IMDb now requires an account to read user reviews
(midwest.social)
TheImpressiveX
moviesSeems to be a push from Amazon (they own IMDB if you didn't know) to enshitify user reviews across the board. They're doing it on Amazon for some items as well, but even worse.
https://lemmy.world/post/45764817
There's only one user review I've read that I ever got anything out of: it was a review left for Sex and The City Movie 2, and it was hilarious. Just going on about how awful everything in that movie is.
Used to go to:
- Look up cast lists
- Read the forums on trailers
Now:
- The cast list is obfuscated and harder to navigate
- The forums were removed
I use TMDB now
https://www.themoviedb.org/
Then it has no value to casual browsers, which is probably a majority of their visits. No ones signing up for that shit (i hope)
I agree they have no value. Most of the ones I've read have been pretending like they're Siskel or Ebert using an LLM to write some excessively long review just to get likes and climb the influencer ladder.
The only reason I ever had an account was the boards which they killed.
Now it just prompts me to log in and its like... why?
ENSHITIFICTION
Their design, layout and navigation are fucking terrible.
It began as crowd sourced database that became enshittified even before Amazon bought it.
It was cool up until the mid-1990s.
ENSHIGIFICTION
As opposed to enshigi non-fiction?
Fuck dyslexia...
Thanks IMDB. It’s been real.
themoviedb.~~com~~org ist way better anyways.
Oops, you're right of course.
This is the way.
https://www.themoviedb.org/
Its a shame i really enjoyed the brainrot of seeing assorted yokels prattle on about how project hail mary is an evil woke movie that brainwashed them into being gay and also had too much dialogue and too much emotion and they skipped through everything that wasn't a shot of the CG ships flying around
I used to love going to the IMDb forum and reading all of the user posts. There was a troll named Michael flatley that was genius
Letterboxd is where it's at
Letterboxd is more like a social media for movies instead of a user movie review site.
It’s also terrifically unhinged
Was that review written by Peter Griffin?
the top rated imdb reviews have a half decent chance at being interesting to read. the top rated letterboxd reviews are all extremely shit, unfunny jokes
Ok, but why is the button Hub themed 😳
Aren't there some alternative movie rating databases?
Themoviedb.org
Letterboxd.com
no boomers allowed
Who cares? The reviews are the worst part of IMDB. I use it to verify facts of a movie - year, actors, director, etc. I have no interest in the weird opinions that end up on IMDB.
Then you should use themoviedb.org
If you want good reviews use Letterboxd. Funniest meme shit on there.
It did get mildly enshitified recently too though because they moved the reviews under a button in favor of cast and crew listings. Like, no one cares about that Letterboxd, we have IMDB and TMDB for that. We don't need a third option, just stick to tracking and meme reviews.
My son is a big cinephile, and Letterboxd is his go-to. He doesn't even want hear about IMDB.
Exactly. This is a non issue. Like being upset you have to sign into Next Door to see Doris down the street complain about things.
The only time I cared about reviews on imdb was this one guy who had a absolutely ludicrous amount of porn reviews and looked exactly like the type of person to have a ludicrous amount of porn reviews.
I don’t like IMDb, but I’m not ready to move yet. I’ve exported everything to TMDB (The Movie Database) but I still use both. IMDb has the trivia. TVDB doesn’t have an app. I use Safari web shortcuts for both (and Wikipedia).
Doesn't have an app
That sounds like a plus to me
Yes and no. IMDb is ten billion percent better in Safari if you have a competent content blocker. On the Android side, I wouldn't make the shortcut, because I assume it would go through Chrome. I'd just use Firefox and uBlock Origin. But yes, IMDb without the app is better. However, it doesn't save searches (which also might be a plus, but if I keep coming back to what I'm watching, having the history does save time).
If a site is perfectly servicable without an app, I'd recommend people just do that all day long. Apps are not the best thing, but they're convenient to a point. I think people should be aware of what apps can do without their permission vs web content. This varies between iOS and Android too, so you gotta know what you're running and what it can do/what can be done to it by others.
App for a web site is ALWAYS worse. I hate that shit. The only time the app is better is if they purposefully make the mobile site worse so you switch to the app. Facebook was excellent at doing this.
Are there any good alternatives anyone can recommend?
Do you think it's a prelude to in a year or so wanting age verification on accounts?
TheMovieDB.org is the best alternative. Much nicer actually.
I use it and I’ve exported my IMDb reviews to it, but it still lacks the trivia and other cool stuff. I use both, to be clear.
I've been using Letterboxd for a while now and am pretty happy with it.
My only issue with letterboxd is they pull from TheMovieDB for metadata/director verification and TMDB has some exclusionary/gatekeeping policy where they don't consider films released primarily on Youtube eligible. This has fucked over indie directors like Joel Haver. I think his fans have manually intervened but no policy has changed that I know of.
https://letterboxd.com/director/joel-haver/
Bummer that they do that. Any platform that you can recommend that addresses that issue and is user-friendly?
Not at the moment, I still use both sites until something better comes along.
Thanks will give it a try.
Rotten Tomato maybe? Also recommendations from critics you like.
This is not true. I have never had an account and can still read the user reviews.
Did you try just now?
While it could be regional, I am getting it in the middle of the US and we tend to get this kind of stuff last. Reviews require a login for me right now on Project Hail Mary and the one old movie I checked from the 90s.
I tried in many regions and countries and all of them required login to see reviews. I use a browser that keeps no cookies and deletes all browsing data on exit.
Yep, just tried it again for that movie and I had no problem. I will say this is in the IOS app and in the past when I updated the app it tried to get me to login but it’s always had a skip link.
So it isn't true for you, but it is true for OP and me and other people even if it isn't 100% universal.
Its definitrly true in some places. Last night I went to read a review and it prompted a sign in.
Mayne its different on the web or something.
Yeah I’m sure it’s prob location or some other demo they are picking up to enforce that shit.
Between multiple browsers on desktop and mobile, all in private mode or browsers that do not save any cookies or data, VPNed into any country I tried, you now need to be logged in to see reviews. Either you’re logged in, or lived in a place that isn’t Canada, the US, Japan, Denmark, Australia, Norway, or whatever other places I tried.
Uses Neodb instead.
