I'm aware of IMDB's policy concerning profile pictures, requiring the person in question to have an IMDBPro account in order to have pictures associated with his or her account. While I completely understand the financial reasoning behind this policy, I can't help but feeling it has a couple of disadvantages worth mentioning.
The first one, and perhaps the most significant, is the fact that many cast and crew members choose not to participate in this arrangement, thus creating a major hole in the database. Not only is the database incomplete - it's incomplete and going to remain incomplete by definition, because of an internal policy. Going through a list of cast members for a movie or a TV show and noticing that 20-30% of the profiles have no pictures, doesn't make a very positive impression, in my opinion.
Also, while having an IMDBPro account might be trivial for popular actors or actresses who have a lot of work (and can usually therefore afford it much more easily), that is not necessarily the case with people who are not as well-known, or people who do the occasional gig without committing to a full-time career.
Is this really the best way to go at it?
The first one, and perhaps the most significant, is the fact that many cast and crew members choose not to participate in this arrangement, thus creating a major hole in the database. Not only is the database incomplete - it's incomplete and going to remain incomplete by definition, because of an internal policy. Going through a list of cast members for a movie or a TV show and noticing that 20-30% of the profiles have no pictures, doesn't make a very positive impression, in my opinion.
Also, while having an IMDBPro account might be trivial for popular actors or actresses who have a lot of work (and can usually therefore afford it much more easily), that is not necessarily the case with people who are not as well-known, or people who do the occasional gig without committing to a full-time career.
Is this really the best way to go at it?
Posted 3 years ago
Paikia
It looks to me like the major motivation behind this arrangement is making money, which is legitimate by itself, in my opinion. Keeping such a site running surely costs lots of money, and nobody should be expected to work for free.