iMDB Message Boards are closing permanently on Feb. 20, 2017

[UndertheWire]

P.S. Didn't know IMDB was owned by Amazon. Back in the day - I've been visiting IMDB since about 1998 or so - wasn't it "owned" and run by a group of film fans, just volunteers and stuff.

The version I heard was that it started with a small group of computer science students at Cardiff University. There were no lectures on Wednesday afternoons (they were probably expected to go off and do manly activities like playing rugby) so they used to watch movies and to keep track they developed the Cardiff Movies Database. When it was moved to the internet, it was renamed imdb. What I find funny is that it started off as a way of keeping track of hot girls!

[NightMistBlue]

I've wondered why so many actresses have their measurements cited in the bio section. Perhaps that's where it originated. Thank you, UtW - didn't know about the Welsh connection.

[sodascouts]

Interesting bit of trivia about imdb's origins!

I'm sorry the message boards are closing as well. While I never posted on the boards, I often read what other people had written. For instance, after Rogue One, I headed over there to see if other people felt the same way I did about the ending.

Social media is great for the here and now, but it's awful when you're trying to search for specific information or continue a discussion that's more than a week old. I'm definitely sad to see the boards go.

I'm thankful that this is a great and friendly community and proper moderation has been enacted on this board. Also, I'm glad that past threads on here aren't deleted, since on iMDB, threads could be deleted, due to the site only allocating a limited amount of threads on some actors and movies.

After Glenn died, I thought this forum might die, too. I'm glad it hasn't, but when that day comes (hopefully far in the future), I'm going to keep it online as an archive of information.

[UndertheWire]

After Glenn died, I thought this forum might die, too. I'm glad it hasn't, but when that day comes (hopefully far in the future), I'm going to keep it online as an archive of information.

That's good to know. About 10-15 years ago, I and a lot of others contributed a lot to a message board but when traffic dropped off, it was "archived" and everything was lost. It was quite uosetting because it included show reports and first impressions that I didn't keep a copy of and which can never be recaptured.

I'll miss the imdb boards. They aren't much good for in-depth discussions but as a quick resource for a film or tv series that I've only just seen, they can't be beaten. It takes so much time to find a good message board.

[buffyfan145]

I just checked to see if IMDB kept anything of the message boards but it's completely gone. Thought maybe they would've archived the posts but it looks like now the boards never existed.