IMDb message boards

I agree, Emilia. The only reason I visit IMDB is to discuss the TV shows and movies I've been watching.It's sad that the administrators are choosing to rip the message boards away from us instead of actually getting off of their rear ends and doing something about the trolls. Apparently, they've never heard of a thing called the FIRST AMENDMENT!Hey, IMDB administrators! Get off of your REAR ENDS and BAN the trolls! Don't punish the good people for what the trolls are doing!!! Your decision is absolutely unacceptable.

FIRST AMENDMENT!LOL

Spread the word, petition going on over 2000 signatures https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/petition-to-keep-the-imdb-messageboards-going

@Col Needham Why do want to shutdown the message boards for please talk to IMDb and tell them to stop you need to stop the IMDb staff the IMDb message are very important to IMDb this is a horrible idea there is a petition too keep them IMDb should too have never come up with this discussion you need to speak too the IMDb before it's too late I spent hours and months on these boards where are all my comments on actors actresses and movie boards going to go and what will replace once IMDb has shutdown the message boards I am not coming back.

I agree,too, Emilia, as many other sites do that..I do copy and paste material onto my own .txt files from there..and THAT"s an IMPORTANT suggestion for you all!

Why can't we create new posts on here now? EDIT: Well, I'll post what I was going to say here, then:Been a member there for over 11 years. I was a regular on the LOST board, and a member of the community there. It was a real community. Two of them got married! The boards are why everyone goes there! It’s all about the board communities, the good and fun conversations! That’s what IMDb is! The boards ARE IMDb! And now they’re going to remove them. 11 years. All those discussions, all those years people have spent there, all those connections people have made, the awesome communities...deleted. Destroyed. Because the out of touch owners of the site think it’s not a “useful experience”. Because of ” data and traffic.” It’s just disgusting and really depressing. They’re removing a staple of my online life. Of so many people’s lives. It’s sort of like when facebook removed discussion forums for groups because they wanted it to be quicker and more like a wall, destroying communities then, deleting good, deep conversations where people got to know each other and had valuable experiences. But it’s also that much worse than that because facebook had only existed for a few years then. The IMDb boards have been there since I was 15, and I’ve been posting in and reading them since then. It’s just disgusting.It’s not theirs. That’s the mistake they make. They’re soulless and detached, they just care about shaping “their” site like they want it to be, not even knowing, let alone caring, what they destroy in the process. But it’s not theirs. Facebook groups did not belong to the owners/managers of facebook, and the IMDb boards do not belong to the owners of IMDb. They belong to the communities that are built there, the connections that are made, the worlds that are created. But unfortunately, these owners can destroy worlds, massacre communities, sever connections. That’s what facebook did, and IMDb are now taking that to an unprecedented new level.

Since I don't use Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest or Tumbler (I never even heard of that last one), I guess that lets me out. I'm not very computer savvy but I am familiar with Youtube although I'm not sure how you want me to use it for messages. I guess the party's over. 

I completely agree with those against the idea of closing the Message Boards. I admit that a lot of the message boards (and the Lists!) are full of junk, especially when it comes to anything that is about sex. There is too much obsession with stupid arguments about topics like what is rape or statutory rape, whether a particular actress is "sexy" or is naked in a film, etc., as well as too many personal attacks or trolling, but there is also a lot of worthwhile commentary about interesting trivia and errata surrounding various films (why a film's release was delayed, how some actor got a particular part, what the origins of a film are, etc.). This is especially true of independent, cult, or low-budget films, where information is not as generally widespread or searchable. I often find the comments essential to deciding whether a film is worthy of a viewing or not, or should be skipped/embraced despite generally terrific/terrible reviews and ratings. I suggest instead that IMDB try separating the message boards into topic headings instead. This would allow people to more easily find the commentary they are interested in and put the silly stuff in their own region (like XXX films used to be segregated in video rental stores), and thus just as easily avoided.

I've been an active member for 13 years now and I can confidently say that I will probably never go to the site again if the message boards are closed. It's not that I'll be so angry and boycott it. But that's the only reason I go there now. I can learn everything I get from IMDB on wikipedia or by googling. This is a decision that makes your own site irrelevant to many people, IMDB. You might want to reconsider it.

Its the only reason I am on so regularly... please dont disable this feature. Its a great source/

This is the email I sent to IMDb yesterday:Today, I saw the notice about the closure of IMDb Message Boards. I was in shock. There is no alternative to IMDb Message Boards. When I watch a movie and don't understand something, I just consult these message boards. Reddit does not have posts for every nuance in a single movie. I'm sure you have very precise statistics about how people use your site. But I can tell you one thing that Message Boards affect their preference to use IMDb instead of Rotten Tomatoes & Metacritic in one way or another. One and a half years ago, I started to add Video Game titles to IMDb because Amazon had already acquired the IMDb and I thought Amazon has the resources to keep this site running even during difficult times and so this site can be the archive for future generations to come. I'm a very busy person and I use my very precious time to add titles etc. to IMDb. I don't think the internet is complete without IMDb and its features like ratings, watchlists and message boards among others. You have pointed towards using your Facebook profile to discuss things, but that's not even possible. For the posts to attract related people to answer required answers, it needs to be on the required platform which are the specific IMDb pages for specific movies. I have never posted on the message boards myself because I always have found my answer in previous posts. Maybe that's why you're analyzing your data wrongly. I really want you people to please rethink your decision. Consider running these boards a humanitarian effort. Run these under non-profit funds. Display ads or something, but please don't remove features of literary values like the message boards. Without message boards, IMDb just looks like a Wikipedia page. There is no other alternative to IMDb and that IMDb includes its precious message boards. Please show this message to higher authorities! Thank You.

"We regret any disappointment or frustration IMDb message board users may experience as a result of this decision."I can't help thinking this quote were true they'd have sought feedback from their users and looked for a better solution then dumping the whole thing! Twitter and Facebook don't lend themselves to conversation like these forums do. Badly done!

Message boards aren't perfect but they are one of my favorite features at IMDB. I will probably just use Wikipedia if they go away.

The removal of the IMDB message boards is one of the most absurd and short sighted decisions I've seen in a long time. I will no longer use IMDB, and judging what I've seen online and through social media, many others will abandon IMDB as well. What's next? McDonald's doing away with Chicken McNuggetts? What a stupid thing to do!

I agree...its one of the things that makes the site actually feel "alive".  Without it the site will be boring and I would use it much less, it will feel like a lifeless cardboard cut out without it.  Why remove it ?   Please reconsider IMDB.  If you need a moderator I would be glad to do it for free, as well there are probably other people more than willing to volunteer.  Up/down votes generally allows users to sort things out themselves and get rid of any over the top posts while leaving everything else, as it should be.  Come up with a different system maybe, fine, ...but I implore you to please...do not remove it completely. 

Bad idea ... bad decision! Is it just the "trolling" that is causing this? If so, get ready to shut down all your other forums. Trolling is a part of life (unfortunately), but, if your skin isn't thick enough, you shouldn't be on here anyway! Tho we ask you to reconsider, we know you won't because, let's face it ... if you don't have to keep up with them, it's less of a job. And since you didn't ask us in the first place, it's obvious our opinions mean nothing!

HORRIBLE DECISION!!!!!!!!!  Where do we go now to talk about film and TV with intelligent people?

Soooo sad that you are shutting down your message boards. Going to your message boards after I watch a movie is like going to book club after reading a book! I don't understand how people who love movies could make a decision like this? Don't you want people to appreciate, reflect on, enjoy and discuss movies?? Isn't that the entire point??

Où lire autant de pensées et gens différents ?

Deleting the message boards is a preposterously bad idea and will backfire. They are among the few places one can discuss films past and present and find information difficult or impossible to find elsewhere. The decision will create enormous resentment and IMDb will be abandoned by everyone as the message boards are among its best features. I will certainly abandon it. And no, your facebook presence doesn't serve the same function! DO NOT delete the message boards. It is a decision you will regret!

Once the message boards are gone, I have no more reason to visit the website. I'll also be deleting the app from my iPhone and iPad. Perhaps if others do the same they'll realize what a big mistake they're making. Of course it will be too late. But we can take satisfaction in the "I TOLD YOU SO" moment. 

I have to agree with what's been written already. Aside from researching "where have I seen this actor before?" the message boards were my primary reason for visiting the site. I loved to look up a movie after I'd seen it and see what others were saying about it - what their interpretations were, what they made of this or that moment, etc. I honestly don't know where I'll go to try to find explanations about movies I didn't quite understand once the message boards are gone. It's not possible to post about individual movies on your Facebook page, so that's not going to be useful to me and Pinterest and the others are even less useful.I'm very sad to see you think the boards are no longer "providing a positive, useful experience for the vast majority" of your users.

Col, for me it's still a positive, useful experience. Ask 4chan how to properly handle trolls. They should know.

I, too, agree with so much of what has been said here already.  I will not be posting my personal responses to or intellectual analyses of movies and tv shows on Facebook or anything like that. I deeply dislike Twitter, and I don't even know what the other media are that were mentioned.  I'm an older, retired educator who has been watching movies and tv a long time, and I really like seeing what people who generally know a little something about film have to say about individual works, actors, directors, genres, and so forth.  Some of the boards (like the Horror board) are very lively groups in themselves, made of people who have come to know one another well over time.  On some of the actors' sites, the fans get to know each other and share their experiences as well as their opinions.  These actions give us more than just the act of "reading opinions" from strangers.  You must understand how important some of us feel that these communities are in our intellectual and emotional lives.  This move simply breaks up those lively communities, and that is a shame.Like many others who have posted here, I can't imagine that I will use IMDb after the boards are shut down.  There are so many other places where mere facts can be found, if it is fact-finding that I need.I also can't imagine that it's true that the boards are "no longer providing a positive, useful experience for the vast majority" of IMDb's users-- there has to be some other issue going on.  Is it money?  Do we need to pay memberships to belong to the boards?  I would gladly do this, if that would insure that the Message Boards would continue to live.  It might also cut down on some of the trolling, if that is of concern to anyone, though it is insignificant to me.  I have overlooked scores of trolls, because the other posts are so genuine and valuable to me.While a lot of young people seem to love "social media" in its fast-paced and public glory, there are yet a lot of us who are perhaps older, perhaps young but more thoughtful or studious than the crowd, ready to spend a little more time in order to communicate more genuinely and thoughtfully with one another than the Facebooks and Twitters and such vastly public media allow.  Why take away the venue for that kind of communication?I feel more inclined to post an opinion about a movie at its own message board because chances are that anyone who is reading my post and taking the time to respond is someone who knows something and has something worthwhile to say.  That doesn't always work out that way, but I guarantee it works out more often on IMDb Message Boards than it will on Twitter or Facebook, where a thoughtful comment about a deeper theme or nuance of a film or an actor will undoubtedly be met with scorn and quick put-downs, because that is the nature of those sites.I cannot describe how much the Message Boards have, over my longtime membership at IMDb, enhanced my understanding and enjoyment of movies and tv.  So often it happens that someone will post an alternative analysis that would never have occurred to me in a million years, but this always enlarges my viewpoint and my abilities to form viewpoints. I'd like to think I've provided one or two fresh views to others, as well. It's just not going to happen on Facebook or Twitter.  Well, it's not going to happen with me, anyhow, because I won't be there.  I think many of us are trying to tell you that the majority of people who use Message Boards just don't use Facebook or Twitter.  Maybe you don't care.  But you should, and here's why:I beg the authorities at IMDb to reconsider this heartbreaking change.  Please consider the longtime communities that you are shattering, as well as the forum for education and deeper learning about the arts that you are going to be taking away from those who love media and want to learn more together.  In a time when the US Federal and State governments are seeing less and less value in arts education in the schools, this is a move that will take away yet another source of education in the arts  It will ultimately impoverish the rich and varied responses possible to movies and tv, and by impoverishing the audiences' responses, your move will eventually impoverish those media themselves. 

Half the time I visit Imdb is to read their message boards. Yes there are trolls, but I simply overlook their threads... and they are found everywhere on the internet. So I don't blame Imdb for their posts or existence. 

Please, please, if you all are bound and determined to shut down the boards, archive them. There are many conversations about movies, actors, directors, that have been going on for over a decade here. Many thoughts that have been added to for a very long time. Thoughts started by people who may not even be around any more, but their conversations live on. If you think you must stop those thoughts, at least don't destroy them. You are throwing out the baby with the bathwater here, I guess because you can't or won't moderate these forums to the extent required to keep them civil, but please don't destroy a rich history in the process.

Please do not go through with this horrible idea.  There will be no way of keeping track of messages on all those different social media sites.  Also, not everyone uses Facebook, Twitter, etc.  Housing IMDb message boards on IMDb is the only thing that makes sense.  Please reconsider!!  Thank you!!

Please at least coordinate with the Archive.org to have them archive the boards.   

I agree!!  The message board is the only reason I go to IMBd; without them, there's no point.  I can get reviews of movies anywhere, but to communicate in the field of filmmaking with REAL live people is priceless.  Yes, trolls are a problem, but the people that love the boards are greater.  PLEASE, don't do this.

ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pub/misc/movie...

Well I've already deleted my 12 year old imdb account that I had made probably around 30 posts on average a week with. IMDB is officially off my list of sites I'll visit. I hope others follow suit. Make www.themoviedb.org the new imdb instead.

DON'T DELETE YOUR POSTS! I host www.ChimeIn.co, a browser extension that makes you able to post messages on ANY web pages. So can you on any IMDb pages. We love movies and we can save your IMDb postings into ChimeIn if you want. Let us know: info@chimein.co.

Discontinuing the Message Boards is a terrible decision.The IMDB message boards contain a treasure trove of trivial and inside information about movies and TV shows, often from friends, families, and crew of the media and people involved in production.It's the first place I go to when trying to locate hard to find media, get an explanation about a strange event in the industry, or read informed speculation about upcoming shows or movies.OR, more importantly, to share experiences about my favorites shows and movies with other like-minded fans. These discussion are a delight and have been a favorite activity of mine for years. Sure, there are some trolls ... we get over them.Listen to your users, IMDB. They enjoy the boards. Without them, I'll certainly not visit nearly as often, as I search for answers on other web sites.

Absolutely agree. I love the meandering discussions and have found many movies, directors and actors (even whole genres) through the most off hand comments as well as direct recommendations. Its akin to chatting down the pub. I don't want or need a twitter or facebook account, and am not going to let google spy on my personal movie preferences by using them to log in, So a very long held and dearly enjoyed daily habit perusing the boards is now over... Trolls bother me not at all, I just ignore them, but fellow cinephiles with a love for everything to do with filmmaking are a joy to read. BAD DECISION IMDB. Very, very disappointed. 

I just found out that IMDB is closing down their message boards, I am so bummed!!! WHY??? It's the lifeblood of the site.Like most people I won't be using IMDB after 2/20 as you can Google their database info and I really only came for the boards (and reviews to a lesser degree). Amazing to see them destroy their own site but I guess the execs at IMDB don't use it.I think this decisions is NUTS. I come to IMDB all the time to read (and write) comments, because often it gives me insight into a character, someone else has a different perspective, I can find out answers to questions, and often people are perceptive and see things that I missed. IMDB has a nice way of nesting questions and answers that the FB format can't do. It's also been a place where I can freely express my views under a pseudonym. And last but not least each comment board is attached to the movie, and conversations can go for days, months and years on one topic. We already know there's no way to archive or search on FB pages, so the continuity and longevity of the comments are lost. I see some misbehaving but nothing too bad, but the commenters for the most part are knowledgeable, and come from all over the wold, which makes the boards that much more interesting.I don't know why you are doing this, it seems totally unnecessary and you will destroy a community built over years. The format lets you hide spoilers, as well. They did this at Huffington Post a few years ago, and the great comment sections were lost. They had tiered levels of participation and the most educated bloggers could pin a post on the comment thread under a story to give their educated take. I got to know many of them and had many friends there. The archival and notification made it easy to find things. Then it disappeared overnight, replaced by FB posts.Unfortunately FB is a mess for organization, and archival, the tools are rudimentary and nonexistent. I can't even search my own page for something that has long since rolled off the screen.You have years of commentary there and since I am a movie buff after you do this I will have no where to go to have those wonderful conversations for movies I haven't seen yet, but plan too. You are really going to just erase a knowledge base that has gathered comments FOR YEARS???? People have also put a lot of time and work into all of these conversations, you are erasing a treasure trove of everyone's efforts over the years to have in-depth conversations. IT IS AN IRREPLACEABLE KNOWLEDGE BASE!!!!!!!YOU'RE JUST GOING TO THROW IT AWAY???? NO!!!!!!!!!!There are always a few trolls but for the most part great conversations go on there. Even if they just stopped comments and kept the archive it would be better than nothing, it drives traffic to their site, I would have very little reason to be there if I didn't go to comment threads after I watched a movie or series to find out what other people were thinking. The reviews aren't the same thing at all, no interaction. I always learn things there, I don't know of any other place that has conversations like this. :-(TWITTER AND PINTEREST WILL NOT REPLACE SMART, IN-DEPTH CONVERSATIONS!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?IT'S BAD ENOUGH WE HAVE TO LIVE WITH 4 YEARS OF A TRUMP ADMIN, NOW YOU ARE GOING TO TAKE AWAY ONE OF MY TRULY ENJOYABLE ESCAPE AND PLEASURES IN LIFE?Even TCM does not have an active, involved community like this. All of that knowledge and hard work, insights and thoughts, just erased?????

I just found out that IMDB is closing down their message boards, I am so bummed!!! WHY??? It's the lifeblood of the site.Like most people I won't be using IMDB after 2/20 as you can Google their database info and I really only came for the boards (and reviews to a lesser degree). Amazing to see them destroy their own site but I guess the execs at IMDB don't use it.I think this decisions is NUTS. I come to IMDB all the time to read (and write) comments, because often it gives me insight into a character, someone else has a different perspective, I can find out answers to questions, and often people are perceptive and see things that I missed. IMDB has a nice way of nesting questions and answers that the FB format can't do. It's also been a place where I can freely express my views under a pseudonym. And last but not least each comment board is attached to the movie, and conversations can go for days, months and years on one topic. We already know there's no way to archive or search on FB pages, so the continuity and longevity of the comments are lost. I see some misbehaving but nothing too bad, but the commenters for the most part are knowledgeable, and come from all over the wold, which makes the boards that much more interesting.I don't know why you are doing this, it seems totally unnecessary and you will destroy a community built over years. The format lets you hide spoilers, as well. They did this at Huffington Post a few years ago, and the great comment sections were lost. They had tiered levels of participation and the most educated bloggers could pin a post on the comment thread under a story to give their educated take. I got to know many of them and had many friends there. The archival and notification made it easy to find things. Then it disappeared overnight, replaced by FB posts.Unfortunately FB is a mess for organization, and archival, the tools are rudimentary and nonexistent. I can't even search my own page for something that has long since rolled off the screen.You have years of commentary there and since I am a movie buff after you do this I will have no where to go to have those wonderful conversations for movies I haven't seen yet, but plan too. You are really going to just erase a knowledge base that has gathered comments FOR YEARS???? People have also put a lot of time and work into all of these conversations, you are erasing a treasure trove of everyone's efforts over the years to have in-depth conversations. IT IS AN IRREPLACEABLE KNOWLEDGE BASE!!!!!!!YOU'RE JUST GOING TO THROW IT AWAY???? NO!!!!!!!!!!There are always a few trolls but for the most part great conversations go on there. Even if they just stopped comments and kept the archive it would be better than nothing, it drives traffic to their site, I would have very little reason to be there if I didn't go to comment threads after I watched a movie or series to find out what other people were thinking. The reviews aren't the same thing at all, no interaction. I always learn things there, I don't know of any other place that has conversations like this. :-(TWITTER AND PINTEREST WILL NOT REPLACE SMART, IN-DEPTH CONVERSATIONS!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?IT'S BAD ENOUGH WE HAVE TO LIVE WITH 4 YEARS OF A TRUMP ADMIN, NOW YOU ARE GOING TO TAKE AWAY ONE OF MY TRULY ENJOYABLE ESCAPE AND PLEASURES IN LIFE?Even TCM does not have an active, involved community like this. All of that knowledge and hard work, insights and thoughts, just erased?????

Being a member for 12 years, I can tell you that my second stop on any Imdb page is often the message boards. They are the heart of the site.You cannot discuss movies on fb or else. I never went on your pages there. When I first saw Shutter Island, I discussed it a lot with my husband (friends later). Within an hour I was reading theories on the dedicated Imdb board, discussing it. Some movie fans also pointed at connections to other movies (or books) and with a simple search (or direct movie page links) checked them out on imdb, learned, enjoyed, shared. Even added some movies on my watch list and others on my Dvd wishlist.Tomorrow, how a movie fan will be able to do such? You can't discuss on trivia pages or review pages.I've seen directors discussing with fans there, over weeks, after the release of their movies. Very interesting! This will be lost too.How can we save, for more than a decade for me, of wonderful informations and discussions, in ten days? It's all lost.Boards are outdated? OK then make public archives of the current ones and create new and up to date boards!Trolls? Like everywhere, more moderators, and maybe a new system might be more efficient to get rid of them.What scared me if when you talk about data and traffic. I suspect that the boards doesn't generate money, and someone who doesn't care at all about movies decided to cut it.Without boards imdb will be frozen in time, a dead shell. These boards contains heavy movie fans discussions you won't find anywhere else, cast and crew insights and so much more. All trashed because they doesn't generate money?!So why preserving old movies, early silent movies?you can let them hit the dust because you won't get any money from these either.Don't you think that generations to come would be interested in firsts gatherings of movie fans from all around the world, discussing movies together?Is that worthless to you?Many movies were lost because back then they didn't think it was worth preserving it.Will you tell future generations that you trashed a piece of cinema history because it didn't make (enough) money? Good luck with that.No real movie fans would delete these boards.

The announcement of the killing of the IMDb messageboards contains the astonishing statement: "IMDb is passionately committed to providing innovative ways for our hundreds of millions of users to engage and communicate with one another". What a mind-blowing contradiction! "Adding insult to injury"...

Awful decision. Get rid of the News section instead, that's just an endless clutter of USELESS and repetitive information. The message boards are the best place for people to have discussions and voice their opinions of a movie or show. That's where I get my news from regarding a show. NOT THE NEWS SECTIONI'm not sure which executives and board members decided this but it is a pure and utter garbage decision. It's like when someone disables comments on their YouTube video. It takes away from the users experience. You guys need to re-examine your brains.I'm getting fed up with Amazon and its owned entities make irrational decisions regarding video media.

Very well said, Isabelle! I sincerely hope the person(s) responsible read your comments at minimum, because you truly summed up how the Message Boards are the "magic glue" holding IMDb together as a public treasure. Without it, it will become just another advertising site. I wouldn't be surprised if the big bosses took on an overpaid consultant to monetize the site further. The majority of those wing-nuts know more about football and light beer than they do about cinema. What an utter waste. It's ALWAYS about getting MORE MONEY. Period.

Now that we know that IMDb has decided to disrespect its customers closing the message boards let's find a way to "hurt" them the most: Closing our accounts massively? Not entering the site ever again? Complaints to IMDb advertisers?

I have been an IMDB member for 16 years and started visiting the site years before that.  I love that I have one place where all the movies I have seen I can rate, I can keep track of movies in the future that I want to see, especially foreign films which I can't always keep track of when they come out in North America.  The other BIG reason I love IMDB is because this is where people go to discuss movies and your KILLING it, this is unbelievable.  Where shall I go to find out what people thought really happened at the end of 12 Monkeys, NOT IMDB.  Where shall I go to find what people thought happened at the end of Repo Man or Inception, NOT IMDB.There are a number of changes you have made to the site over the years that have been terrible mistakes.  For example I want to leave a comment on one of the news articles, while you made people get Facebook accounts for that.  Maybe I don't want to broadcast my views about an article all over Facebook.  Another example is when you did a site revamp a number of years ago and got rid of the movie articles on other websites that were posted 3 quarters of the way down the main  IMDB page.  I can't count how many other websites you turned me onto.  Now the only news you post is from People or Variety.You also said this option is only used by a few people, this is an absolute lie. For example I just went to the Lego Batman movie to see how many threads were there for a new movie.  The "hardly used message boards" had just about 200 threads for a brand new movie.I would like to tell you that I would not come to your site any longer but that would be a lie.  I have way too much time invested in my ratings, reviews and comments from 20 plus years of coming to this site to give it up.I will say one thing I will be spending a hell of a lot less time on your site. I know you are probably doing this to save money (firing people who patrol boards) but the worst thing you did was let the TROLLS win.  Good for you IMDB we all lose because of a few bad apples.Killing the discussion and discourse about movies is a massive mistake on your part.  I am sure that your paying clients who get free discussions directly from the people who pay for their product will let you know that you have made a mistake and hopefully you will backup the data and start the message boards back up in the future.Chris V

People want to know what to do.  I can help.  IMDB is owned by Amazon.In 1998, Jeff Bezos, founder, owner and CEO of Amazon.com, struck a deal with Needham and other principal shareholders to buy IMDb outright for approximately $55 million and attach it to Amazon as a subsidiary, private company.I just wrote Amazon and informed them that I will no longer be purchasing products from their fing corporation and that I will let as many IMDB users that I can to stop buying their products.  I know I have only spent hundreds of dollars on their site over the years but the only thing IMDB and Amazon understand is money.  So kick them right in the MONEY SACK.

I know this seems to be a trend with websites getting rid of comment sections and forums.  The one that effected me the most was when TSN (Canadian sports broadcaster) got rid of all comments on their whole site.  What did I do I started to go to Rogers Sports Net where there are tones of comments on all their news articles and I can keep up to date on the sports rumour mill and get the lowdown on what other people think of moves that my teams are making.  I rarely go to TSN any more because the stories are only part of the reason for going there.I am not saying that I will stop visiting IMDB, I will be visiting your site a lot less from now on and I will stop buying products from your parent company Amazon.  That is really what people should do.

Dear Col Needham ~ "As part of our ongoing effort to continually evaluateand enhance the customer experience on IMDb, we have decided to disable IMDb'smessage boards..." What can that possiblymean? How on Earth can disabling a service to customers "enhance thecustomer experience"??  I trust that IMDb's decision makers are becoming aware ofthe protests from faithful members, concerning the decision to discontinue the Messageboards,and that they will give very seriousconsideration to this feedback. See for instance the numerous commentsappended to the petition at:   https://www.change.org/p/imdb-stop-imdb-from-disabling-the-message-boards  There are many web sites available for those who want toread reviews, consult cast lists, find biographical details of directors,actors, producers, etc. IMDb does an excellent job of all that, but that is not what makes IMDb unique. I know of no otherinternet forum where movie enthusiasts can get to know each other, exchange opinions and have thought-provoking discussions, not only about recent"mainstream" movies but also old classics, movies by independentfilm makers and obscure but fascinating films. ("Social networks" suchas Facebook and Twitter are woefullyinadequate for this purpose, for obvious reasons...)  The explanation given for closing down this (for me and for many others worldwide) irreplaceablefeature is: "IMDb's messageboards are no longer providing a positive, useful experience for the vastmajority of our more than 250 million monthly users worldwide." That isridiculous. It is possibly true that only a "small but passionatecommunity of IMDb users" actually poston the discussion threads; but what about the far greater number of users whoonly rarely contribute to thediscussions but nevertheless readthem and acquire valuable information from them? For those users theMessageboards have been the heart and soul of IMDb for many years. They deserverespect. According to Wikipedia, "Col Needham also mentioned ina post some months earlier that the boards received less income from ads, andthat their members only made up a very small part of the website's visitorsplus the fact that the boards were costly to run due to the system's age anddated design, which did not make much sense businesswise." Then why not upgradethe system's outdated design? Maybe, as claimed, "the boards receivedless income from ads", but if the IMDb web site loses visitors (as it surely will!) because of the absence of this uniquely valuable feature, theincome from ads will be depleted. That, to me, does not "make much sensebusinesswise"! Why not introduce a fee for accessing the Messageboards?(which would not only bring in revenue from this irreplaceable feature,it would also eliminate much of the trolling and silliness that plagues some ofthe discussions - especially those relating to recent popular movies).  On behalf of the thousands - perhaps millions - of IMDbusers who are shocked and dismayed, I earnestly request you: please think again. Don't "throwout the baby with the bathwater". Best wishes ~ Eric Lord (member since 2006)

The fact imdb in its announcement implies (even directly states) that the FB page and the like (which are not even categorized by title) are substitutes for these boards shows just how utterly clueless (and/or careless) are the people involved in this decision.

Amen! I've used the MB on here for over a decade and NEVER once thought about using their FB page or a substitute. Why would I ? Can you create your own topic on FB? How hard would it be to find something on FB? Like looking for people that had an "odd" question? It must be just message after message with no continuity regarding subject matter pertaining to the film...or posts about Trump or whatever randomly appearing. I like the idea of telling Amazon that I'm cancel my Prime Membership. Don't use it that much, anyways..

I agree. I never use any other site than IMDB to talk about films. It's so simple... look up that specific film, scroll down to message boards, and read/write. That's it. Once they remove the message boards I'll ... I don't know. I won't be coming back to this site. It rarely has any other purpose. 

I visit imdb to read the message boards about a film or actor I'm currently watching on tv. It was easy to see and discuss things on these topics. A one size fits all Facebook page is just idiotic. There are bad posters everywhere. Always has been, always will be. Trust that the intelligent people are smart enough to overlook the garbage and read only the relevant messages. I guess imdb wants to fade away like MySpace. I have no need to go there once the message boards are gone. Another service will see the opportunity to fill the void and take their place, but they won't have the 15 year history of messages. YouTube, Facebook, twitter, news sites, etc all have bad posters. Who cares??? Should we shut down everything where an opinion can be offered? Good God that sounds like a boring place to be.

IMDb has shirked its duty to properly monitor their message boards for many years &  lazily allowed trolls to destroy what they refused to protect. It's sad that they gave up without even a real fight. One of the unique features that IMDb had to offer was allowing fans to discuss a movie they have just watched & finding answers to trivia questions that have popped up, such as "who does that actor remind you of" or the famous & enjoyable "Delete your post xxxx style." There are plenty of sites to read movie reviews or actor bios, IMBd is one fish in a big ocean as far as that goes.Bad decision by IMDb to shoot themselves in the foot & maybe they'll wake up & figure out how to host a message board that is beneficial to the public & their pocketbooks.

I have been an IMDB member for nearly 20 years. I discovered IMDB through a search I did on afledgling site at the time called Google (you may have heard of it). I lovedmovies but for some personal reasons I elected not to attend cinema theaters.Instead I purchased or rented movies as soon as they came out (rememberBlockbuster?) At the time, IMDB was my favorite place to see box office numbersto get a sense of audience reception for new releases. After a few years IMDB introduced the message boards we havetoday (and that will disappear very shortly). While far from being the firstmessage board, they were revolutionary in being able to provide an organizedplatform for such a mass user base to share their opinions in direct exchangewith their peers; where every film title had its own dedicated board. I reallyenjoyed seeing the correspondence between cinephiles, some of whom added agreat deal of context on what most others overlooked or simply misunderstood(myself included). It became clear the IMDB boards added an entirely differentdimension of audience reception and pop culture relevance that pure numberscould not convey. Not to mention, around that time BoxOffice Mojo become more popular for those just seeking numbers and facts. Granted there were several types of people that came tothese boards, from the intellectual to the eccentric, one thing they all sharedwas their passion for movies. Yes, that includes the so called “trolls” as well.I think one must accept the fact that anything that gains popularity amongstthe masses will proportionately gain dislike among the few, and there will bethose who elect to vehemently voice their disdainful opinions, perhaps in anattempt to appear nonconformist. Unfortunately, to an outsider the louder voiceof the few may give the false perception that this represents the majority. In connection with this I would like to address the concernsthe owners of IMDB have with respect to shutting down these boards for good.They stated two main arguments to back this decision, the first of which isthese boards are no longer creating a positive user experience for themajority. The latter can be attributed to the aforementioned pretense that “loudness”is proportional to size. As many of the users here have stated, they recognizethere has been an increasingly large problem with trolling, but not to theextent that it requires a complete shutdown. If it is that bad, I’m sure thosethat are sensitive to such exchanges should elect to abstain from the boardsthemselves. In my opinion, compared to the level of vitriol in the commentssection of most popular YouTube videos, it is Disneyland here. The second argument they have is that user activity hasdulled with respect to the level of interaction on other social media platformslike their Facebook page. Moreover, supposedly it is only a “passionate few”that cling to this seemingly archaic platform when there are far more updatedoptions. Of course, they would encourage this view since those alternativesessentially come at no added cost. I understand from a business perspective thismakes sense, but I wonder if this decision would hurt future traffic. How exactlyis traffic being measured anyway? Does it include those who read, but do notpost? Does it include the cumulative traffic from the smaller boards? Does itinclude those that archive threads and view them offline due to intermittentinternet access (I have done this)? Certainly, the latter cannot be accountedfor. I have seen at least two petitions to revoke this decisionand one of them reached 10,000 within a few days. This is a petition that hadno paid advertisement whatsoever and was simply being passed by word of mouthon these boards. Someone posted earlier that the Lego Batman movie had over 200new threads not long after the release of the movie. Each thread housing hundreds,if not thousands, of unique comments from a massive user base. I fail to seehow this represents a “small but passionate community.” Facebook could possibly replace the mainboards (imdb.com/boards),but what about the individual boards for each movie and TV show? More so for thoseclassic or even obscure films and shows that are likely not currently trending.It is difficult to meet and connect with those interested in communicating on avery specific topic in a general platform like Facebook. The IMDB founder mentioned looking at all the alternativesbefore having no choice but to come to the conclusion they have. They alsohinted at a new method of contact coming soon. I shudder at the thought thatthis “new and improved” system suggests some sort of paid subscription likeIMDB Pro. This seems all the more likely considering how IMDB has chosen not towait for the new messaging system to implemented first. Would it not make senseto do so to ease the transition? Surely in the age of freemium socialplatforms, one cannot directly charge for digital communication? Or can they? I hope I am wrong about the latter. But regardless, thereare several options that I can think of that perhaps might solve this dilemmaor at least come to some sort of middle ground. Which of the following do youthink is the most practical solution? If one in particular is favored, I willforward it to the IMDB CEO (Col Needham) directly. In fact, I encourage many ofyou to do the same. I know some of you may think this is futile, but as long asthe chances are not non-zero, I say it is worth a shot! Anyway, let us get tothe options: 1.      Connect every movie and TV show with anindividual Facebook page. This may seem laborious, but this can be automated. Inthis case, all posts would be housed on Facebook, but tied to the individualmovie and TV titles on IMDB via automated hashtags. In other words, the messageboards would be replaced with posts from Facebook for each individual title.This would not allow posting organized subtopics like the current system, but issignificantly better than nothing. The other negative here is that some mayprefer not to show their posts on their Facebook page. This, however, can besolved by configuring one’s Facebook settings. 2.      Freeze the boards as is. Nothing new getsposted, but at the same time what we have is preserved. Not the best solution,but at least for those less popular boards with older posts we can retain someof the more intellectual and insightful exchanges. 3.      Find volunteer administrators to cover as manysections of the board as possible; divide them alphabetically, by genre,period, new releases, etc. I can guarantee there would be many who would bemore than willing to take this position. Even by IMDB’s admission, this is apassionate community. As such, there would be a selection process to find thosethat would be the most suitable to do this work on a long-term basis. Wikipediais already doing this with much success. Arguably, Wikipedia is far moredifficult to manage from an administrative perspective due to its rapid growthand colossal level of changes (trolling included) over the entire site. I canonly imagine the same kind of administrative work would be more easilyaccomplished for the IMDB boards. 4.      Also similar to Wikipedia, make the boardssupported through donations. Those that donate would be indicated as such byhaving a medal or something similar attached to their name. Perhaps they mightalso be given access to exclusive content or at the very least more emojis orsomething along those lines to give extra incentive (I know that’s laughable,but you catch my drift). If nothing else, I’m sure this would at least ease thefinancial burden of maintaining the boards and over time make them more economicallyviable. 5.      Display more advertisements directly within theboards. Currently there is one ad each at the top, bottom, left and right ofthe forums. The ads on the sides don’t change as one scrolls vertically.Usually I only see two unique ads at most. Granted sponsors probably paid extrafor this coverage, but there is still a lot that can be done with amount ofavailable “real estate.” I’ve seen sites that plaster different ads all overthe site. I know this would be horrible from a user perspective, but if this iswhat will save the boards, then so be it. 6.      Integrate Amazon purchases. It boggles my mindwhy Amazon ads aren’t as well integrated into the boards, considering they ownIMDB. I recall seeing some Amazon ads in the distant past, but nothing as oflate. It would be reasonable to assume they are making more money fromsponsored ads rather than displaying their own. But it wouldn’t be difficult tointegrate a particular movie title that has already been released on DVD, forexample, right into its specific board. For instance, a simple hyperlink couldbe attached to the main title or title image that leads to the purchase of thatmovie on Amazon. This would not takeaway from the existing advertising realestate in the least. Also, when visiting a particular actor’s page, the Amazonlinks to his/her latest movie could be integrated. With 250 million monthlyIMDB users, I can’t imagine the type of sales these strategies couldpotentially lead to. I thought of these suggestions independentlyin one sitting, so I’m sure there are oversights, mistaken assumptions and thelike. I hope that you can overlook those falsities so long as they do notcontend with the main point that I tried to express. Moreover, having writtenthis into the early hours of the morning, perhaps there are some spelling and grammaticalerrors. Rather than arguing over the minor details like semantics, let’s workon coming up with a plan of action together. Again, please let me know whichof the above sounds the most feasible to you. Perhaps you have a bettersuggestion? Of course, the best solution is to change nothing and keep theboards, but we know that’s not happening. If I see one particular point beingfavored a lot, I will do my best to contact the CEO and founder of IMDBdirectly. I don’t know if it will work, but we’ll see. If none of the above are feasible,then I request all the trolls to please do their thing on the Facebook andTwitter pages of IMDB. Let’s see if these social media platforms will ban IMDB!(Okay, the last part was a joke! J) This is my first and perhaps lastpost from this account. I sincerely hope on seeing you active on these boards comeFebruary 20.

Stupidest & Saddest business decision ever made to date byIMDB, is ending the Message Boards. "Burning" this Great Library willrecoil in burning your own house down, alas. The main, & for some, the onlyreason to get on IMDB  are for thoseMessage Boards. Interpretation of Media Arts just stepped back into the darkestof ages, in a land where "free speech" is clearly no longer prized...Shame is upon you, IMDB.... You didn't even ask/request alternate meansto retain this vast Sum of Knowledge, just posted a notice and expected peoplenot to care.Yet We Care.For some, it is the database for in-depth research that makes for trueeducation in the modern Media Art world. Discussing the Great Ideas brought tothe Fore in the medium of Film is what makes minds gain the growth called Learning,and is of tremendous value, yea, irreplaceable value. ~That discussion of Ideasis a part of what makes us Civilized.~ Yet, You, IMDB Elite Decision-Makers,now take the next step for all of us into our descent of becoming more andmore: *Technological Barbarians.* Yep. Overturn Your Decision; Take the Heat and Confess Where You’re Wrong, and WeAll will Praise you for it in the end. Do it not, and this travesty will be onyour heads throughout history. Clif

If you ́re angry/dissapointed with IMDb decision of closing the boards, please don't give them what they like most: $$$ after they close the message boards. That means not contributing (rating, reviewing, etc) or even visiting the site anymore. I hope that sites like themoviedb grow (for its individual movie database) or any forum you choose as well. And I hope this site regret its lack of respect for the customers that made it big

I hate this decision.  IMDb's message boards were my first playground on the internet and continues to be a favorite.  There are so many others users I got to know through messaging and posts on various films.  Without the message board you are basicly another Wikipedia and I will seldom, if ever, use the site.  I plan to spend tonight visiting some of my favorite film conversations one more time.  Farewell IMDb, you have lost your usefullness and your relevance to this long time fan.

I will be creating an Imdb forum @ theimdbforum.com this week. There is hope yet Imdbers. This is terrible

IMDb is dead to me, now. The message board content that they've axed is gargantuan and irreplaceable. Screw them.

See how this discussion thread is full of racist, horrible trolls? /sarcasmYou, Col Needham, fail to recognize the good conversation IMDb's message boards fostered. You're effectively throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and that's a horrible idea. You clearly have no idea what your users want, and it's not inane polls and sharing movie star ratings. It's talking about films with other people. There is absolutely no reason for someone not in the film industry to have an IMDb profile any more. None. Instead of facing the problems of your aging yet still useful discussion boards, you ran away using falsehoods and corporate-speak to excuse yourselves. Nobody is buying that. If you're going to be a coward, at least have the decency to be honest about it.

I came to imdb for cast lists. But would intently read the message boards, finding reviews. Critiques. Fun facts. I will no longer use this site. Wikipedia provides the same information IMDb has. The comment section was IMDb draw, it was the first place I'd go after watching a film or seeing an extraordinary performance. I loved seeing what other film enthusiasts had to say.

Message boards were the main reason I came to IMDB. Practically worthless to me now. I will no longer use the site. 

This is so depressing.  This site has many intelligent forum posters and reading their analysis on movies and the knowledge they shared on the message boards was the main reason I visited IMDB to begin with, everything else was secondary.  Hey IMDB, if you are concerned with the racist/political posts, how about banning the offenders instead of punishing everyone?  Many people came to the message boards to talk strictly about film/tv shows.  Seems like you are punishing everyone for bad behavior exhibited by a small percentage.  Your announcement is corporate BS by the way.  No reason to to come to this site now cause Wikipedia has all the information I need. 

THANK YOU IMDB!!!!! The message boards should have been shut down ages ago. The defamatory posts usually came from pimple-faced trolls, fired crew members, anti or pro agenda people, or just jealous, vindictive people. 

LOL ... 'pimple-faced trolls'...... TRUE.... Hahahaha!!!!!

Will a mod delete this spam please.

I totally agree. What's the reason to continue being signed in IMDb? We were given the possibility to tell our opinion on a film/person, to exchange opinions, to ask information etc.Yes, shutting down the message (discussion) boards is the worst idea IMDb could have. I do not care for PM, but disabling public discussion on films/persons is absurd.

The creation of the message boards was the most innovative feature of this site. The deletion of it the most short-sighted and ignorant decision ever. Reading the announcement tells me the story of a CEO with no understanding of multi-channel messaging (and social media) and the difference to community boards. What an ill-instructed way to see so many years of wisdom, valuable information, good laughs, dramatic and intelligent discussions go. So am I. Closing my loyal account after so many years. RIP IMDB

RIP IMDb message boards. I created an account just to post this on this board (oh the irony) and further irony is that I have logged on for the first time to say that this is the last time I ever will use IMDb. You see, like most people, the message boards was the only reason I kept coming back for more than a decade.I'm glad to see there are a great number of great film lovers and experts out there that are as enraged about this as I am. I will sign all the petitions. I am also relieved to hear that all these great people (which provided all the content and lifeblood for the site) have migrated to other sites to keep the flame of film knowledge burning brightly elsewhere. It is sad after all our years of loyalty to see this once happy place turn into a empty soulless Hollywood billboard full of shill snowflakes who'll cry wolf for a measly Buck. It is also unsettling to see the posthumous slur campaign of websites eagerly tarring us all with the same troll brush. "Infamous IMDb boards" hardly! You may have nincompoops on the Pirates of the Caribbean or Guardians of the Galaxy page but hardly a raised voice on the "Now Voyager" / "L'avventura"/ "Watership Down" boards. Just because someone scrawls graffiti on the outside walls of the library doesn't mean to say it will be daubed all over the anthropological shelves or the comic strip section. Trolls rarely stroll far from their garden gates which would be the home page.I cannot help thinking this is more than about the inability to monetarise the boards or some massive film producing conglomerate crying over bruised feelings or bruised box office returns when trashy sequels are dutifully and rightfully trashed..No I think this is the start of something far more nasty and more insidious than that..I think it is nothing short of cynical censorship of free speech or as someone far more lyrical than I said the deletion of "a decade of ordinary people's discussion of film from the 21st century"Personally I wouldn't want to go down in history for doing that.TheImdbforum.. Here we all come

i've been a member for the last 9 years or so and have interacted with a lot of other people on those boards. there were important information like links, names etc. that are gone now. seriously what the fuck? this is terrible. and it was also a place to talk about movie plots, theories and talking about actors. so, many people contributed, wrote great awe inspiring posts and now it's all gone. i can't believe this

Holy cow! I'm too busy laughing at the ridiculous statement given over their decision to take down the boards to get angry yet! As I read the statement, I was amazed at how these company suits really believe the BS they come up while thinking they have a clue about the real movie fans wishes! These people are unbelievable! I cannot wait to hear the next dribble that comes out of their mouths to explain the tremendous amount of backlash they've received over this stupid decision! The honest truth is that they only know JACK and SHIT about us movie fans, and JACK left town!!

Holy cow! I'm too busy laughing at the ridiculous statement given over their decision to take down the boards to get angry yet! As I read the statement, I was amazed at how these company suits really believe the BS they come up while thinking they have a clue about the real movie fans wishes! These people are unbelievable! I cannot wait to hear the next dribble that comes out of their mouths to explain the tremendous amount of backlash they've received over this stupid decision! The honest truth is that they only know JACK and SHIT about us movie fans, and JACK left town!!

One last thing, as a prediction: After a few months-time, whenIMDb will see the decline in the number of visits, they willthink it again.

Imbd made a big mistake IMO. I used the message boards to ask questions. What ever happened to? Such and such an actor and often members would post information or an obituary. Now I leave the IMBD site and use google for information-- for more information. IMBD should revisit keeping the message boards and or updating or creating a new site or page to post such information. Reconsider the message boards...even if it's a new format.Thanks,George

Terrible decision. I didn't post on them but used them to garner an idea of people's thoughts - good and crazy. It gave real insight. Why remove features?

Probably thought of at least a half dozen times I wanted to go on the message boards this week already and remembered they are not there.  Ughh.I keep at number of tabs open in firefox at a time and for a years the number 1 tab was IMDB and thus I spent a lot of time on the site.  Now I go in look up a specific movie and rate it or look at the trivia and than close the IMDB tab right away.  After I finish this comment I will close the tab.  Soon it will be just too much hassle to come to your site and I will think of IMDB as an old friend that I just don't keep in touch with anymore.  Oh well how can you help a friend who insists on shooting itself in the foot.

Please reinstate the message boards. Why wouldn't you ask users if they wanted them? I surely want them there and used them very often.

terrible imdb is  dead site now

I really miss the message boards.  Although there was a lot of serious discussion about the films, there was also a bit of nonsense.  However, in my opinion the intelligent discussions way outweighed any idiotic comments.  IMDb member's observations & discussions were one of your best features.   

I just finished "Lion" and I wanted to share my deep emotion at the ending but where to go now? IMDb allowed that... now, you finish a movie and well, that's it...

Has anyone found a site to replace IMDB, it seems so useless now without the boards...

MovieChat.org is great lots of people from IMDb are there ..also archived msg boards/threads etc

You will be despised for this, IMDB. This has made many of us furious and will likely never use you again. Management has signed the sites death warrant.

Luna, I had a ball with the boards.  I never acted as a troll.  I just love discussing movies.  

I am as angry as everyone else here, but it is a losing battle. IMDb just wants more money and could care less about the hearts and souls of the folks that made them popular.

Absolutely hate the site now that the message boards are gone.  It was great to go and talk about old movies and find out info that people did not know of. And, to talk about movies we just love.  They could have gotten moderators.  And, to say that they became useless is bull.  The site is not enjoyable any longer. 

Currently I am    werlecar and I was friends with lots of people on here and I forgot to save their email contact infor.   Maybe my friend   Wplains  will see this and send me her email info unless she didn't save her's either.  I'm not liking the fact that the message boards are gone.    So many times I wanted to log on and see what other people were saying about a new movie I just saw etc. 

AGH! I agree! I honestly didn't find it bad for trolling at all. A few crazies here and there (which made it more interesting imo), but not enough to shut it down! Frig, I loved the boards... nearly no reason for me to visit anymore, I may find a new website.

What a loss for many fans. I used the Imdb boards frequently. If I missed a point or nuance in a movie or TV show, I depended on the board for that movie or TV show to clarify storyline. I also enjoyed debating something that occurred in the movie or show. I doubt that I will be using your website anymore. For me, it has lost its primary purpose.

Ugh, I've been trying to figure out how to start a new post on this site, but I'm having trouble so I'll voice my thoughts here.  Besides, I feel the same as everyone else here. ...I've been using IMDb for the last few years almost on a daily basis. Anytime we watch a movie I always enjoyed looking on IMDb and reading the message board.  I love getting other people's opinions, thoughts, or sometimes someone will help clarify something for me if I didn't understand it.  The message boards were a huge reason why I use IMDb. I enjoyed looking up movies, TV shows, and actors. Without the message boards, I really don't know if I'll continue to use the site, what's the point??  ....VERY bad decision to remove the message boards, IMDb.  You've clearly disappointed a great many of us.

I agree wholeheartedly! I can see IMDB will become a very small part of my life now. 

I feel exactly the same way everyone else has already expressed. But I don't believe IMDb cares how we feel. Except for people who pay for membership, we are not important to them. They certainly could have created new rules and a reporting feature that would let them deal with unacceptable posts. And they also could have preserved the existing discussions, without allowing new posts, as some people have suggested. It's not like disk space is so expensive, and it was all text, so give me a break, of course they could have stored those discussions.

BRING BACK THE MESSAGE BOARDS.  YOUR SITE IS CRAP WITHOUT IT. WHAT A STUPID IDEA TO GET RID OF THE MESSAGE BOARDS.  THE ONLY USE IMDB SERVED WAS TO READ VIEWERS MESSAGES AND OPINIONS OF THE MOVIES.  NOW YOUR SITE IS USELESS.

I agree! Bring back message boards!

Seriously might be the dumbest thing I ever seen happen on a popular website. Your traffic is going to be literally non-existent going forward. The Facebook social media page you have has literally no activity at all on it. I don't care how many members it has or the Twitter account etc. What does it matter if they don't spend any time on the pages? Very stupid move. 

Bring back the message boards!!!!

When I read that IMDB decided to remove the forums from their website, I felt like I just got punched in the stomach.The forums have been a great tool to learn more about a film and converse about various positive and negative aspects of a film or other media. That's the main reason I came here. Otherwise my other choice was Wikipedia which essentially retrieved most of it's trivia and other tidbits about the film from not only the main site itself but the forums as well.I would like to find a way to remain engaged in IMDB but for most information from here going forward, I plan to use Wikipedia because IMDB doesn't provide anything beyond what Wikipedia is already providing.I hope that those administering and making decisions regarding IMDB content will at some point reconsider this imprudent decision as it potentially will cause the loss of significant amounts of web-traffic thus reducing ad-based revenue. My thanks goes out to all the fun people I met through the forums and all the great conversations we've had. I think we made a huge impact in the media landscape and I'm sorry to see it all go.I wish everyone the best.Best Regards,Matt Foley

I loved (past tense) IMDB and visited there multiple times weekly to get answers to questions I had about various movies and, more often than not, I found those answers on the message board.  I also enjoyed engaging in discussions with other like-minded people on the boards.  Yes, the trolls were annoying, but, you know, that "ignore user" feature was pretty handy.  A LOT better than just chucking them into the crapper which, to quote Zappa, was the equivalent of curing dandruff with decapitation.Since they did this knowing they were angering millions of their customers the only power I have left is to vote with my mouse and no longer utilize IMDB, which is difficult but not impossible.  I sincerely hope this screw-up takes them down a few notches - they deserve it.

Yep, killing a fly with a cannon, exactly. Maybe Rotten Tomatoes'll pick up the gauntlet, and if and when they do, IMDB, you're goin' down...

I have been a member for years of IMDB, and the biggest satisfaction was to read what other members thought of a movie or TV show, or actors in a particular role. I see that "Users Reviews" is still available, but no interconnection involved. Do not like to be compelled to go and join Facebook and etc..to get to intermingle with fans that way. Very Disappointed.

I've been a member of IMDB since 2003 and have written too many hundreds of comments on the message boards to count.  These people don't care how we feel as movie buffs - it is all about what Amazon wants.  This is a stifling of free speech.  We know it and they know it.  I'm wondering whether there is a way to delete my account and reviews from IMDB?

I registered for this site only to leave a comment.  IMDB, this post is directed at you.  I hope that you will read this thoughtfully and consider responding clearly and directly.On the day that I learned you made this decision, I deleted my IMDB account. It was the fastest way to make my statement to you about your decision.There are so many voices on this page rising up to express their dissatisfaction and displeasure with you.  I registered here only to add:It's almost like you doesn't understand your user base.  Movie lovers are diverse: quirky, funny, dark, loveable, brooding, and intelligent.  We LOVE to talk about movies.  We look forward to the discussion, we are passionate, sometimes introverted and thoughtful, sometimes loud and disagreeable.  These are the symptoms of a group that is engaged in its topic.  You had us coming to your site daily, after we watch every movie, to see what others say and to engage in discussion.  This decision cuts out our heart because in one cold post, you told us that you don't know us and that you don't care to know us any better.  You may disagree, IMDB, but no corporate words on a page will convince us otherwise.  It is so disappointing to be engaged in an online community for so long only to find that the name behind the site doesn't know us.  It feels unjust and heartless.  I will close by telling you that your communication around this issue is not acceptable.  The original post you provided does not address our comments and concerns and does not explain satisfactorily the decision.  The additional, laughable, faq is like a knife in the back.  If there ever was a moment for your corporate communications group to step in and help us understand, save your image, engage your users, and show that you are not a corporation but people that also LOVE movies, that was it.  Simply put, you failed.  Don't ignore the voices on this page.  

Col Needham shut down the Message Boards out of cowardice, sheer cowardice. The decision was announced after the fact for the same reason, cowardice. In World War II, the Nazis burned books and closing the Message Boards is no different than that, because of the sheer volume of the contributions that were in there. The decision is contemptible and unforgivable, as you have essentially alienated and enraged your most loyal members and contributors in one cruel stroke of the sword. IMDb has stuck a knife in the back of our humanity, making Needham and IMDb enemies of all that remains good on the internet. They have committed a crime against humanity. I have never been more angry in my life. Boycott IMDb!

I so miss the Message Boards -- there is no place else like it to discuss and/or read about the movies I watch.Roll over the trolls, don't succumb to them!

I have been a member of imdb for 17 years. I wasn't very active, but when I was, it would be on the message boards mostly.I will now delete my account, as I have no use for it, I can perfectly read a user review without logging in....  another once great website turned bad from corporate greed.. .  it's a shame

The Message Board was a big part of the IMDB website and it's amazing the powers could not understand that. Posting on Facebook and Twitter is JUST NOT THE SAME. I've been around long enough to know that these decisions are always based on the bottom line ($). Your site will never be the same, so forget making the long time fan base happy by telling us there are alternatives to the Message Board. By the way I hate FACEBOOK & TWITTER, so I won't be indulging in the IMDB experience in that format. The people who sat in a board room (I'm guessing a bunch of 20 some things) who pondered this dumb move don't understand loyalty or traditions. Good luck in the future as you've annoyed a loyal fan base beyond bonehead move.

90% of my time using IMDB had been spent checking the message boards! I DO NOT want to look up a movie or film I'm thinking about on this now useless site, and then go looking around the Internet for some Reddit thread or some other substandard horseshit substitute!If I wanted to do that, I could just use Wikipedia--which I might do, since you morons have removed so many of the useful features of your site and turned it into Hollywood's Hype Machine!IMDB WAS the one stop location for people interested in films to go and ultimately discuss minute details about specific actors, or episodes of Television shows.If you babies wanted a clean wholesome image, you shouldn't be investing in websites that have social interact and if you didn't want trolls--you could have simply hired more mods!It's not like it was very easy to find the damn boards when you were looking for them, because you buried them--but that's fine, because someone will build a new site that does what IMDB did before it turned into a commercial for Hollywood crap, and sanitized the discourse!Whether you morons realized it or not, the "I" in IMDB stands for "Internet" which is a horrible, angry place--it is NOT for children and people with weak constitutions! If you can't handle trolls YOU CAN BLOCK if you're a depressed actor/actress and got upset because of nasty comments people made about you on here--GET A LIFE YOUR NARCISSISTIC ASSHOLE! Seriously, the sooner you corporate wet blankets wise up and realize you didn't even understand your userbase, the sooner you'll understand WHY people spend less time on your now garbage site and make you LESS MONEY!

I'm so angry they removed the discussions. You're just killing your own site. Already looking for another...

I only registered because I noticed I couldn't find the forum section, thought they made it where I had to register... I used to read them all the time. great source to find out info & get others opinions... I'm very disappointed.... I won't be using IMDB as much as I used to, I'd be willing donate to get it back

The boards were a great tool to find more information and to expand your knowledge about a film.  I used them most to learn about the obscure details of lesser know pictures and to hear other peoples' thoughts and theories.  Trolls will never go away but the knee-jerk response to take away this tool is one of the worst things you can do.  I was pretty pissed to see it disappear.  I'm only forced now to go to other sites that compete with IMDb.  I have not and will not use IMDb's social media.  The message boards weren't as good as they could've been but they served as a great resource for movie fans who wanted to connect with other movie fans.

Agreed.  IMDB is now a worthless site.  I guess some moronic MBA graduate took over and made the decision to cut out the message boards which were the greatest thing about IMDB.

I was just trying to use the message board? Reconsider and bring them back. Twitter or Facebook don't lend themselves to discussion of topics that IMBD was known for.

Livid they removed the message board feature. This site does not replicate the usefulness & ease of the previous boards. This is more like a lengthy comment thread on Facebook that is not specifically associated with one topic. This is a mess of hundreds of threads. The message boards were show and movie specific, easy to browse, and allowed us to avoid spoiler alerts. I'm really angry about this. IMDb was my favorite app/website as I am a TV & Movie Junkie! IMDb is in the top 5 apps I use the most. In the last 24hrs it's #1 and for the last week it's #2! IMDb must provide a new feature that mimics the message boards. Many people, including myself, might not post messages but read them regularly. When my question or thought is already posted, I would have no reason to post again. So we wouldn't show up as a user. So your low % data is not reflective of what's occurring. Many people use the site and boards as visitors as well, not creating a profile. I used the site for yrs before creating a profile 4-5yrs ago to compile a watch list and rate things I've watched. I've posted less than 10x on the message boards in just this past year.

In the first bullet of the Board Closure FAQ, IMDB states that they "in the end concluded that they no longer provide a positive, useful experience for the vast majority of our more than 250 million monthly users worldwide". I can't speak regarding the numbers; but I can strongly state that the message boards definitely provided a positive, useful experience for me!The third bullet states "IMDb remains committed to being the best place to discover entertainment content online and to help you decide whether to watch it.   ...   We feel that these features and the improvements we will make to them will provide a much better experience for our customers in the long term." Well, an IMDB web site without the message boards is definitely not as good of a place as an IMDB without the message boards. How can the other components of the IMDB web site (even with improvements) "provide a much better experience for our customers in the long run" if people can no longer have the type of discussions they want to have on message boards. And don't bring up the other social media sites, because they are not structured to facilitate these discussions as well as the regular IMDB message boards did.It seems to me that the Board Closure FAQ is just another example of "cover your ass" PR propaganda statements.

In the first bullet of the Board Closure FAQ, IMDB states that they "in the end concluded that they no longer provide a positive, useful experience for the vast majority of our more than 250 million monthly users worldwide". I can't speak regarding the numbers; but I can strongly state that the message boards definitely provided a positive, useful experience for me!The third bullet states "IMDb remains committed to being the best place to discover entertainment content online and to help you decide whether to watch it.   ...   We feel that these features and the improvements we will make to them will provide a much better experience for our customers in the long term." Well, an IMDB web site without the message boards is definitely not as good of a place as an IMDB without the message boards. How can the other components of the IMDB web site (even with improvements) "provide a much better experience for our customers in the long run" if people can no longer have the type of discussions they want to have on message boards. And don't bring up the other social media sites, because they are not structured to facilitate these discussions as well as the regular IMDB message boards did.It seems to me that the Board Closure FAQ is just another example of "cover your ass" PR propaganda statements.

Killing the Message Boards was a really stupid move. You've just negated a huge part of what IMDb did well -- connect movie lovers.I suspect that your stated reasoning is horse manure. I suspect it was simple expediency, and an economic decision --- *not* a decision based on what your customers wanted and liked from your site.Someone else is gonna toddle along, and eat your lunch on this one. Y'all screwed up, and you'll discover it soon.

As far as I'm concerned you ruined IMDB by removing the Message Boards. There was so much useful info posted about actors & movies. Now gone. I had 20 years worth of messages thrown away.

You're an idiot, Hornbuckle. Just because one is paid well, doesn't make them insensitive to inequality. 

https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/petition-to-keep-the-imdb-messageboards-going

Signed! :-)

Signed

Over 7,000 signatures in 4 days..

Signed.

8,000 in only 6 days..another petition has 4,000...thats at least 12,000 signatures in 6 days IMDB...the number is just increasing over time..

I just logged in to IMDb to seek open discussions about the 1922 film "Nosferatu" and discovered the IMDb Message Boards are being discontinued. I find that difficult to believe in this modern climate of digital sharing of thoughts and opinions. That is akin to a highway service station deciding they will no longer provide gasoline, just because it is flammable. To simply shut the door with a generic and insulting line, "We regret any disappointment or frustration IMDb message board users may experience as a result of this decision" adds an unprecedented level of insult to the situation and it displays the type of disdain "management" has for IMDb members. I have been coming here for years, in spite of having to create a new Get Satisfaction account to post (the irony does not go unnoticed). The main reason I use IMDb is because I like to read and post in the Message Boards section and now, I feel that I have no more use for this service. I anticipate that the public blow-back from this decision will keep you all at IMDb scrambling to remedy this tragic wrong, which, unfortunately, you may not see coming. I'm glad I won't be using IMDb after February 20th, because it's not likely going to be pretty. 

hey guys. Theimdbforum.com is up and running. We can continue talking about the film and shows we like.

SORRY!!! The message boards should have been shut down ages ago. The defamatory posts usually came from pimple-faced trolls, fired crew members, anti or pro agenda people, or just jealous, vindictive critics who've never made a movie. TRUTH!!! 

Lara, how much does IMDB pay you to copy/paste the same shill junk over and over?

Truthfully, after seeing all the fake reviews being posted on the app in the user reviews, I only have been using the app to find additional info on a movie that I'm considering watching! Reddit really has more than enough info about the movies I like!

reinstate imd board idiots

Without movie fan discussion your website has become worthless for a majority of members.The obviously rigged and bogus ratings and reviews of films on IMDB are useless.I may have not posted very frequently but I found the message boards to be an invaluable source of information and quite entertaining at times.They provided what I consider a invaluable method to discuss classic movies and older cinema.This was a terrible idea to eliminate them. I just as easily can use other sites (ie rotten Tomatoes, Reddit etc) for my movie information now. Please reconsider and bring the message boards back!

Hate to have to go over to Reddit, but you left me no choice IMDB...here I go...

Karen Staten: Regarding your comment "The obviously rigged and bogus ratings and reviews of films on IMDB are useless", I've often wondered about them because it seems odd (or "incorrect") that so many recent films are rated so highly, while many older films that I (and certain film critics and film fans) consider much better are rated lower. I wonder if anyone can provide any hard evidence that this rigging has been occurring. If so, this might be a good time and venue to post it.

Karen Staten: Regarding your comment "The obviously rigged and bogus ratings and reviews of films on IMDB are useless", I've often wondered about them because it seems odd (or "incorrect") that so many recent films are rated so highly, while many older films that I (and certain film critics and film fans) consider much better are rated lower. I wonder if anyone can provide any hard evidence that this rigging has been occurring. If so, this might be a good time and venue to post it.

Me, too. It is the ONLY reason I used IMDB. If someone couldn't recall the name of a show, they could start a thread &, likely as not, someone else could tell them---because this WAS a centrallized gathering spot. 

The petition has over ,5000 signatures already...convince them to reconsider...I agree it is a terrible idea and they will lose much of my support if they proceed.   I will not be discussing movies on a "facebook" page as I do not post on facebook that often, nor do I "follow" many pages on there where there is 0 near interaction, I like to anonymously discuss films with other film lovers and people passionate about film on IMDB.

Hear, hear! Perfectly said!

How do I access the petition?

The announcement stated that the boards were used by a 'small but passionate number' of their members. I call BS, on it being a SMALL #. We just weren't paying members. Have the balls to just say it. 

Indeed....its one of the things that makes the site actually feel "alive".  Without it the site will be boring and I would use it much less, it will feel like a lifeless cardboard cut out without it.  Why remove it ?   Please reconsider IMDB.  If you need a moderator I would be glad to do it for free, as well there are probably other people more than willing to volunteer.  Up/down votes generally allows users to sort things out themselves and get rid of any over the top posts while leaving everything else, as it should be.  Come up with a different system maybe, fine, ...but I implore you to please...do not remove it completely. 

Word! I'd be willing it put in voluntary hours as well to help out. I love these boards. They're the lifeblood of global film discussion! Thanks for speaking out!

I would gladly volunteer as a mod as well to help out!

I'm seriously bummed out that they are going away.

Well I registered here just to comment. I may be late to the party here, but I just found out and I am stunned. IMDB message boards are magnificent as they are, in all their admittedly sometimes profane glory. A message board for nearly every movie and TV show ever made, there's nothing else like it.I'm nearly speechless. Who's idea was this, and why wasn't it discussed? Whose idea was this? It makes no sense to me, and if anyone from IMDB is reading any of this, I am not now nor will I ever be a Facebook account holder. On the other hand, I've had an IMDB account for 17 years.I hope reason prevails and cooler heads can rescind this disastrous decision 

I agree with landon, Amy and Sinatra. I actually thought of the same thing as mentioned in my post above. If Wikipedia, with its significantly more complex site, can run like a fine tuned machine with the help of volunteer staff, I don't see any reason IMDB could not.

New forum @ theimdbforum.com When we get enough folks Moderators will be selected

You would think that after all this time they would have some kind of understanding about this! They are really unbelievable!

Does @theimdbforum.com categorize the comments by film, and then by discussion thread, so you can find the discussions you want to read (and contribute to)? I am not interested in browsing through a stream of random commentary about whatever, in the hope that something I'm interested in happens to be in there somewhere. When I see a movie I want to discuss, I want to be able to go to the site, find the movie, and then join discussions about it. If @theimdbforum.com offers that, then sure, I'd use it. But I did check it out earlier today, and it sure doesn't look like it works that way.

I HATE the removal of the message board. Facebook page does not help at all. How am I supposed to discuss and find info on a specific title? I want to discuss certain movies and Facebook just has everything lumped together with no system BRING THEM BACK! I feel so lost!

Exactly.  I have had a total of zero interesting discussions on FB regarding film/tv whereas they happen every hour at the imdb.  Because people that come to imdb generally care about films and tv.

Agreed , petition going 2000+ strong https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/petition-to-keep-the-imdb-messageboards-going

I know it won't make a difference but I'll be unsubbing from their Facebook and Twitter pages and I urge others to do so if this shit flies.

If they wanted to get rid of trolls, all they had to do was charge a moderate fee per year. Let's say 25 dollars to be charged on a credit card. Trolls can at present easily come up with new email addresses and even cell phone numbers to register there. Some have as many as 40 concurrent accounts. I'm sure they don't have 40 credit cards and they're not about to spend 25 dollars for each new account at IMDb.Note - they could always refund the yearly fee through Amazon purchase credits to be redeemed after a six month period. The point is to nail users to a credit card to minimize trolling and also have legitimate addresses on file should a legal need arise. One person per credit card - that raises the number of potential customers to be led to Amazon for purchases.  

That is completely short-sighted in a business sense, maybe they can't monetize it, but who's going to see the ads on IMDB if many of us have no reason to spend time there anymore?Also you can't "monetize" good will. This creates a lot of good will and what they are doing is destroying that. It's such a hamhanded move.

Well if enough people complain and make their voices heard they may be forced to implement some newer version in the future, or even better, just leave it as it is.   Already 7,000+ signatures on 1 petition so clearly people want this and the bad PR...might not be worth it for them if people keep letting their voices be known...corporations will do whatever they want to make money.  The only time they won't...is as Bernie Sanders would say...people speak up and let their voices be known.  IMDB will lose a huge amount of support if they do it....so...lets make sure they realize the mistake this would be.  Are you listening IMDB ?  Make the right decision...

Absolutely right! DO NOT KILL THE MESSAGE BOARDS!

Exactly. I just come from the arrival board after having seen the movie. The discussions on time paradoxes are really interesting.

It can't, with IMDB we can go into obscure movies and series that few have seen and share our fan theories with people that actually have seen it and discuss it in great detail. On facebook we can only discuss the latest hippest thing and not that in much detail. IMDB taking down the messageboards is like pissing in the faces of independent filmmakers that don't have a big studio backing them up. There is a petition https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/petition-to-keep-the-imdb-messageboards-going

Indie film crews, directors and actors often show up on the boards to answer questions and give invaluable insight into how and where the films were made.  Losing this, is just a travesty.  I did sign petitions, but I don't know if it will do any good. 

20+ years of data!!!! It's like burning up a library! Maybe not exactly the library at Alexandria, but it's just blatant destruction of a very useful data source and research tool. 

I don't know, Wendy. The volume and quality of the data lost will be just about as irreplaceable as that from Alexandria.

Good on you!  Alexandria was the first example I mentioned.

The online film archive is still there. All the relevant information about how a film is made is still there. The Message Boards were not relevant to film productions or about film production companies that make and produce films. All that we saw was public opinions which had nothing to do with the actual production of a film.If the Message Boards were relevant in this context, then you would've seen  production meeting minutes of the various departments being posted there.Public discussions are great on a forum based platform, not on an archival platform like IMDb is.If the IMDb Administrators wish to revive the Message Boards, they should do so on a phpBB forum based platform.I for one am glad that IMDb is back to a format that's similar to that of Wikipedia... Relevant contributions and no public opinions.

I'm glad you're glad that the place became as fun as a morgue. Why don't you care about these elements :- many users registered because of the message boards, you didn't need to be a member to have all the data, so if IMDb has such a huge membership, it's thanks to the boards- discussing about movies was exactly what generated the traffic that was responsible for IMDb's success, do the simple math, if I need IMDb for the data, I'm likely to spend 5 minutes and that will be all, I can stay connected for three hours if it's for discussion. I'm no expert but are you saying that the 5 minute option is better?- there were not just public opinions (that's spoken like someone who never went on the boards), people shared their knowledge, they analyzed the movies,  answered questions, they provided insights of unique and constructive value and you're throwing it in the trash bin just because it's not objective and neutral data?- movie lovers care about what critics think but they also care about what other movie fans think, it's the whole purpose of the IMDb community, it's about turning a passion into a collective not an individual experience, that's what forums are about, and why shouldn't IMDb provide that service while it did for more than a decade? Why fix something that isn't broke?You're glad IMDb is back to a format like Wikipedia, but now, you can't even tell the differences between the two, Wikipedia is as much a databse as IMDb, so I don't get how you can be glad that IMDb has lost the one added value it had.

theimdbforum.com is up guys. A Message Board that will not be going anywhere.

The point of IMDb is that it is a film and television resource library. It's also a resume site for talent and technicians, whereas the Pro site is more for corporate production listings, yeah individuals list their CV's there too, but the general idea is that IMDb is a professional site which has value to film crew members. Corporate film production companies are not going to go to Facebook or other social media sites looking for crew members' resumes or reels. (Yeah, Facebook has this little thing called copyright issues about posting reels). So yeah, IMDb is very important to crew members and has great value as it's recognized in the industry.As for message boards, this sister site is already set up for it. And yeah I get that people are upset that they lost their messages and it is unfortunate, but like it or not, everyone has to start from scratch and create new topics and messages. Now this would be the perfect opportunity for critics, fans and scholars to start afresh and anew and start creating topics and yet no one has taken the lead so far and done so.

IMDB is a site for all types of movie fans. Industry AND users. You have left out a KEY element of IMDB's audience. Fans may not pay money to IMDB directly but that does not mean they don't add to the bottom line. Movies are nothing without an audience. This website was key because it contained all levels of information. All the other sites are bits of information. Not the whole. Now IMDB is a bit of information website. I'm not going to click away from IMDB to scroll through facebook feeds or twitter to maybe find a discussion that relates to my search. Too much uncertainty and time wastage. We need to reinstate the message boards. Otherwise the trolls have won. That totally sucks.

@ Astro ChologistWould love to see links on IMDB title pages to corresponding threads on theimdbforum.com.  It would require the use of an agreed-upon naming convention and coordination between the two sites.  It would not be too difficult to make it work and it would make the loss of the message boards on IMDB easier to bear.Perhaps, if they haven't already destroyed the content of the message boards, IMDB would allow theimdbforum.com to host the message board archives.  It seems to me that it would be a win-win.What I loved about the IMDB message boards was that each title had a link to a discussion about that particular title.  There was no time wasted in searching the internet for a relevant discussion.  

Really great idea! Also, there's a reason why the technology used for the discussions is old: it works! I shudder to think what kind of structure for discussion would be put in its place. A bunch of streaming comments about unrelated subjects? No thanks.