# Anyone Else Contribute to IMDB? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 14, 2004, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044 "2004-07-14T09:54:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/1 "2004-07-14T09:54:57Z")
Internet Movie Data Base I sometimes submit ‘user comments’ which eventually get published, and even register my votes for different movies. I am often dismayed, however, at the movies I see which don’t attract enough votes to give a rating (it is only 5). The user base is many thousands. I therefore think that my tastes in movies are largely irrelevant, with the majority of viewers satisfied with special effects, violence and sex rather than anything approaching a plot, acting ability and artistry. _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/2 "2004-07-14T10:25:42Z")
I haven’t submitted anything recently, but for a while I sent in informaton like crazy, particularly on Japanese movies and performers that probably never got any exposure in the States (not that much in Japan, either). I also tried to regularly submit the entrants in the annual Japan Indie’s Movie Festival (yeah, that apostrophe’s wrong. Tell the festival organizers). I don’t know how much I’ve sent in all together, but I’m on their top 20 list for plot summaries. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/3 "2004-07-14T11:02:05Z")
I submit goofs when I spot them and someone else hasn’t spotted them first. Currently I am pleased that the _entire_ goofs list for _Wonder Woman_ (including the one for _Who’s Afraid of Diana Prince?_) is mine, and there are more submitted and under review. I get entirely too much joy out of spotting the goofs in the theatre and am entirely too crushed to discover upon returning home that someone else beat me to them. So far I’ve only submitted one user comment, about _Firefly_, because some jagoff popped off about how the plots were so simple and stupid that only a child of 8 could possibly be engaged by them! That cheesed off a lot of fans apparently because the same day my comment appeared a couple dozen others beating up on the guy also appeared. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/4 "2004-07-14T12:33:46Z")
A couple of years ago, I was looking up information on that cheesy '60s movie “The Girls On The Beach”. They didn’t have a screenshot of the title, but said they were soliciting one. Well, I could make a screen cap and send it in. Except that they wanted _me_ to pay _them_ for the privilege of contributing to their database! Before we make comparisons to a certain message board, this was something stupid like $15, for _each contribution!_ As far as I know, they still don’t have a screen cap for that movie. Seems a really backwards way to get people to help you out, if you ask me! ---
**Author:** ![Mystery\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@Mystery\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mystery_Dog)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/5 "2004-07-14T14:57:24Z")
I’m proud to say that I recently persuaded IMDB to remove a blatantly wrong trivia item for _Rudy_. IMDB had two mutually contradictory items about the real-life game at which the stadium scenes were filmed; I did a little research to find out which was correct, and got the wrong one out of there. For the record, those scenes were shot during halftime of the 1992 Notre Dame-Boston College game (with a few shots during the 1992 ND-Penn State game), and whoever told IMDB that they were filmed during the 1991 ND-Tennessee game was wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/6 "2004-07-14T15:29:51Z")
Some of mine can be found [in a previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=248468&highlight=imdb). Most recently: _Good Morning Vietnam_: goof deleted. Someone thought a news report in the movie was calling Pete Rose a rookie (his rookie year was '63; Adrian Cronauer was in Vienam in '65) when in reality the report called him an All-Star Rookie (his first All-Star appearance was in '65). _Shrek 2_: movie connection added. (_Love Potion No. 9_.) _Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory_: reworded the trivia item concerning Jean Stapleton. _The Shawshank Redemption_: goof added (still in review). The number of bullet holes in Tommy’s back don’t match the shots fired. _The Natural_: trivia and fimiling location for War Memorial Stadium added. ---
**Author:** ![slu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@slu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slu)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/7 "2004-07-14T17:30:32Z")
> [@Mystery Dog](#): > > I’m proud to say that I recently persuaded IMDB to remove a blatantly wrong trivia item for _Rudy_. IMDB had two mutually contradictory items about the real-life game at which the stadium scenes were filmed; I did a little research to find out which was correct, and got the wrong one out of there. For the record, those scenes were shot during halftime of the 1992 Notre Dame-Boston College game (with a few shots during the 1992 ND-Penn State game), and whoever told IMDB that they were filmed during the 1991 ND-Tennessee game was wrong. So that explains why I hear the Penn State fight song playing during that scene!! To stay on topic, I do not contribute, but only because I have no info that they don’t have. It is a great resource to me however. To all of you that do contribute, keep up the great work and many thanks! ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/8 "2004-07-14T18:04:11Z")
[I have posted some comments](http://www.imdb.com/user/ur0543054/comments) ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/9 "2004-07-14T21:11:38Z")
Just a few contributions there Dan? I could never work out why they would charge for pictures and things like that- they should be grateful for the contributions. I found that they had incorrect information about an obscure British actress called Renee Clama. I have e-mailed the corrections- it will be interesting to see if they incorporate them. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/10 "2004-07-14T21:19:52Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > Just a few contributions there Dan? I could never work out why they would charge for pictures and things like that- they should be grateful for the contributions. Well, for comments you can’t put in any images, icons, avatars - you can’t even put in html tags. It’s plain text all the way. Where do they charge you for pictures and other extras? ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/11 "2004-07-14T21:33:54Z")
If you look at an actrss- say Anita Page from the other thread- there is no picture submitted. If you click on ‘Add a picture’ you get the charges listed. [Example](https://secure.imdb.com/store/photoservices/). They maintain that it is promotion, although how that applies to a person who has retired- or is dead is a bit of a mystery. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/12 "2004-07-14T21:50:29Z")
I’ve submitted some info, mostly about Allman Brothers Band-related stuff; most of the rest was about people I know who have IMDb listings. (I was also one of probably ten million people to tell them that Walter Matthau’s real last name was not Mattachuskyanskyasky; I seem to remember that they had that up there as a real biographical fact for a while.) It can be very frustrating to use their forms to try and explain when they’ve screwed something up. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2004, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/13 "2004-07-14T22:00:56Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > If you look at an actrss- say Anita Page from the other thread- there is no picture submitted. If you click on ‘Add a picture’ you get the charges listed. [Example](https://secure.imdb.com/store/photoservices/). They maintain that it is promotion, although how that applies to a person who has retired- or is dead is a bit of a mystery. Oh, that’s part of their IMDb Pro service, which is geared toward agents and PR people. They sign up and get all kinds of useful contact info for other actors and directors and so forth. IMDb probably doesn’t have the time or manpower to upload pictures of deceased actors - and doing so might even violate someone’s copyright, or something. Anyway, it’s not something we freeloading peons should be concerned with. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/14 "2004-07-15T23:42:10Z")
The majority of data in the IMDb on U.S. features released 1911-1920, and about 80% of the data on U.S. films released 1890-1903, was submitted by me. I submitted 29,206 lines of data in 2003 alone. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/15 "2004-07-16T01:13:26Z")
Very impressive background there Walloon. Is your interest in early films simply that, or do you do it preofessionally? ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/16 "2004-07-16T01:28:40Z")
I’ve submitted 30 or 40 trivia items, goofs, or corrections of goofs, and for some reason, only half of them have been accepted. I can’t figure out why they haven’t accepted the others. It’s not just time, most of them have been in for more than a year. It’s like they’re saying they don’t trust you or like you. Very annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/17 "2004-07-16T02:10:58Z")
I filled out all the Columbo episodes/movies without plot synopses, did a few trivia and corrections for shows/movies I like (e.g. both Antiques Roadshow trivia bits are mine). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/18 "2004-07-16T04:35:24Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > Very impressive background there Walloon. Is your interest in early films simply that, or do you do it preofessionally? For the IMDb, I have concentrated on early film because that was the area that had the most gaps in the data. I wrote film criticism for a few years, and worked in the industry in PR for another three. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2004, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/19 "2004-07-16T09:48:58Z")
Heavens, my typing stinks. Professionally. Leaper- do I now blame you for having Antique Roadshow on television all the time? Walloon, I have a collection of silent films (very limited I must admit), which I really enjoy. I can only watch them when I am home alone as Mrs Cicero thinks I am insane for watching such things. _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044/20 "2004-07-17T03:47:41Z")
Sometimes virtue is its own reward. I mentioned that actress Renee Clama. Well, I not only notified the IMDB, I also sent an e-mail to the owner of a site specialising in British Movies. I received a nice response from him: Dear Cicero, Thank you very much for the information. That’s a really fascinating site. I had no idea she married Maurice Ostrer. Even the Encyclopedia of British Film doesn’t have that or a date of death for her. I’ve put the information up on site. Thanks again. All the best, I now feel vindicated. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-contribute-to-imdb/255044.md?page=2)