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Gaming Netflix Ratings?

Nom du Keyboard writes "Not for the first time, I've noticed a new film that hasn't yet even reached the theaters, yet has hundreds of positive votes and/or reviews recorded on Netflix. This time the movie is Inkheart. For a movie that doesn't even hit the theaters until January 23, it already has 428 votes and a rating of 4.3 (out of 5) on Netflix. Seems more than a bit fraudulent to me. Also, it has a review that doesn't even review the movie, but instead says the books are great, therefore the movie should be too. Does the word 'shills' come to mind? With millions spent to promote a movie, are a few hundred of that going to phony voters? Or have that many people actually seen the film and just can't wait to rush home and log onto Netflix to vote? Just what is Netflix's responsibility here to provide honest ratings?"

235 comments

  1. Not to disagree with your conspiracy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    But it isn't rare for there to be advanced screenings of a movie a week or two in advance of the public release date.

    I wonder if we'll ever see movie cinemas with terminals or similar at them that let you rate a movie as you walk out after seeing it.

    1. Re:Not to disagree with your conspiracy... by Guido+del+Confuso · · Score: 4, Informative

      Not only this, but often times the makers of a film will show it to people before it is even finished. This could be anything from friends and business associates of the filmmakers (such screenings can number into the hundreds of people) to recruited audience test screenings (also often several hundred people). These people see the movie long before it comes out, and most likely not in its final form. Also, after a movie is completed it is sometimes sent around for audience reaction before it is picked up distribution. Of course, if the film plays at a film festival, that's hundreds or thousands of people watching it before it is released in theaters. So a few hundred people rating a movie before it's officially "out" isn't that strange.

      And remember, a significant portion of the people who do watch the movie before it comes out are friends and family of the crew, who aren't exactly impartial. That may explain why the ratings skew high.

    2. Re:Not to disagree with your conspiracy... by LatencyKills · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Back in college I somehow ended up screening a number of films before release (I think the process was something like a guy on campus asking if I'd like free tickets to a new movie). Before the movie there would be a quick spiel about the film not yet being released and that our feedback was very important, then they'd show the film, then they'd hand out a sheet of questions for us to answer. I recall that I saw Fletch 2 that way, and that the ending I saw in the screening was very different from the one I saw later in the theater. I also remember seeing a Judge Reinhold movie to wretched that everyone trashed it on the sheets, and I don't think it even came out in the theaters. It might have been released direct to video.

      --
      Jealously hoarding mod points since 2007.
    3. Re:Not to disagree with your conspiracy... by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 2, Informative

      I got in on something similar to this a few years ago, and after the movie ended, we were given tickets to see another pre-screening the next week. As long as we kept going, we got to see free movies every week before they came out (usually only a week or so ahead of time, though). Unfortunately, we didn't really want to see most of the movies they were showing, so we'd end up giving the tickets away, and eventually someone didn't go (or didn't give us the tickets for the next week).

      On the other hand, it's not uncommon for people that work in the industry to have access to copies of the film, either, and it definitely gets out to their friends and family, even if they simply borrow it.

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
    4. Re:Not to disagree with your conspiracy... by ClubStew · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not only this, but consider the various fanboys. Some people may like Brendon Frasier enough that they think any movie with him is great, so they vote. People - like the OP mentioned - might like the book so much, they vote the movie positive without having seen it. It's idiotic, but so are people often times.

    5. Re:Not to disagree with your conspiracy... by evilklown · · Score: 1

      Two years ago, I saw an audience screening of a movie called "Killshot" [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443559/] that has yet to be released. These aren't so rare, as the theater at which I saw this screening has screenings nearly every week.

    6. Re:Not to disagree with your conspiracy... by joocemann · · Score: 3, Informative

      But it isn't rare for there to be advanced screenings of a movie a week or two in advance of the public release date.

      I wonder if we'll ever see movie cinemas with terminals or similar at them that let you rate a movie as you walk out after seeing it.

      I went to google.com

      Typed in "inkheart screener"

      The very first choice at the top is a bit-torrent search engine.

      The page lists a number of different torrents of this movie already being available from screeners and cam rips, etc.
      --------------

      I think it is safe to say that thousands of people have already seen it by now.

    7. Re:Not to disagree with your conspiracy... by billcopc · · Score: 1

      You're right, googling for just about anything will yield links to torrent "search" engines, but there is a large number of fake sites like this, where you could type any random gibberish and the site will say Oh yeah, we have 7312 seeds for "amoeba playing mozart in space on Condoleeza Rice's chin".

      The first three results from your search are such fake sites, a few others down the page are blogs by people who saw a screener. No where is it currently possible, as far as I can tell, to download this movie, and I run torrent sites for fun and profit, so I can usually find sources for everything.

      --
      -Billco, Fnarg.com
    8. Re:Not to disagree with your conspiracy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      German telesync is up on demonoid. As is a DS game and a soundtrack.

      Mininova also seems to have some version of the movie up, as does Isohunt.

      Really not that difficult to find.

    9. Re:Not to disagree with your conspiracy... by joocemann · · Score: 1

      Thank you for clarifying that for him.

    10. Re:Not to disagree with your conspiracy... by againjj · · Score: 1

      I remember a movie advertised in the SF bay area being shown on a particular day. I watched it, loved it, and recommended it to my sister in another part of the state. She looked it up and was confused, since it was to be released two weeks later. I then noticed all the ads for the movie were giving the two-week-later release date here too. It turns out that they allowed the one day so that people could write reviews.

  2. Not released? by Seriph · · Score: 5, Informative

    Maybe not released yet in the US, but there is a world beyond the US borders and the film has been released places there. It's actually quite a good film based on an interesting idea.

    1. Re:Not released? by aitikin · · Score: 5, Informative

      Seriph brings up a perfect point. IMDB seems to back that information up fairly well.

      --
      "Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
    2. Re:Not released? by retyurecvb · · Score: 5, Informative

      Doesn't Netflix only service the U.S. though?

    3. Re:Not released? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      It has been in German cinemas for over a month.

    4. Re:Not released? by Monsieur_F · · Score: 5, Informative

      From imdb
      Release dates for Inkheart (2008)
      Country : Date
      Germany : 11 December 2008
      UK : 12 December 2008
      Brazil : 25 December 2008
      Iceland : 26 December 2008

      --
      McCartney fans pay bus tickets. [...] Lennon fans too, with discretion.
    5. Re:Not released? by diskis · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Piratebay services also the U.S.

      If the movie is out somewhere, there is a torrent of it.

    6. Re:Not released? by indigest · · Score: 2, Informative

      Netflix serves the US only. Our equivalent in the UK is lovefilm.com.

    7. Re:Not released? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apparently only dubbed, though, since it's not playing as an original version in the Sony Center. Bah.

    8. Re:Not released? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      /. FAIL! :)

      Nice find!

    9. Re:Not released? by aug24 · · Score: 1

      That's roughly what my brother-in-law (here in the UK) said to me yesterday, after watching it with his girlfriend.

      ...or - a-ha! - I could be a cunning shill? ;-)

      Justin.

      --
      You're only jealous cos the little penguins are talking to me.
    10. Re:Not released? by evan_arrrr! · · Score: 1

      Well, you can only rent movies or stream them from Netflix in the US, but I imagine anyone can open an account, and anyone with a US-based proxy server could still stream video into Europe.

    11. Re:Not released? by Briareos · · Score: 1

      Apparently only dubbed[...]

      Well, duh - that's the norm in Germany...

      --

      "I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole

    12. Re:Not released? by Bodrius · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Should that make a significant difference?

      Netflix does not own movie theaters either. Yet that doesn't stop people from watching movies there and reviewing DVD movies (often before the DVD release) based on the theater experience.

      Between advance screenings, festivals, and people who may have watched it in other countries at some point... a few hundred viewers doesn't sound that implausible.

      If anything, the over-eager fan phenomenon (the "books are great, movie is going to rock" review the poster mentions) is the most likely distortion. But that's hardly surprising or suspicious - popular book-sequels tend to demonstrate something like this in Amazon weeks/months before it was released (sometimes positive hype, sometimes negative).

      Why would it be different in Netflix? Most likely it is just less obvious in their user interface.

      --
      Freedom is the freedom to say 2+2=4, everything else follows...
    13. Re:Not released? by Atario · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Who are these foreigners who are so altruistic as to log in to Netflix -- thus far, a US-only service -- to rate a movie and write a review of it wholly for the benefit of people subscribed to a service the reviewers themselves cannot benefit from?

      Come to that, can you even enter a rating and/or review without being a subscriber?

      --
      "A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
    14. Re:Not released? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, it should. Figure it this way. If Netflix only services the US. Then why would someone outside the US have a Netflix account? Why pay money every month just to rate movies?

    15. Re:Not released? by pmarini · · Score: 1

      not sure about NetFlix, but LoveFilm (and I guess any such service) only rents movies which are available on DVD/BD (even if you decide to take the download option), which is about a year after the cinemas, since in general cable/satellite TVs get them in the meantime... it's the usual dog eats dog business typical of Hollywood, I guess:
      - first maximise revenues from expensive cinema tickets for each individual
      - then maximise revenues from agreements with cable/satellite companies
      - finally maximise revenues from whatever other audience is left

      It would be a financial suicide (well, profit warning...) to release it somewhere else than cinemas in the beginning...

      --
      Can I put a spell on those who can't spell?
      Your wheels are loose and they're losing their grip, good you're there.
    16. Re:Not released? by pmarini · · Score: 1

      not sure about NetFlix, but LoveFilm (and I guess any such service) only rents movies which are available on DVD/BD (even if you decide to take the download option), which is about a year after the cinemas, since in general cable/satellite TVs get them in the meantime... it's the usual dog eats dog business typical of Hollywood, I guess:
      - first maximise revenues from expensive cinema tickets for each individual
      - then maximise revenues from agreements with cable/satellite companies
      - finally maximise revenues from whatever other audience is left

      It would be a financial suicide (well, profit warning...) to release it somewhere else than cinemas in the beginning...
      z

      --
      Can I put a spell on those who can't spell?
      Your wheels are loose and they're losing their grip, good you're there.
    17. Re:Not released? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but those places don't have internet, so they can't possibly be rating it on Netflix!

    18. Re:Not released? by TheKidWho · · Score: 4, Informative

      Probablly those domestic people who might have taken a trip abroad or gone on an adventure to this place called the pirate bay.

      YARRR

    19. Re:Not released? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      But why would somebody who torrents movies pay for a Netflix account?

    20. Re:Not released? by dotancohen · · Score: 1

      If the movie is out somewhere, there is a torrent of it.

      Which rule is that?

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
    21. Re:Not released? by SpinningCone · · Score: 3, Informative

      In the case of inkheart yes this was already released and could potentially get legit reviews. however Terminator: Salvation has not been released and with a target date of May/June i would be surprised if there was even a screener available. yet despite this there are plenty of positive votes.

    22. Re:Not released? by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 1

      In the US cable/satellite may get the movie a week or two ahead of time for pay-per-view, but for the most part the DVD release is very soon afterwards, if not simultaneous with the pay-per-view. It's also getting less likely for DVDs to be released as far out as a year after the film closes in theaters, there's far too much time there for people to forget about it.

      NetFlix will put the movie up on their page pretty much at or before the start of advertising for the film release, so you can add it to your queue early (it will sit in a special section at the bottom of the page until it gets near DVD/BD release), long before they have a release date for the disc.

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
    23. Re:Not released? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Because Netflix on demand is good but doesn't have an unlimited selection? I used to pirate music but now as a general rule I will pay for it through Amazon because they offer the product I want at a price I deem is fair. If I want some rare mix or an album that's not available in the US due to some stupid music industry shenanigans I have no qualms grabbing it from TPB or similar sites.

    24. Re:Not released? by pmarini · · Score: 1

      same here then, I guess that I recalled how it was a few years ago before the "online renting" business started, and one can also "reserve" the movie in advance, for instance on LoveFilm:
      - Transporter 3 avail from 20 April 2009 (released in UK 5 December 2008)
      - Changeling avail from 30 March 2009 (released in UK 26 November 2008)

      So I might have exaggerated the 12 months, instead it's just 4 months to disc/download after the cinemas...

      --
      Can I put a spell on those who can't spell?
      Your wheels are loose and they're losing their grip, good you're there.
    25. Re:Not released? by Creepy · · Score: 1

      No reviews of it on IMDB and I can't find reviews on Net Flicks (probably because I'm not a member).

      Terminator:Salvation has to be nearly complete due to manufacturing and distribution timelines, which I believe still takes a couple of months. It is likely in final editing and most certainly has had a screened rough at this time (but since those are nearly always under some sort of NDA, it is unlikely that any reviews are legit).

    26. Re:Not released? by milkmage · · Score: 1

      maybe netflix won't send you discs if you live overseas or let you stream if you're coming from a foreign IP, but I doubt they geolocate site visits. to the OP: the movie has been out for a couple of weeks in the UK (12/12), Brazil (12/25), Germany (12/11) and Iceland (12/26). away with the tin foil hat - the internet is somewhat larger than the United States. FYI there are 900 reviews on imdb. take a look at the first page of user comments. all from the UK or Germany ('cept for the one guy from Buffalo)

    27. Re:Not released? by neomunk · · Score: 1

      If it makes you feel better, you USED to be right, it's just that the release cycle has been tightened a bit to support the mass-produced eyeball candy that is referred to as "cinema" nowadays.

    28. Re:Not released? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      unless your china, even netflix caanot prevent someone outside the us from registering, if they dont have other countrie listed in the choice when subscribing then 90210 LA will suffice

    29. Re:Not released? by Sopor42 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Did you actually look?

      A curosry search brought no results for the movie Inkheart on TBP or Mininova...

      Not saying the torrent isn't out there somewhere, but it's not on the big ones yet.

    30. Re:Not released? by maxume · · Score: 1

      How sure are that it would be financially unsound? For starters, that's what the movie industry thought about VHS.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    31. Re:Not released? by pavelthesecond · · Score: 1

      But netflix is a US service. So why would somebody from say Germany or UK be posting a review of it?

    32. Re:Not released? by MMInterface · · Score: 1

      Yes but Americans can travel, work in other countries, etc and manage their account through the website. Instant watch would be great for this.I was able to log on to my account, rate movies, put my account on hold etc from Tokyo. The problem is using instant watch. You have to configure a work around for that one which is too bad because when I'm in Japan that's the only time I'm with people who are happy with Netfix's selection on instant watch.

    33. Re:Not released? by Bodrius · · Score: 1

      Why does it have to be someone 'from outside of the US'?

      - Most good (or hyped) international movies are shown in film festivals and preview screenings well before they are officially released in the US.
          That's actually how most people in the US find out they exist - and how most of them get even the opportunity to be released in the US in the first place.

      - People in the US are not exactly forbidden from going to the theater when abroad, you know?
          There are plenty of people who travel with some frequency, and actually a lot of people who travel around the holidays - when this movie was released.
            At least for me (not a frequent traveler), it is not uncommon to catch a movie or two in other countries if I'm visiting family.

      --
      Freedom is the freedom to say 2+2=4, everything else follows...
    34. Re:Not released? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have seen Inkheart in the UK (before Christmas) and I sometimes rate movies on a Facebook app run by netflix, maybe it comes from this?

    35. Re:Not released? by DeskLazer · · Score: 1

      mr. f, we meet again!

      "for british eyes only"

  3. I've seen it by Colin+Smith · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wait. I must be lying because it isn't released yet... Or... Perhaps the world extends beyond American borders. What, Americans make up only 5% of the world population? (10% by body mass)

     

    --
    Deleted
    1. Re:I've seen it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What?? Your country is not an American state and has no McDonald's or KFC?? We'll send the marine^H^H^Hguys over to fix that in a jiffy.

    2. Re:I've seen it by htnmmo · · Score: 1

      Yes makes sense to release a movie first in these countries where 10 cents buys a lot of votes. :) Expect all new releases come out first in the paid to click friendly nations.

    3. Re:I've seen it by novakyu · · Score: 5, Funny

      Every country has McDonald's, a biological warfare arm of the U.S. military. No marines needed—we can get them with high cholesterol, wherever they are.

    4. Re:I've seen it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Wow. you pirates in other countries are lazy as hell.

      After that i expected i could goto thepiratebay and grab a copy.

      But noooooooo! we gotta do it our damm self and then the rest of the world can download it.

    5. Re:I've seen it by Kjella · · Score: 1

      Every country has McDonald's, a biological warfare arm of the U.S. military.

      Well, in that case I think the military is planning a coup right now...

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    6. Re:I've seen it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only 10% of the world, by body mass?

      I suggest eating people from other countries. Pretty soon we could be 50% of the worlds population and 99% of its body mass.

    7. Re:I've seen it by timmarhy · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      what like the apples they sell? you people really need to get over the super size me crap, it was a stunt nothing more. you can eat as healthy at mcdonalds as you can anywhere now days.

      --
      If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
    8. Re:I've seen it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Especially funny since a lot of countries don't have as strict of copyright laws, yet it seems to be Americans who do the uploading.

    9. Re:I've seen it by xerxesVII · · Score: 1

      Who are the marguys?

      --
      "We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all." - Douglas Adams
    10. Re:I've seen it by argStyopa · · Score: 0, Troll

      "What, Americans make up only 5% of the world population? (10% by body mass)"

      Or 25% by GDP.

      Everyone remembers how fat Americans are, they seem to conveniently forget that we're on the average 6x more productive than the rest of our fellow humans.

      --
      -Styopa
    11. Re:I've seen it by bkr1_2k · · Score: 1

      Maybe as healthy as you can at other fast food joints, but certainly not as healthy as "anywhere".

      McDonalds is still processed food ridiculously high in sodium, often fried (obviously not the salads) and overly greasy.

      --
      "Growing old is inevitable; growing up is optional."
    12. Re:I've seen it by coolsnowmen · · Score: 1

      As clever as that would be, speaking as an American, we aren't that patient.

    13. Re:I've seen it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      woo hoo i'm bagging on americans for humor and karma points!!!

      why would the rest of the world have netflix accounts???

      dipshit!

    14. Re:I've seen it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup, there is a world beyond US borders. But, who cares about those lesser countries. We should only be worried about the USA so, that's all that matters. Netflix is crap and fraudulent....get over it

  4. already out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    kdawson is a drama queen.

    Release:
    Germany 11 December 2008
    UK 12 December 2008
    Brazil 25 December 2008
    Iceland 26 December 2008

    1. Re:already out by trawg · · Score: 4, Funny

      Give him a break - lots of the US hasn't figured out there's a rest of the world yet!

      (Thar be dragons)

    2. Re:already out by kellyb9 · · Score: 1

      Give him a break - lots of the US hasn't figured out there's a rest of the world yet!

      Of course we have! Thats where the terrorists live.

    3. Re:already out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What do you mean "rest of the world"?

      There's the good ol' U S of A.

      Then there are our wacky neighbors: Mexico and Canada.

      Those goofball British, with their quaint "Queen", and the deplorable 'surrender monkey' French.

      Finally there are Iraq and Afghanistan.

      That's it, right?

    4. Re:already out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      MOD PARENT UP

    5. Re:already out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, there isn't a rest of the world - only that which we haven't annexed yet.

      Manifest Destiny.

    6. Re:already out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, based on Slashdot, the rest of the world is populated by snarky assholes who think WAY too much of themselves and way too little of a group of people because they're named "Americans", so why would they review a Brendan Fraiser movie positively on American movie service Netflix?

  5. This sort of thing is everywhere by AndrewStephens · · Score: 5, Funny

    This happens everywhere. Why, even this very comment was modded to +2 before I even made it. You can't trust anyone these days.

    --
    sheep.horse - does not contain information on sheep or horses.
    1. Re:This sort of thing is everywhere by daniorerio · · Score: 1

      Or perhaps you could just look for a review elsewhere before you don't trust Netflix? Problem solved, next!

    2. Re:This sort of thing is everywhere by daniorerio · · Score: 1

      if
      if you don't trust Netflix
      silly me!

  6. Netflix should block early voting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's a North America based company, thus it should not allow voting until the film is out in North America. In a way Netflix is to blame for encouraging this by NOT blocking early reviews.

    Granted people may get sneak peaks and such, but even then I think reviewing should be disabled until the official date hits theaters. It still won't stop people being paid to write reviews and people who have not actually seen the film to inject bias (post-release), but at least they will be diluted with genuine reviews at the time of release.

    1. Re:Netflix should block early voting. by Bodrius · · Score: 1

      <sarcasm>

      I agree - but clearly that is not sufficient.

      They are also encouraging these shenanigans by even linking to critic's external reviews, which are often posted BEFORE the movie can be seen by their customers. Sometimes even before it gets to the theaters!

      That sort of irresponsability should stop: Netflix is a DVD rental company. It obviously should not link to reviews / opinions from people who have not seen the movie on an officially released DVD.

      For that matter, how dare they NOT block user reviews altogether for pending DVD releases? Who could possibly give an honest opinion about the Dexter: Season 3 DVDs when they have not been released, queued and shipped by Netflix?

      That's obviously a FRAUD, and Netflix should block voting from anyone who has even seen a movie or a TV show from any media source that is not Netflix.

      </sarcasm>

      --
      Freedom is the freedom to say 2+2=4, everything else follows...
    2. Re:Netflix should block early voting. by FilterMapReduce · · Score: 1

      It's a North America based company, thus it should not allow voting until the film is out in North America.

      So you're saying we need to make sure that geographic limitations remain in force even in a medium where they are totally irrelevant? That kind of wastes some of the potential of the ol' information superhighway there, doesn't it?

    3. Re:Netflix should block early voting. by WNight · · Score: 1

      Somewhat, but it doesn't mean we should prevent reviews/analyses being up at Wikipedia, just that maybe Netflix would realize that 99.5% of THEIR site's reviews that are out before the movie are going to be lies and astroturfing.

      Preventing likely fake reviews would make them more useful for customers.

  7. IMDB release dates by psy · · Score: 1, Redundant

    From IMDB:

    Country - Date
    Germany - 11 December 2008
    UK - 12 December 2008
    Brazil - 25 December 2008
    Iceland - 26 December 2008

  8. Has it been released on TPB? by Kaukomieli · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... or usenet or wherever todays kids get their moviez from...

    1. Re:Has it been released on TPB? by Thanshin · · Score: 1

      ... or usenet or wherever todays kids get their moviez from...

      Like... The movie theater?

      Damn kids... With their money, and their popcorn and their watching movies released more than a month ago.

    2. Re:Has it been released on TPB? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah... wait til they get to college.

  9. Astroturfing is rife, more common online auctions. by plasmacutter · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ebay used to be a decent place to get deals, then a few years ago the scammers found out they can fake feedback, and you ended up with 2000+ "transaction" power-sellers who will take your money and run faster than the nigerian prince.

    Leave any negative feed back and it's "i've pleased all these guys, there's always one troll to screw it up"

    If you browse around a while on sites like ebay and amazon you'll notice the patterns these people have, the same people giving feedback to each other, it's disgusting really, but any peer contributed system is subject to gaming via astroturfing.

    Just see the net neutrality debate, or swiftboat.

    --
    VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
  10. Well... by boobox · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... like just about everything in life, from Amazon.com to Slashdot, caveat emptor.

    1. Re:Well... by Kjella · · Score: 1

      ... like just about everything in life, from Amazon.com to Slashdot, caveat emptor.

      Quoting latin is well and nice, but how exactly should the buyer beware is all his sources of information are stuffed? Fake "grassroot" movements, fake "consumer reviews", fakes all around. What else am I supposed to trust? Marketing? Bwahahahaha good one. Sure you have some trusted friends but that is anecdotal evidence at best, <dogbert> the best kind of evidence </dogbert>. There's no real substitute for honest polls/reviews by a representative selection of the public, in the end you just apply a bullshit factor and use the data anyway.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    2. Re:Well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ask your friend, the movie nut?

    3. Re:Well... by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 1

      At least Netflix isn't going to cost you anything extra if you're already subscribing to it. You're just out the time to watch the movie and send it back.

      This is why I don't buy DVDs any more without having rented them first. Before Netflix it was roughly one-third or more of the cost of buying the disc to rent it. Now, the cost is mostly dependent on how many movies I manage to watch in a month.

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
  11. Piracy? by FrostDust · · Score: 1

    As the MPAA often cites as one of their primary enemies, many movies get posted to P2P networks a noticeable amount of time before the official theater release. Then again, I wouldn't expect to that large an overlapping of frequent movie pirates and heavy Netflix users.

  12. None by 1u3hr · · Score: 4, Insightful
    "what is Netflix's responsibility here to provide honest ratings?"

    What is Slashdot's responsibility to provide honest moderation?

    Both are just aggregates of random people who bothered to comment, and don't pretend to be anything more. If you want a "professional" movie rating, look at the reviews at Rotten Tomatoes, where currently the Tomatometer for Inkheart is at 63%, based on 19 reviews.

    1. Re:None by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You are taking that out of context. The submitter is specifically suggesting that the rating system which should be an average of 'random' people choosing to rate the movie, is instead subject to astroturfing.

      The submitter is probably on to something here. Yes, this film has been released abroad, but I find it unlikely that not only have 428 people in the United States seen it and bothered to rate it, but they rate it above 80% of possible points when places elsewhere (which _are_ open to people in places where the movie has been released) are rating it about 60-70%.

    2. Re:None by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The submitter is probably on to something here. Yes, this film has been released abroad, but I find it unlikely that not only have 428 people in the United States seen it and bothered to rate it, but they rate it above 80% of possible points when places elsewhere (which _are_ open to people in places where the movie has been released) are rating it about 60-70%.

      Assuming this means that it's astroturfing is kind of paranoid. Imagine the kind of people who would have specifically seeked out this movie to watch it before its release date. Then, imagine the subset of those people who then log into netflix and rate it.

      I'm not surprised it's getting a slightly higher rating here so far...

    3. Re:None by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What I don't understand is why anyone would care what the "Netflix rating" of a film was, or base any purchase on it.

      Second that: I humbly suggest that if kdawson doesn't like the movie, he place it back in the red envelope and send it back for the next one on his queue.

  13. behold by circletimessquare · · Score: 0

    a world beyond the border of your mind (or at least, your country):

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0494238/releaseinfo

    Release dates for
    Inkheart (2008)
    Country Date
    Germany 11 December 2008
    UK 12 December 2008
    Brazil 25 December 2008
    Iceland 26 December 2008
    Singapore 22 January 2009
    Taiwan 23 January 2009
    Turkey 23 January 2009
    USA 23 January 2009
    France 28 January 2009
    Argentina 29 January 2009
    South Korea 29 January 2009
    Mexico 30 January 2009
    Czech Republic 12 March 2009
    Slovakia 12 March 2009
    Russia 19 March 2009
    Croatia 26 March 2009
    Netherlands April 2009
    Australia 2 April 2009
    Finland 3 April 2009

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:behold by Merls+the+Sneaky · · Score: 1

      Wow Australia 2nd April, we speak english here. What justification can they possibly have for a 5 month fucking gap in the release?

      And they wonder why Aussies "pirate" so much.

    2. Re:behold by powerspike · · Score: 3, Insightful

      it's the date thing mate it said 4/12 on the American box, so they though April... that's all, they don't know we write our days and months backwards!

    3. Re:behold by KeX3 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Oh, but it takes them a fair amount of time to rewrite and dub some of the lines too work in footage of koalas, kangaroos and the knifey-spooney-game, and make it seem like it was always supposed to be there..

    4. Re:behold by 91degrees · · Score: 1

      Apparently the more the local distributors pay, the earlier they can show it. The Australian distributors obviously don't think anyone is going to watch it (Is Brendan Fraser relatively unpopular there or something?)

      Seriously - even if they have to dub it, that's probably only a couple of weeks' work for a handful of voice actors and it's not like each country needs to book time in the same audio studio.

    5. Re:behold by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow Australia 2nd April, we speak english here. What justification can they possibly have for a 5 month fucking gap in the release?

      They have to localise the film by turning it upside down before it can be shown in Australia.

    6. Re:behold by Builder · · Score: 1

      You mean the rest of us write the date correctly - in order of significance
      dd/mm/yy
      smallest/smaller/biggest

    7. Re:behold by corsec67 · · Score: 5, Informative

      dd/mm/yy

      That is the worst way to write dates. You can't tell 2010 and 1910 apart, and if you try to sort a bunch of files named by date, in your scheme the dates are all mixed up.

      You want big-endian, and 4 digit years:

      YYYY/MM/DD.

      The ISO agrees

      --
      If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
    8. Re:behold by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's a terrible way to write a date. You can't tell 1 AD from 1 BC.

      Obviously, the only sane way to write a date is to write them all in days from present, and have a process that runs every night at 12:00am to update all the dates.

    9. Re:behold by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is the worst way to write dates. You can't tell 2010 and 1910 apart, and if you try to sort a bunch of files named by date, in your scheme the dates are all mixed up.

      Unless you're using a system that took more than two seconds to write...

    10. Re:behold by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I really need those 4-digit years for the expiration date on my tomatos. Seriously, there is no one "best" way to represent dates. Usually, the way all the people you live near do it works pretty well.

    11. Re:behold by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's not big-endian.

    12. Re:behold by drsquare · · Score: 1

      Who mentioned anything about file names?

    13. Re:behold by againjj · · Score: 1

      Yes, it is. Highest order bits first.

  14. Netflix Handles It by MWoody · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Remember, however, that Netflix doesn't show you the rating of a movie; it shows you its best estimate of how well you will like the movie. And does a pretty good job of it, too, once you've rated a few hundred films. So there are a few problems with your reasoning, in addition to the painfully obvious "it's already been released elsewhere" point covered in previous comments:

      - Is it even possible to make a shell account? Last I checked, you have to be logged in to rate anything on Netflix. And being logged in means you're a paying customer. I can't imagine paying $5 or whatever per single vote being cost effective, even at the cheapest service tier. Maybe there's a way if you abuse the free trial system, but that still strikes me as an awful lot of work.

      - Say, for the sake of argument, that these ARE shill accounts. They signed up somehow, rated that one movie, and never did anything again. If they haven't rated any other movies on your list, Netflix's algorithm will have nothing to link it to your preferences. I.e. it won't affect the rating you see in the slightest.

      - Let's even examine what happens if it's a multi-movie shill, perhaps kept up to vote highly for every movie released by a particular company. Again, the ranking system will almost certainly end up filtering out the result: unless you also happen to have given high scores to everything else that company has released, it's not likely to matter much in the final star value.

      - Assuming that you're looking at the unweighted score - an inadvisable decision, given that the remarkably astute ranking system is the best part of Netflix - you have to account for the long-term balancing effects of opinionated Internet voters. See, for example, IMDB, where new movies often peak onto the top 250 only to be struck down by Godfather/Shawshank/etc. fans. If someone only sort of likes a movie that's unrated, they might give it a 3, whereas showing up to see it rated 5 is going to result in a 1 and possible an irate comment. The flock will detect the wolf in their midst soon enough and crush it.

      - Who the fuck uses Netflix to get ratings for unreleased movies?

    On a tangentially related note, I first read that title and thought we were going to see a Netflix-like weighted rating system for games. I'd kill for a way to heavily weight lovers of Dwarf Fortress while throwing out comments from Halo junkies when deciding what to play next.

    1. Re:Netflix Handles It by Sen.NullProcPntr · · Score: 1

      Remember, however, that Netflix doesn't show you the rating of a movie; it shows you its best estimate of how well you will like the movie.

      No, it gives both the average rating of people who have watched the same movies as you and the total average of all ratings for the movie.
      Example:
      Average of raters like you: 4.5 stars
      Average of 254,138 ratings: 4.1 stars


      Otherwise you make some very good points.

    2. Re:Netflix Handles It by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Remember, however, that Netflix doesn't show you the rating of a movie; it shows you its best estimate of how well you will like the movie.

      Netflix shows the average rating of all members for all movies. It also shows the average rating for "raters like you" for movies it recommends to you.

      I can't imagine paying $5 or whatever per single vote being cost effective, even at the cheapest service tier.

      If 400 of those votes are shills, that's only $20,000 each month. 8.2 million subscribers seeing all your movies rated 4 stars or better is certainly worth $20,000 per month.

      blah blah blah filters blah

      See above.

      Who the fuck uses Netflix to get ratings for unreleased movies?

      As many have pointed out, the particular movie in question has been released and sneak previews are common. Anyone planning to go see the movie may check out the reviews.

      They may also not realize it has not been released yet. I go to the movies maybe once a year. I usually have no idea if the movie I am going to see has been out for six weeks or is just hitting the theaters that day.

      If you're in the habit of using Netflix for reviews, checking out a review for an unreleased movie is probably pretty easy to do if you don't know when the movie comes out. Netflix gives you no indication that the movie has not yet been released. It gives you only the year of initial release, which in this case was 2008, so you wouldn't even know it wasn't out in theaters until you tried to find it.

      "Hey, what movie do you want to see on Saturday?"
      "Inkheart looked interesting. Let's see. Yeah, Netflix gives is 4.3 stars."
      "Cool. See you then."

    3. Re:Netflix Handles It by WNight · · Score: 1

      I think the fake ratings are more of a studio/marketing level thing, so the $5 per wouldn't be a deterrent.

      Also, knowing what you say about Netflix's rating algorithm, these shills would highly simply highly rate everything in their likely target's likely faves list. If you're shilling for a new fantasy, rate it at 5 and LotR at 4.5, say "It even beats the Balrog scene - until now my favorite ever!" for a little bit more realism. They aren't trying to fake their way into the hall-of-fame (which requires beating the competition), just tricking some people.

      I'm in the middle of writing something somewhere between Tweak and DF Manager, in Ruby. I liked Armadillo Run, GTA (not for the missions), Morrowind (much more than Oblivion). And Quake1 multiplayer. Halo's original demo videos looked awesome...

    4. Re:Netflix Handles It by rhendershot · · Score: 1

      Netflix doesn't show you the rating of a movie; it shows you its best estimate of how well you will like the movie. And does a pretty good job of it, too, once you've rated a few hundred films

      I object. I've rated 1623. I find that the suggestion of what I would likely rate something to be off by a whole point (iow- +/- 1.0) or even more. I wish Netflix would go back to prominently showing what the cumulative rating is from their subscribers. That would make comparisons so much more realistic. This "your rating" thing just confuses. I look at the list of suggestions and pick one showing 4 stars. Alas, when I look at the rating from other viewers it's a 3.1. I prefer to see three stars not four in that case.

    5. Re:Netflix Handles It by Saysys · · Score: 1

      If you vote to like everything then you are associated with everyone. For only $5000 a month a studio can make every one of it's releases 5-star.

      Pay some homeless guys $10 and a bottle of whiskey and you can rate everything in a day.

    6. Re:Netflix Handles It by davolfman · · Score: 1

      At worst it'll give bad readings for people who watch all the over-hyped shill movies... Sounds like it works just fine to me.

    7. Re:Netflix Handles It by phulegart · · Score: 1

      As a former homeless (who was posting to slashdot during my time living in a van outside of a coffee shop) person, I resent that remark. First of all, you could NEVER get that level of quality and productivity out of homeless alcoholics. Two brought together are friends, sure. Everyone knows that. Who wants to be homeless alone? Better to have a buddy. Three or more are bitter a enemies. Why? Who knows. These are drunk, homeless alcoholics who most likely have mental issues. So any work quickly devolves into arguments, literal pissing contests, and the din of confused people shouting "Isn't this 1989? I used to own all the compooters!"

      So no, you could never just pay a pile of homeless guys in whiskey and low wages. They'd leave you with a smelly computer lab, keyboards that dripped things you didn't want to know about, and your liquor cabinet would be missing entirely. Oh... and nothing would be rated or reviewed.

      Although, I'm sure the reviews that you did get out of them would seem completely normal.

      --
      "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." -D. Adams
  15. Standard practise mate... by VendettaMF · · Score: 1

    Check out over two thirds of the listings on any 'odd jobs' website.

    This sort of work under the name "writing" makes up the majority of what gets advertised.

    Between those and the "Copy a Website in its Entirety" jobs there's barely any room left for the "scan and send magazines on the night they're released" work.

    --
    kartune85 : Incapable of reason, observation or learning. A kind of dim, drab, flightless parrot.
  16. Not shils, fanboys. by Aladrin · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You don't have to be a Shil to post reviews before the movie is out, you just have to be a fanboy. The 'I read the books' comment is definitely by a fanboy.

    I used to see a lot of this crap on EBGames.com before they got smart and disabled reviews before the games came out. Now it's called 'Preview Buzz'. You see the exact same comments, but they don't get to provide a rating.

    --
    "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
  17. Not out yet? by bickerdyke · · Score: 1

    I have to wait till the DVD gets out as I didnt find the time to watch while the movie WAS out at the cinemas.

    --
    bickerdyke
  18. LoC? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wait. I must be lying because it isn't released yet... Or... Perhaps the world extends beyond American borders. What, Americans make up only 5% of the world population? (10% by body mass)

    But how many libraries of congress is that 10% mass you got there?

  19. How did this make it on here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who's idea was it to post something this dumb?

  20. Maybe YOU'RE the Shill by DavidD_CA · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Getting a link to a movie on Slashdot. How much did they pay you for that?

    Seriously, even if the movie hadn't been released anywhere, there are still plenty of opportunities to see it. Producers hold previews all the time, and it wouldn't surprise me if they modernized things by encouraging those previewers to post their comments right at the theatre lobby.

    This happens on Amazon.Com quite often, with products that are not yet released. Do I consider it fraud? Not necessarily. Once the masses weigh in, the law of averages will too.

    --
    -David
    1. Re:Maybe YOU'RE the Shill by JoelisHere · · Score: 1

      I once saw a review on Amazon of 1 star (out of 5) for a book. The reason for the low rating was because of a trailer shown before the movie based on the book. People just don't know where to comment/rate things.

  21. US Only? by verloren · · Score: 3, Funny

    I had thought Netflix was a US only service. 400+ reviews for a film that's only been released overseas seems quite a lot - I guess Governor Palin has reignited the legendary American love of travel and curiosity about foreign countries.

    1. Re:US Only? by hab136 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I had thought Netflix was a US only service. 400+ reviews for a film that's only been released overseas seems quite a lot - I guess Governor Palin has reignited the legendary American love of travel and curiosity about foreign countries.

      Russia put up a big, big movie screen so Alaskans can watch from their house.

    2. Re:US Only? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, that would be the pending inauguration of TheMessiah. We know that once He ascends to office, our taxes will be so damn high, that we won't be able rent movies, let alone travel, so we're getting it all done now.

    3. Re:US Only? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I guess Governor Palin has reignited the legendary American love of travel and curiosity about foreign countries.

      Yeah, but according to IMDB, it doesn't come out in Russia until March 19, 2009.

    4. Re:US Only? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      400+ reviews for a film that's only been released overseas seems quite a lot

      You're joking, right? A single 747 will carry that many passengers. Do you have any idea how many people travel in and out of the US a day?

  22. Not only that, but... by hummassa · · Score: 5, Informative

    Inkheart is in the theatres here in Brasil for the last three weeks.
    Maybe it just didn't hit the theatres in the OP's city/state/country??

    --
    It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
    1. Re:Not only that, but... by dotancohen · · Score: 1

      Inkheart is in the theatres here in Brasil for the last three weeks.
      Maybe it just didn't hit the theatres in the OP's city/state/country??

      Or maybe there's some Amazon Mechanical Turk at work here.

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
    2. Re:Not only that, but... by commodore64_love · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Yes bribing. If it can happen over at amazon, it can certainly happen on other customer review sites.

      This is why I typically subtract a star from my reviews. It I think a book or movie is worth 8 stars, I'll rate it 7, so as to counteract the Paid Corporate Employees false positives. (Aside: Why is it that I can't leave 0 stars on amazon or imdb? Some things actually deserve a 0.)

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    3. Re:Not only that, but... by Tirhakah · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's been out in the UK too, since I think mid-December. Not surprising that it should have at least some reviews already then...

    4. Re:Not only that, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (Aside: Why is it that I can't leave 0 stars on amazon or imdb? Some things actually deserve a 0.)

      I wondered this until I wrote a (much simpler) reviews system myself. I realised that regardless of whether 0 or 1 stars out of five was the lowest rating, people would consider 3 stars to be "average" or "middle".

      Typically if people hate something they give it the lowest rating. If 0 stars is available, and half the people love it and vote five stars, and the other half hate it and give it 0, the overall rating will be 2.5 stars, rather than 3 with a system like Amazon's. This will be seen- unfairly- as substandard.

      It also means that your product range looks generally poorer-rated than those using a 1-star minimum.

    5. Re:Not only that, but... by ejsing · · Score: 1

      According to IMDB the movie was released as early as December 11 in Germany. I've noticed this trend recently, where "007: Quantum Of Solace" also was released earlier in Europe.

      Maybe Americans need time to adjust to not getting everything first?

    6. Re:Not only that, but... by commodore64_love · · Score: 1

      >>>people would consider 3 stars to be "average" or "middle".

      True, however on the opposite end of the scale, a really lousy book or movie will display as "1 star" which doesn't look as bad, even though it's the absolute lowest score possible.

      I'd rather see the ratings slightly reduced (where 2.5 is average), then have a bunch of lousy junk rated with 1 star that they don't deserve. Junk deserves NO stars.

      --
      "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
    7. Re:Not only that, but... by The+End+Of+Days · · Score: 1

      Maybe Slashdotters need to adjust to the idea that not everyone with an opinion that isn't shared by geeks is paid by a corporation to hold that opinion. If that made sense.

      Seeing the "shills" accusation in the summary made me want to punch the submitter.

      I should take anger management classes.

    8. Re:Not only that, but... by ChienAndalu · · Score: 1

      I guess it has something to do with the interface. Often, you have to click on the stars to make the rating, so you have to click on the first star to give the lowest rating.

      Same goes for Youtube as well.

  23. King Kung Fu by stomv · · Score: 1

    I gamed the rating of a movie on Netflix, just for kicks. King Kung Fu had a pretty low rating, mostly contributions of 1 star from a number of reviewers. So, to get a feel for the size of the denominator, I had about 6 or 7 friends rate it five star. Sure enough, it was enough to boost it a five tenths of a point.

    Is the film any good? I dunno. It's 71 in my queue though.

    1. Re:King Kung Fu by SJ2000 · · Score: 1, Informative

      five tenths of a point

      Why not just say half a point?

    2. Re:King Kung Fu by Your+Pal+Dave · · Score: 1

      Curse you, stomv!

      I couldn't resist clicking the little stars.

      The shiny, candy-like stars...

  24. whats going on with the visible trolls? by thermian · · Score: 2

    My preferences are set to filter anyone below 1, but I still see all the garbage that the trolls are working so hard to post.

    I don't see why this should be happening now, I used to be able to not see any of it, but with this new interface it seems its impossible to escape reading the first line of the troll posts.

    It needs fixing.

    --
    A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.' - D. Adams
    1. Re:whats going on with the visible trolls? by againjj · · Score: 1

      If you load up a page that has too many comments, then not all the comments will be retrieved. As the default is to retrieve highly rated comments first, this prevents the trolls from showing. So, to get you old behavior, a workaround is to set your preferences to retrieve "few" comments, and to wait for there to be lots of comments in a story before viewing. Kind of sucky, but whatever.

  25. It's just the kids... by krswan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I teach 5th grade, and many of my students have read and enjoyed these books. I'll bet most of the reviews are kids who liked the books, and don't really think or care yet about whether the book does justice to the movie, if the movie is any good, if Slashdotters think that their rating is fair. They're ten... and they know how to use a mouse.

    And really, do you take any kind of online polling seriously?

    1. Re:It's just the kids... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And really, do you take any kind of online polling seriously?

      Only the ones on Slashdot.

    2. Re:It's just the kids... by bedroll · · Score: 1

      You could be right, those reviews could come from hundreds of excited children. More likely, I would guess that fans of all ages have submitted reviews for the movie after only reading the books. It's common that excited fans will rate movies highly before they see them, and this is hardly the first instance. I don't think there is any long term damage done, either.

      The reviewer cited -- the one that only read the books -- is easy to deal with anyway. Flag the review as "This is not a review." It isn't actually a review of the movie, so it should be removed. After a few people have flagged the review it will go away.

  26. Damn.. by $1uck · · Score: 1

    The headline meant netflix style rating for games. I was thinking "yes please". I'm sick of sites that seem to rank on a bell curve 1 through 5 where everything is a 3 (or a 7). Anyone know of any sites that will take your personal rankings (like netflix) and correlate it to others rankings and recommend games? Yes I know this is offtopic.. just trolling for a reccomendation.

  27. Seen it by abigsmurf · · Score: 1

    Saw it at my local Cineworld. I thought it was a good film, enjoyable, creative and a great villian in Andy Serkis.

    I'd say it's certainly worth at least 4 out of 5. Infinately better than bedtime stories (which has a different twist on the same concept). It's been largely been ignored over here though which is a shame. Got almost no marketing.

    1. Re:Seen it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Andy Serkis was amazing in lotr, I intend to see this movie just based on him.

  28. How to Reason Intelligently by BlueMonk · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I don't know how people can ever come to any conclusions. It's cases like this (original post and response) that make me question how anybody can reach any sort of authoritative conclusion. You think you've identified something, and something you never thought of blows it away. Maybe this seems trivial in this case, it's easy for Americans to forget about the rest of the world, or, more likely, not realize how different it is and runs on a different schedule, or realize that something (like Netflix) is global. But it seems to me like this kind of shortsightedness is much more diverse and often more inconspicuous than just forgetting about the rest of the world. Maybe that's an indication that people shouldn't hold conclusions with such authority? It points out a fatal flaw in that statement by Sherlock Holmes, something like, "If you've eliminated all other possibilities, all that remains, however improbable, must be the truth." There's no way to can enumerate all other possibilities, let alone eliminate them. "Oh, well, it didn't occur to me that an indestructible micrometeorite would have been landing at this point in time appearing very much like a bullet permeating this guy's skull! Maybe we shouldn't have executed the convict after all."

    1. Re:How to Reason Intelligently by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      netflix is not global... I guess it goes to show that, as you wrote, it is easy to be clueless ;)

    2. Re:How to Reason Intelligently by Parasome · · Score: 1

      Well, you are right and you can't ever reach truly authoritative conclusions (outside the realm of logic, that is). That's why the scientific method is so useful in the real world compared to systems that depend on authoritative knowlege/belief. It's also the fundamental problem with the death sentence, as you pointed out.

    3. Re:How to Reason Intelligently by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To expand on Holmes:
      "If you've eliminated all other possibilities, all that remains, however improbable, must be the truth"
      This is limited of course to what information is available. Reasoning allows us to arrive at conclusions based on the available information. After coming to such a conclusion a reasoned being will remain prepared to accept new information and change their conclusions if necessary based on the combination of the new and old information.

      To not come to a conclusion based on the available information because some other information may become available can either be responsible (when there's simply not enough information to make a reasoned conclusion) or irrational (when all the available information points to an obvious conclusiong, but the individual refuses to make a conclusion, just in case).

  29. Hardly a new phenomenon by Drakkenmensch · · Score: 3, Insightful
    We've been seeing that for years with online reviews. Call it a logical consequence of the "First post" syndrome, with people being so eager to get on top of that page that they'll say anything at all even if it means nothing whatsoever.

    Then again, should we really be surprised to see this happen, with interviews for upcoming releases taking the form of "this will be the greatest thing EVER!" for absolutely any game or movie that comes out, especially those that turn out to be complete garbage? Don't believe the hype machine, folks, is what I'm saying.

  30. When are you going to understand... by John+Hasler · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...that everything on a retailer's site is advertsing? Is it that hard to find sites that rate stuff but don't sell it?

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  31. Fanboy effect by FilterMapReduce · · Score: 1

    Also, it has a review that doesn't even review the movie, but instead says the books are great therefore the movie should be too. Does the word 'shills' come to mind?

    Actually, the word "fanboys" comes to mind. For any given fictional franchise, there will inevitably be enough people floating around the Internet who care so much about the movie being good that (in their minds) it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

  32. Possibly not fraud by mlwmohawk · · Score: 2, Interesting

    While fraud may be a problem, I don't think it is. Pre-screeners get a copy of the films just for these sorts of things.

    I know for a fact that if you look for it, you can get "Taken," "Defiance," and other movies on the internet in DVD quality over the internet "for free." I am further certain that members film community and/or MPIAA uploaded the movies to drive up viewership at the box office.

    For instance, "The Day The Earth Stood Still" sucked, so the "screening" video is not out there. "Gran Torino" was an excellent movie and did well at the box office, and the screening video *is* out there.

    My new criteria for seeing a movie in a theater is looking for the screening video on-line. If it is out there, its probably a good movie because someone put it out there.

    1. Re:Possibly not fraud by Aramgutang · · Score: 1

      Not that I disagree with your point, but "Taken" was released quite a long time ago outside the US, and is already available on DVD where I live (Australia).

      I only noticed this fairly rare occurrence when I checked The Daily Show website today, and saw Liam Neeson promoting Taken as an upcoming guest for Thursday, which made me think: didn't I just see a huge "rent Taken now" poster in the Blockbuster window on my way to work?

  33. Not surprizing by Rooked_One · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I remember when "Dark Knight" was at the number 1 spot up against godfather and shawshank

    Thankfully someone has fixed that, but it just shows how inaccurate internet polls are.

    1. Re:Not surprizing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where "inaccurate" usually means "don't agree with my opinions"...

  34. Re:Apple Computer, the Homosexual's Favorite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "indicates the depths to which our great nation has sunk to."

    should be

    "indicates the depths to which our great nation has sunk."

    Also, fallen would have been a better word to use instead of sunk.

    Sheesh, if you're going to troll, at least do so with some grammatical sense.

  35. Strange Slashdotters... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I see all these bewildered posts about how could there be reviews already when it's not even released, or how obviously it must have been released outside the U.S. and THAT's where the "reviews" must have come from.

    Are you people new to this internet thing? Since when did people need to tell the truth? This is nothing new, nor is it even a good example of hype.

    Netflix allows reviews and ratings to be posted about a movie basically as soon as it's been added to the public database (that is, when subscribers can put the movie in their queue, even if it's not out yet). Many people take advantage of this ability to spread the word about how they look forward to it, although some of course go a bit overboard and claim to have seen a "test screening" or such. If anyone's listened to two kids do the my-dad-versus-your-dad argument, it quickly escalates into absurdity. And some people never grow up.

    The pre-release Netflix hype for the Harry Potter movies, for example, makes this "Inkheart" movie look boring and uninteresting.

    So did some of the "reviewers" actually see the movie? Sure they did. But are the others some part of a movie producer conspiracy to artificially hype the movie? Of course not.

  36. Re:Astroturfing is rife, more common online auctio by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's easy to get a high positive ebay score if you have a legit business that doesn't depend on reputation, like selling LED replacement bulbs for cars or something like that. The penalty for failure is low so people will buy from you anyway, and items are cheap so you have high volume and get a high score. The eBay score doesn't really tell you much on their own if they have 1 negative and 2000 positives, and the negative is for a thousand dollar item, and everything else was a buck, either.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  37. What a let down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I clicked this link hoping there was some correlation between Gaming, and Netflix. Boy was I disappointed with this post.

  38. Why bother with Netflix ratings at all? by edmicman · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Why not go by something like Rotten Tomatoes and word of mouth from friends? I've never really placed much stock in reviews on any site that is also "selling" me stuff at the same time, whether it's Netflix, Amazon, even Newegg sometimes.

  39. If most people claim to like something by gelfling · · Score: 1

    It's probably crap. Just listen to the people on line at Blockbuster if you doubt this.

  40. "Insufficient Evidence" by argent · · Score: 1

    But are the others some part of a movie producer conspiracy to artificially hype the movie?

    Insufficient evidence, perhaps. But "insufficient evidence" doesn't mean "of course not". There's insufficient evidence either way.

  41. Shills by Kbac · · Score: 1

    I pay people to leave me comments on Myspace to make it seem like I have friends, does that make me a "Shiller"?

  42. Assume stupidity instead of malice by afabbro · · Score: 1

    Go on Amazon sometime and look at DVD ratings. People write "this was an awesome book!!!1!"

    Of course, people also rate something with a zero because the book arrived damaged or their marketplace seller send them an Acceptable copy when they ordered a Like New ("I'm so mad about this poor customer service I want to rate this a zero but Amazon only lets me rate it a one!" Note that there's an entirely separate rating system for sellers and customer service.)

    Look at Yahoo's movie reviews...people write reviews before the movie comes out ("I can't wait to see this! I loved the book! I give it an A+!")

    And of course there are people who'll rate something as one star because their kid sister likes it and it makes them mad, or rate it five stars because they have a crush on a particular star, or have some strange "I rate everything I look at as one star - to hell with 'em!" mindset, or whatever.

    Stupidity is a lot easier to prove.

    --
    Advice: on VPS providers
  43. Other ways to see it by techstar25 · · Score: 1

    Plenty of people are able to find the movies on torrent sites and see it before it's theatrical release. Of course that leaves Netflix with a moral dilemma: Do they let people leave reviews knowing that they saw it illegally? (well not illegal, but you know what I mean)
    For example, horror movie website, bloody-disgusting.com has recently disabled the user review area for movies that have not been released yet. One example is "Let the Right One In", where many users were able to get some glowing reviews in before the mods could turn off access.

  44. Re:Apple Computer, the Homosexual's Favorite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Up with this nonsense we will not put!

  45. Actually, I think you are incorrect... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just wandered over to Netflix and looked up "InkHeart". It has one (1) member review - the one you refer to... Not the 400+ you seem to claim...

  46. easy fix by viridari · · Score: 1

    If I were someone in a position of authority at Netflix, here is how I would handle it.

    When you rent a movie, Netflix has record that you rented it.

    Don't allow anyone to review a movie that hasn't first rented it from Netflix!

    This will shut out people who have seen it in the theaters, of course, as well as pirates. But it will also make it a lot harder to shill without first renting the movie.

    But no matter how many times you rent it, your account only gets to review a movie once.

    1. Re:easy fix by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem with the rent-before-review is that I've got a friend who also does Netflix and I've seen the movies there. In many cases I'll like the movie, but not desire to watch it again shortly after watching it at a friend's house, so I might add it to my queue, but having it be down a ways. So instead of giving it a review then, I'd have to wait until I get around to renting it again.
      Or for that mater, if I own the movie and want to give it a review.

      And in any case, what's to say I don't sign up for the 5-discs at once plan just to get the disc and return it the same day. I could do 15 discs a week marked as rented depending on where they got shipped from. (so Mon they ship, Tues I get and return, Wed they get and ship, Thurs I get and return, Friday they get and ship, Sat I get and return, Mon they get and ship, repeat. MWF they get and ship, TuThSat I get and return.)(Right now I'm on a 3-disc plan and during the lazy days of summer I could did do 9 a week sometimes, usually ended up more like 5-7 depending on where it got shipped from and if I watched it quickly. (M-F 10 AM in, 5:15 PM out for mail, Sat 10 AM in 2:15 PM out when I dropped off at the post office)

      And how do we deal with those that watch it online through their service? Does it actually mark that I've watched the entire thing if I only started to watch it and stopped after a few minutes? I could mark a lot of movies that way. If they require me to "watch" the entire thing, and we assume 1.5 hours a movie I could still do 112 a week(168/1.5 = 112)(of course sleep is screwed up, but maybe people in shifts.)

  47. Re:Remember, it's not just by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, they all blow the Grand Dragon them post on /..

  48. People are paid to do it by DaveWick79 · · Score: 1

    Fresh on the heels of the story of the individual from Belkin, does it surprise you that the online review fiasco delves into other industries?
    Big producers such as Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, and others probably have thousands of employees in their marketing departments, and it would not surprise me in the least that part of their job is to go online and give positive reviews to thier films (and maybe negative reviews to competitor's films).
    Personally I don't give much credence to any online review of product simply because the results are uncontrolled, I don't know the people giving the reviews, and there is no way of knowing whether they are competent or not (not to mention completely bogus).

  49. Never attribute to malice what can be explained... by PyroMosh · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...by stupidity.

    I think Hanlon's Razor applies here. Many people here on Slashdot like to put on a tinfoil hat and shout "AstroTurfing" for almost anything. I'm harder to convince of that.

    I'll put aside what many have pointed out here, that the film in question has already been released in places.

    NPR had an interview a month or so ago with David Edelstein, a film critic who happened to be the first to go public with a negative review for Dark Knight. In other words, he was the one responsible for first knocking it down from a 100% rating on metacritic and similar meta-rating sites.

    In the interview he said he regretted having been first because of the backlash he received, but that he stood by his rating.

    He also went on to point out the deluge of emails he received from angry fans. Many of whom would go on to criticize him at length while prefacing the email with "I haven't actually seen the film yet, but..."

    Fanboys are rabid. They defend movies, hardware, software, etc, often sight unseen, because they want their horse to win. Even if they don't actually know what it looks like.

    In this case, the movie is based on a book. I don't doubt that many of the votes on NetFlix are folks who have rated the film sight unseen, because they WANT to like it. They're jazzed about it, and they want it to be rated highly.

  50. Re:Why distrust Netflix ratings? by colinnwn · · Score: 1

    What is your complaint or concern with using Newegg or Netflix for ratings? Both of them sell multiple similar products, so artificially increasing the rating of a specific product has almost no utility to them. There are many other choices. What's more, you have already paid your dues to Netflix, so they have no incentive whatsoever to encourage you to rent another movie from them. Additionally it decreases the utility of their rating system, and perhaps their whole service, if they have disappointed customers that feel betrayed by the rating they read.

  51. One person's shill is another's fanboy? by bigbigbison · · Score: 1

    In addition to the fact that the specific film mention is already released in other countries, I think it would be much more likely that fans are the ones rating the films than it is that the film companies are doing it. If the film is based on a book, a play, or a remake, it already has a built in audience who will be fanatical about it and if it stars a famous actor then there will almost certainly be a group of people who will give a movie 5 stars site unseen because they love that actor so much.

    --
    http://www.popularculturegaming.com -- my blog about the culture of videogame players
  52. Not intelligence, just stupidity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't believe this is a conspiracy. There are just alot of stupid fanboys out there. There are stupid fanboys for everything. There are definitely lots of stupid people in the world that wouldn't really consider what they're doing when they rate/review a movie they haven't seen.

    However, there is also the fanboy-type that feels outcast and alone, probably picked on for reading those books, that thinks if he get people to see the movie and like it, then he will be cool instead of a geek.

  53. Re:Apple Computer, the Homosexual's Favorite by TheVelvetFlamebait · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Best. Troll. Evar.

    I have to agree. Not too obvious to be lame, not too crass to be disgusting, not too subtle to stop it being hilariously funny. Mod GP funny!

    --
    You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
  54. Re:Astroturfing is rife, more common online auctio by PingXao · · Score: 1

    Aside from both being incredibly dishonest, I see little connection between the net neutrality debate and swiftboating. They both involve making shit up, but that's about it. You don't have to look far to find examples of people making shit up in the US. It's legal, too. For example, see any Mickey D's television ads where the burgers look hot and fresh. The vast majority of advertising in this country walks the fine line between puffery and outright deception.

  55. Re:Apple Computer, the Homosexual's Favorite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No, it should be "This is the kind of nonsense up with which we will not put", since yours could be rephrased as "We will not put up with this nonsense".

  56. Not idiotic by SuperKendall · · Score: 0

    People - like the OP mentioned - might like the book so much, they vote the movie positive without having seen it. It's idiotic, but so are people often times.

    How can you say it's idiotic to like anything? Taste, as always, is subjective... people are too quick to claim anyone who disagrees with them these days are idiots (or worse) without considering the validity of other tastes.

    While it may be misleading to vote up a movie based on liking the book it's based on, it can't really be called stupid. It's just somewhat invalid data.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Not idiotic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The GP didn't say liking things is idiotic, he said that voting on a movie before actually seeing it is idiotic, regardless of whether you're familiar with the underlying story.

      And yes, voting based on invalid data is stupid. Well, stupid or deceitful, but people are generally more in the former category.

      Case in point: Catwoman. Anyone who would "pre-rate" this movie 5 stars because they're fans of the Batman universe and love Halle Berry is categorically stupid.

    2. Re:Not idiotic by Belial6 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Really? You are honestly trying to claim that it isn't stupid to rate a movie as being good even when you have not seen it? Really?

    3. Re:Not idiotic by ClubStew · · Score: 1

      There's quite a few video games I like. Should I vote their corresponding movies up even if Uwe Boll directs? That's idiotic. Love an actor. Love the book, video game, or writer that inspired the movie script. But don't vote a movie just based on that. It really shows ignorance.

    4. Re:Not idiotic by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

      There's quite a few video games I like. Should I vote their corresponding movies up even if Uwe Boll directs?

      That would be annoying, but not stupid. My whole point. I'm not claiming what the people are doing is right, it's just not done from true stupidity.

      It's not like they strapped jet engines to the back of a car and took in into the desert to test.

      It's not like they are jumping off cliffs with body suits they have never trained in.

      What they ARE in fact doing is promoting a movie based on a book they love, in hopes that the movie will do well as a kind of reward to the author and a story they love.

      That motive is not stupid, even if the data provided does not agree with you. You and they have different purposes is all.

      --
      "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    5. Re:Not idiotic by stonecypher · · Score: 1

      How can you say it's idiotic to like anything?

      Learn to read, please. What grandparent poster said was that it was retarded to rate something that they haven't seen, based on the assumption that they would like it given who's in it. Believe it or not, even fanboys can find out the hard way that their favorite actor/actress has, for the first time, decided to act in a bomb. And yes, that applies to people who've already read the book.

      How can he say that it's stupid to like something? Well, when it's something you cannot possibly know whether you like without being psychic...

      --
      StoneCypher is Full of BS
  57. The score says a lot by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    The eBay score doesn't really tell you much on their own if they have 1 negative and 2000 positives, and the negative is for a thousand dollar item, and everything else was a buck, either.

    But that does tell you a lot. If you look at the items sold for the first page or two of feedback you can see exactly that kind of thing going on, and adjust the bidding acordingly.

    There are issues with eBay feedback but it's still the best system going in a world full of people with shifty motives for online sales.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  58. Re:Astroturfing is rife, more common online auctio by Raenex · · Score: 1

    Ebay used to be a decent place to get deals, then a few years ago the scammers found out they can fake feedback, and you ended up with 2000+ "transaction" power-sellers who will take your money and run faster than the nigerian prince.

    I don't see how that can work, since it costs money (paid to eBay) to list items and have them sold. I've had good luck with powersellers and eBay in general. Of course I wouldn't buy a big ticket item if all the positive reviews were for small priced items.

  59. Re:Astroturfing is rife, more common online auctio by LearnToSpell · · Score: 1

    Probably most everybody knows about this site by now, but Toolhaus's Negative/Neutral Feedback is indispensable if you're still on eBay. Any volume seller will have problem customers, but at least you can tell if the problems are consistent.

  60. Sure... by roc97007 · · Score: 1

    > Also, it has a review that doesn't even review the movie, but instead says the books are great, therefore the movie should be too.

    Right, because there's never been a crappy movie made from a good book.

    And Brenden Fraiser has never made a crappy movie, so it has to be good!

    And I'm the tooth fairy! So floss every day or I won't bring you any candy!

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  61. Wow! by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 1

    So a site that allows posted feedback from any customer at all has less than perfect entries? The deuce you say! Next you'll be telling me that letters to the editor in the local paper might contain logical fallacies in their political arguments. No, I can't accept this! Such a chaotic world cannot be true! It's the devil's work!

    1. Re:Wow! by Gible · · Score: 1

      except letters to the editor in the local paper are moderated and everyone else reads at 0+

      --
      ~/ One man's opinions is a lifetime of pain. /~
    2. Re:Wow! by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 1

      Moderated, yes, but sometimes I think they *have* to be printing some as examples of public idiocy. ;-)

  62. Re:Astroturfing is rife, more common online auctio by mounthood · · Score: 1

    The eBay score doesn't really tell you much on their own if they have 1 negative and 2000 positives, and the negative is for a thousand dollar item, and everything else was a buck, either.

    Netflix had a contest for a "recommendation algorithm", can you image EBay having a "karma algorithm" contest? EBay is paralyzed because it might jeopardize profits. Netflix doesn't have that luxury due to all the companies trying to create/control content delivery.

    --
    tomorrow who's gonna fuss
  63. Re:Astroturfing is rife, more common online auctio by Chabo · · Score: 1
    --
    Convert FLACs to a portable format with FlacSquisher
  64. Re:Apple Computer, the Homosexual's Favorite by quickOnTheUptake · · Score: 1

    > "indicates the depths to which our great nation has sunk to." One of the two 'to's is redundant. How do you expect people to take you seriously with such shit grammar?

    --
    Mod points: Guaranteed to remove your sense of humor.
    Side effects may include gullibility and temporary retardation
  65. Re:How to Falsify Evolution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    WOW. Thank God Almighty you were here to set that evolution thing straight. Now I can go on decaying in bliss.

  66. Occam's razor? by eison · · Score: 1

    Sounds a lot more like rabid fans than actual shills. One fan mailing list could easily account for the observation. Is it actually news to anybody that fans of stuff will go and encourage other people to check out the thing they are a fan of, without waiting to really review the new thing objectively?

    --
    is competition good, or is duplication of effort bad?
  67. Screeners by Josuah · · Score: 1

    Remember that people that work in the movie industry will get free screeners or other promotional chances to view a movie before it comes out in the U.S.

    Also, 428 ratings on Netflix is likely to correspond to much more than 428/# subscribers-percentage of people that have already seen it, because many people don't rate.

    On Netflix, I'm not surprised to see thousands to ratings on some titles before they come out in the U.S. Usually the low hundreds pre-release indicates a smaller audience when it does come out.

  68. So what? by tgibbs · · Score: 1

    Netflix is not a movie review site intended to help you decide what movie to see in the theater. There are plenty of those. But Netflix is a movie rental site. The reviews are there to help people decide what movies to order. By time a movie is actually available on Netflix, the handful of pre-release reviews will be swamped by many more reviews from people who saw the movie during its theatrical release. So it doesn't really matter to anybody whether those early bird reviews are from people who happened to get an advance screening (of which there are often quite a few) or from enthusiasts who are reviewing how much they expect to like the movie.

  69. Quite common by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 1

    Some directors/producers love to test movies. They'll test a whole film, or just a particular scene, many times. They have an audience watch it and see how they react. The movie will often have been done over in a number of versions before it ever gets finalized. Others don't do that, they make it and it's done, but even then eairly copies almost always go out for review and there are some preview screenings.

  70. The American spending voice is stronger! by DuctTape · · Score: 1

    What, Americans make up only 5% of the world population? (10% by body mass)

    Yes, but if we don't like something, it suffers because we are the consumers of the world's resources. If it's not good enough for me to buy with my borrowed money off of my maxed-out credit cards, then it's not good enough for anyone else.

    DT

    --
    Is this thing on? Hello?
  71. It'd been out for over a month... by mweather · · Score: 1

    Inkheart premiered in Berlin on December 6th.

  72. Re:Remember, it's not just by DontPanic6x9 · · Score: 1

    At least no one has spammed "Row Row Fight the Power" yet.

  73. Re:Remember, it's not just by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gee, with all the geek kooks coming here dumping all their crazy religious zealot trash, I wonder where all the racists and perverts got the idea?

    Sorry, but a dumpster is a dumpster. You can't complain about the trash when you come here daily to eat the garbage.

  74. Re:Apple Computer, the Homosexual's Favorite by CheshireDragon · · Score: 1

    WOW! after reading that you remind me of that wacky-ass brown-haired girl on that documentary...."Jesus Camp."

    BTW, WTF does this have to do with Netflix ratings? Sounds to me like you like to hear the keyboard click, or you like to masturbate to the reading aloud of your finished post. Either way, you need help.

    --
    "That's right...I said it."
  75. Why you think it is stupid, and why it is not by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Really? You are honestly trying to claim that it isn't stupid to rate a movie as being good even when you have not seen it? Really?

    You only think about it from the aspect of the person READING the review. For you, such a rating is useless and thus (to you) appears stupid.

    But for the writer, the review is motivated not by stupidity but (most likely) by loyalty to a writer and character(s) they love. Again, the true fault is with misinformation, not with the intelligence of the reviewer, who we already know to be an avid reader.

    Think about it - are you REALLY claiming that all these people writing reviews are honest to god idiots who cannot actually function in life? Really?

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Why you think it is stupid, and why it is not by Belial6 · · Score: 1

      Yes. Because the alternative that you suggest of deceit over something as trivial as a movie rating is also stupid, but for different reasons.

  76. DUH! by ILuvRamen · · Score: 1

    All I have to say is Epic Movie's IMDB rating was 8.4 days after it came out. Now it's like 2.2. Someone even posted on the forum for that movie that there's a glitch where if you delete your 1 star vote, it registers as a 0. Obviously that was a lie to get people to stop rating it 1 star. Why would someone say that unless they worked for the movie company directly? It's absolutely proven that it happens and site owners are doing nothing to stop it.

    --
    Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'