• Don't vote on a scale. If you thought a movie was average but it's got 5 stars anyway, DO NOT vote it a 1 just to bring down the rating. Please, that's not how this forum works.
  
• Before posting a new review, make sure to search the forum for a previous review on that movie.
  
• Write your own raview. It's fine to link to someone else's review on another site but you should at least make your own as well.
  
• When posting a new review, use the proper title in title form (example: Matrix, The)
  
• If you are missing any information about the movie or you aren't sure which genre to place it in, IMDB is your friend
  
• Movies are ranked through the thread voting system.
  
• If you vote an extreme high or low or you vote against the general concensus, be prepared to give at least a little insight into your decision.
  
• MOVIE REVIEWS, NOT DISCUSSION- If you want to discuss the film, make(or find) a GBS thread about it and do it there.
  
• When posting a new review, be sure to place your own vote on it right away.
  
• You are not voting on the content of the review or the posts in the thread, you are voting your opinion of the movie. If you feel a review was lovely or didn't reflect your thoughts, reply to the thread with your own.
  
• Vote spamming is not allowed. Going through and voting all the movies a 1 because you can will result in a juicy ban. If you see this happening, use Attn: Mods thread.
  
• Please put a bit of effort into your post. Making a post like "Good film 5/5" really doesn't help anyone out. While you don't need to be writing several paragraph essays, some thought should at least go into your response. If you are going to write "Good film a must see 5/5", then just rate the drat thing and don't bother wasting anyone's time with a useless post like that.
  
• You are reviewing a movie that you saw. Don't post in a thread about how your freind told you it was great. This is not helpful. I thought this one would be understood, but apparently not.
  
• You are reviewing the movie. It doesn't matter if the person in front of you was talking on their cell phone. Please only include relevant things in your review and don't go off on a 3 paragraph tangent about the time you were infected with AIDS. Also, don't be an idiot and write comments like "OMG I DOWNLOADED IT BUT THE QUALITY WAS HORRIBLE YOU SHOULD WAIT FOR A DVDRIP TO SEE THIS FILM!"
  
• DON'T START UP A DRAMAFEST IN A THREAD. There is a thread where you can report someone who may be vote spamming, don't be a silly goose and call them out in the thread.
  
• As hilarious as single lines quoted from the movies may be while swilling Bud Ice with your buddies in the basement on a Saturday night, don't do it in this forum. If you have something useful to add to the movie thread, go ahead; don't post for the sake of it.
  
• Please don't include spoilers in your review unless absolutely necessary. The idea of the forum is that the person reading the review won't have seen the film yet.
  

RabidLeper fucked around with this message at 00:32 on Jun 27, 2006

RabidLeper fucked around with this message at 05:16 on Sep 13, 2004

• How to rate movies in The Film Dump
  [bq]- Read the verbal descriptions of what the numbers mean and then rate. Just because you liked a movie doesn't mean it should automatically get a 5.0, and just because you disliked a movie doesn't mean it should get a 1.0. The rating system provides a lot of middle ground ratings, use them appropriately.[/bq][bq]- Don't vote in reaction to the existing rating. Just because you think a movie's existing average rating is too low/high doesn't mean you should boost your rating one way or another.[/bq][bq]- If your rating differs largely from the existing average, it'd be great to post a review. When you think a movie with a 5-star average was absolutely terrible, your contrasting review would be really helpful. Which leads to the next point...[/bq]
  
• How to reply to a thread in The Film Dump
  [bq]- There's no point posting your review if it is nothing more than your rating and a couple words, like "Great movie 4/5". It's useless and doesn't help anyone decide if they want to see the movie. If a review doesn't contain any why (why you hated or loved it) it's useless and adding your rating to the thread is all you should bother doing.[/bq][bq]- Short reviews are fine, and not every review needs to be a multi-paragraph tl;dr read-a-thon. One or two sentences highlighting your favorite elements (acting/directing/writing/music/visuals... whatever) or things you hated is great and can help someone decide if they want to see the movie. If you can't provide any justification for your rating, don't bother posting.[/bq][bq]- Of course, as per the rules, this is a review forum. If you wouldn't classify your post as a "review", then take it to PM or make a GBS thread to discuss the movie.[/bq][bq]- Use spoiler tags for spoilers so you don't ruin the movie for others. If you're unfamiliar, spoiler tags look like this and can be used with the VBCode [spoiler]spoiler text here[/spoiler].[/bq][bq]- Examples of bad reviews (they're made up, but read any large review thread and you'll find similar ones):

  quote:

  I love this movie. 5/5

  quote:

  Saw this opening weekend with my friends. We had to wait 50 minutes in line! 3/5

  quote:

  "SHUT THE gently caress UP DONNY!"
  
  Classic.
  
  5/5

  quote:

  loving terrible, johnny depp sux. 1/5

  [/bq][bq]- Examples of good (short) reviews:

  quote:

  Great acting... John Goodman is perfect. Exciting twists and a great ending. I give it a 4.5

  quote:

  If you loved the book you will love this movie, if you didn't like the book, you'll hate it. 3.5, almost a 4.

  quote:

  Absolutely terrible acting, so many missed jokes that I lost count. Just plain stupid. 1/5

  quote:

  You see the ending coming about halfway through and everything after that is just boring.

  etc. Any comment on any element of the movie is fantastic, but reviews that just announce your rating to the world along with a quote from the movie are worthless. The fact that a movie is Dudeman37's favorite 80's comedy doesn't help anyone decide if they want to see it. [/bq]
  
• How to create a new thread in The Film Dump
  [bq]- First, figure out if there's already an existing thread. If you have platinum, search for +"Movie Title" (i.e. +"Snake Eyes"), with Boolean and Post titles only selected, limiting to just The Film Dump on the right. If you don't have platinum, click on the top of the "Movie reviewed" column (the blue bar just above the top thread in the forum) in the main page of The Film Dump. This will sort the threads alphabetically and it shouldn't take more than a minute to see if your movie has already been reviewed (remember, movies that start with "The" are listed as "Movie Name, The" -- like "Punisher, The").[/bq][bq]- If your movie hasn't already been reviewed, grab the important information from http://www.imdb.com or http://www.allmovie.com and fill in the genre/starring/director boxes. Write your review using the guidelines above.[/bq][bq]Remember to rate your thread once it's been created. Typing your rating into the thread creation form doesn't do this for you... it just puts it in the text of the thread.[/bq]
  

RabidLeper fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Aug 2, 2004

Jackbedead fucked around with this message at 07:08 on May 24, 2006

Rad ROM Max fucked around with this message at 02:56 on Oct 5, 2013