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Rotten Tomatoes Bans User Reviews and Comments Before a Film's Theatrical Release To Counter Online Trolls (rottentomatoes.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

Rotten Tomatoes is finally addressing its troll problem. The review aggregation website has unveiled a new initiative to "modernize its audience rating system through a series of product enhancements," -- the first of which includes banning user reviews and comments prior to a movie's theatrical release. Getting rid of pre-release user reviews means internet trolls will not be able to flood film pages with negative scores before a movie comes out. As we saw earlier this week, Captain Marvel was at the receiving end of what appeared to be a targeted campaign to lower the upcoming movie's audience rating. Rotten Tomatoes is not banning user reviews entirely. It says it will offer this functionality to users once the movie has hit the theaters.

Further reading on Rotten Tomatoes: Movie Studios Are Blaming Rotten Tomatoes For Killing Movies No One Wants To See
Hollywood Producer Blames Rotten Tomatoes For Convincing People Not To See His Movie
Rotten Tomatoes Scores Don't Correlate To Box Office Success or Woes, Research Shows
DC Fans Angry Over Rotten Tomatoes 'Justice League' Ratings
Why Don't We Care About The Rotten Tomatoes Scores Of TV Shows?
Real Moviegoers Don't Care About Rotten Tomatoes.

7 of 443 comments (clear)

  1. Common by Zorro · · Score: 4, Funny

    Meet Sense.

    1. Re:Common by JoeDuncan · · Score: 3, Funny

      Do you understand now, or would you like me to draw you a picture?

      I don't care one way or the other, but now I do want you to draw me a picture, please.

  2. Re:quiet, blessed quiet by Nidi62 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Can you imagine a world where you had to actually have some first-hand knowledge of something before you could express an opinion?

    I don't know what that world would be like, but I don't like it.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  3. If a movie is worth trolling it’s worth watc by xack · · Score: 3, Funny

    To see what the fuss is about. Trolling backfires in this regard.

  4. Top 100 Best Movies of All Time by 110010001000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    According to RT, these are the top 100 movies OF ALL TIME (their words):

    https://www.rottentomatoes.com...

    Who can take this site seriously?

    Rank Rating Title No. of Reviews
    1. 97% Black Panther (2018) 456
    2. 99% Lady Bird (2017) 355
    3. 98% The Wizard of Oz (1939) 111
    4. 100% Citizen Kane (1941) 80
    5. 96% BlacKkKlansman (2018) 386

  5. Great and what about the real problem by DrXym · · Score: 3, Funny
    It's not the troll reviews which are the main problem, it is the shill reviews.

    For example, whenever a blockbuster is close to release you can expect stories on RT - audience "reactions" from a preview screening, or suspicious embargo busting reviews invariable positive. How are are these allowed to appear? Who greenlights the story in the first place? Why are reviews listed before an embargo? Who hand selects which tweets to highlight?

    My suspicion is RT is paid to generate positive feedback, "buzz" for a movie, and so prior to the embargo they fill the vaccum with bullshit and hype. And while troll reviews need to be fixed too, the user section is really is off on one side. I doubt it influences movie goers even a tiny fraction of what appears on the front page.

  6. Next up, require proof of seeing by mysidia · · Score: 3, Funny

      How about requiring people who want to review the movie to snapshot their ticket stub with an app on their phone?
        Or if you got the DVD, then take a picture of the box.