SNS Review #6:IMDb’s Unspeakable Manipulation of Rating against Film title #4: The Obugyosama! Part2
Updated: Feb 6, 2022
#IMDb #Complaint #Rating #Manipulation
August 9, 2019
IMDb’s Unspeakable Manipulation of IMDb Rating against Film title #4: The Obugyosama! Part2 (2015)
IMDb.com, Inc.
535 Terry Avenue N.
Seattle, WA 98109, United States
Dear IMDb:
On August 9, 2019, I, Ryota Nakanishi who is a consumer of IMDb Pro service recently got informed by friendly netizens about your manipulation of IMDb rating against our films and others.
I myself checked the situation and deeply disappointed about some of your staff ‘s uncivilized, childish behavior like manipulation of rating of films. It is unfair and outrageous for small independent filmmakers.
All of your manipulation of scores will be recorded and piled for future use and publication.
IMDb was great in the past but now they are aggressively oppressing some filmmakers. I believe that my case is just a tip of the iceberg of their aggressive manipulation.
IMDb actually violated my human rights, consumer rights and trust on their service. This time, you severely breached years of our mutual trust.
1. At 9:50 am (China), Aug.8 2019 665 IMDb users voted 8.3 / 10; Top 1000 users voted 6.4; US users voted 6.0; Non US users voted 7.6.
2. At 9:31 am (China), Aug.9 2019 665 IMDb users voted 8.1 / 10; Top 1000 users voted 6.4; US users voted 6.0; Non US users voted 7.4.
The score sheet has been manipulated without any change of votes since August 8, 2019 at least.
During this period, no user voted it negatively. Moreover no user voted or changed their votes during August 8, 2019 to 9:31 am (China), Aug.9 2019 .
However some of your staff just manipulated the Non US users average votes from 7.6 to 7.4. As the result, some of your staff consciously manipulated total score 8.3 to 8.1.
10: 530 users voted
9: 48 users voted
8: 10 users voted
7: 22 users voted
6: 19 users voted
5: 9 users voted
4: 1 users voted
3: 0 users voted
2: 2 users voted
1: 24 users voted
(During Aug. 8 to 9, 2019; the votes above unchanged)
To resolve the problem, your management must investigate on which IMDb staff is manipulating scores undemocratically and spitefully. Maybe some member of management team is involved in this uncivilized manipulation. Strong proofs I already got from friendly netizens and by myself while I was busy for business. Enclosed are copies of proofs of your undeniable manipulation.
I look forward to your reply and a resolution to my problems and will wait a while before seeking help from a consumer protection agency or the Better Business Bureau.
Please contact me at the provided email address or phone.
Sincerely,
Ryota Nakanishi
UPDATE:
At 6:27pm (China) August 10, 2019, I received the email reply from the customer service of IMDb below. It is just a templated answer with no specific explanation. It is just a template not a customer service at all.
IMDb 's reply:
Hi,
Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
Please rest assured that our voting system has several safeguards in place and that this type of behavior is periodically detected and automatically defeated.
We appreciate your help and will take the appropriate steps to investigate further.
For further details, please see our Help page:
https://help.imdb.com/article/imdb/track-movies-tv/faq-for-imdb-ratings/G67Y87TF...
Please let us know if we can offer further help. Best regards, Meredith IMDb Customer Service
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However, IMDb lied to me that they restarted the same manipulation that I formerly complained.
1. At 7:47 am (China), Aug.13 2019. 668 IMDb users voted 7.9 / 10; Top 1000 users voted 6.4; US users voted 6.0; Non US users voted 7.2.
2. At 9:46 pm (China), Aug.15 2019. 668 IMDb users voted 7.5 / 10; Top 1000 users voted 6.4; US users voted 6.1; Non US users voted 6.5 (?).
As the result, some IMDb staff manipulated the total scores from 7.5/10 to 7.2/10 without any votes.
10: 530 users voted
9: 48 users voted
8: 13 users voted
7: 22 users voted
6: 19 users voted
5: 9 users voted
4: 1 users voted
3: 0 users voted
2: 2 users voted
1: 24 users voted
(During Aug. 10 to 13, 2019; three users voted for 8; there was no negative votes; however after that IMDb staffs further manipulated ratings during Aug. 13-15 with no user votes again.)
Manipulating film ratings and scores without any votes is true. This is an extreme example of this kind.
IMDb did not properly respond to the complaint, and no specific explanation of the specific case were provided.
The score sheet has been manipulated without any change of votes since August 8, 2019 at least.
During this period, no user voted it negatively. Moreover only three users voted favourably and no one changed their votes during August 10, 2019 to 7:47 am (China), Aug.13 2019.
However some of your staff just manipulated the Non US users average votes from 7.4 to 7.2. As the result, some of your staff consciously manipulated total score 8.1 to 7.9.
Later they manipulated the Non US users average votes from 7.2 to 6.5. As the result, some of your staff consciously manipulated total score 7.9 to 7.5 without any actual votes.
Conclusion:
IMDb did not properly respond to the specific complaint and the specific issue. Furthermore, there is no specific explanation about the specific complaint was provided.
As a consumer, I must stop using IMDb service because its manipulation, unfairness and lack of quality customer service to care its actual customer.
Update 1:
Compliant at Better Business Bureau
On August 15, 2019, BBB sent that complaint to IMDb.
My Complaint:
''imdb rating manipulation'' is real. And it's backed by awful customer service which