The Box Office Buzz and Tracking Thread: Electric Boogaloo

[aabattery]

This is a sad, sad day for the forum. Goes to show how a few bad eggs can ruin the fun for everyone.

 

@EmpireCity, thanks so much for everything you did give us. I'll miss your contributions going forward, but I get why you're doing this. I hope you do stick around just as general user. And thanks to the other guy who I guess we're not naming in this thread.

 

[narniadis]

12 minutes ago, franfar said:

Damn. I agree with @narniadis tbh. There need to be repercussions. I was on the "give them a chance" train for a while, but um, I'm not sure anymore. The users doing this seem very ill intentioned by disrupting our good thing. 

 

The issue and part of what makes it more difficult for the mods is the fact that there is no way of actually knowing who it was or if it was even a registered user. It could seriously have just been a lurker the whole time and someone not related to the whole IMDB mess. 

 

Making the forum less open takes away from what we have always prided ourselves on but get burned too many times and eventually the people start moving on. 

 

I don't envy the mod team at all because any decision made will be unpopular with some as noted by yesterday's thread. 

[Dementeleus]

3 minutes ago, narniadis said:

@grim22 @Tele Came Back I know this puts you and the whole mod team in a tight place. I just honestly thinkthink regardless of how the situation pans out this is where we look back on the forum and see it as the turning point. It either moves forward with more careful guards in place which feels like crimping of free speech or we eventually become what IMDB and reddit are known and despised for. That balance has never been found in movie forums as noted by the breath of fresh air this place was in comparison to the last days of MOJO. 5.5 years was a good run but it appears to have come to an end. 

 

There are two broad issues here: one is spreading information that was originally intended solely for this forum. Without any additional context, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but presale numbers came from someone who was relatively open about sharing other details -- details that could theoretically be examined and used to track them down. We can't control how information leaves these forums, all we can do is now limit the information that's posted. In each of these instances, we support and accommodate the poster supplying the info with what they're comfortable with. That comfort zone is now gone, sadly. We have no way of IDing who takes the data and posts it elsewhere.

 

Other numbers that are posted here do get posted to other places -- HSX, Reddit, etc -- and for the most part there hasn't been any issue with early numbers showing up there (there's no other context to tie them to a poster with enough demographic info to track). Posters who see early screenings of big movies can get hassled -- BOZ and his report on FORCE AWAKENS is probably one of the biggest of these events -- and maybe we can simply tell people not to PM them.

 

In terms of the freedom and camaraderie that we like to think this site has generally had -- inevitably this gets harder to have the bigger a site gets, but we're making a new push to have it be a more communal, happy place. The results of these efforts will start being known over the next couple of months, I guess.

 

[franfar]

Not trying to sound hyperbolic, but I would say our insider members were like the ligaments of the forum; the early #s and other information helped us immensely. A significant loss, indeed. 

 

I'm interested to see how we move on from here.

[Nova]

I wasn't a member of the IMDB boards but I did lurk over there and this is how I found this place. There's a reason why I never became a member and posted on those boards but as soon as I found this place, lurked a bit and immediately decided to become a member. I know the mods get a ton of flack but honestly @grim22  @Tele Came Back @baumer @CJohn @Water Bottle and the other mods I missed, thank you for making this place a great community. Ive only been a member for a year and some months but this place is awesome especially compared to other sites I visit which only spew out hate and negativity. I look forward to still coming on here and discussing movies/box office with you guys. This is just a bump in the road, in my opinion. This is place is too great and filled with great members for it to just go straight to the gutter ala IMDB. But really....thanks for moderating a great community guys! 

[aabattery]

Yeah, there's no easy solution here. Maybe open an exclusive part of the forum for trusted members, but that's an absolute ass-load of work for the mods and it would feel kinda unfair. I really don't know. But it's gonna suck to lose our insiders.

 

I don't blame our mods at all for this. They do a great job, probably my favourite moderation team of any online community I've been a part of. I certainly don't envy their position right now.

Edited May 16, 2017 by aabattery

[franfar]

2 minutes ago, narniadis said:

 

The issue and part of what makes it more difficult for the mods is the fact that there is no way of actually knowing who it was or if it was even a registered user. It could seriously have just been a lurker the whole time and someone not related to the whole IMDB mess. 

 

Making the forum less open takes away from what we have always prided ourselves on but get burned too many times and eventually the people start moving on. 

 

I don't envy the mod team at all because any decision made will be unpopular with some as noted by yesterday's thread. 

True, it could've been a registered user gone rogue. I trust that the team will make the right decision after deliberating, even if it's not broadly-liked. Something has to be done, though.

[Daxtreme]

16 minutes ago, franfar said:

Who's Asgard2?

 

EmpireCity

[Poseidon]

9 minutes ago, narniadis said:

@grim22 @Tele Came Back I know this puts you and the whole mod team in a tight place. I just honestly thinkthink regardless of how the situation pans out this is where we look back on the forum and see it as the turning point. It either moves forward with more careful guards in place which feels like crimping of free speech or we eventually become what IMDB and reddit are known and despised for. That balance has never been found in movie forums as noted by the breath of fresh air this place was in comparison to the last days of MOJO. 5.5 years was a good run but it appears to have come to an end. 

 

Sometimes it's not the board, that changes, sometimes it's us. It's like in real life. Sometimes things change, sometimes we move in different directions one day. We can't always blame the others. 

I know exactly what you feel from another board. I have basically grown up in message boards. They are not the same they used to be anymore. 

Every era has an ending. I don't think it's the new users. It's old users growing up and maybe finding a better, another place.
Every community dies out in the end. And then what felt like home once, isn't home anymore. As sad as it is. 
 

[JennaJ]

Honestly, the information would not be leaked for other movies besides the huge franchises with enough superfans to spread it around and make a fuss about it. you could probably still post a negative early review for any movie that's not a big superhero tentpole.

 

same goes for the pre-sale numbers.

 

but I get it - once burned, twice shy. I hope both users in question remain a part of the forum even if they don't share that information. Their presence here is much more meaningful than just a bunch of exclusive info (as fun as it was to get it).

[YM!]

1 hour ago, Cmasterclay said:

Oh, for fuck's sake. Comic book fan shit is a fucking cancer on these boards. Comes in to ruin everything. They should be banned at the first sight of that bullshit instead of making Rallax/Empire uncomfortable and the vast majority of us posters who love this info and take it privately shouldn't suffer for it either. 

Yeah, we need to nuke them.

[narniadis]

5 minutes ago, Poseidon said:

 

Sometimes it's not the board, that changes, sometimes it's us. It's like in real life. Sometimes things change, sometimes we move in different directions one day. We can't always blame the others. 

I know exactly what you feel from another board. I have basically grown up in message boards. They are not the same they used to be anymore. 

Every era has an ending. I don't think it's the new users. It's old users growing up and maybe finding a better, another place.
Every community dies out in the end. And then what felt like home once, isn't home anymore. As sad as it is. 
 

Oh yes so true. Filmlover and I (and a couple of others) are what is left of one such now dead community. It is life, movies aren't nearly as important as they were to my high-school self twenty years ago but I enjoy the virtual friendships we have developed through many things in life over the last 15ish years. 

[YM!]

Normally, I have always been a second chance type of guy but this shit needs to stop. This forum is wonderful place and the people here are fantastic for the most part, and the mods have done an excellent job with this site. However with the ever growing CBM landscape now, we should stop his before it gets out of hand. There's a line between fan and fanboy. And we need less fanboys. That being said the forum has to be the least toxic and most safe forum out there, even fanboys here like Napoleon/BKB/IJack, aren't a tenth as bad as IMDB fanboys but we need to make a tighter stance on fanboyism. Whatever the outcome is I have the upmost faith in moderators such as @Tele Came Back @grim22 @Water Bottle@baumer @CJohn and I trust they'll make the decision that's best suited for the site.

Edited May 16, 2017 by YourMother

[grey ghost]

It's nice to get early and accurate numbers from the gods but honestly, it's not the end of the world if we have to rely on Deadline.

 

We did for many years before the gods showed up and provided some fun moments (not a record). 

 

Our box office hobby will continue. At least we don't have to go back to the days where weekly magazines were the main source of weekend numbers. 

 

Deadline updates every few hours starting on Friday isn't so bad, really.

 

Also, thank the gods for everything they risked and sacrificed for our personal hobby. I hope this scandal doesn't cause them too much distress.

[franfar]

One of the reasons that I like this forum is the community. There's actual, measured discussion here, and while it may seem trying at times, it's 10x better than most forums I've used. There's actual positivity, and I'm confident that won't change. Those jerks won't take that away at least.

[TwoMisfits]

(Looks at current avatar) So, guys, um, if I don't live in my mom's basement and can talk intelligently on a wide range of movies, can I still admit to being a comic book fan (and a movie one, too:))...I am also an action movie and sci fi junkie, a former and recovering Trekkie and Jedi, and a reluctant viewer of all things animated - like ALL of them (thanks kids:)...and I promise to be a true comics fan, not just an only Marvel or only DC one (speaking of, if anyone needs to read a comic that is so wrong, it's probably still wrong, but wretchedly funny - find The Fix:)...

 

[franfar]

1 minute ago, grey ghost said:

It's nice to get early and accurate numbers from the gods but honestly, it's not the end of the world if we have to rely on Deadline.

 

 

/s

[franfar]

Just now, TwoMisfits said:

(Looks at current avatar) So, guys, um, if I don't live in my mom's basement and can talk intelligently on a wide range of movies, can I still admit to being a comic book fan (and a movie one, too:))...I am also an action movie and sci fi junkie, a former and recovering Trekkie and Jedi, and a reluctant viewer of all things animated - like ALL of them (thanks kids:)...and I promise to be a true comics fan, not just an only Marvel or only DC one (speaking of, if anyone needs to read a comic that is so wrong, it's probably still wrong, but wretchedly funny - find The Fix:)...

 

You're fine. It's not comic book fans we're mad at, it's the vocal minority who take their favorite movies too seriously and ruin the overall atmosphere for everyone else. And that happens in every genre

[grey ghost]

Let's not blame comic book fanboys for everything.

 

We can't be 100% certain who sent the data to various theater owners.

 

Literally my dog could click on this site and see all this information.

 

If you don't like comic book fanboys, you're going to have to accept their favorite superhero movies are now a major part of box office discussion.

 

Ditto for Star Wars, Jurassic World, Nolan, Pixar, Avatar, etc.

 

All have fanboys and all are unavoidable when discussing modern box office.

[YM!]

3 minutes ago, franfar said:

You're fine. It's not comic book fans we're mad at, it's the vocal minority who take their favorite movies too seriously and ruin the overall atmosphere for everyone else. And that happens in every genre

As other have said there's a huge difference between a fan and a fanboy/fanatic.