IMDb.com

[beatlefreak84]

Well, I've read all the complaints from the board members whenever somebody cites something from imdb.com.  Nevertheless, I decided to take a stroll over there and see why people complain the way they do about the site (after all, for movies, I haven't found too many mistakes; the ones that exist are usually fixed rather quickly).

Then, I read the entry on Alex Trebek, in which the poster of his mini-biography claims that, before becoming the host of "Jeopardy!" he returned to NBC to host "Classic Concentration."  If this wasn't sad enough, the poster INCLUDES THE YEARS of each show next to their respective titles, further making me scratch my head at what went wrong....  He also claims that NBC quit making daytime game shows once CC got canceled...I guess he blocked the mega NBC hit "Caesar's Challenge" out of his head....

I'm sure similar mistakes exist elsewhere, but now I can definitely see why anybody who complains about the legitimacy of the site is justified....  I was going to try and have it fixed, but it required me to register for the site, and I don't feel like inundating myself with spam just to fix one lousy post.  Any takers?

Oh, and so you all can get a good laugh, here's the link: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0871618/bio

Enjoy (or not, depending on who you are)!

Anthony

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'beatlefreak84\' date=\'Dec 10 2005, 05:50 PM\']Well, I've read all the complaints from the board members whenever somebody cites something from imdb.com.  Nevertheless, I decided to take a stroll over there and see why people complain the way they do about the site (after all, for movies, I haven't found too many mistakes; the ones that exist are usually fixed rather quickly).
[/quote]
I take anything on that site with a grain of salt. Like any site where most info is submitted by Internet users, there's a lot of faulty info. (Next week: I'll write a rant about amiannoying.com)

http://imdb.com/name/nm1214386/bio

That mistake's been there about 3 years.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'beatlefreak84\' date=\'Dec 10 2005, 02:50 PM\']Well, I've read all the complaints from the board members whenever somebody cites something from imdb.com.  Nevertheless, I decided to take a stroll over there and see why people complain the way they do about the site (after all, for movies, I haven't found too many mistakes; the ones that exist are usually fixed rather quickly).
[/quote]
I don't mind people citing it, and yes, for the most part the information there is good. It's the people who cite it as 100% irrefutable FACT and as an authoritative source who raise my hackles.

If this wasn't sad enough, the poster INCLUDES THE YEARS of each show next to their respective titles, further making me scratch my head at what went wrong....

Easy. Aaron Handy prolly wrote that piece.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'beatlefreak84\' date=\'Dec 10 2005, 06:50 PM\']Then, I read the entry on Alex Trebek, in which the poster of his mini-biography claims that, before becoming the host of "Jeopardy!" he returned to NBC to host "Classic Concentration."  If this wasn't sad enough, the poster INCLUDES THE YEARS of each show next to their respective titles, further making me scratch my head at what went wrong....  He also claims that NBC quit making daytime game shows once CC got canceled...I guess he blocked the mega NBC hit "Caesar's Challenge" out of his head....[/quote]
I would suggest that what's seriously flawed is to deny the usefullness and 99%+ accuracy of a spectacularly helpful website because you found two small errors in one paragraph of one biography.  Just because one flawed biographer didn't remember that NBC had one unsuccessful show on the air after CC isn't really much of a reason to say that IMDB isn't legitimate.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Dec 10 2005, 06:59 PM\']Just because one flawed IMDB biographer didn't remember that NBC had one unsuccessful show on the air after Classic Concentration isn't really much of a reason to say that IMDB isn't legitimate.

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[/quote]

If he didn't remember Caesar's Challenge, he wouldn't have remembered the equally unsuccessful Scrabble 1993, Scattergories, and Family Secrets. Classic Concentration was in reruns until two weeks before Caesar aired its last show,

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Dec 10 2005, 07:22 PM\'][quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Dec 10 2005, 06:59 PM\']Just because one flawed IMDB biographer didn't remember that NBC had one unsuccessful show on the air after Classic Concentration isn't really much of a reason to say that IMDB isn't legitimate.

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[/quote]

If he didn't remember Caesar's Challenge, he wouldn't have remembered the equally unsuccessful Scrabble 1993, Scattergories, and Family Secrets. Classic Concentration was in reruns until two weeks before Caesar aired its last show, [sic]

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Oh my goodness gracious wow.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Dec 10 2005, 04:26 PM\']Oh my goodness gracious wow.

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I'm guessing this is one of those moments where Our Benevolent Moderators are asking themselves why they bother protecting Horan as much as they do, between this and the recent revelation about how he brags that he "will never be banned".

[Kevin Prather]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Dec 10 2005, 05:33 PM\']...between this and the recent revelation about how he brags that he "will never be banned".

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What?? Where was this?

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'whoserman\' date=\'Dec 10 2005, 07:49 PM\'][quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Dec 10 2005, 05:33 PM\']...between this and the recent revelation about how he brags that he "will never be banned".

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What?? Where was this?

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Mainly from an e-mail, but brought up here.

[Jimmy Owen]

If you know what IMDb is an acroynym for, you will forgive occasional errors regarding television shows.

[beatlefreak84]

If you know what IMDb is an acroynym for, you will forgive occasional errors regarding television shows.

Perhaps I should clarify something...I didn't bring my point up about the Trebek mistake in an effort to refute the Internet Movie Database as a useful website under any circumstances.  The only reason I brought this up was because it finally allowed me personally to see why it is those people who cite imdb.com as irrefutable fact, as Mr. Lemon said, are derided for it.  This was the first legitimate example of a mistake that I had seen, and a pretty egregious one at that, especially given that the poster had the years of the shows' premieres correct in his post.

I mean, heck, our beloved Game Show Encyclopedia has errors in it (one example is how the "Hot Potato" bonus game is played), but it doesn't mean I don't consider it a great resource for game show facts.  Likewise, I certainly won't stop using the site, espcially for learning some interesting facts about movies (I'm impressed with the depth people can get into for movies that aren't well-known).

Sorry if I ruffled some feathers with my original post...

Anthony

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'beatlefreak84\' date=\'Dec 11 2005, 01:15 AM\']The only reason I brought this up was because it finally allowed me personally to see why it is those people who cite imdb.com as irrefutable fact, as Mr. Lemon said, are derided for it.  [/quote]
Not to beat a dead horse here, but I'd be hard-pressed to come up with ANYBODY -- myself included -- who would refer to the IMDB as "irrefutable fact".  Check the Bill Cullen listing and then go to, oh, I dont know, billcullen.net.  What I think is far MORE common -- and just as flawed -- is the tendency to trash the site as a whole for errors as small as the ones you originally brought up.  

If that wasn't what you were doing, I apologize, but I've just seen too many posts around here that say what a terrible, inaccurate untrustworthy and generally disreputable website IMDB is because it says that they made 593 episodes of Supermarket Sweep when everybody knows they actually made 594.