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INTRODUCTION
This section will teach you how to use the IMDb Message Boards area.
LESSON INDEX
As this is a fairly long article and you may already have some familiarity with the boards, we are providing this index to make it easier to find the specific lesson you need.
GETTING STARTED: What kinds of boards are there? How do you get to them? What are threads? How do you read messages?
SET YOUR PROFILE: What is my profile? Why should I create a more specific profile? How do I customize/personalize the look and feel of the boards?
POSTING MESSAGES: How do I start a thread? How do I participate in an existing thread? How do I add little icons and other fun stuff to my post?
PRIVATE MESSAGES: What is the private message system? Who can I mail?
SEARCHING THE BOARDS: How can I find messages/discussions about a specific topic? How can I find my previous messages? How can I see all messages another user has posted?
LESSON 1: GETTING STARTED
WHERE TO FIND THE BOARDS
The IMDb Message Boards are divided into two sections... the general boards and movie-specific boards. The entry point for the general boards, which deal with broader themes like movie genres, TV, trivia, etc. is our Main Boards page. The movie-specific boards are a conglomeration of over 300,000 boards, one each for every movie and TV show in the database. Those can be reached by looking up the film in the IMDb (see the basic searching class for info on how to do that), going to the bottom of the film or show's page, and clicking on the button for its message board.
READING & NAVIGATING THE BOARDS
Registration is required to be able to post messages on the boards or to use the Private Message system, but any IMDb visitor may read the messages on the boards.
You may enter the boards through the Main Boards page or from a movie page (for movie-specific boards). Each board is divided into "threads." When someone posts a message, then you post a reply to it, your reply becomes part of its thread. If you post a message that isn't a reply to another one, you start a new thread. Simply, a thread is sort of like a family tree of messages. The first message is the trunk and replies to it are like branches. For example... a discussion about "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" on one of the TV boards might start with a message titled "Any Buffy Fans Here?" Someone reads that and posts a reply... "Yup!" The "Yup!" is tied to the first message so that someone who reads "Any Buffy Fans Here?" can see this reply to that message without having to sort through all the other messages on the board to find it.
There are many display options available to you when you are a registered user that you can set in your preferences. We'll discuss those in the section on setting up your profile. For now, we'll discuss the basic options available to unregistered users.
When you enter a board, you'll see a list of the available threads with information about them sorted into four columns.
Above each column, you'll see the description of what's in it. Subject, Started by, Replies and Latest Posting. The default method of sorting the threads is by the date and time of the last message, meaning the thread with the most recent message in it will be shown first.
Subject: This is a list of the titles given to the first message in each thread. The subject with the most recent message posted to it will always be at the top of the column.
Started by: This is the user name of the person who posted the first message in the thread. If you click on the user's name, you'll see their profile, which includes information they chose to make public in their profile.
Replies: This is a count of the number of replies in the thread. If there are 0, then no one has replied yet. If there are 58, then it's probably a lively discussion.
Last Post: This is the date and time of the last message posted in the thread. The default sort order when you look at a board is to list the posts in descending order, newest reply to oldest. Note that this time/date does not refer to when the first message in the thread was posted, just when the most recent reply was posted.
There are page numbers at the top right side of each board that will help you navigate through it, by letting you click on the page number that you'd like to see, as opposed to having to scroll through all of the messages.
The top left link is "Start New Topic", which lets registered, logged-in users begin a new discussion thread when clicked.
The "Add to Favorites" link lets you bookmark the discussion board to your list of Favorites, which can then be easily accessed later via the Favorites link at the top right corner of the page.
Once you pick a thread to read, you will have four options of how to view the messages. You'll even see the links up at the top of the message, saying "thread", "flat", "inline" and "nest". Note: Once you find which of these views suit you best, you might want to go to your My Profile page. There, you can permanently select the view option you like, which will always present threads in the mode you chose.
The default mode is "thread" which will display the first message and then display a list of all the follow-up messages. You may notice that there are multiple levels of indentation. This is due to "sub-threading." Replies to the original message are indented one level. Replies to a reply are listed below it and indented another level beyond that. This way, if someone posts "what's your favorite monster movie?" then someone else posts "Frankenstein" and a discussion about that movie starts, those messages can be kept together and be easier to find.
Some people prefer to see ALL the messages in the thread on one page. If that is your preference, choose "Flat." This will display each message in the thread in it's entirety, in the order which they were posted.
The "inline" view is quite similar to the threaded view, in that it shows one message of the thread at a time. The difference is that in "thread" view, the specific message being read is always at the top of the display, no matter where it appears in the thread. In the "inline" view, the one specific message you are currently reading is shown in it's location in the whole thread, instead of being moved to the top of the thread to be displayed.
The "nest" view is a combination of "thread" and "flat". Like "thread" view, the messages in "nest" view appear with sub-threads subject lines indented, while maintaining the "flat" characteristic of displaying every message in the thread at once.
Try this exercise. Go to the main boards page, pick a board, go to it, and read some of the messages. Pick one with a few replies and look at it in each of the four modes - "thread", "flat", "inline" and "nest". From there, you can see the differences in each mode, and figure out which one suits your reading patterns the best.
LESSON 2: SET YOUR PROFILE
NOTE: The following functions are available to registered users only. All the functions available to users who have not registered with the IMDb were detailed in the first lesson.
Your boards profile (which you reach by clicking the "My Profile" link in the block of links at the upper right of a boards page) allows you to define two different sets of options.
This allows you to set options regarding the information others can see about you. You may remember how we said clicking on a user's name will show you their profile. The information in this section is the information about you others will see.
The first field is "Email Address." At your discretion, you can put your real address in here if you want it to be available to anyone cruising the boards. Alternatively you might put in a secondary address, like one at hotmail.com where your fellow users can mail you. You can leave it blank, or if you choose, you can put in something like "dev@dev.null" which goes nowhere. On a side note: PLEASE do not put in someone else's e-mail address. That's just not nice.
The "Website" and "Biography" fields are pretty self-explanatory, giving you a chance to tell your fellow boards users a little bit more about yourself. You might fill these fields with things such as hobbies, where your personal homepage is, where you live (city and state/country only please), your ICQ number (if you use ICQ for instant messaging and chatting), and your favorite director.
The Signature is text you can specify to have added at the end of every one of the messages you post. You are limited to 100 characters (letters, numbers, symbols, or spaces), so keep it short and sweet. Most people usually put their name and a favorite phrase or quote, plus possibly their e-mail address.
You can choose to be notified/mailed at your registered e-mail address when certain things happen via the Notification section of your profile. You may be notified whenever someone posts a reply to one of your posts and/or whenever someone sends you a private message.
DISPLAY OPTIONS
This section allows you to define defaults for how messages are displayed to you, and how your posts on various message boards appear to others.
LESSON 3: POSTING MESSAGES
For many, the name of the game is posting messages. If you only read, you are known as a "lurker." This is not a bad thing, but you are not an active participant in the discussions, just a watcher.
The posting process is basically the same whether you're starting a new thread or replying to an existing message. The difference is how you get to it.
STARTING A NEW THREAD
Before starting a new discussion topic, we suggest looking through the current ones to see if there are any already going on. Starting an an "Any Buffy Fans Here?" thread may make you look silly if there are already 3 in progress. Of course, in very active boards where there are 150 threads going on, browsing all of them can seem like a heavy task. Please read the lesson on searching the boards for more info on speeding up this process.
When you are in the main threads list for a board, you will see a button on the top left side of the board, that says"Start New Topic." By clicking this button, the topic you write about will start a new thread.
REPLYING TO A MESSAGE
To publicly reply to a message, you'll see a "Reply" button at the top right of the message. Click it to begin the posting process.
THE POSTING PROCESS
When you're on the screen for composing your message, you'll have some options...
Subject: If you are replying to a message, this will default to "Re: [title of the message]". You can change this if you want. If you are starting a new thread, this will be blank and you should enter a subject/title for your message here.
Body text: This is where you compose the body of your message. When composing messages, we do not allow HTML within the posts, but we do offer a simple markup language that will allow you to do things like bold your words, use italics, add icons, and so on. Click on the "markup enabled" link, and it will take you to a list of the various markup tags that are available on our message boards.
When you've completed the message, you'll have the option to preview it or post it immediately, depending on which button you choose at the bottom of the bottom of the form.
We suggest previewing your post. If you're not using markup, this is not necessary. But if you're using markup, previewing will allow you to make sure you did it right. Even if you're very familiar with the markup codes, you could have always made a typographical error and it's better to catch it now before you send the message out into the world.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: All posts are governed by our terms and conditions of use. When you post a message you are agreeing to them, so you should read them carefully.
LESSON 4: PRIVATE MESSAGES
The IMDb Boards allows you to send private messages to any other user of these boards. Rather than being messages that are posted in the boards threads, these are sent to the user's private message mailbox.
When you go in through the main boards entry, it notifies you if you have any private messages. If you enter directly into a board, it will not. To ensure you get your messages in a timely manner, you have two options. 1) Click on the "Private Messages" link in the block of links in the upper right of the boards pages, or 2) set a notification in your My Profile page to send you an email at your real e-mail address when new messages come in.
The private messages are internal to the IMDb boards only. You cannot send e-mail from the private message section out to internet e-mail addresses, nor can you send a message to someone who has posted a comment on a movie page. Only registered users who have visited the message boards have private message mailboxes, and if they don't have notifications set or don't check their mail often, they may not know they have a private message from you.
SENDING PRIVATE MESSAGES
There are two ways to send private messages. If you are reading someone's public message in a thread, you can click on their name in the message info box at the top of the message to see their profile. While viewing their profile, there is a link to send them a private message.
If you know you want to send a message to someone, you can also click on their user name anywhere on the site, and on their profile page, add them to your Friends list. Then, from any page on the boards, click on the Friends link on the upper right corner of the screen, and you'll have an easy, quick starting point from which to message users, much like an e-mail address book.
Once you've sent a private message you can see a copy of it in your outbox, which can be accessed by clicking on the private messages link in the upper right corner of every page. In the pull down menu, switch from Inbox to Outbox, and press the Go button. Here, you see a listing of every private message you send to other users. Please note: messages will disappear from your outbox when the recipient has read and deleted the message you sent them.
READING PRIVATE MESSAGES
When reading private messages, you'll be presented with a three-column list.
In the "Subject" column will be the subject of the message. Click on it to read the message.
In the "Posted by" column will be the user name of the person who sent the message. You can click on their name to see their profile.
The "Date" column tells when the message came in.
The most recent message will be full displayed at the top of the page. You may view other messages in your inbox, which are listed below the current message, by clicking on their subject line.
The message that you receive and read is still visible in the outbox of the user who sent it to you, until you delete the message from your inbox.
LESSON 5: SEARCHING THE BOARDS
There are two ways to search the boards. One is a quick and easy way to see all the messages you have posted that are still on the boards (many of the boards delete messages over a certain age so they don't become amazingly cluttered), the other is a powerful search with a variety of options.
FINDING YOUR MESSAGES
Click on the "My Profile" link in the block of links in the upper right of any boards page. Then, on the very bottom of your personal profile page, you'll see a listing of your most recent posts.
FINDING OTHER MESSAGES
The "Search" link in the upper right corner of the page allows you to search the general and the movie-specific boards, if you so choose. There are two kinds of search: simple and advanced.
With the Simple Search, the default search method, there are three fields to fill out...
Search: In this field, enter the word or words that you're searching to find. The word could be a title, or a person's name or even a year. Then, in the pulldown box to the right, select whether the words you entered are the subject of the message, body of the message, or author of the message.
Created: This lets limit your search to messages not older than the limit you set. There are a variety of choices, ranging from as recently as the past 24 hours, to the beginning of time (well, the beginning of time in this board's incarnation, anyway.)
Limit search to main boards only: If you'd like your search to be limited to the scope of these main message boards only, be sure that this box is checked. If, however, you'd like your query to check all these main message boards, along with all 300,000 individual title-specific boards, then leave it unchecked.
With the Advanced Search, the Author, Subject and Message fields can each have separate words or phrases entered simultaneously, letting you significantly narrow your search. In Advanced Search, there are five fields to fill out. ...
Author: This searches for posts from specific users. Enter their user name (handle/ID, not full name).
Subject: This is where you'd enter the word or words that would appear it the subject area of a message. For example, of you were looking for a thread you had started titled "Anyone Seen The Red Balloon?", you could enter the words Red Balloon into this field to help you find it.
Message: This is where you would enter any words that appeared in the body of the message that you're searching for. An example would be something like this: You remember a thread from a few weeks ago, where folks discussed Cary Grant in screwball comedies. While you don't remember the subject of the thread, you could still enter in what you do remember - "Cary Grant" and "screwball comedies" - and the search engine would look for any messages that included these in the body of the message. Hint - there are various ways you might want to try searching here, to improve your results:
- Entire Phrase - This searches for all the words as a phrase. So if you entered "buffy the vampire slayer" it would have to find that entire term.
- And - This searches for all the words anywhere in the message. If you entered "buffy the vampire slayer," a post that says "I love Buffy, she's the ultimate slayer. I wouldn't want to be a vampire in her town" would qualify.
- Or - This searches for any one or more of the words you give it. If you entered "buffy the vampire slayer," a post about the show "Family Affair" that mentioned the character of Buffy (the words "vampire" and "slayer" are not in it) would qualify. Of course the search would take forever because the search does not automatically exclude common words like "and" or "the." If you want relevant search results, try to keep the search words limited to the essentials of what you're seeking.
Created: This lets limit your search to messages not older than the limit you set. There are a variety of choices, ranging from as recently as the past 24 hours, to the beginning of time (well, the beginning of time in this board's incarnation, anyway.)
Limit search to main boards only: If you'd like your search to be limited to the scope of these main message boards only, be sure that this box is checked. If, however, you'd like your query to check all these main message boards, along with all 300,000 individual title-specific boards, then leave it unchecked.
If you want more information about our boards, read the Frequently Asked Questions, available by clicking the "FAQ" link in the block of links in the upper right of the boards pages.
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