I used to be super into /r/movies, but then two things happened.
First, the user who used to make weekly box office analysis decided to stop doing it for free. Good for him/her, but that was a big blow for the subreddit.
Second, once you're long enough you realize how the hype machine is always there. From "leaked" picture to teaser to poster to trailer, all negative comments are met with "you can't judge until you've seen the movie" while positive ones are upvoted to the top. Not the only forum guilty of this, but it turns the subreddit into yet another arm of the movie PR industry.
I guess it's the inevitable end of all forums, so maybe this one will capture the magic that /r/movies lost.
It's a proxy for both the movie quality and for where the cinema winds are blowin.
It also adds context to better understand what's at stake for movies based on distributor, producer and genres. When a horror movie costs 2M and a Marvel film 200M, "20M box office" by your favorite director can mean two very different things for their future.
Leaving aside that it's an example and any other movie could be there: Marvel movies have collected multiple awards including 2 Hugo awards, 4 Academy Awards and 2 Grammys. I think you'll have a tough time finding any measure of quality that at least one of their movies doesn't fulfill.
Yeah, it's a pretty long name, but the goal is to discourage average users. Having a long domain name already discourages lots of users. You immediately understanding the meaning behind 'New York Daily Inquirer' gives me hope that other users will be interested in giving it a try, as it's a word-of-mouth project. My take is that if you want to build a good community in any subject, you have to discourage average users; they are poison to the conversation. Lean and mean.
I suppose Hacker News likewise dissuaded average users with its brutalist design, which made users to focus on the content of their post/comment. Furthermore, ycombinator.com is not a domain that seems friendly to the average user.
Like any social networks, the key to this website's success would be retention. I hope you find a way to make users come back often.
First, the user who used to make weekly box office analysis decided to stop doing it for free. Good for him/her, but that was a big blow for the subreddit.
Second, once you're long enough you realize how the hype machine is always there. From "leaked" picture to teaser to poster to trailer, all negative comments are met with "you can't judge until you've seen the movie" while positive ones are upvoted to the top. Not the only forum guilty of this, but it turns the subreddit into yet another arm of the movie PR industry.
I guess it's the inevitable end of all forums, so maybe this one will capture the magic that /r/movies lost.