In the year 2017, who on Earth still uses message boards? Okay, there are still plenty of corners in the internet where groups dedicated to various interests still use the outdated communication platform, but in an era with Slack, Facebook Groups, and no shortage of other ways to share feedback, commentary and media with 20 or 200 people, a message board seems a bit old school. And that’s just one of the reasons why IMDb is doing away with them.
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The internet’s source for all things movies (and TV) announced today that on February 20th message boards and private message system will disappear from the site. Citing the aforementioned reasons, IMDb also says that the boards “are no longer providing a positive, useful experience” which is a bit of an understatement. Indeed, cinematic discourse on those boards has long stopped being its forte as troll-ish behavior has become more pronounced. Here’s an excerpt from IMDb’s statement:
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.
It’s a wise move, and I can’t recall the last time I saw a useful thread on an IMDb message board (or the last time I visited an IMDb message board at all). For those who did find a community on there, it’s disappointing news, but at least they have a couple weeks to figure out a new home to congregate and talk (feel free to come here, but try and keep it civil :). As for IMDb, they’ll say goodbye to a corner of their site that could get ugly at times, and look at more inclusive and interactive ways of engaging with their audience.