MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Welcome to MovieChat.org

Welcome to MovieChat.org


Hey guys,

Jim (founder) here. I thought I'd start a post where everyone can let me know their thoughts/suggestions publicly (I've been getting tons of emails, but decided to create a post so everyone can see and follow the discussion). For now, here's a mini-FAQ that addresses some of the more common questions I've received via email since we launched earlier today. Please continue to ask away!

1. How many movies/posts does the site have? Is it a full or partial backup/archive of IMDB?
We currently have a message board for every single movie and TV show on IMDB (that's over 4 million!). To access the message board for a particular movie/show, simply search for it in the search bar at the top of the site. Alternatively, you can go to moviechat.org/movies/IMDB_ID, where IMDB_ID is the IMDB id of the movie/show (e.g., tt0903747). I am also currently working very hard to back up as many posts on IMDB as I can - we currently have 3 million posts backed up so far, all accessible here on MovieChat.org, and I'm continuing to add more and more.

2. Are there legal concerns about archiving IMDB's posts?
No. Before I became a software engineer, I was a lawyer for 4 years practicing in the IP and copyright space, and thus I have a deep understanding of the current situation, which is partly why I decided to start this site. Furthermore, I have spoke with several individuals at AMZN/IMDB, all of whom state that the message boards are of absolute minimum value/concern to the company, and it is highly unlikely that the company would pursue any legal action should someone attempt to archive the boards. In fact, IMDB was actually considering creating an API / data extraction tool to allow users to retrieve whatever they wanted before the boards shut down, but they decided it just wasn't enough of a priority for them (it wouldn't bring in any revenue, so why should they do it?). The (much) more likely scenario is that a few individual users may directly request to have their posts removed (much like you can request Google to remove personal information about you from its search results). Such an action would have a very minimal effect on the overall content of our site.

3. Will you be adding pages for actors and other information/metadata?
If there is enough demand from the community, then absolutely. My current focus is on archiving as much information as possible from the IMDB message boards before they shut down, but once I complete that, I will begin working on the most popular requests from the community.

4. Will you require donations to keep the site running?
Donations are nice, but I am fully financially committed to this site, regardless of donations. After the terrible experience we all went through with IMDB, I pledge to keep this site up come hell or high water.

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Great idea Jim thanks setting this up.

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Best Wishes to moviechat.org. I posted for 10 years on the IMDB messageboards, and I'm sorry to see them go. But I hope that moviechat.org is successful in maintaining the discussion forums. I've already located one of my old IMDB posts (on a fairly mainstream movie)on here, and I'm happy to see it preserved. A lot of my old posts were on rather obscure movies, and although the movies are listed here, the posts, so far, haven't made it over. But regardless, good luck in archiving as much as possible from the old IMDB discussions. I'd also love it if the actor/actress messageboards, and the TV show messageboards, could somehow be brought over, but that might be asking for too much. But anyway, good luck in the future, and it's nice that you're maintaining the public discussion tradition.

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Are you the same Jim that started one of the petitions to keep the boards open? Boy oh boy, did I sign those petitions to keep the boards. It's crushing to know they have no interest in our community.

I just found this board so I'm brand new here. Want to thank you a bazillion trillion times over for investing in and of yourself to help us keep some thread of continuity going for us to discuss movies. You are thanked, deeply thanked!

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Thanks to you and all involved in creating this site/forums!! I am here/signed up due to IMDB closing their forums.

Sense I see no place for a Profile yet:
I am the DIY artist, deadpopstar. Most of the time my posts are Very Lengthy/borderline Essays sometimes.ha. If you don't wish to read them, it's Absolutely cool!, just skip over them!! I look forward to some great rational debates and discussions on here about films/series!! :)

-deadpopstar

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Thank you for creating MovieChat. I was notified of its presence today from a private message of fellow IMDb user (hope you recognize me from a different username). Hopefully you can get as much as possible. I know this site is in its early stages but one request from me: Alternating colors of replies from users' posts would help on the eyes and distinguish one post from another within a thread. Kinda hard to read on solid white background.

Once again, thank you!

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U DA MAN JIM !!!

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I'll give this a shot ...thx

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Looking great so far! Please make sure to add a Movie Awards board. It's a popular hang out for cinephiles year round.

http://www.imdb.com/board/bd0000005/threads/

Thanks for all the good work.

JW

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