# Am I going to have to stop using IMDB now? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 7, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099 "2008-06-07T03:24:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/21 "2008-06-07T14:03:32Z")
And then he ran over to cndb and saw an entry on Jonathan Rhys-Meyers in The Tribe: > [@](#): > > His penis can be seen coming out of the shower and having a threesome. I hate it when my penis does that. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/22 "2008-06-07T14:18:19Z")
Once they start those frick’n ads that keep fucking up the ability to navigate and click on the site, it becomes a worthless resource. The it’s free you have to put up with anything they do and you have no right to complain statement is a pile of crap. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/23 "2008-06-07T14:59:15Z")
[QUOTE=neutron star] I can’t get it to load in IE or Firefox, it doesn’t respond to a ping, and the hostname doesn’t resolve. [/QUOTE] Almost 12 hours later, I can’t access or ping it, either, although the nameserver says it is 72.21.206.70. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/24 "2008-06-07T15:12:21Z")
You know what else was free? Concentration camps! How dare those Jews complain about the way they were treated. It was all free! So, they should just STFU. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/25 "2008-06-07T15:21:33Z")
I’m pretty sure there was a cost associated with those camps. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/26 "2008-06-07T15:24:51Z")
Yeah, that wasn’t a joke or anything. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/27 "2008-06-07T15:32:39Z")
There is a very brief acknowledgment of the imdb problem on their message board: > [@](#): > > We are aware and investigating the problem. In the meantime, please use > > [http://us.imdb.com](http://us.imdb.com) > > Thank you for your patience while we fix this technical issue. And, yes, Wall-E is waiting to greet you there! ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/28 "2008-06-07T15:37:00Z")
I wonder if someone’s launched a DoS attack on them for whatever reason (perhaps the popups mentioned in the OP.) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/29 "2008-06-07T16:16:22Z")
[QUOTE=Don’t fight the hypothetical] The bottom line, that’s who. [/quote] I’m not saying it’s somehow morally wrong for them to do this. I’m saying it’s STUPID! The bottom line is exactly what’s going to take a hit if they annoy their users enough. It’s STUPID to annoy the people who actually have an effect on that bottom line. It’s RIAA prosecuting 12-year-olds and the software industry using really annoying copy protection schemes all over again. > [@](#): > > So a “fuck me” is supposed to help your case? No, that was just to make ME feel better. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/30 "2008-06-07T16:44:15Z")
[QUOTE=neutron star] Yay! It’s the “you have no right to complain about free shit” argument! This is totally original! I’ve never, ever seen it before, not even 50,000 times! Awesome! [/QUOTE] We’ve never, ever, _ever_ heard that response before either. So Yay! back at you. I’m sure the irony of you complaining about my complaining of the OP’s complaint will zip right past you so I’ll just let it go. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/31 "2008-06-07T21:48:33Z")
Amazon’s web site was down yesterday. Since Amazon runs IMDB, that may be why you couldn’t access the site yesterday. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/32 "2008-06-07T22:05:39Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] I wonder if someone’s launched a DoS attack on them for whatever reason (perhaps the popups mentioned in the OP.) [/QUOTE] I found an [article](http://news.cnet.com/8301-10789_3-9962676-57.html) on CNet that says that’s what it was. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/33 "2008-06-07T23:21:36Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Who thought annoying your potential customers was a good idea? A whole lot of people in the sales and advertising industries who haven’t had to deal with an end user since their last after-school ice cream scooping job, who intreract exclusively with other sales, promotion, and marketing heads, and whose entire career depends on making the numbers on one relatively meaningless in-house metric after another. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/34 "2008-06-07T23:39:56Z")
[QUOTE=Don’t fight the hypothetical] We’ve never, ever, _ever_ heard that response before either. So Yay! back at you. I’m sure the irony of you complaining about my complaining of the OP’s complaint will zip right past you so I’ll just let it go. [/QUOTE] Actually, that just proves my point: it’s a tired, boring argument that’s been rehashed so many fucking times that even posters pointing out that they’re sick of it is becoming trite. _arms self, fights the hypothetical_ ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/35 "2008-06-08T02:39:06Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] I’m not saying it’s somehow morally wrong for them to do this. I’m saying it’s STUPID! The bottom line is exactly what’s going to take a hit if they annoy their users enough. It’s STUPID to annoy the people who actually have an effect on that bottom line. It’s RIAA prosecuting 12-year-olds and the software industry using really annoying copy protection schemes all over again. [/QUOTE] I think we’ve reached the point where assuming that corporate decisionmakers will do, or even _know_, what’s best for their bottom line is assuming an awful lot. Large organizations will always act like large organizations, usually until well after they begin to suffer for it. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/36 "2008-06-08T07:38:55Z")
[QUOTE=neutron star] Actually, that just proves my point: **it’s** a tired, boring argument that’s been rehashed so many fucking times that even posters pointing out that their sick of it is becoming trite. _arms self, fights the hypothetical_ [/QUOTE] Easy there big fella, Defcon5, Defcon5… I’ll answer this on the assumption I understand you (which I acknowledge might be wrong) so work with me. This is The Pit. There are rules. No faux pitting. No pitting yourself. No pitting kitties for being soooo cute. It’s the pit for serious pitting. So some self-righteous asshole comes along (or actually several self-righteous assholes come along) and complains about some perceived personal slight (like God-forbid I might not get to keep up with my favorite celeb without banner ads!!!) and by my pointing it out it’s _me_ that’s wrong? Worse, I’m wrong because of the number of assholes that have come before? I’m sorry, I do not agree. I ask you to step back from the maze and gain a little perspective. Lets talk RO: You want to pit leaders who might affect your income due to policy? OK. You want to pit gangs who gang rape an innocent girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time because you are appalled at the inhumanity of the act? OK. You want to pit a free service for not giving you enough free shit fast enough? Sorry, fuck yourself. This is where it gets interesting. According to to you, my position is null and void due to the _number of times_ it has been made before. Curious, because it would seem to a free-thinker like yourself that it would be the actual lack of a real point that would piss you off - not some SDMB meme. I propose that RO has just jumped the shark. We are all so precious here that our very feelings (however misguided) are **The Most Important Thing** , and fuck the right thing and fuck the bigger picture. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/37 "2008-06-08T08:00:10Z")
**Dfth** , from what I can tell based on your last post, you’re arguing one of two things, and I need to figure out which one so I can know whether I disagree with you 50 or 100 percent. 😃 1. People are Pitting things that are far too mundane and trite (the “don’t you have any real problems?” argument) 2. The frequent R.O. (no relation) threads have created an environment where people Pit anything that pisses them off simply FOR pissing them off, without considering whether their position is in the right. If it’s #1, then bullshit, because I can’t think of a more innocuous outlet for one’s minor disappointments than bitching about them to a bunch of strangers on the internet. Sure, people also use this forum to complain about events of great impact, but don’t let that make you forget that at the end of the day, it’s just a message board. If I start a thread to rant for six paragraphs about my ingrown toenail, that doesn’t mean it’s the foremost thing on my mind, just that it happened to strike my fancy to bitch about it here. If it’s #2, then I’d agree, though I don’t know if the R.O. threads had anything to do with it…seems like every other day I’m faced with somebody whining at me about something that, even from their own biased explanation, is clearly entirely the complainer’s fault. Same thing applies to the Pit, and it’s nothing new, but I’ll agree that it can be annoying. So, if it is #2, then I’ll agree with you halfway. No more than that, though, because I despise the argument that people have no right to complain about anything that’s free. Still, I’ll save my rant on that until I understand your entire point. Care to clarify? ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/38 "2008-06-08T08:58:31Z")
[QUOTE=Don’t fight the hypothetical] Easy there big fella, Defcon5, Defcon5… I’ll answer this on the assumption I understand you (which I acknowledge might be wrong) so work with me. This is The Pit. There are rules. No faux pitting. No pitting yourself. No pitting kitties for being soooo cute. It’s the pit for serious pitting. So some self-righteous asshole comes along (or actually several self-righteous assholes come along) and complains about some perceived personal slight (like God-forbid I might not get to keep up with my favorite celeb without banner ads!!!) and by my pointing it out it’s _me_ that’s wrong? Worse, I’m wrong because of the number of assholes that have come before? I’m sorry, I do not agree. I ask you to step back from the maze and gain a little perspective. Lets talk RO: You want to pit leaders who might affect your income due to policy? OK. You want to pit gangs who gang rape an innocent girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time because you are appalled at the inhumanity of the act? OK. You want to pit a free service for not giving you enough free shit fast enough? Sorry, fuck yourself. This is where it gets interesting. According to to you, my position is null and void due to the _number of times_ it has been made before. Curious, because it would seem to a free-thinker like yourself that it would be the actual lack of a real point that would piss you off - not some SDMB meme. I propose that RO has just jumped the shark. We are all so precious here that our very feelings (however misguided) are **The Most Important Thing** , and fuck the right thing and fuck the bigger picture. [/QUOTE] Why did you bold the word “it’s” in your quote of my post? 😕 Just curious. Look, pitting mundane shit that pisses people off has been a staple of Pit threads ever since there was a Pit to post them in. Hell, if you change the view settings on the first page of the Pit to show all threads since the beginning and sort by number of views, you’ll see that four of the five most viewed threads ever started in the Pit (hey, one of those is mine - cool!) could qualify as mundane. I honestly don’t have a clue as to what you’re on about with the Recreational Outrage stuff, or why it has anything in the world to do with this thread. I’d also like you to point to exactly where I said, or even vaguely implied, that your position was void simply because it’s been said too many times. I didn’t say that and I didn’t mean it. All I said was that the debate you were trying to spur into action has been done to death. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/39 "2008-06-08T13:48:07Z")
How about this. I actually really like Google ads. Not the ones in the SDMB necessarily – those are generally harmless entertainment – but the ones I get in Gmail are actually a lot of fun. I’ll idly scan the context-based stuff per email, chuckle at what they think I want to read… I’ve actually found some really cool stuff on those ads, enough to click and learn more about things like modern Middle-Eastern women’s fashion. How to pretty up your hijab, for example. I actually click on those ads out of some curiosity. I always avoid the big shiny flashy things, though. No, I have Netflix. No, I don’t want to play some daft beer game. No, I – STOP SHOUTING AT ME, COMPUTER. I came to this site to do one thing, don’t stop me from doing it. You want me to notice you company? I don’t. I don’t even look at the content out of spite. I just click the “GTFO” button. **Don’t fight the hypothetical** , o fellow long-named Doper, are you an advertiser? Do you manage the advertising for some site or station? Understand, then, that there are some commercials people are at least semi-OK with. Though I have the option to get a Tivo and never see most commercials, I quite like the movie previews and the occasionally really witty little bit of advertising I see in the breaks I’m already used to. I hate the little banner things that come up in the middle of a show and hijack the attention from what I’ve come to see. I really don’t like the split screen during the credits. Annoying your customers will not, in general, encourage them to buy from you. Getting peeved because people are annoyed is even less profitable. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2008, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099/40 "2008-06-08T14:47:33Z")
[QUOTE=Don’t fight the hypothetical] So some self-righteous asshole comes along (or actually several self-righteous assholes come along) and complains about some perceived personal slight (like God-forbid I might not get to keep up with my favorite celeb without banner ads!!!) and by my pointing it out it’s _me_ that’s wrong? [/QUOTE] Okay, first of all, I have no problem with banner ads. Or border ads. Or pop-unders (which are annoying but well below my red alert level). I _know_ IMDB has to accept advertising. I’m hardly agitating for an internet without advertising of any kind. I LIKE my internet…I know that without advertising it would basically be government pages, university pages and paysites. What I do not want or like is the intrusive mini-movies that IMDB has been running that undermine the enjoyment of their site. It’s as if, rather than simply accept ballpark billboard advertising, a major league baseball team hired someone to drive out on the field every half hour (interrupting _during_ innings) shouting advertising for sponsors through a bullhorn. And personally, I categorically disagree with your perception of a proper subject for Pitting. I’ve always thought the people who rage against “recreational outrage” were being anal-retentive. So it’s not up to YOUR standards of what a Pitting should be. Tough luck. Maybe you can join up with your fellow Pit Dictators and go cry in a corner. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-going-to-have-to-stop-using-imdb-now/452099.md?page=3)