My film A JOURNEY TO A JOURNEY has received over 500 ratings on IMDb, the majority of which have come from a troll (or trolls). I know a troll (or trolls) is responsible for this rating, as the film has never been released online or through any distribution network whatsoever. The film had only one screening at a small festival back in August 2016. Less than twenty people saw the film there. New ratings stopped being added to my film years ago. My film has had an overall 6.8 rating for years.
I didn't complain about the troll (or trolls) until now, because a new problem has recently surfaced. Recently, without any additional ratings being added, my film's overall rating suddenly and inexplicably changed to 2.1. Additionally, the ratings fail to add up in the gender, age, and country rating categories. Have all the aforementioned sudden rating manipulations been caused by a troll (or trolls) or some kind of hacker? What is going on? I'm completely confused, but I know something seriously wrong has taken place.
Here is a link to my film's IMDb page: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3963766/?ref_=tt_rt
Is there a way for the troll's (or trolls') ratings to be discounted? Is there a human being who works at IMDb whom I could talk to? I wish IMDb had a simple way for people to report trolls and spammers. These fake ratings are a form of harassment.
I didn't complain about the troll (or trolls) until now, because a new problem has recently surfaced. Recently, without any additional ratings being added, my film's overall rating suddenly and inexplicably changed to 2.1. Additionally, the ratings fail to add up in the gender, age, and country rating categories. Have all the aforementioned sudden rating manipulations been caused by a troll (or trolls) or some kind of hacker? What is going on? I'm completely confused, but I know something seriously wrong has taken place.
Here is a link to my film's IMDb page: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3963766/?ref_=tt_rt
Is there a way for the troll's (or trolls') ratings to be discounted? Is there a human being who works at IMDb whom I could talk to? I wish IMDb had a simple way for people to report trolls and spammers. These fake ratings are a form of harassment.
Posted 9 months ago
This is one of those "Perfect Storm" scenario ratings FUBARs!!!
IMDb's newly tweaked "weighted average" algorithm has obviously caused this to be rated a 2.1 erroneously.
You have a very high percentage of 10 votes. More than any other. More than the 1 votes.
The algorithm partially ignores the 10 votes, as if they do not exist. Same goes for the 1 votes also.
But the real monkey-wrench here is you only have 1, Top 1000 voter votes. And whoever it was, gave you a 1!! That one really is skewing the already ignored 1s and 10s.
And since there are hardly any 2-9 votes, the system has artificially made your rating way too low.
While the IMDb weighted average system is in place to protect the integrity of the votes and to stop the vote stuffing effect, it has had the opposite effect in your films case.
This is my observation and is not an official reply.
But trust me, my reply comes from observing the many replies from staff on the subject and extrapolating the outcome here in this particular case.
Don't have a clue what staff may do here.
Good luck.
Ed
:):)
P.S.: I can almost see the team that has been tweaking the weighted average formula scratching their heads for a software patch that addresses this scenario.
PPS: No hacker caused this. No Trolls. Just IMDb trying to make things better!!!!!
PPPS: Anyone can now figure out darn near how your weighted average works from this rating chart. You could theoretically extrapolate a formula from the numbers.
IMDb's newly tweaked "weighted average" algorithm has obviously caused this to be rated a 2.1 erroneously.
You have a very high percentage of 10 votes. More than any other. More than the 1 votes.
The algorithm partially ignores the 10 votes, as if they do not exist. Same goes for the 1 votes also.
But the real monkey-wrench here is you only have 1, Top 1000 voter votes. And whoever it was, gave you a 1!! That one really is skewing the already ignored 1s and 10s.
And since there are hardly any 2-9 votes, the system has artificially made your rating way too low.
While the IMDb weighted average system is in place to protect the integrity of the votes and to stop the vote stuffing effect, it has had the opposite effect in your films case.
This is my observation and is not an official reply.
But trust me, my reply comes from observing the many replies from staff on the subject and extrapolating the outcome here in this particular case.
Don't have a clue what staff may do here.
Good luck.
Ed
:):)
P.S.: I can almost see the team that has been tweaking the weighted average formula scratching their heads for a software patch that addresses this scenario.
PPS: No hacker caused this. No Trolls. Just IMDb trying to make things better!!!!!
PPPS: Anyone can now figure out darn near how your weighted average works from this rating chart. You could theoretically extrapolate a formula from the numbers.
(Edited)
I think Mr. Jones explained it all very accurately. That Top1000 member is a deal breaker. Unless you have evidence that there was no Top1000 voter at this screening, it's probably not possible to adjust the rating for imdb. Also the influence of one person whose rating is usually seen as credible shows that the other 500 votes are considered somewhat irrelevant because most likely they have rated nothing except your movie.
So while I have no idea on the negative side why it is happening (unless you have a personal enemy or it is indeed the counter reaction by a troll to two thirds of this film being vote stuffing on the positive side), there is obviously something really fishy going on here in both directions. You say less than twenty people have seen this movie, so the following questions arise
Where do 150 1/10 votes come from?
Where do 300 perfect 10/10 votes come from?
I am curious to see how imdb will react in this case.
Warm regards,
a top1000 voter.
So while I have no idea on the negative side why it is happening (unless you have a personal enemy or it is indeed the counter reaction by a troll to two thirds of this film being vote stuffing on the positive side), there is obviously something really fishy going on here in both directions. You say less than twenty people have seen this movie, so the following questions arise
Where do 150 1/10 votes come from?
Where do 300 perfect 10/10 votes come from?
I am curious to see how imdb will react in this case.
Warm regards,
a top1000 voter.
I suspect that bots/trolls/spammers rated my film at some point (probably two or three years ago). I don't know how or why. I also don't know that this happened for sure. Perhaps some sort of glitch occurred? Or perhaps there was some sort of "war" among bots/trolls/spammers? The 1/10 votes are obviously the ones that concern me the most, as they strike me as the products of malicious bots/trolls/spammers.
The festival my film premiered at was indeed extremely small. The reaction to my film at the festival was obviously positive, as my film won an award there. The negative ratings are certainly artificial in some way. Perhaps I have an enemy somewhere. I really don't know. This entire situation confuses and frustrates me.
In any case, my film had an overall rating of 6.8 for years. I did not complain about the suspicious ratings, as I could tolerate an overall 6.8 rating (and because there is no simple way to report and/or ask questions about ratings on IMDb).
I am investigating the matter now because the new overall rating of 2.1 is embarrassing.
If the overall rating of my film can be restored to 6.8 or something similar to that, I won't care about how or why there are so many suspicious ratings (particularly the 1/10 ratings).
My main objective is restoring my film's overall rating to what it had been before it was suddenly and inexplicably changed to 2.1.
The festival my film premiered at was indeed extremely small. The reaction to my film at the festival was obviously positive, as my film won an award there. The negative ratings are certainly artificial in some way. Perhaps I have an enemy somewhere. I really don't know. This entire situation confuses and frustrates me.
In any case, my film had an overall rating of 6.8 for years. I did not complain about the suspicious ratings, as I could tolerate an overall 6.8 rating (and because there is no simple way to report and/or ask questions about ratings on IMDb).
I am investigating the matter now because the new overall rating of 2.1 is embarrassing.
If the overall rating of my film can be restored to 6.8 or something similar to that, I won't care about how or why there are so many suspicious ratings (particularly the 1/10 ratings).
My main objective is restoring my film's overall rating to what it had been before it was suddenly and inexplicably changed to 2.1.
Barry you are missing the point here.
Bot/Scammers are not causing the problem.
Those Bot/Scammers gave you that 6.8 rating! IMDb took it away.
The 1 and 10 votes literally DO NOT count anymore.
IMDb's newly formulated weighted average has caused the drop.
Stop fussing over how many votes you have or how many people have seen it.
The Bot/Scammer votes are the 1 and 10 votes.
If those Bot/Scammer votes were erased using the now current formula, your films rating would not improve. It would get worse. Likely a 1.5 rating. Those Bot/Scammer votes prior to this tweaking of the weighted average were the votes that made your film a 6.8 so removing them will make things worse ratings wise. A 1.5 as mentioned.
I tested a theory yesterday, and I was correct. I added 2 nine votes. Yesterday you had 4 of those. Today it is 6. Your films rating jumped to 2.9 from 2.1.
Your lack of 2-9 votes is why this has a low rating. IMDb has ERASED the 1 and 10 votes in this new equation.
Please stop typing anymore.
It delays a reply by IMDb every time you do so.
Wait for a staff reply please.
Bot/Scammers are not causing the problem.
Those Bot/Scammers gave you that 6.8 rating! IMDb took it away.
The 1 and 10 votes literally DO NOT count anymore.
IMDb's newly formulated weighted average has caused the drop.
Stop fussing over how many votes you have or how many people have seen it.
The Bot/Scammer votes are the 1 and 10 votes.
If those Bot/Scammer votes were erased using the now current formula, your films rating would not improve. It would get worse. Likely a 1.5 rating. Those Bot/Scammer votes prior to this tweaking of the weighted average were the votes that made your film a 6.8 so removing them will make things worse ratings wise. A 1.5 as mentioned.
I tested a theory yesterday, and I was correct. I added 2 nine votes. Yesterday you had 4 of those. Today it is 6. Your films rating jumped to 2.9 from 2.1.
Your lack of 2-9 votes is why this has a low rating. IMDb has ERASED the 1 and 10 votes in this new equation.
Please stop typing anymore.
It delays a reply by IMDb every time you do so.
Wait for a staff reply please.
So am I Horst.
But I believe IMDb will reply with direct contact or use the canned reply......."All we can say about Ratings is covered in this help topic............................."!
But I believe IMDb will reply with direct contact or use the canned reply......."All we can say about Ratings is covered in this help topic............................."!
Forgot to add todays chart!!!
Joel, Official Rep
They are not going to admit that their weighted average formula failed in this application.
Thank you for your advice and support, Ed. Would it be possible for you and I to communicate privately? Perhaps by email or Facebook? You are very knowledgable about IMDb's practices, and I'd appreciate the opportunity to get your feedback on some IMDb-related matters.
There is an e-mail contact in IMDb Pro. You have my permission.
https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm8529286?ref_=hm_nv_mp_profile
https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm8529286?ref_=hm_nv_mp_profile
Get another 100 or so more votes like we discussed and you should be near 6.0-6.5
You have only lost two 10 votes. ????? that needs fixin. You've gone from 2.1 to 3.8 with an 18 vote shift. See what I was talking about now?
You have only lost two 10 votes. ????? that needs fixin. You've gone from 2.1 to 3.8 with an 18 vote shift. See what I was talking about now?
Yes, I understand now. Thank you for all your help thus far. I greatly appreciate it!
Barry
It's possible that there is an issue with the algorithm in addition to the troll/spammer issue. Or maybe the entire issue is algorithm-related.
I'm extremely confused!
Is there a way for the IMDb staff to at least fix my film's overall rating so that it reflects the individual ratings (whether they are from trolls/spammers or not)?
As I mentioned in my original post, my film's overall rating was 6.8 for years. I didn't bother complaining about the potential trolls/spammers before, as the overall rating was decent. The new rating is embarrassing.
Ed Jones(XLIX)
You have no Troll/Spammers. None that are new. Your problem is the almost non existent 2-9 votes. (15) And the newly tweaked formula just recently being applied
Your movies rating is being based off of 16 votes pretty much. 15 + 1 Top 1000
64 points divided 15 = 4.1/10 minus the 1 rating of a Top 1000 voters algorithms reduction application to the formula, whatever that is.
The formula works when there are a lot of votes on a title. But not so well in this case.