I tried to stay away but it is just really helpful with cast info etc and reviews.

@Ivy Templeton said:

I tried to stay away but it is just really helpful with cast info etc and reviews.

I agree. Hopefully TMDB will get just as good when more people start putting all that information on here.

I admit that I do go back to IMDB for info sometimes. I hate that I do, but some questions can not be answer here.

I have used IMDb as well for their database, but without the forums far less frequently, and not at all if the info is available elsewhere. I feel they should see the results of their action.

Btw, http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/imdb.com Show the portion of external search engine as 43,70& currently, whereas it was only 27,90 early March. This figure most likely is not an Alexa estimate as the info is available in Google Analytics. In four months that figure has risen by 15,8 percentile points, that is by nearly 50%! Perhaps telling that masses of regular users have gone and random traffic is now a larger portion.

Maybe the actual numbers of total users and visits are down? Alexa estimates from users who have the toolbar downloaded, so that number will always be miniscule compared to actual traffic. It's quite possible they are as significantly down as the search engine portion is up. IMDb itself updated the monthly claim from 250 mil to 160 mil in March over at https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/categories/imdb_imdbcom.

@Ilyathe2nd said:

Maybe the actual numbers of total users and visits are down? Alexa estimates from users who have the toolbar downloaded, so that number will always be miniscule compared to actual traffic. It's quite possible they are as significantly down as the search engine portion is up. IMDb itself updated the monthly claim from 250 mil to 160 mil in March over at https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/categories/imdb_imdbcom.

One can't go by Alexa rank/traffic stats only. Also, I never saw any 250 million claim. And you are not accounting for seasonality; more people are outside more instead of watching TV and using movie sites.

Here's an example of year-over-year stats showing about an 11% increase in imdb.com traffic (visits) year over year. Wait a few more months and the graph will probably have dropped, reflecting a downturn in traffic over the summer.

Embedded site measures such as Google Analytics are usually the most accurate, but we can't see those because they are private.

If anyone really wants to get down into the weeds on traffic analysis systems, go here. Knock yourself out.

Fair points, without a 100% coverage of data all of these metrics are just that, competing attempts.

That said, https://www.similarweb.com/website/imdb.com show a mild decline since January, with a little improvement over the Osca season, from nearly 750 visits - not unique visitors - jo 590 mil, up to mid-June. These six months contain parts of three seasons, winter, spring and summer. During all these the turn is downward. That makes is beyond seasonal, if the data is accurate to any degree.

I'm simply making the point that they seem to be getting less traffic according to metrics sites, where data is more dissected than just a graph. Including their own Alexa, which is as estimated as the rest of them.

Just a little info..the IM* metrics say nothing about who exactly visits the site. I'm not sure everyone realizes IM* is used by many millions of apps, software that looks up all kind of data from them. Like Amazon providing you with their ratings via their Fire box/stick, many Kodi plug ins and lots of other software based players which provide actors names, production years and so on. I bet the visits from real persons went downhill after they cancelled user interaction. There is plenty of up to date movie sites out there who let you discuss each news. And movie fans like to do this.

Why not set up a tiered system of self moderation. Something on a point system. New members with no time have o points on post. Members who post slowly build up points. IE comment on post made by others get 1 point. Post you create you get 5.

You reach 100 points you get you get a spam point power. Reach 500 you get two. From here on out amount doubles for each point.

Now say you need 5 points to flag a comment as spam. Many people can flag a comment spam to get it removed. Or one person who has been on here a long time and has over 4000 points can flag it immediately. Real forum mods only have to check flagged items that were moderated by members.

Members also lose point power if flagged.

General idea but gives you something you might use.

IE comment on post made by others get 1 point. Post you create you get 5.

There's already enough birthday spam as it is, no need to invite more D:

But the forums are already here! :)

How about adding some more discussion boards that don't link to any particular movie, tv show or celebrity like the old IMDB forums?

Hi @Norsk,

We tried that to a limited degree and it didn't work out so I shut it down. It was abused by trolls and I decided it's not something that I am interested in for TMDb.

Hey Travis have you thought about adding Trivia or private messaging?

Yup, trivia will be coming for sure. Private messaging... Probably. There's a whole messaging system that will be built to allow communication between moderators and users. The question is how that will connect up with user to user.

@travisbell said:

Yup, trivia will be coming for sure. Private messaging... Probably. There's a whole messaging system that will be built to allow communication between moderators and users. The question is how that will connect up with user to user.

Bravo to the trivia. It has always been one of the nuanced bits of information about movies and actors that has informed, amused and stimulated debate.