Score another win for the trolls? IMDb -- aka the Internet Movie Database where fans look up and discuss their favorites films/stars/shows -- announced today that it's shutting down its message boards for "no longer providing a positive, useful experience" for most users. The words "people are just too awful" are not included in the announcement (but they are implied) and instead the site cites changing user interests as a reason for the shutdown.

Here's part of the "IMDb Message Boards Announcement":

"As part of our ongoing effort to continually evaluate and enhance the customer experience on IMDb, we have decided to disable IMDb's message boards on February 20, 2017. This includes the Private Message system. After in-depth discussion and examination, we have concluded that IMDb's message boards are no longer providing a positive, useful experience for the vast majority of our more than 250 million monthly users worldwide. The decision to retire a long-standing feature was made only after careful consideration and was based on data and traffic.

Increasingly, IMDb customers have migrated to IMDb's social media accounts as the primary place they choose to post comments and communicate with IMDb's editors and one another."

The announcement cited IMDb's Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, YouTube, and Tumblr pages as sources of audience engagement, with more than 10 million on Facebook and Twitter.

IMDb explained that it's announcing its decision to disable the message boards on Feb. 3, but the boards will stay open for the next two weeks "so that users will have ample time to archive any message board content they'd like to keep for personal use." During that two-week "transition period," IMDb explained, users can exchange contact information with others they want to keep in contact with on other platforms. The site apologized for any "disappointment or frustration" the decision may cause and said it will continue to enhance the current offerings with new features in 2017, and "help our customers communicate and express themselves in meaningful ways while leveraging emerging technologies and opportunities."

The world is certainly changing around us, and fans do increasingly connect on social media, but it's hard not to see this as another reaction to troll culture. This is why we can't have nice things!

[via: Variety]

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