits as a whole incomplete, it removes the context for writing credits:  If source material is listed, an omission of story by or written by makes sense.  It also is a disservice to authors whose plays are adapted.  Why not limit the category/submissions to on-screen credited source material only?

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This thread covers the old literature sub-page on titles which was a separate data type.  We have made no changes to policies on credited writers (nor any other section for credits).  For example, see the "Writers" section on http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052357/fullcredits

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6 years ago

As i admittedly didnt look at that section much i have only just noticed it has gone, very disappointing, i am getting into collecting books that a movie or tv show is based on or vice versa, it would have been useful. bad idea to remove it if you ask me.

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5 years ago

It has been over two years since IMDb got rid of the Literature section, but I think that it would be a good idea to look into bringing it back.

I happened to be reading Sports Illustrated, and I saw an 8-page article about the making of Ford v Ferrari. This is something that would clearly have been in the domain of the Literature section, when that section existed.

The categories of literature that IMDb used to use may need to be revised if the section is brought back. For example, I suspect that we would want to distinguish between a novel that a film is based on and a novelization based on a film and list them in separate categories. (Even a film based on a novel can have a novelization -- which happened with the 1994 version of Little Women.) There are also books about the art of a film, children's storybooks based on films, and books about the making of films -- not necessarily favorable to the filmmakers (consider the books about The Bonfire of the Vanities or Heaven's Gate). And that's just for films -- there are lots of books about TV series, too. In fact, two different publishers have book series about "Popular Culture and Philosophy" or "Philosophy and Pop Culture", and both include dozens of TV-series themed books.

There may be kinds of books that IMDb might not want to cover -- like coloring books and activity books (see these examples for Frozen II). Or maybe you would want to include them -- I don't know. And you probably don't need full publication information for film sources which are public domain books from the 19th century, for example, and even less for much older source works like the Bible or ancient Greek plays. But these are all issues that can be worked out if we discuss them.

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Hell, yeah!

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3 years ago

I am bumping this post, but since it's not characterized as an "Idea" I don't expect that it will even be considered as such. I'll post a separate Idea thread for this.