Movie Blog/Forum 1414 Responses

Last post: 6 days, 1 hour ago | Thread started: May 9, 08, 8:23 p.m.

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• autonoma

  I'm currently working on a site that is, I suppose, in it's most basic terms, a movie blog or forum. The idea is simply to allow people to post their own reviews of movies and for others, if they feel so inclined, to discuss. Each movie will essentially be its own "thread". Each movie will have two ratings: The poster's rating and the users' average rating.

  My initial reasoning for making the site was wholly selfish. Basically I wanted a place to store information and ratings on movies I've seen. Then it became an idea I wanted to share with my other obsessed friends (I'm kind of a movie obsessive and am naturally drawn to others of my kind) where we could discuss these movies. THEN I thought, "Why not open it up for anyone interested to use?". If nobody uses it, so be it. It'll still be fun for those involved. I always love getting movie reviews from "real people" before seeing a movie, and also reading others' opinions after I've actually seen it.

  So, this brings me to my questions:

  1. Does this seem like something that could be fun/useful to anyone other than myself and my like-minded friends?

  2. If so, what features would you like to see included that would make it stand out in the crowd?

  DISCLAIMER
  I am really not trying to break into any market or create the next big thing. I was going to be building this site for my friends and I regardless of whether anyone else uses it. I just figured that since I'm building it anyway, I'd like to get some feedback from my peers to hopefully make it something that somebody else could enjoy using as well. If it turns out that it's just my 8 or 9 other fanatic friends and I posting movies in there, that's really okay.

  May 9, 08, 8:23 p.m. – Permalink

• colorcubic

  ever heard of the 1:10:89 rule for social media? it means that in a group of 100 people, only 1 will create content, 10 will discuss/interact, and 89 will consume. it's difficult enough to create a movie blog that's not trite, and i am unfortunately quite fickle about blogs.

  

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  Dog-earMay 9, 08, 8:34 p.m. – Permalink

• ismith

  I used to have a little Rails app for myself to rate movies and such... I think it's useful to have a personal log of movies you've seen and liked and such. But if you're going to socialize it there better be a genius incentive, because the rest of the internet already has you covered (IMDB, Netflix, etc).

  • Disclaimer: I only read bits and pieces of your post.– ismith

  

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  Dog-earMay 9, 08, 10:12 p.m. – Permalink

• jamble

  I think in all honesty you'd be wasting your time if you're doing it for anything other than a personal project for you and your friends and even then it's difficult to convince friends to regularly use a site you built because they will no doubt have their own favourite sites that they already visit.

  It's not like you'll be really creating a niche product and you're looking at a seriously competitive market for visitors with some well established and busy sites.

  All that aside, I'm well and truly going off the whole user voting type model for "social media". In theory it's a great idea collecting and averaging out the opinions of the masses but you only really have to look at the way Digg has gone in the last couple of years to see that having the great unwashed being "news editors" doesn't last long before it degenerates into a free for all between loud mouthed teeny twats who think they know it all.

  I wouldn't bother unless you're going to build it for a bit of fun or as a personal project to keep your skills sharp.

  

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  Dog-earMay 10, 08, 12:23 a.m. – Permalink

• autonoma

  It's definitely something I was planning on building anyway, largely because it's just a lot of fun. I've gotten into the habit of making things like this for my friends and I.

  

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  Dog-earMay 10, 08, 8:58 a.m. – Permalink

• Jaline

  I think it's interesting, but mainly for yourself or group of friends.

  I love films and TV and was planning on something like this, but only for a specific show since it would become too much for me to handle otherwise, especially because I don't know anyone who could help me out. If you had others to help you then it could be worth it.

  Either way, good luck :)

  

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  Dog-earMay 10, 08, 9:07 a.m. – Permalink

• Jaline

  By the way, I would suggest viewing these sites for inspiration:

  http://www.notcoming.com/
  http://www.televisionwithoutpity…

  

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  Dog-earMay 10, 08, 9:08 a.m. – Permalink

• autonoma

  Great sites. Thank you!

  

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  Dog-earMay 10, 08, 12:08 p.m. – Permalink

• ukit

  Doesn't IMDB sorta do the same thing?

  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0371…

  • first thing i thought of– sublocked

  

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  Dog-earMay 10, 08, 12:15 p.m. – Permalink

• Jaline

  Eh, I don't find the IMDb forums to be all that great. More moderation or something is needed.

  • Agreed.– ismith

  

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  Dog-earMay 10, 08, 12:26 p.m. – Permalink

• ukit

  I prefer Rotten Tomatoes - http://www.rottentomatoes.com - only reviews from movie critics

  I don't trust the opinions of the unwashed masses.

  • I don't trust movie reviews, period.– ismith

  

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  Dog-earMay 10, 08, 12:32 p.m. – Permalink

• autonoma

  I think the toughest thing to do is get people to write their own reviews. Fortunately I found a PHP Class that grabs the synopsis (among other things like actors, director, etc.) from IMDB.

  • Der?– flavorful

  

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  Dog-earMay 10, 08, 12:41 p.m. – Permalink

• autonoma

  I far prefer the critique of the layman, myself. I don't watch a movie the same way that, say, Roger Ebert does.

  The IMDB forums are awful. I always leave angry. My vote for most immature forum on the internet.

  

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  Dog-earMay 10, 08, 1:11 p.m. – Permalink

• Jaline

  ^ exactly. I leave angry from IMDb a lot too, heh.

  

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  Dog-earMay 10, 08, 5:52 p.m. – Permalink

• oozie

  http://www.hsx.com/

  not really the same thing at all but i used to love this site when i first got on the internet. anyone use it?

  • what the...– Jaline1/2

    never heard of it.
    
    Also, someone please re-design their site.– Jaline2/2

  

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  Dog-earMay 10, 08, 6:03 p.m. – Permalink