Welcome to MovieChat.org
Hey guys,
Jim (founder) here. I thought I'd start a post where everyone can let me know their thoughts/suggestions publicly (I've been getting tons of emails, but decided to create a post so everyone can see and follow the discussion). For now, here's a mini-FAQ that addresses some of the more common questions I've received via email since we launched earlier today. Please continue to ask away!
1. How many movies/posts does the site have? Is it a full or partial backup/archive of IMDB?
We currently have a message board for every single movie and TV show on IMDB (that's over 4 million!). To access the message board for a particular movie/show, simply search for it in the search bar at the top of the site. Alternatively, you can go to moviechat.org/movies/IMDB_ID, where IMDB_ID is the IMDB id of the movie/show (e.g., tt0903747). I am also currently working very hard to back up as many posts on IMDB as I can - we currently have 3 million posts backed up so far, all accessible here on MovieChat.org, and I'm continuing to add more and more.
2. Are there legal concerns about archiving IMDB's posts?
No. Before I became a software engineer, I was a lawyer for 4 years practicing in the IP and copyright space, and thus I have a deep understanding of the current situation, which is partly why I decided to start this site. Furthermore, I have spoke with several individuals at AMZN/IMDB, all of whom state that the message boards are of absolute minimum value/concern to the company, and it is highly unlikely that the company would pursue any legal action should someone attempt to archive the boards. In fact, IMDB was actually considering creating an API / data extraction tool to allow users to retrieve whatever they wanted before the boards shut down, but they decided it just wasn't enough of a priority for them (it wouldn't bring in any revenue, so why should they do it?). The (much) more likely scenario is that a few individual users may directly request to have their posts removed (much like you can request Google to remove personal information about you from its search results). Such an action would have a very minimal effect on the overall content of our site.
3. Will you be adding pages for actors and other information/metadata?
If there is enough demand from the community, then absolutely. My current focus is on archiving as much information as possible from the IMDB message boards before they shut down, but once I complete that, I will begin working on the most popular requests from the community.
4. Will you require donations to keep the site running?
Donations are nice, but I am fully financially committed to this site, regardless of donations. After the terrible experience we all went through with IMDB, I pledge to keep this site up come hell or high water.