IMDB to close its message boards on 2/20

[FlamingGlobes]

IMDb is the world's most popular and authoritative source for movie, TV and celebrity content. As part of our ongoing effort to continually evaluate and enhance the customer experience on IMDb, we have decided to disable IMDb's message boards on February 20, 2017. This includes the Private Message system. After in-depth discussion and examination, we have concluded that IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive, useful experience for the vast majority of our more than 250 million monthly users worldwide. The decision to retire a long-standing feature was made only after careful consideration and was based on data and traffic.

Increasingly, IMDb customers have migrated to IMDb's social media accounts as the primary place they choose to post comments and communicate with IMDb's editors and one another. IMDb's Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/imdb) and official Twitter account (https://twitter.com/imdb) have an audience of more than 10 million engaged fans. IMDb also maintains official accounts on Snapchat (https://www.snapchat.com/add/imdblive), Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/imdbofficial/), YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/imdb), and Tumblr (http://imdb.tumblr.com/).

Because IMDb's message boards continue to be utilized by a small but passionate community of IMDb users, we announced our decision to disable our message boards on February 3, 2017 but will leave them open for two additional weeks so that users will have ample time to archive any message board content they'd like to keep for personal use. During this two-week transition period, which concludes on February 19, 2017, IMDb message board users can exchange contact information with any other board users they would like to remain in communication with (since once we shut down the IMDb message boards, users will no longer be able to send personal messages to one another). We regret any disappointment or frustration IMDb message board users may experience as a result of this decision.

IMDb is passionately committed to providing innovative ways for our hundreds of millions of users to engage and communicate with one another. We will continue to enhance our current offerings and launch new features in 2017 and beyond that will help our customers communicate and express themselves in meaningful ways while leveraging emerging technologies and opportunities.

[FlamingGlobes]

tl:dr version: trolls took their toll and we don't make money off the boards, so we're killing them

[FlamingGlobes]

This is relevant because if one message board stuck in 1999 shutters its windows, it can happen here too.

[FlamingGlobes]

How will y'all feel when/if that day comes?

[MyOneAndOnly]

bon owns the boards now so there's nothing to worry about

[FlamingGlobes]

Despite all our rage, we're just rats in her cage.

[MyOneAndOnly]

at least we know she'll take care of us. not like some pet parents we know.

[crabshack]

thanks for the update catherinewheel

[myosis]

sad. these boards were a nice resource for movie analysis and explaining details (such as cultural ones) that are sometimes lost on viewers...

[LaBelle]

If netphoria shut down i'd probably feel liberated at first. But after a while i'd come to miss updates on some of the people here.
Actually had that thought earlier this year when I thought the forum ate it.

As far as the imdb forums go, good for them I guess... I never went there so I have no idea what it was like.

[Elphenor]

I liked to go there and poo poo stuff people liked just to be a contrarian

[Elphenor]

4 hours a day posting 1 star reviews of beloved classics

[LaBelle]

[duovamp]

This is why you don't fuck with Tim Allen.

[LaBelle]

http://ideaexchange.timallen.com/

[duovamp]

Oh. My. GOD.

[FlamingGlobes]

Originally Posted by crabshack

thanks for the update catherinewheel

Well, there are a lot of Catherine Wheels that post on those boards.

I only brought it up because I thought one out-of-date message board closing its doors would be relevant to another out-of-date message board.

[reprise85]

shut yo mouth crabshack. flamingglobes is here!

[LaBelle]

and he's flamin'

[FlamingGlobes]

[FlamingGlobes]

I call this one: Long Weekend at Fuzzy's

[FlamingGlobes]

From a website called "Funnyjunk", no less.

[Tchocky]

Good riddance. IMDB boards make this place seem like a utopia. I LOVED going there and getting incessantly flamed. Haven't posted anything on there in years.

[toase]

Originally Posted by FlamingGlobes

Despite all our rage, we're just rats in her cage.

[FlamingGlobes]

Originally Posted by Tchocky

Good riddance. IMDB boards make this place seem like a utopia. I LOVED going there and getting incessantly flamed. Haven't posted anything on there in years.

Eh, it was mostly populated by dimwits, but there's something nice about knowing you can find a discussion board for literally any movie or TV show, all housed in one place. Not that they were the most active or interesting boards, but they served a purpose.

[LaBelle]

When you put it like that makes me regret never going there

[FlamingGlobes]

Well, I mean, again, it wasn't always the most stimulating conversation (imagine the best and worst parts of the internet folding together, Inception city-scape style) but where else can I go to discuss the finer points of the Friday the 13th sequels and exchange endless Simpsons and Seinfeld quotes into infinity?

[toase]

I remember there was a lot of film snobs there trying so hard to look intelligent while judging foreign films it was hilarious

[LaBelle]

That's pretty much my experience in college.