The Enshittification of IMDb

The diminishing transformation of Internet Movie Database by Amazon is a prime example of enshittification. What was once the go-to film hub online has gradually turned into a platform that is now difficult to navigate, largely obsolete and filled with adverts.

The history of IMDb can be traced back to the 1980s when Col Needham, a British software engineer, created a database to collate data relating to various films he had watched. In 1990, he transformed it into a Usenet group. Three years later, it became a website on the fledgling World Wide Web. By 1998, the corporate monster that is Amazon had acquired it.

The late 1990s and 2000s were like the Wild West for internet users. Regulations were less stringent than they are today, as exemplified by the once infamous forums of IMDb. While some topics were trolled to oblivion with highly offensive comments, others provided informative help that expanded one's artistic tastes and horizons. IMDb was a prime (no pun intended) example of the proverbial double edged sword.

On 20 February 2017, IMDb permanently closed its message boards. The official reasons were a decline in traffic, users opting for alternative social platforms and the rise in toxic behaviour. Since then, the site’s appeal has greatly declined.

The search for relevant information became more challenging. For instance, adult films were unlisted. This necessitated Google searching (preferably in Incognito mode) an adult actor's link to their IMDb page; a cumbersome workaround and a risky endeavour while on a lunch break. A more recent change was seeing miscellaneous actors missing their birth year from their IMDb profile; information than can be found everywhere else. Furthermore, the pervasive promotion of Prime movies and TV shows dominated every page, even with the use of an ad blocker.

And now the ability to read user reviews has been removed for anyone not signed up to IMDb. The official reason: to stop review bombing and trolling. However, it's another reason for the site to force anyone to sign up, gather their personal information and potentially sell it to a data broker. User reviews were often more honest and less performative than those on Letterboxd, where terminally online, e-celeb users more concerned over their pithy one line reviews and follower counts. Additionally, IMDb's user reviews were more prone to representing the normies. Hence, their movie insights tended to be more welcome thanks to their succinct honesty over the average “professional critic” compelled to flex their media literacy with bloviated analyses behind an online publication’s obtrusive paywall.

For these reasons IMDb has become another fond resource reduced to obsolescence due to all its completely reductive and unnecessary changes. A site destined to be buried alongside MySpace, GeoCities and other defunct popular sites in the internet graveyard.

R.I.P.