- 4 Posts
- 8 Reply Likes
Posted 7 years ago
Emperor, Champion
- 6418 Posts
- 3006 Reply Likes
The problem with importing a list from another site is that without the IMDB film ID (it is in the link) you can't make everything match up completely. This could be rectified through importing by having a page where it offered you the ability to pick the right film. As you can imagine this'd need them to put in quite a bit of time and effort coding it.
There are a couple of options:
* Amazon/IMDB/LoveFilm set this feature up to allow exporting of lists between sites, which would need the ability to link the films together (as I don't think you get, for example, the ASINs on IMDB needed to link the entry there to the specific product on Amazon). This would be a powerful feature as it'd help boost the number of lists on all sites and would probably only need to be coded once (and either tweaked to work on all sites or hosted centrally on one of the sites). This system would then allow importing lists from other sites, which would also be a big boost to the Amazon family of sites.
* If IMDB just allowed you to import IMDB generated lists it'd be easy enough for some web savvy sort to produce a web-based system where you could import a list from anywhere and format it so it can be uploaded to IMDB (there is enough of an API to allow this kind of search from an external site).
It seems there is enough interest out there to create a system to allow the importing of IMDB-formatted lists and see how it goes from there. Fingers crossed this gets addressed at some point.
- 7 Posts
- 10 Reply Likes
(* as there is no officially available imdb-id + title + akas source there are not many programs or websites providing lists that can be exported including imdb-id's values)
So +1 to this feature.
- 7 Posts
- 10 Reply Likes
Emperor, Champion
- 6418 Posts
- 3006 Reply Likes
* Import IMDB formatted lists - this would be easy to implement and would not only allow people to import lists they've exported from IMDB (some people export theirs and fiddle with them in spreadsheet software), but if someone had a list of IMDB films then it'd be easy for someone else to produce a little web widget that'd process this list into an IMDB-formatted lists that could be imported.
* Import other movie lists - as explained above this'd be trickier but not a big chore, just a few forms and a title search: the page could work through each list element and presented a radio buttoned list of possible films based on the title/year search (with links so someone can check them in a new window) so someone can select the right one and move on to the next film. It'd be quicker and easier than working through each film entry and searching for each one, then grabbing the link and using that to add the film to a list.
The first approach would be a good start, and you'd then have some of the underlying structure needed to make the second one work.
- 4 Posts
- 8 Reply Likes
PS: Sorry for the long time to answer it, I only received an e-mail remembering me about this today.
Emperor, Champion
- 6418 Posts
- 3006 Reply Likes
Actually, to load a movie in Listal you need its Amazon url, and to load a movie in iCheckMovies you need its IMDb ID.
That is good to know, it'd make a solution easier to implement - if the lists have the IMDB ID, and we had a way to import lists you'd exported from IMDB, then it is just a matter of formatting the list. ASINs might be trickier - I'd need to check, but usually what they do is do a Movie & TV search using the title, but it might be they have the ASINs stored and we don't see it. The staff should be able to clear that one up.
actually I have no idea what an API is
It is just a standardised way to request and receive data. IMDB do have one bu,t as far as I'm aware, it isn't comprehensive enough for people who want full flexibility.
- 4 Posts
- 8 Reply Likes
Well, then it only depends on the IMDB staff to implement it?
Emperor, Champion
- 6418 Posts
- 3002 Reply Likes
As I say, just allowing people to import lists they've exported from IMDB would be a great first step (and would allow some information from other sites to be imported as well, with a little tinkering). After all, it seems odd to have a way to export your list, but not to import that very same list.
- 4 Posts
- 8 Reply Likes
Emperor, Champion
- 6418 Posts
- 3002 Reply Likes
Dan Dassow, Champion
- 12409 Posts
- 12342 Reply Likes
- 16 Posts
- 7 Reply Likes
- 2 Posts
- 1 Reply Like
- 2 Posts
- 2 Reply Likes
I think it would be easy to implement only on one condition: if the list had a field with IMDb ID. Consider the following situation: I saw a thematic list which I liked, but did not agree with the inclusion of five films in it (the list in total has for example 100 films). I could export the list to a CSV file, remove these 5 films of it and use that file to create a new list, my list, with 95 films. This is because the lists exported from IMDb comes with the ID, which avoids any need for "scraping" the data.
Like many other websites and also external programs use the IMDb ID in their databases, I could get movie lists even outside the site and include them in IMDb, if this feature was available. Today, it is necessary to include film by film. Fortunately the editing window allows you to paste the IMDb ID, speeding up the process a bit.
PS: When you talk about "external programs", you are referring to programs such as Ant Movie Catalog, right?
Giancarlo Cairella, Official Rep
- 1108 Posts
- 1042 Reply Likes
This may change in the future, but for the time being we are not looking at adding an 'import' feature for lists, sorry.
Emperor, Champion
- 6418 Posts
- 3005 Reply Likes
Why offer the option to export a list, if you can't import it again? Just offering that as an option would be very handy in case of disasters.
Dan Dassow, Champion
- 14276 Posts
- 15008 Reply Likes
The following fields are exported for each type of list. The name, description of the list and comments are lost.
When manually reconstituting a list the most relevant fields are const and description. One can use the tt-constant (Title), nm-constant (People), ch-constant (character) and rm-constant (Images) to directly look up the respective list item. The search results should be unique. The description can be pasted into the description editing box.
If/when IMDb decides to implement a list import feature, the simplest version would be to emulate this manual process.
- Titles (movies, TV shows, TV episodes)
- position
- const
- created
- modified
- description
- Title
- Title type
- Directors
- You rated
- IMDb Rating
- Runtime (mins)
- Year
- Genres
- Num.
- Votes
- Release
- Date (month/day/year)
- URL
- People
- position
- const
- created
- modified
- description
- Name
- Known for
- Characters
- position
- const
- created
- modified
- description
- Name
- Images
- position
- const
- created
- modified
- description
- url
Emperor, Champion
- 6418 Posts
- 3005 Reply Likes
- 1 Post
- 1 Reply Like
a class="" title="Click to rate: 7" rel="nofollow" span 7 /span /a (carets removed)
ie create a list formatted something like:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100263/u...
that sort of thing?
Emperor, Champion
- 6418 Posts
- 3002 Reply Likes
- 19 Posts
- 20 Reply Likes
http://www.imdb.com/rg/action-box-tit... used to do this! That was the foundation of my complaint in the other "Import a list" thread.
Dan Dassow, Champion
- 12633 Posts
- 12698 Reply Likes
- 19 Posts
- 20 Reply Likes
Emperor, Champion
- 6418 Posts
- 3002 Reply Likes
It might be there are measures in place to stop scripting exploits and/or flood controls but there is certainly a possibility there and a way to start simple then build up the functionality if it works.
I did some digging and found this script that does seem to allow people to add films to lists from just about anywhere (including Google results):
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/3...
Which suggests it is possible and, with the right knowhow someone could adapt what is there to get the first stage sorted out at least.
- 19 Posts
- 20 Reply Likes
Emperor, Champion
- 6418 Posts
- 3002 Reply Likes
- 19 Posts
- 20 Reply Likes
Emperor, Champion
- 6418 Posts
- 3002 Reply Likes
I installed the script and got the same error as you, seems the recent changes at IMDB broke it and the script needs updating:
http://userscripts.org/topics/126533
- 19 Posts
- 20 Reply Likes
I'm not sure my method will help you, but let me do some more testing and I'll share with the class.
Emperor, Champion
- 6418 Posts
- 3002 Reply Likes
Dan Dassow, Champion
- 12633 Posts
- 12698 Reply Likes
- 19 Posts
- 20 Reply Likes
Emperor, Champion
- 6418 Posts
- 3002 Reply Likes
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topi...
As long as you can import from exported files.
Emperor, Champion
- 6418 Posts
- 3002 Reply Likes
- 19 Posts
- 20 Reply Likes
Emperor, Champion
- 6418 Posts
- 3002 Reply Likes
- 19 Posts
- 20 Reply Likes
Dan Dassow, Champion
- 12633 Posts
- 12698 Reply Likes
Thank you for the update.
- 1 Post
- 3 Reply Likes
- 19 Posts
- 20 Reply Likes
- 1 Post
- 3 Reply Likes
- 1 Post
- 3 Reply Likes
- 1 Post
- 1 Reply Like
- 1 Post
- 2 Reply Likes
- 6 Posts
- 9 Reply Likes
Now that IMDb has watchlists and other ways for users to keep track of such things, I would like to take my list of 5k titles (which, when exported from iCheckMovies, contains the IMDb ID of each) and import it here. Given that IMDb provides the ability to export a list, it baffles me as to why such a simple, obvious, and much-requested feature should remain unavailable for this long, especially if the list being imported contains the IMDb ID for each item.
On top of that, I'd actually make the argument that by not implementing this feature, IMDb is in fact driving users away from the site. In this one thread I've read several comments to the effect that, as long as such an ability remains unavailable, users with large lists on other sites will just stay at the other sites instead of migrating here, because the thought of having to manually enter thousands upon thousands of titles one at a time is understandably daunting and frustrating.
I've recently dabbled in some basic JavaScripting with Grease/Tampermonkey scripts, some of which involve the inputting and/or outputting of IMDb IDs to and from the site, so I'll try my (admittedly inexperienced) hand at coming up with a workaround for this glaring omission on an otherwise feature-filled, user-friendly site. If I have any luck, the users in this thread will be the first to know. In the meantime, though - please, oh Great Ones of IMDb, hear and answer our prayer!
- 208 Posts
- 98 Reply Likes
- 6 Posts
- 9 Reply Likes
I didn't notice this before but, unless I'm mistaken, there's no way to send private messages here. I have some very good news I want to share with everyone in this thread, but would prefer to do so privately.
Shortly after writing my previous post in this thread, I found the perfect solution to this dilemma. I can verify that it works, as I added about 4.5K movies to my profile in an hour or so. I really hope the others who posted in this thread read this, so I can share this huge time-saver with you all.
Therefore, if you (Keester) and anyone else who is looking for a simple and relatively quick way to import lists to IMDb would email me at MrE2Me@gmail.com, I'll get back to you ASAP.

DavidAH_Ca, Champion
- 3261 Posts
- 2917 Reply Likes
Because of this decision, it will be difficult to update a list, all that can be done easily is to append to it. This could also create problems in an upload, as if the system times out, and the user re-uploads they may end up with a lot of duplicates. I think the best solution would be to allow an option to restrict a list to unique items (by Constant).
A while ago, it was suggested that IMDb could just upload the same format as the exported list, but this would be a major waste of bandwidth.
For example, an exported Title List contains the following fields:
- Position - Position of this record in the custom sort.
- Const - the unique key to the Title
- Created - date the record was created - see below for discussion
- Modified - not necessary on input - would be replaced by the time it is uploaded
- Description - User added description
- Title - not stored in list - copied from Title page
- Title type - not stored in list - generated from Title data
- Directors - not stored in list - copied from Title data
- You Rated - not stored in this list, only on Rated list - copied from there
- Imdb Rating - not stored on list - copied from Title data
- Runtime (mins) - not stored on list - copied from Title data
- Year - not stored on list - copied from Title data
- Genres - not stored on list - copied from Title data
- Num Votes - not stored on list - copied from Title data
- Release Date (month/day/year) - not stored on list - copied from Title data
- URL - not stored on list - can be generated from the Const
The problem is that once uploads are permitted several records could be added within one second, so the Created field would not be unique. Of course they might implement a uniqueness check and pause if appending the current record will create a duplicate Const+Created combination. Or they could simply warn that the Update might not work correctly if the list contains multiple items for the same Const.
While I have only specified Title Lists above, the other types are the same in principle, with only the same few fields being required for an upload.
P.S. I too really wish that IMDb would implement some system to upload lists, it would help me a lot.
- 1 Post
- 3 Reply Likes
In the kinopoisk.ru site they have a feature that makes it possible to import the ratings from the IMDb site, so it is not necessary to check and rate it all again. I was wondering: is it possible to import my history from kinopoisk to IMDb?
- 2 Posts
- 2 Reply Likes
Now a lot of dissapointed users are considering to move to IMDB.
So, there's a problem - each of us has the list of over 1 000 rated movies, we would like to import all of it information to IMDB.
The list is in Excel.
- 3 Posts
- 4 Reply Likes
I'd like to second the proposal of importing movie ratings from an Excel file. Although, actually, any solution which would let us transfer a lot of data at once will help, not necessarily import from Excel (for example, you can create a... let's say a 100-line input form into which we will copy-paste 2 columns with grades and movie titles, press OK and get the films graded).
The reason for this is the same as that of the previous person: the big Russian movie web site Kinopoisk we used to use was ruined by its new owners. At the moment it is temporarily back to its old design but that's not for long. So basically tens of thousands of people are left hom.. ehhm, siteless. The only thing we have is several Excel files with our movie/celebrity folders and movie rankings. Many people have a lot of movies in such lists (I have over 2100 rated movies, more than 500 actors/directors in different folders and more than 700 movies in different folders). Manual transfer will take an eternity.
Many kinopoisk ex-users are planning on moving to imdb. Please help us do it. You are our last hope.
We just really love movies and can't live without a good movie database website.:)
With best regards and greatest hopes,
Mindeveler.
- 6 Posts
- 9 Reply Likes
- 3 Posts
- 4 Reply Likes
Unfortunately I can't send you a message on imdb because of this verification thing (Imdb won't accept my phone number, and I don't really want to use my credit card for that purpose). Can you please contact me via e-mail Mindeveler@gmail.com?
Thank you in advance.
- 6 Posts
- 9 Reply Likes
@ anyone else who wants to contact me about importing lists, it's probably simplest to use my email address: MrE2Me@gmail.com
- 6 Posts
- 9 Reply Likes
- 1 Post
- 0 Reply Likes
No problem if imdb doesn't import automatically Listal exports, but some kind of csv or xml import should be implemented, please!
- 1 Post
- 2 Reply Likes
Dan Dassow, Champion
- 14400 Posts
- 15255 Reply Likes
I understand your desire and need to import your ratings into IMDb. IMDb currently has no plans to allow users to import lists and ratings.
Importing ratings for titles presents additional challenges for IMDb. A user's ratings is implemented differently than other lists on IMDb. Only one rating can occur for each user for each title. Whereas, in other title lists, titles may occur multiple times.
If IMDb were to allow a user to import a list of ratings, they would have to determine whether to reject multiple ratings for a title or to use the last rating for a title.
In addition, allowing a user to import ratings may be a means to circumvent code to reduce vote stuffing for films.
Note: I am not an IMDb staff member, but a long time user of IMDb.
- 3 Posts
- 4 Reply Likes
Have I got it right that you only mean "1 grade per movie"? I.e. a can give 1 grade to "The Shawshank Redemption", 1 grade to "The Green Mile" etc.
Then it's not a challenge at all. Each movie exists only once in each of the lists we have. I actually think most, if not all, websites only allow users to have 1 grade per ... something which this website is about (a movie, a song, a book etc.).
As for the abuse-of-this-feature possible issue, I don't actually see how it may work. People don't generally fake votes for multiple movies. If someone (for example a director of a new movie) wants to do this, he doesn't really need to give high grades to anything except his own movie. The rule "1 grade per movie" remains intact, and I don't see why someone would try to fake grades for many movies.
OK, well, they may think "I will hide one-two real grades among the others", but this will only make such activities easier to detect (if many people import similar lists, it is suspicious, while creating individual list for each fake profile is going to be quite difficult and time-consuming).
So...I'm not really good at programming but I don't think the import feature would pose any challenges or create any risks...
- 6 Posts
- 9 Reply Likes
- 9 Posts
- 6 Reply Likes
- 2 Posts
- 1 Reply Like
- 2 Posts
- 0 Reply Likes
MrE2Me
6 Posts 4 Reply Likes
Apologies, I didn't realize it was such a process for new members. You've got mail!
@ anyone else who wants to contact me about importing lists, it's probably simplest to use my email address: MrE2Me@gmail.com
- 2 Posts
- 1 Reply Like
- 9 Posts
- 6 Reply Likes
- 208 Posts
- 98 Reply Likes
Exporting is OK.....We're glad to have helped you leave.
Importing not allowed......We don't want any new members.