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IMDb Turns 15

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the where-else-would-i-go dept.

An anonymous reader writes "15 years ago today, Col Needham posted some shell scripts to rec.arts.movies which allowed anyone to search lists of actors, actresses, directors, and biographies. From this humble beginning -- which predates Yahoo, Google, and even the web itself -- the IMDb has wrangled the collective wisdom of millions of submitters to become not only a top 100 website but also a standard Hollywood tool for filmmaking. IMDb is celebrating with a retrospective of the last 15 years of IMDb and movies. Congratulations to IMDb and the internet community that built it."

5 of 299 comments (clear)

  1. I'd like IMDB more if... by Nom+du+Keyboard · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I'd like IMDB more if they didn't charge to submit basic photos to their database. I have permission for one star on their site to submit her picture (none is presently available) and they want money for something that improves their site overall.

    Leaves me with the feeling that bigness + age != niceness.

    --
    "It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
    1. Re:I'd like IMDB more if... by FadedTimes · · Score: 5, Insightful

      then the Star can pay the fee and have a picture loaded. It helps prevent people posting false pictures or trying to have the star have a negative image.

  2. Re:15 Reasons to boycott IMDb by FinestLittleSpace · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ITS A MOVIE SITE. When the hell were movies NON-BLOODY-COMMERCIAL?!

    The site has a huge database, it's very easy and trustworthy to use.... it has some crap. So what? So does every site that needs to make money.

    Shut it.

  3. Re:15 Reasons to boycott IMDb by F_Scentura · · Score: 5, Insightful

    # Agent information and other data has been moved off of the free IMDb site and onto IMDbPRO, which I refuse to use.

    There's little real need for the non-industry to know agent information.

    # To insert data into this database, such as photographs of my favourite actors, costs money. This was
    supposed to be a free site.

    It's absolutely free to use. A site of that size can't live off of goodwill, sunshine, and gumdrops. I'll take a bit of annoyance to have it retain the useful information.

    # Flagrant product placement. Virtually every "article" on IMDb's front page is a paid advertisement. Most "articles" are just used to link to Ama$on items.

    They are a resource, not a content provider. There are thousands of useful review sites What else do you want? If you really want to complain about sucking the corporate teat, at least bitch about AICN, IMDB makes no pretenses of objectivity.

    # IMDb has given nothing back to the community; rather it takes from the community (the poor) and gives to a large e-tailer (the rich).

    It provides a huge service to the community. They don't owe *you* specifically a damn thing.

  4. wrangled? by rakerman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If by "wrangled" you mean "took contributions that users gave to the community for free, and used them to make money" then yes. Wrangled. Our friends at GraceCDDBNote are great wranglers too.