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For title searches, is IMDb describing "Popularity Ascending" and "Popularity Descending" correctly?
Take a look at these searches:
Feature Film (Sorted by Popularity Ascending)
https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?title_type=feature
Feature Film (Sorted by Popularity Descending)
https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?title_type=feature&sort=moviemeter,desc
The first link purports to show all feature films (500,762 at last count) sorted by popularity, in "Ascending" order.
The second link purports to show the opposite: all feature films sorted by popularity in "Descending" order.
Shouldn't the "Ascending" and "Descending" labels be opposite of how they are described?
If a list of films proceeds in "ascending" order, the word "ascending" means it starts with the least popular film and ascends to the most popular. Right?
Take, for example, the same search sorted by number of votes in "Descending" order:
Feature Film (Sorted by Number of Votes Descending)
https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?title_type=feature&sort=num_votes,desc
The Shawshank Redemption has the most votes, so it is listed first in that "Descending" list.
Shouldn't a list with the most popular film at the top also be described as presented in "Descending" order?
Even IMDB's keyword searches seem to describe "Most Popular" and "Least Popular" in exactly the opposite way the title searches describe "Ascending" and "Descending" popularity.
Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "action-hero"
https://www.imdb.com/search/keyword/?keywords=action-hero
Sort by Popularity - Least Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "action-hero"
https://www.imdb.com/search/keyword/?keywords=action-hero&sort=moviemeter,desc&mode=detail&page=1
Seems like the words "Ascending" and "Descending" in IMDb's title search results need to be flipped. Or am I missing something?
jeorj_euler
10.6K Messages
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2 years ago
Yes, the phrasing "popularity" is counter intuitive, as the scale really refers to the raw score of non-duplicated page hits or mean of indirect values to that effect, rather than the priority-like ranking.
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Peter_pbn
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2 years ago
Like you can have a countdown to find out what's at the top, it's a question of how you look at it.
It would be simpler to use "Most Popular" and "Least Popular" everywhere.
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keyword_expert
2.7K Messages
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47K Points
2 years ago
@Col_Needham @Peter_pbn @jeorj_euler
Here is a related issue with title searches sorted by popularity. I decided to post within this same thread which provides the overall context of these types of searches, rather than start a new thread devoid of that context.
When one does a title search and sorts by popularity, it appears that individual TV episodes are always placed last, regardless of whether you sort by "Popularity Descending" or "Popularity Ascending."
I will illustrate that with these two searches, which do not have that many titles just to illustrate the point clearly.
This is a search for the keyword "reference-to-d.b.-cooper," first sorted by Popularity Ascending, and then by Popularity Descending.
Reference to d.b.-cooper (Sorted by Popularity Ascending)
https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?keywords=reference%20to%20d.b.-cooper
Reference to d.b.-cooper (Sorted by Popularity Descending)
https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?keywords=reference%20to%20d.b.-cooper&sort=moviemeter,desc
In both of these sets of search results, the feature films are placed first and the individual TV episodes are placed last.
And it's not just limited to this particular search. I see the same thing in all title searches sorted by popularity.
It is logical for TV episodes to be placed last (after TV series and feature films) when we're talking about which titles are less popular (or in the parlance of IMDb data, which titles are ranked lower on the Moviemeter).
But when we flip the order of the search, intending to display the same exact results but from the opposite direction (i.e., a search to list the least popular titles first), why are TV episodes still placed last in the results?
(edited)
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