Boards Closure FAQ

IMDb.com's message board system closed on February 20th, 2017. The following answers address some of the most frequently asked questions about this transition.

• Why didn’t you consider new boards software, moderation or other options to save the message boards?
  We considered many options to preserve the current message boards during our extensive review, but 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. The message board software is based on outdated technology that is being phased out across all of IMDb, clearing the way for more innovation for IMDb customers.

• What about all those discussions on smaller name/title boards?
  Message boards are always temporary in nature: content is not meant to be kept forever and can be removed for a number of reasons, including expiration (i.e. when a conversation does not see any activity for a certain period of time). There are some interesting discussions with content worthy of being preserved, but that content is better suited to being stored in permanent parts of IMDb (such as user reviews, FAQs, trivia, goofs to name just a few). This not only ensures that the information is archived forever, but also puts this content in front of a much larger audience, instead of the smaller subset of message board users, and makes it easily searchable across all of IMDb’s interfaces and services. Board discussions on the other hand are an unmoderated mix of fact, fiction and off-topic banter which is designed to be stored only temporarily, is scattered across a number of different threads and is only really available on our desktop site.

• How will I discover opinions on movies and shows without the boards?
  IMDb remains committed to being the best place to discover entertainment content online and to help you decide whether to watch it. We will continue to have user ratings, user reviews, user lists, news, parents guides, personalized recommendations, editorial features, Meta Critic scores, links to critics reviews, FAQs and links to information/opinions on other sites. 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. This is all in addition to the most comprehensive collection of factual information around titles and people.

• What will happen to my boards profile text?
  User profile information is not affected and will continue to be editable and displayed on the site.

• What if I have a question about contributing?
  Our Contributors Help board has moved to our user community on GetSatisfaction.com. The same type of questions and topics previously suitable for the Contributors Help board can now be posted under the "Data Issues & Policy Discussions" category.

• What else will be moving to GetSatisfaction?
  We have created new GetSatisfaction categories for "I Need to Know" to replace the "I Need to Know" message board and "IMDb Poll" to replace the "IMDb Poll" message board.

• Will I need to create a new account to use GetSatisfaction?
  Yes, GetSatisfaction.com is a third-party entity and we do not share user registration data with them. Registering for an account on Get Satisfaction is very quick and easy. You can also sign up using your Facebook or Google account.

• Does this change impact any other feature?
  The private message feature is part of the boards system so that has closed too. Otherwise all other site features are unaffected. Users can still create lists, post user reviews, vote on titles and browse our content as usual.

• Where did the Friends list go?
  The Friends list was part of the Personal Message system that was removed on Feb 20. It is no longer available. We will be reviewing the best way for customers to keep track of each other’s activities as part of the on-going community work.