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130 Points

Saturday, March 11th, 2023 4:41 AM

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How does IMDB choose photos to display?

My father has asked for my assistance to edit or change the photos on his IMDB profile: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0360141/?ref_=nmmi_mi_nm.

They're not inaccurate, but they're among the earliest photos that exist of his work, and doesn't actually show what he looks like at all.

I know that we can create an IMDB Pro account to claim the account and, if we maintain that, upload new photos. BUT since he's not an really active actor these days, coughing up $20/month or an annual fee just to maintain photos seems a bit much. Can we find out if someone else has "claimed" the account to have just those photos up? If so, how?

So I was wondering how _these_ photos are being chosen for ongoing display, rather than any of the others in which he's been tagged (there's a few in https://pro.imdb.com/title/tt0086689/?ref_=nm_filmo_pasttv_16 alone). 

Is there any way to persuade (the algorithm?) to display more photos, in addition to/instead of these? He is tagged in any number of program photos - shouldn't they be displaying somewhere on his page?

I have looked around for these answers, but it seems a little difficult to narrow down precisely what's relevant to this situation.

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10.7K Messages

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225.4K Points

2 years ago

In the case of nm0360141, as an unclaimed name page, all of the images that appear there originated from at least one of IMDb's many legacy image upload tools. Most likely what happened was that the particular images were uploaded to tt4853928 , tt4854090 and tt5162512 via IMDb Title Scorecard (or something like it), and then an IMDb contributor (perhaps the same as the one who uploaded the images or perhaps more than one other person) began tagging Shane Porteous in images, whereby rm187032832 was the first among the images to be subjected to this process. But there are other possibilities, such as an IMDb image partner uploading the first of these images directly to the name page, or a situation that reflects a combination of types of events, including requests that the IMDb staff reassign the placeholder primary image in such a way that an image that doesn't produce a properly cropped thumbnail image is substituted with one that does. Who knows?

As for persuading the "algorithm" to display more photographs, that is out of the question, unless one of the legacy image upload mechanisms has a part to play. Two of the ways are outlined in the aforementioned paragraph. Most of the contributors who would stumble across this thread are not image partners, hence most of us wouldn't directly be of much help.

"He is tagged in any number of program photos - shouldn't they be displaying somewhere on his page?" Not if the images were uploaded through the title gallery mechanism that was introduced to IMDb sometime after the year 2014.

Anymore questions?

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In regards to the following remark,

​I know that we can create an IMDB Pro account to claim the account and, if we maintain that, upload new photos. BUT since he's not an really active actor these days, coughing up $20/month or an annual fee just to maintain photos seems a bit much.

Yeah, a whole lot of people are aligned with that feeling/reasoning, but the page claim system and featured images system are the way most suitable to deal with these matters. Given the way the system has been designed, the non-IMDbPro images that happen to appear on countless name pages exist beyond the control of every IMDb contributor, whereas the IMDb staff can neither arbitrarily nor easily organized/reorder the way these non-Pro images are presented. Just one more reason to make it the responsibility of an individual person to (1) claim his/her own page, (2) upload multiple featured images and (3) manage those featured images to his/her satisfaction on a whim.

2 Messages

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130 Points

2 years ago

Thank you both - that is very helpful. We've claimed the page and will maintain it for about 6 months, while we get a better handle on how IMDB works, and see how it goes from there. With any luck it might not revert straight back to the antique images after that. (OR maybe it will ... who knows :) ).

Again, thank you!!

10.7K Messages

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225.4K Points

O, without a doubt, the images supplied via tools exclusive to IMDbPro will only remain for the duration of the claim upon the page, which requires an active subscription, so the organization and vanity of the page of will definitely revert straight back to the antique images upon the subscription ending. This is a certainty, for the foreseeable future. The mindful thing to do would be to create some kind of backup copy of the special content, so that memories/knowledge of what the page looked like can be retained.