erika_gabler's profile

22 Messages

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538 Points

Saturday, December 29th, 2018 9:37 AM

No Status

12

Tracking of watched movies etc

Hello,

i'd like to keep track of what i have watched already. Over the years i've watched many movies etc; too many to remember them all. Which isn't good, because i'd like to watch all movies from some actors/directors etc. So i always have to think hard, when i go through the lists of those people, which titles i haven't watched yet. I have to watch trailers or read the plot to remember, which both i hate, because it costs time and i don't want to be spoiled.
By reading some of the articles on here, i came across the check in feature, but that doesn't fulfill my needs completely. It only helps a little, that i can see - after selecting a title - that i have watched this already.
I want markers/icons like already watched and on watchlist next to every title in all lists of any actor etc. As of now these lists are double-columned with title on the left and year to the right. I envision 2 tiny, new columns to the left of the titles with these icons. Alternatively you could place those icons to the right of the titles without creating new columns. Whatever is more pleasing to the eye. (2 pictures down i gave you an example)

There are other websites out there, which take the data from imdb and provide the feature i'm talking about. The following picture shows an example. The site doesn't have lists or tables; they chose a poster format, where the icons are below each title. This could be a useful alternative to watch lists for imdb as well.


I love the imdb feature, which splits up the directorial etc activities to movies, series, documentaries etc. How about for each category a progress summary. I made an example:

Here i marked two titles with a "D" for done and one title with a "W" for watchlist. You can substitute these letters with stylish icons as well. Next to the heading i added the progress. We currently got 30 movie credits for this actress. "2/30" i have watched already. This adds up to about "6 %" watched. From the remaining 28 titles, i got one on my watchlist.
You can argue about the counting method, because you can also have already watched titles on the watchlist, if you want to rewatch them. I'm not sure either, what would be best, but i think i'd kinda like to see the number 28 go down with every new title that i watch. Same as i like to see the watch percentage go up.

A few other subfeatures worth considering are:
  • to select single episodes or seasons from tv series to mark them as watched
  • to give a specific watch date, when marking a title as watched (for example "right now" for just watched, "release date" for watched close to release of the title and "specific date", where i can choose a specific date in history or a year, where i think i might have watched this
  • give me timeline of all my consumed movies etc (sorted by watch date, release date etc)
  • when i mark a title on the watchlist as watched, delete it from watchlist (this might already be in place; haven't tested that yet)
  • let me mark future movies, tv episodes on my watchlist (and maybe give me a notification when they are out)
  • publish the watched list/watchlist on imdb for others to see
  • add up the runtime of all watched movies, tv series etc (if you are a movie buff, you can easily end up with a few hundred days of watchtime; i love those numbers, lol)

The reason why i want this on imdb is that i love imdb. I use it for years. But now that i have found these other sites which provide this watch feature (that i want for ages and have realized poorly on my own), i rarely browse through imdb anymore, because i pretty much have the same lists on the other sites, where i mark stuff watched on a daily basis.
But imdb is the bigger site. It has a better backbone/performance and the data is more accurate/up to date.
I've used the other site now for 2 weeks and have recorded a few hundred movie titles and tv series as watched. I still haven't reached the point of no return to come back to imdb, but i guess if i mark a few thousand movies as watched on another site, i wouldn't want to do that "work" on imdb again and you might lose me for good. I'd like to only use one movie site :(

Is there any chance, that such a feature might be added to imdb as well?

Thank you and kind regards,
Erika

1.8K Messages

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55.3K Points

6 years ago

The best way to track watched movies is to rate them. Once rated, the movie is in your 'Rated' list that can be searched and sorted in some ways. An annoying thing here is the rated mark is not shown anywhere except lists - this is the real problem.

The same is for movies selected to watch later (watchlist). They may be (un)selected with checkbox as the other sites do, but on IMDb they can be operated only in lists (yours or other users).

So, there is nothing about 'new' features, but the existing features really need to be accessable on all pages (titles, actors, etc.), not only lists.

22 Messages

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538 Points

I thought about rating things as a work around as well, but a) i don't want to mass rate thousands of movies (many of them i haven't seen in years; i would just end up giving everything an 8 and be done with it; spamming defeats the purpose of rating) or episodes of tv series (this would just be too much as well), b) if it's not shown in the actor etc lists as well, it's the same like the watchlist feature (it doesn't help much, if i have to select everything one by one, i want that in the overview)

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14.5K Messages

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331.5K Points

6 years ago

Regarding stats, on name pages you can find a link to 'How Much Have You Seen?'
https://www.imdb.com/seen/nm0736622/

But it could probably be better integrated into the site.

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55.3K Points

Congratulations upon your midway to 10.000 posts here ))

I've never used the 'seen' feature, just because there is no sign it exists. Moreover, after your advice I can not find the link on the actor's page 8/

Anyway, thank you very much for pointing it up!
Not so comfortable, but may be used as link-substitution.

PS: found it at last under 'How Much Have You Seen?'

22 Messages

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538 Points

Thanks for this. I won't use it though, because it's just too messy compared to the real actor lists. And again, i would have to rate every episode etc to get it done. That's too inconvenient if you've already watched much, but have not rated everything after watching it. Just clicking a few thousand times the "watched already" button would be enough work.
It can't be hard codingwise to just duplicate the rate button and just make it on/off for watched already. That would be okay-ish for the start. The other features i mentioned would be the icing on the cake.

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14.5K Messages

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331.5K Points

On the page I referenced you can click the star to mark a title as seen, and it counts in the stats. This carries over to other seen lists (eg, for other actors in the same film), but on the other hand the seen status is not displayed in other places such as title pages.

22 Messages

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538 Points

Ahh, now i got it. I thought that was only active by rating it.
It's a start, i guess. I will start marking titles as "seen" and i hope they expand this feature or integrate it in the actor etc lists as well.

22 Messages

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538 Points

It's a bummer, that the "seen" feature doesn't seem to work on the actual title sites. There you have to rate and can't just click "seen".
Would be great, if imdb could add this there as well. It's even more complicated to go to the 'How Much Have You Seen?' link and search for the title again; just for that.

PS. there doesn't seem to be a "seen" list. The ratings list only shows 1-10 star, but not the seen. And the "seen" titles don't show up under Check in, which is odd: isn't that kinda the same?
PPS. it oddly works the other way around. If i check in to a title, it shows up as "seen" ^^

2.7K Messages

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47K Points

@Peter_pbn

Thank you for the tip on the "IMDb Seen" tool for actors and actresses. I had never even heard of this before. You always have the best scoop on IMDb features.

1 Message

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80 Points

5 years ago

Hi there, Erika! Have You found a solution with this issue? If You still would like to have this feature, I think I might help You out...

6 Messages

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144 Points

2 years ago

Hello Erika. Thanks for writing this article. This is what IMDb needs. Too bad that even 4 years after you wrote it, IMDb still didn’t expand on the “seen” feature. I wonder why? I’ve seen hundreds of movies on IMDb and rated hundreds but I gave up on rating. I need a “seen” button that works all over the website and I need a “seen” list that automatically adds all the movies I’ve seen into that list and lets me sort them in useful ways. (Just like other movie websites and apps offer as a feature)

please IMDb, as an 18 year IMDb member, don’t let us down and implement this feature so we don’t have to migrate. Thank you!

1 Message

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64 Points

2 years ago

Indeed it is amazing how imdb still have not introduced this simple feature. I have been waiting for years to be able to mark those movies that I watched. Because of lack of this I have to use other movie app/website, although imdb would be my preference if it had that feature.

To those suggestions to rate movies and by rating you can put it to a different list - I do not want to rate the movie, some of which I watched many years ago. I just want to mark them as seen. Simple as that.

Please.

6 Messages

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144 Points

@arturs_maksimenko​ thanks for that post. It’s true, rating and “seen” are two different things. I can’t rate all the movies i have seen. I rated 400 movies but at some point i stopped and i can’t go back and do it again. Also i felt rating a movie always depends on my mood. Sometimes i see a movie twice and i feel it deserves a different rating the new time around. How do i manage that? 

a seen feature with a seen list is what’s needed on IMDb!

3 Messages

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70 Points

18 days ago

There should be a playlist named watched movies. So that i can easily move watched movies from watchlist to watched. Letterboxd app has this feature, you should also have. Please

3 Messages

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94 Points

18 days ago

I created a "Watched" list, adding all the movies I have watched. However, when browsing in general through IMDb, and I run across a movie, it does not tell me upfront if I have watched it, that is, if it´s on my "Watched" list. Is there any way to do that?  

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled How can I easily view if I have watched a movie?

Employee

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1.3K Messages

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12.5K Points

Hello @ramonolivencia,

Unfortunately, we don't have these specific feature.  However, we have updated the post to an "Idea" so other community members can vote/comment on this feature improvement and staff can monitor to gage interest.

Employee

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7.4K Messages

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181K Points

Alternatively @ramonolivencia the best way to do this is to vote for the title on our 1-10 scale when you watch it. Your votes appears across most IMDb pages and search results which include titles you have seen. 

6 Messages

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142 Points

18 days ago

I have managed to create a custom list of all movies I have ever watched. I find it incredible that imdb would not enable users to create such a list by default! I personally believe it is a very useful feature. I don't want an entire concept like letterboxd.com where you can talk about it, discuss it on social media etc. Just basic list of watched movies for me to personally have. And I would prefer to have this on imdb rather than a third party website.

The custom list I managed to create is not very useful, because you cannot sort it by name, neither does it have a "date watched" field. It is very limited.

I would be REALLY grateful for this movie database website to have a list where it's users can make their own documentation about the movies they have completed watching. 

This would empower users as all they need is to visit your website to get a detailed list, rather than creating excel spreadsheets of their own.

Could someone let me know if it is possible to create such a list and if so how, because I have totally missed it!
Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled List of Watched Movies (Not Watchlist) like letterboxd.com

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5.1K Messages

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118.5K Points

I'm not familiar with the Letterboxed feature, but very familiar with IMDb lists.

I don't understand your comment that you can't sort by Name. That is certainly supported:

I agree that displaying Date Added would be good, but you can sort by that, and you can add your own comments to each title by Editing the list. That comment can include the date watched, which may be different than the date added.

3 Messages

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112 Points

When you rate the movies you watched, it automatically stores them in "Your Ratings" tab. Besides having the possibility to export them to Excel, you can also sort them by rating. In fact, the rating date is only visible in the Excel file. Idk if you wanted more options directly available on the website.

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5.1K Messages

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118.5K Points

No, on the Ratings page, it DOES display the date rated:

6 Messages

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142 Points

Letterboxd is not a feature it is a website. Check it out! I found it a lot more "featureful" and sits right in my style of having a movie database for my personal use.
You are right about the sort by. However, I kid you not, for some bizarre reason when I clicked the Sort by: I could only see List Order and Date Added and thought having only 2 fields to sort by was very limited. I can now see all the other fields you have listed above too. So the sorting is not a problem anymore.
Adding comments to the title by editing the list is tedious. Having a date watched field makes it a lot easier to sort by the date.
On the whole I find imbdb seems to only be catching up on personal database lists and the pages look dated and lacking in features, whereas letterboxd is a lot more current in terms of what a user's expectation might be in today's media rich world.

6 Messages

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142 Points

The date you rated the movie can be different to the date you watched a movie. You could rate a movie six months after you originally watched it.

9 Messages

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120 Points

18 days ago

I hope this will not sound stupid but I am using this website about 8 years and I am a software test engineer that is specialized in UI/UX improvements. So I hope operators will take this advice of mine into consideration. 

Why don't we have a separate list for movies that we have already watched?

Once we watch them, we will click the WATCHED button just next to the movie title (same place next to Watchlist button), and this operation will put the movies to the Watched list.

In the current flow, we only have a Watchlist. Which is used for the movies/series TO BE watched. I know there is a Check-In list (or we can manually create another list) but the UI is not as visible as the Watchlist. And there is no icon popping up after we put a show into the Check-In list. On the other hand, there is this Add button used for  adding a movie to a Watchlist, and once we do that, a green mark icon pops up for that movie.

And about that green mark, it definitely gives a wrong impression, as if something is already WATCHED. For the majority of the web world, a green mark is not something that is used for a list of PENDING items . Usually a yellow circulated icon (or a similar one) is used for such cases. So it is really really confusing.

Long story short;

  1. There should be a separate Watched list (or Check-In list should have the same UX as Watchlist)
  2. The icon that is used after we put a movie to a Watchlist should be used for a Watched list (or the existing Check-In list)
  3. There should be another icon for movies that were put on Watchlist. It can be a Pending clock icon.

Champion

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5.1K Messages

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118.5K Points

On the desktop version of IMDb, you get a list of your custom lists when you hover over the Add to Watchlist button:

Are you suggesting something for this UI, or for an app?

57 Messages

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1K Points

I find it's easiest to add titles you want to watch on your watch list then tick them off as you watch them.

To make it easier if you have loads to watch use your lists (click on your name then lists) and then you can list them in different lists for the priority you want to watch them in e.g. movies (low priority), movies (medium priority) and movies (high priority). I do the same for TV series and different streaming services so I can watch the films I want to see most first then work down my list!

57 Messages

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1K Points

It's quite easy to do on mobile and padds as well I've found

9 Messages

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120 Points

@bderoes .  

Yes I know this and already mentioned in my post that we can manually create a list. There is also a Check-In list that acts as a COMPLETED movies list. This is not my question.

Here have a look at this blue areas in my watchlist:

Does this green marks look PENDING to you? these are icons that are used when something is COMPLETED/WATCHED. not something TO BE WATCHED. But in IMDB it is the complete opposite. Here this icons are used when you add a movie to your Watchlist.

According to IMDB official docs, here is the definition of watchlist:

What is a Watchlist?

Your Watchlist is a great place to track the movie and TV shows you want to watch. They are the movies you want to watch. So that green mark is definitely misleading.

So I am suggesting to replace those green marks with one of these icons: 

And use the existing green mark for the movies you ALREADY watch.

My other suggestion was to put two separate buttons here:

  • One one the buttons would add the movie to the list of movies TO BE watched (Watchlist). And icon will be a PENDING icon.
  • The other one would add it to the list of movies that have ALREADY watched (Check-Ins). And the icon would be the existing green mark that is currently used on Watchlist.

This is not a platform specific issue. The flow is pretty much similar in both mobile and desktop. That green icon should definitely be used for movies that ALREADY WATCHED.

I hope this clear things up!

9 Messages

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120 Points

@matrix11001 but why should I tick them off? How about moving them to a watched list with a single button?? What if I want to see the list of movies that I already watched as well as the movies on my watchlist? If they prioritize a Watchlist button there, then they certainly may do the same for a Watched list button at the same place mate. And they can position these two buttons side by side :)

57 Messages

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1K Points

I use lists to keep track of everything and add ones I want to watch again to the lists which is separate from watchlist - I use this to keep track of everything I want to watch

57 Messages

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1K Points

I use watchlist as my master list then break it all down in separate priority lists. I think I have abput 30 or so different lists to keep track of everything so it's much easier to manage what I've watched - also as I rate everything I still have access to a list of stuff I've watched in the ratings section

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5.1K Messages

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118.5K Points

I would not find a Watched list as useful as what I do now: break them into custom categories. You can see that in the screenshot I provided above. Besides, lists have a limit of 10,000 titles, which you may eventually find constricting. So starting with a few categories of Watched items might be better than just one bucket.

BTW, Checkins are not necessarily for Watched titles either: the title of the entry box is "I'm watching this!"

Check-ins allow you to share what you're watching or previously watched. We save all your check-ins so you can refer to them later in a list. You can optionally add a short comment and share your check-in with your friends on popular social networks.

57 Messages

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1K Points

The green tick means it's in your watchlist (different to lists you create yourself) - when it's grey it means it's on on your watchlist or have removed it.

9 Messages

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120 Points

@bderoes sorry but I have to disagree with this.

First of all, I don't think a limit of 10000 titles is as constructing as you think. This is a free service and a limitation is expected after all. And personally, I think that limit is more than enough considering my watching pace in my lifespan.. And for customers who watch lots, and I mean LOTS of movies, there may be a premium subscription when they reach 10k titles.

And about your list customization idea, sorry but that is a bit unrelated. I know we can customize/create different lists for our taste, I also use those features (have a separate list for Animated Titles). In my suggestion, the only addition would be that there is another default master list which contains the entire WATCHED movies. I know I can create a list of my own and named it as Completed or stg like that, but that is not the idea. This should be a DEFAULT feature rather than creating it manually.

Think about myanimelist.net you can assume this website as an anime/manga-only IMDB. Here is a sample user profile. There are 5 default lists here.

  • Currently Watching
  • Completed
  • On Hold
  • Dropped
  • Plan to Watch

Now I am not saying it is necessary to include default lists like Currently Watching, Dropped or On Hold of course. Because IMDB is mostly used for movies and most of the time we watch a movie, finish it and that's it. It is quite unlikely to hold OR drop a movie once you start (I am not saying it never happens of course but we can always create a custom list for edge cases like these). So of course, no reason to add those as defaults. But even so, they added a Check-In feature (I am watching this). They should definitely add a master COMPLETED list too. You can then customize them in any way you want, but there should be a one default MASTER COMPLETED list. Period. Whether it has a limit of 10k or not.. All the other tv, anime, manga tracking websites has this COMPLETED feature. So why not on IMDB?

Last but not least, people may forget a movie that they watched years ago. I, for example, experience this sometimes. And it'd be great to have a look at the title and see a green mark there indicating that I already watched it. Since there isn't any feature like this, I always have to rate a title after I finish it. That way, I make sure that I watched that title before because I rated it. And no, I just don't want to create a manual list for this sorry. 

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118.5K Points

koray,

I rely upon a user script that colorizes titles (and names) according to which list they're on, or when they're rated. Your description reminds me of how heavily dependent I am on those colors.

6 Messages

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198 Points

18 days ago

I would like to see at first sight which movies I've already seen without going on the title profiles. Just one more column would improve that.




Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled My watched movies

4 Messages

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80 Points

18 days ago

IMDb should generate lists for: 'Plan To Watch', 'Watching', 'Completed', and 'Dropped'. As well as each show/movie added to one of these lists the ability to track what episode you're on. For example say you are watching the Archer series and are on Season 4 Episode 6. You can add the show to your 'Watching' list, and adjust the episode to 6/13.

It would just be really helpful for people trying to organize all the shows they watch on multiple platforms, an organizational tool for media lovers, and also a tool that would attract more users to the site to utilize it - which they would be encouraged to contribute to other areas of the site as well.

You already have given users the ability to create their own lists in addition to the default 'Watchlist', so really if you wanted to simplify it the most; You could just add the ability to track what episode you're on.

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Ability To Track Watched Shows/Movies

Employee

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7.4K Messages

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181K Points

@unknown247  Thanks for the suggestion, however, this is already supported.  Please see https://help.imdb.com/article/imdb/track-movies-tv/lists-faq/GNQMN47VZSE7KW38

Hope this helps. 

4 Messages

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80 Points

@Col_Needham​ Right. What I mean is. Automatically giving all users these specific lists, and adding a feature that shows what episode you are on. Where changing it is as easy as a click of a button.  Like myanimelist.net , but for movies/shows.

4 Messages

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80 Points

18 days ago

I don't rate movies, but keep track of titles I've seen. Can you add one click option to add movie to check-in/seen (as it now works for watchlist)?
For now I'm using watchlist button as check-ins because of usability.

P.S. Long press on watchlisted movie doesn't open popup with lists on iOS.

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled Check-ins redesign: add separate icon for check-ins / watched titles

4 Messages

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80 Points

Checkins don't work as lists because titles can be duplicated, and you don't see marked titles visually as Watchlist checkmarks. Letterboxd and other services have this feature, I think it will be useful for many users.

3 Messages

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100 Points

18 days ago

  Hello!

So, I would love to see IMDB develop a "Watched" feature to add as an option to ratings and reviews. The way it would work is simply clicked you've watched this title, played this game, watched this show etc. Then when it comes to searching titles it would be great either in tiled or list view to have those buttons easily accessible.  Reason I would love this feature is because I want to rate every movie and show I've ever watched. Rating a movie is currently the easiest/fastest way to mark off you've seen a title. I still want to rate movies, but would be cool to have a separated list for "Watched".  Thanks. - Mike

Note: This comment was created from a merged conversation originally titled "Watched" Feature

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5.1K Messages

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118.5K Points

You can make a custom list for titles to serve this purpose.

Lists FAQ

This page provides answers to the most common questions we often hear about regarding lists on IMDb - if your question isn't answered here, head on over to our community platform Sprinklr where another user should be able to help out. ... Read more.

3 Messages

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70 Points

18 days ago

There should be a playlist named watched movies. So that i can easily move watched movies from watchlist to watched. Letterboxd app has this feature, you should also have. Please

6 Messages

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144 Points

18 days ago

I guess its a good thing that someone here at the IMDb community has merged all these discussions about the ‘Seen’ feature. 

I already said it over 2 years ago, a seen feather and a seen button is important, additional to a rating feature. 

What IMDb needs to implement is a tracking of the PAST, the PRESENT and the FUTURE.

 

In the PAST i wanna have the option to mark a movie or tv show as seen. I wanna be able to access a list with all my seen movies and I wanna have the option to rate them, if i feel like it. 

In the PRESENT I wanna be able to organize my viewing of movies and TV shows. The WATCHLIST is a good start but some other websites already offer a feature to tell where these movies and TV shows can be watched (Streaming or TV channels) and i can add my own subscribed Services and then it tells me what is available for me now to watch. 

And FUTURE, i wanna have a more visual ability to structure TV shows and movies that i might wanna watch or when i could watch them. There also needs to be an ability to show partially watched tv shows or lists that show movies or tv shows i didn’t finish watching. Ideally that feature could be shared with other IMDb members. 

I wanna be able to share a list with my partner, so she can choose what TV shows or movies from that list we could watch at what day in the future. 

I know it’s a lot but i think we are brainstorming here to make things better. The first thing is to bring BACK the SEEN button. The structure for it is still there, so why hide it. I know it can be accessed with the SEEN URL, but it needs to be on every page with every movie and ever actor and accessible from app and website. 

Anyways, IMDb is a useful website but many new websites start to be more useful and IMDb needs to keep up. Im a 20 year member, one of the earliest still active users and i think IMDb deserves better.