14 Messages

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282 Points

Saturday, December 27th, 2025

In Progress

Stranger Things, S5 E7 “The Bridge” coordinated review bombing.

Episode 7 of Stranger Things Season 5, “The Bridge,” is currently experiencing coordinated review bombing on IMDb. Social media posts are encouraging users to mass 1★ the episode, based on personal preferences regarding character relationships, not the episode’s actual quality.

This has artificially lowered the weighted rating to 6.9, which does not reflect genuine audience perception. Based on early unweighted ratings, audience reactions, and historical trends, a realistic rating for the episode should be around 9.1–9.3/10.

I also suspect Episodes 5 and 6 (“Shock Jock” and “Escape from Camazotz”) are experiencing similar review bombing, though not as severe. Realistic ratings for these episodes are:

  • Escape from Camazotz: 9.4–9.6
  • Shock Jock: 9.2–9.5

Please investigate and consider adjusting the weighted ratings to accurately reflect the episodes’ quality, free from coordinated manipulation.

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Accepted Solution

Employee

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39 Messages

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614 Points

1 month ago

Hi @RF17,

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 Ratings FAQ

https://help.imdb.com/article/imdb/track-movies-tv/ratings-faq/G67Y87TFYYP6TWAV?ref_=helpcs_p#

(edited)

12 Messages

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190 Points

It has not been automatically defeated if this was allowed to happen.   

3 Messages

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98 Points

@Frances_Milena​ I really hope steps are taken because mass review campaigns undermine the reliability of a rating system.

Episode 7 has 60k+ ratings which is insanely high compared to episode 5 and 6 (which has 30-35k ratings as of now). And even now there is a sudden burst of 1 star ratings for those episodes although it's not as much as the hate campaign for 7

6 Messages

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142 Points

@sambennett​ Why aren’t IMDB doing anything about the severe review bombing.

There is lot of evidence on reddit, twitter/X and facebook encouraging to vote 1/10 to review bomb volume 2.

This first affected heavely episode 7, and now episode 5 and 6 have suddenly started dropping because of mass review bombing.

IMDB clearly have no mechanism to atop this, no integrity and no will in fixing this.

IMDB let an increadible show be ruined by downvoted, because Bylers couldn’t accept Mike not being gay. And the scores for 5,6 and 7 are now not a reflection of actually quality, as it’s being downvoted by thousands of peoples who hasn’t even seem the episodes or stranger things.

This is insane that IMDB let review bombing happen, and it’s so severe now that IMDB can’t be trusted when they actually encourage and applaud review bombing, by letting the review bombers win.

IMDB team have to do something, and adjust the scores back to what they were before the review bombing started.

6 Messages

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142 Points

@Frances_Milena​ your safe guard does not work. Your safe guard just encourages people to review bombing, when nothing happens.

IMDB have to do something. Now all three episodes from volume 2 experience severe review bombing, and IMDB just let it happen. The three episodes just continue to drop, not because of actually reviews from user that have seem the episodes, but because of a massive smearing campagin from Bylers. 

IMDB can’t be trusted with reviews or relability anymore, when they let this happen.

I hope this gets investigated and actually fixed. And that all three episodes get the rating back, which they had before this massive review bombing.

And I hope there actually are actions to stop this for episode 8, because we know now that the review bombing have spread to all 3 episodes, and will most likely continue to episode 8, if IMDB doesn’t take actions.

This is outrageous that IMDB just let it happen.

14 Messages

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282 Points

@GengarGeng​ 

Update: The rating for Episode 7 (“The Bridge”) has continued to decline even further since this was acknowledged, and Episodes 5 and 6 are still following the same pattern.

This confirms the issue is ongoing and not the result of organic viewer reception. If safeguards are in place, they are clearly not taking effect in real time.

This further highlights the need for investigation and correction, especially with Episode 8 approaching.

14 Messages

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282 Points

@GengarGeng​ 

I agree, this is no longer limited to Episode 7.

There is clear evidence across Reddit, X/Twitter, and other platforms encouraging mass 1★ voting against Volume 2. Episode 7 was hit first, and Episodes 5 and 6 have now started dropping in the same sudden, unnatural way.

This pattern doesn’t reflect normal audience reception or episode quality. It points to coordinated review bombing, not genuine viewer feedback.

If safeguards exist, they don’t appear to be working in this case. The ratings for Episodes 5, 6, and 7 no longer represent fair or organic audience response, and that undermines trust in the system.

This needs to be properly investigated and corrected, especially with Episode 8 still to come.

12 Messages

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190 Points

@GengarGeng​ 

I sincerely hope the action is being delayed because they’re waiting for the surge to end.

And I feel your frustration completely. IMDb was literally how I discovered stranger things in 2014, so this whole situation has drastically changed my perspective on the platform’s reliability for future.

Also I agree, it’s definitely a thing where non-fans are participating cos how on earth has the last episode in particular garnered the same amount of ratings (60k) that episode 4 had despite 4 being released a month ago? 

IMDb shouldn’t allow non-users to infiltrate the system so easily. Especially when the ratings don’t reflect the episode quality but a foolish “woke” agenda. 

I hope they’re able to note the pattern of persistent 1’s over the days and tally them out and give the episode along with the previous two the ratings it would’ve gotten had it not been manipulated.

(edited)

14 Messages

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282 Points

@sambennett​ 

I strongly agree, the timing and volume of the ratings make this especially suspicious.

It’s difficult to explain how Episode 7 accumulated a comparable number of votes to Episode 4, which had been available far longer, without some form of external coordination. That discrepancy alone suggests the surge isn’t organic.

From a quality standpoint, Episode 4 is widely regarded as one of the show’s strongest installments, and in my view Episodes 5, 6, and 7 are very much in that same tier in terms of writing, performances, and production. The sharp divergence in their ratings doesn’t align with that reality.

Hopefully IMDb is closely tracking these abnormal voting patterns and will correct the scores once the surge stabilizes, so the ratings reflect genuine audience reception rather than coordinated campaigns.

3 Messages

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98 Points

That's what I hope too. I've checked rotten tomatoes and it's completely wrecked. The whole season is under 55% now there....and if you check the audience reviews, you will understand who are actually reviewing it. It's not even because of the shipping wars.

I hope that episode 8 isn't affected so highly. It will be affected I expect, but hope that review bombing isn't so massive as this episode. Actual steps should be taken after the surge is over in 1 or 2 days.

12 Messages

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190 Points

@RF17​ I agree with you. I genuinely enjoyed vol 2 (and am especially intrigued by the wormhole which not enough people are talking about). I’m satisfied with the character arcs being resolved in time for the finale for which I’m highly anticipating. 

The ratings don’t reflect the quality of the episodes in the slightest and thus need to be amended largely. 

I trust IMDb can fix this like they have with attack on titan episodes when they were being mass review bombed by one piece fans to lower the overall ranking on top episodes.

3 Messages

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98 Points

@sambennett​ 

When I was writing my first comment on this thread, ep 7 had around 60k ratings. Now it's up to 67k with most being 1 stars. It's actually horrible how bad the situation is

6 Messages

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142 Points

@sambennett​  People have now counter review bombed to even out the 1 star review bombing, but over all score has not raised again.

This shows that IMDBs fall safe doesn’t work, because it does not kick in when an episode gets unfair review bombed by 1 stars by people who havn’t even watched the show.

And when people who actually has seen the episode, and liked it, counter review with 10s to null out the review bombing, the false safe kick in, and ends up encouraging review bombing with 1s.

When 1 and 10 are even, both should be removed in the counting so the scores between 2-9 give the episode a fair score. Because this is not fair, because here 1 and 10 are even in numbers, but tye 1s count heavier. Rigged and biased. This have to be fixed.

12 Messages

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190 Points

@Frances_Milena​ Please address the latest updates provided by RF17, this has taken too long for there to be no update or huge adjustments made from the data you’ve been given 

6 Messages

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142 Points

  @Frances_Milena​  

When people review bomb episode 7 with 1 star review, rating are affected.

In the last two days people have counter voted 10 to even out the 1 star review bombs, but it does not affect the score.

In the last days episode 7 have received roughly 24K 10 star reviews, but the score has NOT raised, and NOT been affected.

Meaning the 1 star reviews count, but not 10 star reviews.

This is outrageous, biased and unprofessional. When the fans try to even out, and cancel the review bombing. IMDB instead weight the 1 star review bombing from people who havn’t even seen the show, higher than the counter votes from people who actually enjoyed and liked the episode.

This has to be sorted out, if not, we can’t trust IMDB scores at all. When all the 1 star reviews weight on the score, all 10 star reviews should count as well.

When episode 7 hit 5.4, it had 20K more 1 star than 10 star reviews. And now there are more 10 star reviews, and the score hasn’t even changed. This is insane, if episode 7 score isn’t increased by this, it means IMDB are political and biased, and that noke scores on here should be trusted. 

Please answer and do not ignore this message too.

14 Messages

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282 Points

@Frances_Milena​ 

you or any of the IMDb members have done nothing about the reviewbombing on season 5 of stranger things AND the finale is now being reviewbombed heavily. please fix this, the finale deserves at LEAST a 9.6-9.8.

14 Messages

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282 Points

1 month ago

Episode 7 of Stranger Things Season 5, “The Bridge,” appears to be experiencing coordinated review bombing on IMDb. Social media posts are actively encouraging users to mass-rate the episode with 1★ scores based on dissatisfaction with character relationship outcomes, rather than the episode’s actual writing, production, or storytelling quality. As a result, the episode’s weighted IMDb rating has dropped significantly (recently to the 6.8–6.9 range), which does not align with early unweighted averages, audience response patterns, or historical rating behavior for similarly received episodes. Based on: Early unweighted rating distributionsAudience reaction trendsComparable high-impact episodes from previous seasons A realistic stabilized rating for “The Bridge” would likely fall around 9.1–9.3/10 once coordinated manipulation subsides. There are also signs that Episodes 5 and 6 (“Shock Jock” and “Escape from Camazotz”) may be experiencing similar review bombing, though to a lesser degree. Based on their rating distributions, realistic ranges for those episodes appear to be: Escape from Camazotz: 9.4–9.6Shock Jock: 9.2–9.5 I respectfully request that IMDb review these episodes for coordinated voting behavior and allow the weighted ratings to stabilize in a way that reflects genuine audience reception rather than organized manipulation. Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation Link : https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/data-issues-policy-discussions/stranger-things-s5-e7-the-bridge-coordinated-review-bombing/6950b4106396e03dbbbbf1ad Title : Stranger Things, S5 E7 “The Bridge” coordinated review bombing.

12 Messages

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190 Points

Thank you for bringing this to attention. It’s insane that this has even happened I really hope they readjust the ratings despite the review bombings. 

6 Messages

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142 Points

Still hasn’t been fixed. Review bombing has been worse in the 8 last hours, and it affects all three episodes from volume 2.

It undermines the credibility of IMDB, when no actions are done, and you only let it happen.

This have to be fixed. It’s not fair that a show ends up as game of thrones, simply because of a smaering campaign and because IMDB let the review bombing happen with zero consequences or actions.

If IMDB doesn’t fix this, we can’t trust any of the ratings on IMDB, which is sad.

14 Messages

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282 Points

I completely agree. The abnormal voting patterns across all three Volume 2 episodes clearly show coordinated review bombing. I’ve seen multiple posts on X not only encouraging this behavior but also sharing direct links to The Bridge episode on IMDb and instructing people to create multiple accounts to rate all three episodes a 1.

IMDb really needs to investigate and adjust the scores so they accurately reflect the quality of these episodes, especially with Episode 8 still upcoming.

12 Messages

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190 Points

1 month ago

I am frustrated about the current undeniable review bombing about the recent episode of Stranger Things which needs urgent revising.  Below you can see the rating prior to review bombing was 8.2. A loud part of the fandom (Bylers) have initiated this review bombing through X (formerly Twitter) simply because the episode confirmed that a (male) character’s love for another man was unrequited despite this being consistent in storytelling. They are falsely accusing the writers of queerbaiting and have spitefully infiltrated the system to undermine the integrity of the writers and the show.  This campaign can be shown in tweets like this.     They have purposefully also rated a previous lowest rated episode (s2 episode 7) higher to ensure that that the latest becomes the lowest.    ^ This further proves that this ep has factually been review bombed. It does not make sense for this episode to have declined from an original 8.2 to a 5.9 while the preceding episodes declined only slightly (as natural). It should not be this simple for the system to be infiltrated by non-regular users out of spite of the writers and to deliberately sabotage the reception of this well acclaimed show because their ship didn’t happen…  Please fix this as this is upsetting as I had seen IMDb as a reliable source for critical but fair reviews of media, and this situation like others before undermines that perception. UPDATE: After writing this, the rating has further decreased to 5.8 solidifying the issue getting out of hand. Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation Link : https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/data-issues-policy-discussions/review-bombing-of-stranger-things-season-5-episode-7/695159a06396e03dbbc0bb62 Title : Review bombing of Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 7

12 Messages

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190 Points

1 month ago

I am frustrated about the current undeniable review bombing about the recent episode of Stranger Things which needs urgent revising.  Below you can see the rating prior to review bombing was 8.2. It has now greatly declined to 5.9 because of a ludicrous movement on social media. A loud and toxic part of the fandom (Bylers) have initiated this review bombing through X (formerly Twitter) simply because the episode confirmed that a (male) character’s love for another man was unrequited despite this being consistent in storytelling. They are falsely accusing the writers of queerbaiting.  This campaign can be shown in tweets like these.      They have purposefully also rated a previous lowest rated episode (s2 episode 7) higher to ensure that the latest becomes the lowest.    ^ This further proves that this ep has factually been review bombed. It does not make sense for this episode to have declined from an original 8.2 to a 5.9 while the preceding episodes declined only slightly (as natural). It should not be this simple for the system to be infiltrated by non-regular users out of spite of the writers and to deliberately sabotage the reception of this well acclaimed show because their ship didn’t happen…  Please fix this as this is upsetting as I had seen IMDb as a reliable source for critical but fair reviews of media, and this situation like other review bombings undermines that viewpoint. EDIT: After writing this, the rating has further decreased to 5.8 solidifying the issue getting out of hand. Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation Link : https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/data-issues-policy-discussions/review-bombing-of-stranger-things-s5-ep7-the-bridge/69514c61d1d7fd7bbb4bddc2 Title : Review bombing of Stranger Things S5 EP7 (The Bridge)

14 Messages

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282 Points

@sambennett​ 

This isn’t just Episode 7 anymore.

Episodes 5 and 6 are now showing the exact same rating behavior that Episode 7 had earlier. Large spikes in 1★ ratings happened very suddenly, right after people on social media started encouraging others to downrate multiple episodes.

What makes this obvious:

  • The 1★ votes jump way faster than normal

  • The voting distribution looks nearly identical across Episodes 5, 6, and 7

  • Nothing new actually happened in Episodes 5 or 6 to cause a sudden collapse in ratings

  • People are openly saying they’re lowering ratings on purpose, not based on quality

That’s not normal audience reception — that’s coordinated review bombing.

We’ve seen this exact thing happen before with other shows (The Last of Us S1E3, anime finales, etc.), and in those cases the ratings eventually corrected once the abnormal votes were down-weighted.

So when people say “Episode 7 deserves a low rating,” that still doesn’t explain why Episodes 5 and 6 are dropping the same way at the same time. That only makes sense if people are targeting the season as a whole.

You don’t have to love the episodes — but the numbers right now clearly don’t reflect genuine viewer opinion.

12 Messages

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190 Points

You’re right I noticed they have taken a decline now. Even Reddit and X are seeing how blasphemous these ratings are and can see who it’s coming from. Only episode 7 is noticeable but the other two have for sure been affected unjustly.

The episodes deserve at least an 8 as its quality is similar to that of its predecessor. This is intentionally manipulated by these shippers to mess not only with the season’s ratings from the general audience but to undermine the integrity and quality of the show to push forth an agenda that was and is false. It’s disturbing for this to have a huge toll on an otherwise reliable source, and hugely disrespectful to the producers and actors of the show to be indirectly affected by this and needs to be looked at and amended. 

14 Messages

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282 Points

@sambennett​ 

Agreed. The key point is the timing and distribution, not whether someone personally liked the episodes. Episodes 5 (“Escape from Camazotz”), 6 (“Shock Jock”), and 7 (“The Bridge”) all show the same sudden surge in extreme low ratings within a very short window, without any new in-episode trigger for 5 or 6. That pattern is not consistent with organic audience reception and matches what we’ve seen in past coordinated rating events on IMDb. Hopefully the abnormal votes get down-weighted once the system finishes processing.

For reference, Episode 7 (“The Bridge”) dropped from 8.2 to 5.6 within a few days, while Episodes 5 (“Escape from Camazotz”) and 6 (“Shock Jock”) originally held ratings around 9.2 and 8.8–9.0, respectively, before suddenly dropping at the same time. This sharp, simultaneous decline across multiple episodes, paired with social media campaigns encouraging mass downvotes, strongly suggests coordinated review manipulation rather than organic audience reaction.

12 Messages

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190 Points

You hit the nail on the head with everything.

It deserves, as every form of media does, to be weighed fairly and not affected by abrupt mass campaigns that don’t reflect the quality of the episode but are intended only to sabotage. I hope they amend the ratings notably, and put further regulations in place to prevent this from happening again. 

14 Messages

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282 Points

1 month ago

40% of reviews are 1 stars...

(edited)

14 Messages

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282 Points

1 month ago

since i posted this forum, the rating for S5 E7 has lowered from 6.9 to 5.4, IMDb needs to fix the review bombing situation for all of Season 5 of Stranger Things. most notable drops in episode ratings are:

S5 E1 - The Crawl: Old Rating, 8.3-8.1

Recent Updated Rating: 7.9

S5 E3 - The Turnbow Trap: Old Rating, 9.0

Recent Updated Rating: 8.6

S5 E4 - Sorcerer: Old Rating, 9.8-9.7

Recent Updated Rating: 9.4

S5 E5 - Shock Jock: Old Rating, 8.9

Recent Updated Rating: 8.0

S5 E6 - Escape from Camazotz: Old Rating, 9.9-9.3

Recent Updated Rating: 8.1

S5 E7 - The Bridge: Old Rating, 10.0-8.8

Recent Updated Rating: 5.4

S5 E2: The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler has experienced similar review bombing but not as severe as other episodes.

(edited)

14 Messages

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282 Points

30 days ago

I’m not trying to start a “this season is perfect” or “this season is trash” argument, but I’ve been looking at the IMDb episode ratings and something feels off. It’s not just the finale. Episodes 5, 6, 7, and 8 seem to be hit the hardest, but honestly most of Season 5 shows the same pattern. What keeps jumping out to me is how extreme the ratings are. A lot of 10/10s, but also a huge amount of 1/10s, with way fewer 5–7 ratings than you’d normally expect if people were just mixed on it. Usually when an episode is divisive, the middle fills up. Here it really doesn’t. The finale is probably the clearest example: It had around 140k ratings really fast Roughly 40%+ are 10s, but almost 20% are 1s The raw average is way lower than the actual IMDb score, which usually means IMDb is already correcting for early votes When you compare that to older Stranger Things episodes or other highly rated TV episodes, the difference is pretty obvious. Those usually have most votes stacked around 8–9, not split hard between 10 and 1. I’m not saying people aren’t allowed to dislike Season 5. Obviously they are. It just feels unlikely that this many episodes in a row would all naturally produce the exact same extreme split unless something else was going on (early reactions, discourse, people rating without finishing, etc.). To me it looks like the season is still in that early chaos phase where reactions are louder than actual consensus. These ratings usually change a lot once more casual viewers finish watching and the dust settles. What really makes it stand out to me is how consistent it is. Episodes 5–8 all show the most extreme splits by far, while Episodes 1–4 aren’t hit as badly but still show the same pattern to a lesser degree. That kind of season-wide behavior just doesn’t feel random. Curious if anyone else has noticed this or if I’m reading too much into it. Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation Link : https://community-imdb.sprinklr.com/conversations/data-issues-policy-discussions/has-anyone-else-noticed-how-weird-the-imdb-ratings-are-for-stranger-things-season-5/69595dcb1d59574bad01ee3e Title : Has anyone else noticed how weird the IMDb ratings are for Stranger Things Season 5?