After in-depth discussion and examination, we have decided to simplify the display of Characters on IMDb, focusing our on-going efforts towards title specific character details. While in concept, we love the idea of character data spanning across all titles, in practice we do not feel our past experience lived up to expectations. The majority of our previous character pages were dead ends, without any related content, providing a confusing and disjointed experience. The filmography credits were often unusable, and the bios many times were inconsistent given numerous disparate story lines. While the previous experience had drawbacks, we truly appreciate all the hard work of everyonewho contributed to characters over the years. That said, as of today, we are simplifying the experience, allowing us to retain the character concept while building a foundation for future growth.
With today’s release we have begun this transition. Our new character experience will support title specific images, quotes, and keywords. Moving forward we will no longer support character filmography, biographies, videos, character lists or polls. To aid in this transition, we are temporarily retaining our prior character experience until Dec 6th. This will provide our users time to archive any character lists, polls or biographies which they previously created or contributed towards. If you wish to migrate any character lists or polls, we recommend rebuilding the content with an image list. Existing character lists can also be archived by selecting the “Export this list” option. During this transition, we have temporarily retained the character search option, but will suspend support after Dec 6th. In the coming months, we plan to re-enable character search based on our new experience.
We understand this is a significant change which was made only after careful consideration. We appreciate your understanding.
Here is an example of the new experience
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080684/characters/nm0000148

Nic
Nic Bachhuber, Employee
- 55 Posts
- 26 Reply Likes
Posted 2 years ago
- 1 Post
- 10 Reply Likes
I believe this is a tragic mistake. How to find all films TV episodes with any of the following characters:
Jesus Christ
Tarzan
King Author
Flash Gordon
King Kong
Harry Potter
etc.
As of right now, just search for the character on imdb! It generally works great and provides information that it is hard to find any other way. WHY delete this? Is it hurting anyone or anything? IMDB is a great service for both DEEP FANS and general users. This feature works reasonable well for BOTH. It's already here. Why kill it?!?
- 1 Post
- 8 Reply Likes
Changes to character pages
Would IMDb please return them to their original formats. Thank you.
It helps when you want to see else has played the characters in other adaptations eg
Sherlock Holmes, Dracula etc. It also makes it easier to find the titles of these movies or tv adaptations
Steve Crook, Champion
- 1387 Posts
- 1749 Reply Likes
Have you given any consideration to something that I suggested on the old message board system soon after you first introduced Character pages - that you restrict them to those that have something on the character page (some trivia or a full biography). There are too many IMHO where you have a Character page that doesn’t say anything much about the character, just giving a filmography. That leads to confusion with too many different characters on the same page
Steve
- 12 Posts
- 34 Reply Likes
- 25 Posts
- 35 Reply Likes
- 252 Posts
- 125 Reply Likes
- 252 Posts
- 125 Reply Likes
- 1 Post
- 9 Reply Likes
- 1 Post
- 5 Reply Likes
Why would you want to do a fool thing like this? I mean, why? I oddly just want the regular old imdb, read the cast, crew, reviews. You know, information about a film like you've done for 25 yrs.
R.I.P., Wackjobs.
- 3 Posts
- 10 Reply Likes
- 1 Post
- 4 Reply Likes
bderoes, Champion
- 1568 Posts
- 2550 Reply Likes
Doesn't this page help?
http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0027409/
That is one of the 4 listed when searched for character Captain Marvel.
- 12 Posts
- 34 Reply Likes
It's idiotic to expect all the character pages to be filled to the brim with useless trivia, as you seem to have been doing. Those things are a bonus. The real gem are the connections on the page and now you're removing them? I mean seriously, I've yet to see a change on IMDb that hadn't made the user experience worse.
Of course one of the reason why the character pages weren't perhaps used as much as they could have is that you, IMDB, did not improve them. For example, there was a longstanding problem with them that you couldn't get a full list of all the episodes with that character in them. It was always limited in length and the longer version removed the actor information. That resulted in not being able get the list of all the actors playing that character easily. An example would be Laurie Forman in That 70s Show: I don't think the character page ever listed Lisa Robin Kelly, because of the episode limit. And the full list removed the actor information. I reported the bug, but nobody f@*king cared.
The thing is, if you, the IMDB, want to stay as the go-to resource for movies, you need to support and come up with more of the sophisticated uses, or the users will find alternative resources and leave you behind. (Well, you're at least throwing out people who like Kevin Smith's movies by removing a very nice resource for the characters in his universe.) The connectedness of the information and access to those connections is the very thing that sets you apart from run-of-the-mill movie sites and now you're destroying it.
You may think that the cast lists and forums are your core, but you of all people should know that discussion forums and the database of information is surprisingly easily rebuilt elsewhere by crowd-sourcing, if you manage to piss off the community and drive them away. That's how you did it in the first place. With decisions like these, you're a myspace waiting to happen.
bderoes, Champion
- 1577 Posts
- 2570 Reply Likes
Can you help us understand why the Character pages must be removed before the new Search functionality will be implemented? Are you re-using the character codes, so that doing a character search would get mixed results if you leave the existing pages in place?
(I don't see any evidence of that yet, since ch0000574 is the code for Bugs Bunny under the old hand-built page http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0000574/, but when I open the new version for one of his titles, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119160/characters/nm0123354? the nm0123354 is for the actor voicing Bugs, and I don't see the ch-code anywhere.)
Also, can you explain how you will build a good automated search for a character's filmography? Especially for something like a religious figure, whose name is frequently adopted by the general population. Ex: searching for Jesus won't just yield portrayals of the religious figure.
Because I couldn't find a way to automatically archive all the character pages there, I was going to suggest people start saving character pages to web.archive.org But I think that's only useful to view later if you know the url of the archived page you want. If you eliminate the ability to search for the removed pages, I suppose Google search could help with that, but I'm not clear how long they keep dead links.
Thanks in advance.
- 7289 Posts
- 9526 Reply Likes
- 12 Posts
- 34 Reply Likes
What you should be doing is something like this: First you build the database and copy all the information (and this can be scripted easily), then you check to see that everything was copied right. After that you set up scripts to catch up to the current state of the old pages (as they may have changed in the meantime) and the procedures to update the old pages and the new database simultaneously. Then you observe that the system works properly, write and format the new pages that use the dynamic system (that hopefully isn't too reliant on client-side scripting) and come up with the server configuration to retain the old URL scheme on the new system (or change all the links, but that's stupid because it breaks every link on other websites). Then you test it in-house. Only after that do you swap the old live version with the new test version. And, finally, now that the old version is fully static, you make final backups of the old content. (And yes, I'm assuming the new version of the site makes automated backups and generally does the right thing performance-wise, etc.)
The thing about the character pages is that you could easily just initally copy all the additional content and the links in the list of titles to the database and then make the pages dynamic (or semi-dynamic) - even if the old pages are fully static. That way you wouldn't lose anything. You could easily pull in the quotes dynamically by matching the character information in each quote in a title against the character information in the title page and even generate new character pages for them if they do not already exist. It just seems so obvious and easy to do, so I don't get this.
- 7289 Posts
- 9526 Reply Likes
- 12 Posts
- 34 Reply Likes
- 7289 Posts
- 9526 Reply Likes
- 12 Posts
- 34 Reply Likes
- 2 Posts
- 7 Reply Likes
- 7289 Posts
- 9526 Reply Likes
- 224 Posts
- 214 Reply Likes
- 1 Post
- 5 Reply Likes
So if someone of you out there is really listening to me and trust me I am not the kind of person who spends his time babbling about politics on social media or similar crap like this, I am telling you don't make this change.
It's my sincere request, please let this particular feature be as it is.
Steve Crook, Champion
- 1385 Posts
- 1749 Reply Likes
But couldn't you also find that out by checking the filmography for Kelsey Grammer where you would soon spot a show called 'Frasier' where Kelsey also played "Dr. Frasier Crane"?
Steve
- 13 Posts
- 11 Reply Likes
- 1 Post
- 5 Reply Likes
Would you be so kind to please reconsider that change and not take away a great feature?
- 251 Posts
- 125 Reply Likes
- 3 Posts
- 8 Reply Likes
- 224 Posts
- 214 Reply Likes
- 4 Posts
- 7 Reply Likes
I think rather than taking time to change the character pages the time could be spent sorting out the problems.
Very disappointed and a tad annoyed.
- 224 Posts
- 214 Reply Likes
Peter, Champion
- 6866 Posts
- 8486 Reply Likes
-character Used to denote a character's appearance in a title. The formatting should be presented as the name of the character first, followed by "-character". So, for Star Wars, we'd list Han Solo as "Han-Solo-character". This can be used for both fictional characters, and fictional portrayals of real life people (including when someone is playing a fictionalized, scripted portrayal of themselves). Please note that if the character is recurring in a series the character keyword should only be added to the parent and not individual episodes.
https://help.imdb.com/article/contrib...
Dan Dassow, Champion
- 14333 Posts
- 15137 Reply Likes
FAQ: List of Live Character Based Polls Recast as Image Based Polls
Please provide this information for your new image polls based on live character based polls. These polls may have the same title as the existing live character based polls. They will be treated as any new poll suggestion.
Title:
Get Satisfaction Thread:
Image List:
- 15 Posts
- 23 Reply Likes
- 251 Posts
- 125 Reply Likes
*No place for IMDB Contributors to discuss titles and get to know other IMDB Contributors.
*No place to find out information dedicated to Specific Characters. No place for us to view Movie Quotes dedicated to Specific Characters either.
*It's now much harder to link things in Trivia Items, easier it is to simply type in names than remember weblinks for pages.
- 15 Posts
- 23 Reply Likes
- 3 Posts
- 8 Reply Likes
- 7285 Posts
- 9519 Reply Likes
- 3762 Posts
- 3651 Reply Likes
Well, most visitors will not even notice the reductions and downgrades...
by Jeorj Euler
- - -
IF all of this was on the Old IMDb Boards
there could be millions of comments & complaints
Perhaps that is why IMDb decided to delete the Boards and hide changes and such on GS
where most Users do not know about or want to sign up
- - -
Now 82,950,000 Users
mcgiroux
IMDb member since December 2017
http://www.imdb.com/user/ur82950000/
- - -
http://www.google.com/search?q=site:getsatisfaction.com+Changes+to+IMDb+Characters
https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=getsatisfaction.com+Changes+to+IMDb+Characters
- 7285 Posts
- 9519 Reply Likes
- 15 Posts
- 23 Reply Likes
- 3762 Posts
- 3651 Reply Likes
To be literal, I'd have to disagree.
The quantity of users to chime in with disapproval
would max out at about 500 or so, a higher number than here,
but still low and certainly not millions.
I don't why you're taking note of search results that only show what is going on, on GS.
by Jeorj Euler
https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=getsatisfaction.com+Changes+to+IMDb+Characters
Found a few posts on this topic on other sites
without GS ...
https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Changes+to+IMDb+Characters
as you remember ... IMDb Boards had a limit of 600 posts per thread
Started out with no limit and ...
Most replies to one post -
8,900 on Feb 15, 2002 and many more each week
"Jennifer 'Love' Hewitt-Yay or Nay?"
mollymae1 : Thu Dec 30 12:11:40 1999
www.imdb.com/oldboards/showpost.pl?Board=Thesps&Number=47656
Reply number 8,255 by ACT1 : Mon Dec 31, 2001
www.imdb.com/oldboards/showpost.pl?Board=Thesps&Number=981021
Listed in "Actors & Actresses: Discuss your favorite performers." Message Board
www.imdb.com/oldboards/wwwthreads.pl?action=list&Board=Thesps
YOU IDIOTS, SPOCK WOULD KILL FREDDY AND JASON
Star_Hero http://www.imdb.com/user/ur4251683/boards/profile/
Tue Mar 29 2005
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0329101/board/thread/17236596 - Freddy vs. Jason
2,306 replies
[Post deleted] This message has been deleted by an administrator - Mon Jan 28 2008
Message Boards started May 7 1999
New Message Boards started Aug 6 2002
"We have decided to disable IMDb's message boards on February 20, 2017"
- - -
Dhalgren, people who are unaware of the situation will not understand why you want to boycott,
and rest assured, most of the people who visit the IMDb site are unaware.
by Jeorj Euler
IMDb does not care if 10,000 users want to boycott
952,643 Users Registered in November 2017
Fri Dec 01 2017 http://www.imdb.com/user/ur82844702 29,998 registered
Sat Dec 02 2017 http://www.imdb.com/user/ur82874700 35,550
Sun Dec 03 2017 http://www.imdb.com/user/ur82910250 36,250
Mon Dec 04 2017 http://www.imdb.com/user/ur82946500
Now there are.. http://www.imdb.com/user/ur82960000
Only a few actually do anything on IMDb and less at SG (56,310 Members)
IF IMDb removed the POLLS - Then there would be heaps plenty complaints !!!
- 7285 Posts
- 9519 Reply Likes
- 15 Posts
- 23 Reply Likes
- 7285 Posts
- 9519 Reply Likes
Maybe I see your point. I'm not too sure. Even if a lot of web stuff surfaced addressing the matter, I still might not be convinced, but at least I would have something to work with. My interpretation of the lack of voices on the matter is that awareness of the matter is extremely low. You can't care if you don't know.
- 252 Posts
- 125 Reply Likes
As stated above, quote pages of pages don't have any option of viewing quotes that are only spoken by specific characters.
Peter, Champion
- 6850 Posts
- 8431 Reply Likes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080684/c...
- 111 Posts
- 99 Reply Likes
- 5 Posts
- 15 Reply Likes
- 63 Posts
- 77 Reply Likes
That said I hope to have back pages about significant characters who spanned multiple works, such as D'Artagnan, the Popes, the POTUSes, Robinson Crusoe etc.
- 1 Post
- 5 Reply Likes
- 1 Post
- 7 Reply Likes
I was using these character lists to know which episodes of particular shows had the character my daughter likes in them. Like, which episodes of The Lion Guard have Simba? Stuff like that. And now I cant. I don't really see how I am getting any satisfaction from any of this.
- 11 Posts
- 6 Reply Likes
As this destruction continues, I will spread the word against the site and encourage a boycott through my contacts in the film and television industry. Shame on you for spoiling this once great resource.
- 7289 Posts
- 9526 Reply Likes
- 3 Posts
- 4 Reply Likes
Related Categories
-
IMDb.com
- 3569 Conversations
- 5718 Followers
-
Data Issues & Policy Discussions
- 27293 Conversations
- 4103 Followers
-
IMDb Poll
- 7164 Conversations
- 1938 Followers
Dan Dassow, Champion
Sadly, the character pages depend upon old technology that IMDb is forced to phase out. I'm not happy about this, since it adversely affect the polls. I hope that the IMDb technical staff will provide an alternate means to search for characters in the future.
In the interim, you can use Google search as a less than perfect substitute.
For instance, to search for "Jesus Christ" enter the following in the search box:
site:imdb.com "Jesus Christ"
https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Aimdb.com+%22Jesus+Christ%22&oq=site%3Aimdb.com+%22Jesus+C...
Jeorj Euler
djv-6
What, relational databases don't work any more? Because that's what they're populating the pages with, whether they're using an actual database for it or simply static pages built such a way as to mimic that functionality. (And it should not be that difficult to recreate identical structure in a database if the latter. All you need is some scripts and time to run them, and time you have because you can first create the complete structure and only then make it live.)
djv-6
Dan Dassow, Champion
We are in violent agreement on that point.
Kat Cody Roberts
Dan, I don't understand how these pages use old technology. You're still having to use relational databases or as djv-6 said above, static pages built to mimic the functionality, when creating the quotes character pages (which are pointless, sorry). It seems to me IMDB just doesn't want to keep up with the complexity of the old character pages. Can you tell us the real reason?Ok so I just read some of Col Needham's posts on this thread and he explains things very well. So now I understand. Go read his responses on page one of this thread start at the top. They do want to eventually go back to the character pages as they are now.Jeorj Euler
djv-6
Upon reading the Upcoming changes... thread, however, it seems to me that the whole site has been built as a patchwork of (at the time) hyped-up technologies or home-brewed kludges without any larger design, each with their own particular system, instead of doing things right. It also seems that now the hardware on the system with the character information is dying or the system is reaching its EOL one way or another and so, rather than doing the right thing this time by importing the data in the new system, the IMDb is (again) taking the easy way out and simply scrapping the data along with the old system. In its place, it seems, they are scraping together a feature on the new system that sort of looks like the old without its actual functionality with promises that all will be well at some unspecified future date. That's what this seems to me.
I simply don't see a way to look at this and not think this is simply poor change management and intentionally throwing away data and features that could be fairly easily preserved. All it really takes is some scripting and processing time for it to run, unless they've really screwed the pooch.
Jeorj Euler