Removal of Films from My List by IMDb

Bill, I've notice over that years that the IMDb occasionally inadvertently assigns a Title two or more title (tt) constants. During database cleanup the redundant constants are withdrawn.

It's also possible that the films have had multiple names during production and that each name was assigned a separate title constant. In the process of merging the separate titles, some of the constants become orphaned.

Do you remember the names of the "deleted" films? Do they still appear when you search for them by name?

Well Dan, your explanation makes sense. However, I would that IMDb had left the title placement in the database with an explanation that it was a duplicate. That would clear the mystery and then I could simply re-add the film with it's other name.

No, I don't recall the names of the films, so I have no way of searching for the films.

Without IMDb leaving some record of the duplicate and reason for its removal, it makes IMDb subject to the appearance of playing politics with the film industry. With no record of the removal, and no evidence of the title, the question remains "Is IMDb playing politics by removing a film that may be unpopular with some political element?" That question remains until the title is discovered and an explanation is made. That may never happen, so the question remains open.

Of course, IMDb is a privately owned forum, and as such, IMDb has the right of complete control over content or lack of content. So if IMDb wishes to play politics with the film industry, then I may never know. But should IMDb wish to alleviate such concerns, they would leave the title in the database with an explanation why it's no longer available.

I have had this happen to me quite a few times and there are, as DD mentions, a few reasons for this:

* Most of the time this is an upcoming film that never gets released - I know this because once the uploaded poster remains (it was still there last time I checked - Zombie Plantation) but usually it is because I've actually left notes on my thoughts about it, as you can see at the bottom of this list, where I note that the third 28 X Later films is unlikely to happen, then that IMDB removed the entry:
http://www.imdb.com/list/DhiYwC4dAok/...

* This can also happen when entries are merged - I know because a couple of times I've spotted duplicates on my lists and had them merged (happens quite a bit when foreign films get listed separately under their English language title and the original one), keeping both entries on my list until the merge has gone through.

So most of the reasons for those come from merges and deletions, for a range of reasons (so some fake entries are going to be deleted too), all falling under the heading of general tidying up.

However, I agree it'd be useful if there was a record of what happened - as they still have the poster for a deleted project and they don't appear to reuse the constant, they might as well have some kind of indication of what happened in the database (as a lot of people will get this on their Watchlist if they keep an eye on upcoming films), like:

* 28 Years Later deleted, as there is no evidence it will ever be released.

* The Big Movie merged to [link]La Grand Film[/link]

Should be easy enough to do and would help eliminate confusion.

I had exactly the same problem and found a way to find what film it was that was missing!

At the page of your IMDb list there is an 'export' option right beneath the list. When you open this you will get your list in an Excel file. In that list the lost title will be listed with the number of the film in your list, a bunch of question marks and a link. Now, if you google that link there will probably be references to that link from other sites who used the link on their page and they will also mention the title. In my case the film was on IMDb on another page which was on top of my google search!

Good luck, hope this also works for you,
Abel