So You Want to Make an IMDb Poll? Here's How...

How to suggest an IMDb Poll

IMDb Polls are built on IMDb Lists. Poll administrators can create polls from these lists.

You will need an IMDb account to create a list.

To post your poll suggestion, you will also need an account on the IMDb Community on Sprinklr, which is where you are reading this post.

Create your list

1. Create an IMDb List by going to http://www.imdb.com/list/create. You can always access your lists from your profile or your list page.

2. You can choose from titles, people or images, depending on your subject. Image polls are often used to ask about characters or performances.

3. Keep your poll title short and punchy. Future proof your poll by using a title that works days, months, even years ahead. Don't include the words "Poll Suggestion" here.

4. In the description field, include a clear poll question. You can also include an introduction, but it's best to put the question near the top. Check your spelling, grammar etc.

5. Add a link from the list description to your suggestion post so voters can discuss the poll. You'll have to post your suggestion (see below), then edit the list. Example:

[link=https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/imdb-poll/...]Discuss this poll here[/link]

6. Add poll options as entries in the list. There can be any number of options from 2 to 35. You can include descriptive text for each option. For an image poll you have to find suitable images in IMDb pages and copy-paste the URL.

7. Make sure your list is public so other people may review it.

Learn more about lists in IMDb's FAQ.

Post your suggestion

1. Create a new post here in the IMDb Poll community.

2. Under 'What do you want to post?' choose Idea.

3. Under 'Subject', use "Poll Suggestion:" followed by the title of your list.

4. Under 'Description', include the question and description from your list. Then copy-paste the URL of your list and hit Enter to make the link clickable.

5. Under 'Category', select IMDb. Under 'Topic', select IMDb Poll.

6. Post your suggestion.

7. Now wait and see if there are comments or suggestions for your poll, and whether it is selected as a new IMDb Poll. Someone will usually notify you if your poll goes live.

In your community profile settings you can adjust your notification settings to make sure you are see comments to your suggestions.

8. If you poll goes live, please edit your suggestion post: put Live Poll in the subject field and change the type to Praise.

Additional advice

1. Be original and creative. IMDb already has ways of ranking titles and names, and we had many polls already.

You can use the search field in the community to check if your poll subject has already been suggested by someone else. You can also use a web search to see if a live poll already exists – in Google you can include the search string site:imdb.com/poll.

There is also a search feature of live polls here:

https://imdbstats.com/search/

2. Be inclusive. We usually avoid polls which only include your personal favorites. As a poll author you are balancing objective completeness, entertainment value and succinctness.

3. Incorporate advice! You may get feedback on omissions and corrections. If you ignore reasonable feedback, then it's unlikely we'll run your poll. While we are able to make minor edits and additions to live polls, you should strive for a complete, accurate poll from the start.

4. Preferred style. In poll titles, use initial caps for all words except articles (a, an, the), conjunctions (and, or) and short prepositions (as, at, by, for, in, of, on, to). Also use "double quotes" around TV show titles and 'single quotes' around movie titles.

IMDb prefers American English, for instance "favorite" rather than "favourite". Decades can be abbreviated as '10s, '20s, ... '80s, '90s.

5. Link your poll. When you mention names or titles in the introduction, you can use links to their IMDb pages. This also helps your poll be featured on those pages. Examples: [link=nm0000151] in [link=tt0111161]

6. Face-Off Polls. Face-Offs are simple polls with usually two to five options which pit related movies, people or characters against each other. They are usually posted on the poll page on Fridays. Please include "Face-Off:" in your list title and in the title of your suggestion post, followed by the subject of the poll. Titles also often include the expression "vs."

7. Avoid spoilers. If your poll may spoil movies for other users, include a spoiler warning in the description.

8. If your poll has too many viable items. This is a common problem, and large polls aren't better. A tightly worded, coherent poll is more appealing than sorting through an exhaustive list. But sometimes there are just too many items.

1) Remove options that are unlikely to get many votes. For example, you can set a minimum number of IMDb ratings for titles featured in the poll.
2) Restrict the options by time frame. By year? By decade? 
3) Restrict the options by geography. USA? UK?
4) Find another reasonable filtering mechanism: Gender? Age? Genre? 
5) If all else fails, consider making a second part of the poll. If it's a popular poll, we may run both.

9. Corrections for live polls. If you discover an error or wish to make an update in your published poll, you may be able to make an edit and have the poll "re-pushed". In order to do this you need to keep your list after the poll goes live. Please see the request thread.

Please ask if you have further questions. Thanks for contributing to IMDb!