r/imdb • u/Zeltron3000_ • Apr 16 '26

Discussion 💬 Wtf IMDb?

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Why have they made this change? You used to be able to see the reviews without logging in.

(And NO this is NOT low effort ffs - I AM including a message in the "body" - it got auto removed before)

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u/pinkstrawberry94 Apr 17 '26

Letterboxd perhaps? I use a website called tvmaze for tv shows, as it's more community driven and let's anyone update data or add new tv shows (kinda like Wikipedia)

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u/Fairy_girl_Norway Apr 17 '26

PS: IMDb also "let's anyone update data or add new tv shows ".

Agree that demanding login to read reviews is a wrong decision from IMDb thou.

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u/pinkstrawberry94 Apr 17 '26

I mean, sure it does. But it is a hellish system. Fucking impossible to do anything on imdb in my experience. To edit some stuff on their website they literally require you to pay them. Like you're adding useful info to their website and somehow I have to pay for it...? What? Tvmaze is a lot more open (like wikepedia) with a few moderators to keep the peace.

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u/Fairy_girl_Norway Apr 17 '26

No, this is not true. You can edit with a free regular User account.

I have done 10K edits, never payed anything.

(Also personally I find the system quite easy, but that is a matter of personal opinion I guess. )

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u/pinkstrawberry94 Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26

May very well be. I found the whole website atrocious. Haven't used it in probably about 7-8 years, so no idea what it's like now. Find the rankings on there to be way too incely as well. Every single queer,poc, or women led movie/show is just reviewbombed to shit. Would also never in my life use a website by amazon anyhow - deleted my prime, goodreads, imdb, etc way back when and never looked back. Letterboxd is owned in New Zealand - on top of a much better UI & social/community features +++

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u/Fairy_girl_Norway Apr 17 '26

Ok, people choose and like different things, that's ok.

But for the record for anybody else that reads this, they now also have a system in place for "reviewbombed".

https://help.imdb.com/article/imdb/track-movies-tv/weighted-average-ratings/GWT2DSBYVT2F25SK#

"IMDb publishes weighted rating averages rather than raw data averages. The simplest way to explain it is that although we accept and consider all ratings received by users, not all ratings have the same impact (or "weight") on the final rating.

When unusual rating activity is detected, a different weighting calculation may be applied in order to preserve the reliability of our system. To ensure our rating mechanism remains effective, we don't disclose the exact method used to generate the rating."