IMDb, the Internet Movie Database, which has been owned by Amazon since 1998, announced on Friday that it will disable the community message board feature on the site. After February 19th, the message boards will be removed from the site. This two-week transition period is intended for the small, active community using the message boards to be able to exchange contact information with others. The ability to send personal messages between users will also be removed with this change.
IMDb gave the reason for disabling the message boards as “[the boards] are no longer providing a positive, useful experience for the vast majority of our more than 250 million monthly users worldwide”. Removing the feature would reduce the site’s technical complexity while also removing administrative need to moderate the community for harassment, illegal activity, and other messages detrimental to the community and the IMDb/Amazon brand.
The announcement listed IMDb’s social media accounts as the increasingly popular way to engage with IMDb editors. It also promised to continue developing innovative features for the site.
