Message Boards Top Frequently Asked Questions

This page includes answers to the most common feedback, complaints and frequently asked questions about the IMDb message boards. Please read these notes carefully before contacting us: we will not, under any circumstances, respond to questions or complaints that are already addressed here. Helpdesk requests about one of these issues will be deleted with no reply, sorry.

Last updated: 28 August 2009

  • I saw an offensive post, what should I do?
    Make sure the post is in violation of our Message Boards Terms & Conditions of Use and our boards content guidelines. If so, use the Report Abuse feature, then add the user to your Ignore List.

  • User XYZ is behaving badly, what should I do?
    Use the Report Abuse feature, then add the user to your Ignore List.

  • I disagree with what user XYZ has posted. I want you to delete his post.
    Disagreeing with someone else is not reason enough to delete a post. Please refer to our Abuse Report Policy. If you don't agree with someone, we suggest you add the user to your Ignore List.

  • User XYZ has sent me a nasty private message.
    Add the user to your Ignore List (are you starting to see a pattern here?)

  • User XYZ is a nasty troll. Ignoring him is not enough, I demand you delete/block his account.
    Use the Report Abuse feature and our staff will take whatever action they deem appropriate based on their own internal determination. Asking or demanding that someone be deleted/banned is almost guaranteed to result in dismissal of your request: once again, if someone is misbehaving, you should report the post and add the user to your Ignore List and leave the rest to us.

  • Report Abuse and Ignore List, is that your answer to everything?
    Pretty much, yes. Our moderators don't actively read every post. If you see something bad, you need to report it and then they will take appropriate action. The best thing do with trolls is to ignore them.

  • I've been reporting someone's posts and they never get deleted. Your moderators are not doing their job!
    If you reported a post and nothing happened, the reason is one of these:
    1. Your report has not been processed yet. Sometimes it can take hours or days for our moderators to process pending reports. You need to be patient and we'll get to it.
    2. Our moderators disagreed with your report. Unless a message must be deleted because we think it violates our guidelines, our moderators will not remove it. Once again, before reporting something ask yourself if this is really something that has to be removed from the boards because it should not be read/seen by anyone else. If you just disagree with it, ignore it. If you don't like how the author expressed his opinion, add him to your Ignore list and move on.
    3. You have selected an incorrect/inappropriate reason for the report. Please make sure you select the right reason why you are reporting a post. Choosing an incorrect reason is guaranteed to have the report dismissed. And repeatedly using the wrong report category to try to get someone's posts deleted will definitely result in the opposite result: further reports from you will be ignored and your own account may be blocked.
    4. Your reports are being dropped because we have determined that you have made too many incorrect ones. Abuse of the 'Report Abuse' feature will result in silent dismissal of all your future reports. You should report posts only if they are genuinely in violation of our rules, not just because you disagree with them.

  • I reported a post that was genuinely awful and it was not deleted. How could you not find that offensive?
    First of all, see above. If you cried wolf one time too many, your report may have simply been discarded. Additionally, please note that we apply different standards based on the context of the post. We allow a bit more leeway in boards like the Soapbox or the Sandbox, which are specifically meant to be used for more potentially inflammatory content. There's no such thing as an off-topic post in the Sandbox, for example.
    Likewise, a post containing language or concepts that may be out of place in the board attached to a G-rated family show may be acceptable in the board attached to a more adult-oriented title. We try to be flexible and not stifle healthy, even heated, civil discussion, within reason. Last but not least, the definition of offensive is highly subjective. We are not the morals police and we are not trying to force every thread to be suitable for everyone. If someone's sense of humor and/or viewpoints consistently appear offensive and tasteless to you, you are encouraged to add him/her to your Ignore List (bet you didn't see that coming, eh?).

  • My posts keep getting deleted and more offensive ones are not removed. Why?
    There is no bias in how we moderate posts or accounts in our message boards. There are over 3 million boards on IMDb.com, one for every name and title, in addition to the 100+ main boards. Tens of thousands of new messages are posted each day. Our moderators do not actively read the boards looking for abusive posts -- this is not practical given the size of the site -- so they only take action against posts that are reported via the 'Report Abuse' feature.
    If posts that you believe to be in violation of our guidelines are still on the site, the likely explanation is that they have not been reported yet. This also means that the content of existing posts should not be used as a guideline to what is allowed in the board. Just because there may be an inappropriate post doesn't mean that it's ok to add another. As the saying goes "Two wrongs don't make a right".

  • An absolutely innocent post was deleted by a moderator. There's no way it violated your guidelines, why was it removed?
    Our moderation system often errs on the side of caution -- as much as we'd like to take action with surgical precision, sometimes it's more effective to remove entire threads or posting histories. Therefore a certain amount of 'collateral damage' is inevitable. Also, we are not infallible and there's always the chance of error, especially considering that we have to process thousands of reports per day.
    As previously stated we take a very dim view of inaccurate reporting and will not hesitate to silently revoke reporting (and/or posting) privileges from users who are caught reporting posts that are not in violation of our guidelines.
    If you are 100% positive that a post was incorrectly removed and that this due to abusive reporting, please let us know and include the exact URL to the deleted post. Please be aware that we can only investigate these cases if you provide a link to the deleted post and that we will not individually respond or follow up on these reports (but we will take action when needed).

  • You should take a look at board XYZ, it's really become a haven for trolls and you need to do something
    Again, we can only look at boards/posts that are reported via the 'Report Abuse' feature. Contacting us at the helpdesk with pleas/complaint will not work -- if you really want to help, use the 'Report Abuse' feature. Any other ways to report problems or contact us about board issues is guaranteed to take much longer and be less effective and you will not get a personalized response anyway.

  • Why was this post/thread deleted?
    Please refer to this page for information on when posts can be deleted. We are sorry but we cannot provide a more detailed explanation and will not look into specific cases, so please don't ask.

  • My posting quota has been increased. Why? How do I have it reduced?
    A posting quota is defined as the amount of time that has to elapse between two consecutive posts. In other words, the quota is how long IMDb.com registered users have to wait after they've posted a message or reply before they can write another one.
    Quotas are enforced to preserve system resources and improve the speed and readability of the boards. Please note that IMDbPro.com subscribers are initially exempt from quota restrictions.
    All new accounts have to authenticate to be able to post. Authenticating reduces the quota by 30 seconds. Most new board users have a default 90 seconds quota. After three months of being an active board user, the quota is usually lowered to 1 minute. Good behavior may cause your quota to drop to as low as 30 seconds and bad behavior may cause it to increase.
    We deliberately do not disclose when and how quotas are changed. This is done exclusively by our board admins at their discretion so please do not ask. We will not, under any circumstances, discuss or modify user quotas on request. However if your quota has increased, this is a clear sign that you have done something inappropriate (either by posting content in violation of our guidelines or by reporting messages that were not deemed to be inappropriate) and you should consider that as your final warning.

  • All of a sudden I can't post anymore and I'm asked to authenticate my account. Why was my account blocked? Why were all my posts deleted?
    You probably did something wrong, which violated our Message Boards Terms & Conditions of Use.

  • This is too vague, I want to know exactly why!
    Sorry, as we said, we don't provide more detailed feedback. It would be too time consuming and would only lead to further discussions which would not change the previous outcome anyway. But the two most likely causes are: you posted something inappropriate and/or you misused our 'Report Abuse' feature.

  • This is not right. What about freedom of speech?
    As per our Terms and Conditions of use, we reserve the right to delete any information from the site at any time in our discretion.

  • I want to complain about the way the message boards are moderated!
    We are sorry to hear that. However, if you disagree with the policies outlined in our Terms & Conditions of Use document or are otherwise dissatisfied with the contents or operation of our message boards, we suggest that you stick to the core functions of the site and stay away from the boards.

  • I have a question not covered here. Where can I find more information?
    Please refer to our Message Boards Help Section for additional questions and answers.

  • I demand an answer. How can I contact you?
    You could contact our Helpdesk staff here and you are all but guaranteed to receive a generic stock answer that will most likely direct you back to this FAQ page. As explained above, we are sorry but we cannot go into specifics about the way the message boards are moderated. Thank you for your cooperation.

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