# A "Movies I've Seen" List... How should I do it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 8, 2009, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-movies-ive-seen-list-how-should-i-do-it/488718 "2009-03-08T07:37:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HoldenCaulfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/22d042/32.png) [@HoldenCaulfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoldenCaulfield)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-movies-ive-seen-list-how-should-i-do-it/488718/1 "2009-03-08T07:37:15Z")
I want to have a list of every movie I’ve ever seen. I don’t need any extra information like when I first saw it or how good I thought it was. I just want a list of movies that I’ve seen. What’s the best way to do it? I see that there’s some functionality like this in IMDb. I can easily click the “Add to My Movies” button, and it’s a place where I’ll be looking at movies anyway, so it’ll be convenient and I’ll be more likely to do it there. I also like that I can make the list public. My only real problem with this is that it doesn’t seem to check for duplicates, so I could potentially be adding movies more than once without knowing it. Is there better software I should be using? I also don’t necessarily want to spend hours adding movies I’ve seen, I figure it can be like, whenever I come across a movie or when I’m looking through an actor’s credits, I can just add movies as I go. Or I can go down the Top lists and things like that and put stuff in. But is there a more methodical way to do it that I should try? Maybe if there’s some better software out there it has a better way to find movies that I’ve seen. There’s also an issue of miniseries and tv shows, which I think I am going to leave out for now. And what should I do with the list once I have it? I mainly want it just to have it. Maybe I can look at the number and be amazed, or brag about it. But can you think of any practical uses? Who else here has such a list? Can I see it? ---
**Author:** ![HoldenCaulfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/22d042/32.png) [@HoldenCaulfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoldenCaulfield)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-movies-ive-seen-list-how-should-i-do-it/488718/2 "2009-03-08T07:51:07Z")
Now that I’m thinking about it, it would also be nice to be able to make lists by director, or lists of movies by an actor that I haven’t seen, or stuff like that. So if anything exists with that sort of functionality, I’d love to hear about it. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-movies-ive-seen-list-how-should-i-do-it/488718/3 "2009-03-08T08:23:09Z")
My movies on IMDB is perfect. If you add a duplicate it takes you straight to your list and you just move the duplicate to the recycle bin. One of the default categories is **must see** movies but you can make any categories you want. I do what you are talking about. Say I see a movie directed by Fred Bloggs, I look him up and go through the list of films he has made. I rate the ones I have seen and add any I want to see to my must see list. Sometimes I see a movie with someone in it that leads me to add several movies to my ratings.