Also, I do see the irony in posting this.
Good. A sense of humor gets you a long way on these boards! ;)
Depending if a film is either an adaptation of a novel, a remake or a wholly new idea, there are roughly three stages on these boards. The first stage is fans of an existing franchise (for example
Star Wars) frequenting an IMDB message board while the film is in production. The next stage, when trailers are first shown and right before and directly after a film's released, has all sorts of people come to the boards - not necessarily those who'd like to discuss a film's details.
The third stage comes once the film's out of cinemas and available on home release. Interest might die down a little and the board regulars remain, usually to discuss a film more in-depth. (The board for Cameron's
Titanic is a fine example. There's a bunch of fans active there, not just with extensive knowledge of the film, but of the historical ship and the time period as well.)
Some boards attract people who like to troll one another and follow each other around across different message platforms (the
Prometheus and upcoming
ALIEN: Covenant boards are examples of such behavior).
For me, personally, it does take the joy out of using these boards. A downside to IMBD is the lack of moderation; it's either a free for all, or everything gets deleted (usually boards for popular films/ franchises are more closely watched), and it's impossible to contact moderators directly.
Double and similar posts is a disaster too. People don't bother to read through a few pages to see if their question has been asked already, thus having the same question pop up over and over again. (
Arrival.) It makes it less pleasurable to visit a board.
In general, I feel there's a good deal of great people with knowledge to be found; and there's a ton of "trolls" who like to annoy everyone for their own amusement. It's best to block them. After a while, they move on to other message boards.
And sometimes you find a topic that's of interest, where you can discuss your favorite film(s) with likeminded people. :)
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kylen48
8 years ago
Thanks, I enjoy your analysis. I was actually expecting to get a lot of hate for this post, but for the most part, people agree or at least have smart things to say. it is a shame that it's getting shut down but part of me feels like it makes sense for this reason. Any suggestions for new places to go to discuss movies or where there might be more informed conversation
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