Thinking about Shutting down The Movie Blog
I used to totally LOVE doing The Movie Blog. On many levels I still do. But there has been a growing trend of late that sucks a lot of the joy out of doing it.
99.9% of websites out there have totally out of control forums or comments sections where people just bash each other and flame wars abound. The Movie Blog has been lucky to aviod that for most of its 3 years… but I’m noticing it creeping up (don’t get me wrong… it’s still WWAAYYYYY better than most sites out there.)
But also, it really bothers me when people turn everything into a fight… or start making personal attacks on you for your opinion. I’d like to see a lot of these people write a website with over 1 million readers every month… put out there opinions for everyone to read and comment on and see how long they survive.
I’m getting tired of it… and I’m seriously thinking about just shutting the whole thing down. It’s been a good 3 year run. Maybe it’s time to pull the plug on it. I’ll give it a week or two to think about it.
Any thoughts?
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About
John Campea is the current editor for AMC Entertainment’s movie new blog (www.amcentertainment) and director of the 2007 documentary “Prince of Peace – God of War” as well as the 2009 comedy “The Anniversary”. This page is for friends, family and fans to keep up to date with what’s going on with John in his personal life and behind the scenes in the movie world. Enjoy!
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The Ramblings Of John Campea 
foolish talk.
you aren’t made of glass, are you campea?
you shut it down and the assholes win. fuck that.
keep doing your thing, it is working and you don’t really need validation from anyone to be doing it.
Comment by miles | June 27, 2006 |
You could always turn off the comments for a while — that usually starves off the trolls. I’d miss TMB if it left.
Comment by becky | June 28, 2006 |
you have to do what makes you happy. i for one would be sad nay distressed to see you go.miles has a very good point though.
Comment by carl | June 28, 2006 |
I enjoy the movie blog, but if you dont wanna do it then dont do it.
Doing things you dont want sucks, even if you get rich beyond your wildest dreams.
Comment by Henrik | June 28, 2006 |
John, ive been a moveblogreader now for a good half year and i love it more than eny other site. Infact when you cover a story from another source i dont give a fuck about the source, i just whant to hear your opinions. Thats how great your site is, it’s so good that the source of your news dont even matter, heh. So i say, keep on going, if not for your self, do it for us, that every day type in your url for the best movie news the net has to offer!
Comment by Tommy | June 28, 2006 |
Hey john the website is wicked and especially your guys thoughts and opinions on the audio edition (not to mention the love of transformers!). However i was extremely disapointed when i was reading the comments other readers had written about and towards yourself about the spidey trailer. So i totally agree with you, because that p***ed me off! You do a great job, and its sad but true that a few narrow minded bad apples have to ruin it! It would be a huge loss if TMB stopped.
Comment by Shane | June 28, 2006 |
Take the time to read about other peoples’ experiences in dealing with abusive comments and emails. The wisdom of other blog/site operators is:
1. It will happen, so don’t be surprised.
2. Don’t take it personally or dwell on it – it will only bring you down.
3. Save positive emails and comments somewhere where you can go back to them when you feel discouraged.
4. Develop some thicker skin, and hang in there. It’s impossible to be sucessful without drawing the attention of jerks.
Hope that helps.
Comment by Darren, your voice of reason | June 28, 2006 |
DONT you dare! 🙂 I love the movie blog, and I would hate to see it dissapear.
If you shut tmb down, I will hunt you down, and force you to watch Highlander 2 and eat “lutefisk” (possible the worst food ever(if you don’t know what it is, check it up on wikipedia))
Keep up the good work, Love your show!
Comment by Merola | June 28, 2006 |
I’m with Becky on this one…Just turn off the comments for a bit and see how it goes…
That’ll discourage the trolls, for sure…
Comment by CrzyDJM | June 28, 2006 |
I love the Movie Blog
Your site is THE site I goto for movie news and opinion.
The Podcasts are insightful,hilarious and all around really entertaining.
You obviously have a passion for film and that makes me sad to think The Movie Blog wouldnt be around when Transformers is released or any other movie for that matter.
Seriously the Movie Blog is light years better than AICN or any of the others for many reasons.
You Doug and Darren
included are real and you dont censor yourselves.
You talk about movies in a relatible way that nobody on the scene does.Not Knowles,not Ebert,not Chris Gore.
If you are feeling married to thee Movie Blog take a vacation from it but PLEASE don’t shut it down.
Seriously beyond being a great and fun site it is my favorite and a consistent jewel of content.
I hate that some people that post make it shitty for the rest of us and especially for you because in a world of phoney mainstream movie news The Movie Blog does things right.
I agree with CrzyDJM in turning off the comments for awhile if that needs to happen cause some babies can’t be cool and talk about movies without trying to start a fight or be the center of attention.
p.s. I will be in Hamilton this weekend.
Any suggestions on where to go out?
Comment by thesecretsafe | June 28, 2006 |
The movieblog has become quiet popular. You’re in business Campea. Keep that in mind and stay focused.
Sometimes chilren/adults don’t know when they’re up to no good unless you point it out to them. Since you are “The Man” upstairs, you can always gentilly remind everyone the comments section is for creative discussions, not general arguments.
Comment by TM | June 28, 2006 |
I’m one of those people who listens to the podcasts at work (although I’m a Filipino and not British). You have no idea how much you guys light up my dull work days. Please don’t shut it down! I’ll fall asleep at my desk if you do. I need my movie blog fix!
I personally think you guys are doing awesome which is evident from the amount of traffic you have here. Just keep in mind that a lot of people really appreciate what you guys are doing. Ignore the bashers and the flamers. They probably constitute about 2% of the whole lot.
Comment by dani | June 28, 2006 |
Mr. Campea, Sir. Please don’t shut it down.
It makes me laugh and wanna go see films.
Just stop comments for a while as the others said. That will piss people off and upset them.
Comment by Kate | June 28, 2006 |
John,
If you’re gonna quit, don’t quit because of the asshole comments. That would be quitting on their terms. When you leave, leave on your own terms.
Comment by Larry | June 28, 2006 |
John, just don’t read the comments. Be happy when flame wars erupt – that means more page views and bigger ad revenue. Heck, you should fan the flames.
Anyhow, keep up the good work. It’s really a good site, and I’d be a shame if you pulled the plug.
Comment by Billy Holiday | June 28, 2006 |
don’t do this please now I am pretty new two podcasts and have only been with your for a little over a week. But because I love the podcast and have no life outside of this computer I literally listened to ever single podcasts since somewhere in march. That is like a day or two solid of just listening to you guys. Now i’ve been listening and subscribing to many podcast over 15 at the moment and your the only one that can keep my attention. Some don’t have enough info, some too long, some god dam boring. But this one it’s perfect and I just found it I don’t want to have to look elsewhere I want this to be my new home so please don’t shut down.
Comment by TJ | June 29, 2006 |
I really enjoy The Movie Blog. And the audio editions are great fun. I’d be sad to see it go. But I understand your frustration with all the crazies looking for a fight. Here are some ideas that might be helpful:
1. Turn off comments temporarily (or permanently). People assume they have a right to comment on a site. Not all sites need a comments section.
2. Make the ability to comment be by invitation only. Gizmodo.com does this. Check out the Gizmodo Comments FAQ.
3. Make it a subscription site. Charge a small fee for the ability to post comments. Or charge for other extra features. You could make the audio editions subscription based. They are quite popular and you guys should be getting paid for what you do. Even if only a third of your audience was willing to pay, you’d still be making money.
Make it a fair price and I think people wouldn’t mind.
Personally I think the comments should be by invitation only. Leaving it open creates lots of problems.
Thanks for a great site. One of the best around 🙂
Comment by designslave | June 29, 2006 |
Please don’t, John.
I love the movie blog. I really do, even if I don’t have time to read it every day. I love to back in the archives after I’ve watched a movie on DVD or PPV and see what others thought of it to match opinons.
TMB, I believe, is a valuable resource that is not only accessible, but friendly and considerate. You take the time to get to know the readers as personally as time permits, and I’m grateful for that.
In the grand scheme of things, do a few assholes who don’t agree with you matter so much they drive you to dislike the rest of us? Don’t we make the experiences worth the effort and bullshit you endure? Don’t we appreciate you enough? What can we do to do convince you to keep it around? Seriously, whose dick does Darren have to suck?! 😉
Whatever you do, please know, TMB is loved and is regarded as a very special site to a lot of us who look forward to sharing and reading about our shared passions: movies and movie making. For some of us, it makes our day to read your funny comments.
Comment by Lilly (formerly John Campea's part-time fiance) | June 29, 2006 |
Please don’t quit. We still haave a lot of bitches that needs to be called out, LOL!
If you have something more important to do, that’s okay. But for the flamers, SCREW THEM! They should learn that they can voice their opinion on a column, but they can’t win against the editor.
Remember, there are other people who go though the same thing, like this wrestler named John Cena (note: I’m a wrestling fan, but I stopped watching WWE early this year. I lost interest in the product.)
Comment by DarkKinger | June 30, 2006 |
all hail campea! you fucking rule.
Comment by carl | June 30, 2006 |
I beg of you, please don’t shut the movie blog down. Just shut the comment section down. You have a great thing going and the site would be greatly missed if it were to go away. I really look forward to each and every post and audio edition. Having no comment section would truly suck, but i consider it a small sacrifice to get my john, doug, darren fix.
Plus, maybe let some of your more trusted commenter’s be moderators.
Comment by borloff | July 1, 2006 |
Time for a chant they use at wrestling events: Please don’t go! *Clap clap clap!*
You should just let people register to make a comment. That takes care of a lot of the @ssh*les.
Comment by Thijs | July 1, 2006 |
My husband and I had a discussion about the movie blog shutting down, right after you announced you were up for the bloggies. “Well good for them, but… well fuck. I hope they don’t shut down when the trolls hit”.
If you no longer love what you do, then quit! And more blessings to ya!
But if you quit because you’re letting the trolls get you down, you’ll probably regret it forever.
I say,
-Starve the trolls (shut the comment section down for a spell. Most trolls will lose interest.)
or
-Kill the trolls (shut the comment section down permanently. As others have said, commenting would be missed but it’d be a small price to pay!)
or
-Moderate the comments section!
Require membership. Memberships based off -real- email addresses (as in, nothing infinetely generated via yahoo, google, etc)
Get a few trusted long-time commentators to moderate for you.
Come on John, don’t go down without a fight!
Comment by puny | July 1, 2006 |
Shutting down the movie blog is like going to the movies with no popcorn.
You do a marvelous job with the site and I LOVE the Audio Edition. You’ll get people who will try rip you out of it for your opinion, but don’t respond to them. You have alot more die hard fans of the site then you do little piss ants who are stuck in their way and get pissing if you don’t follow in there set of mind.
Comment by wolf | July 2, 2006 |
If you shut down the Movie Blog I will cry. The Audio Edition replaces TV for me…. I like your little editorial pieces, even if I don’t agree with them, it means that you have intelligence, something that most people lack. You guys are amazing.
Comment by queen.padme.amidala | July 2, 2006 |
YO I LISTEN TO YOUR PODCAST MORE THEN I WATCH TV! 🙂 OK caps off, man maybe you dont know but that Audio edition is my shit. You guys crack me up! If you price it right I would pay to listen to the podcast alone. If you want to shut down the blog but continue to produce the podcast, then I’m down with that.
Comment by Mdean | July 3, 2006 |
shit john have you read aint it cool news? have you seen the shit people call harry knowles…what happens on your site is nothing….NOTHING compared to the shit that gets posted over there but as with your site the good outweighs the bad…when it comes to the internet you are always going to get trolls…some times they are funny but sometimes they are not. you shouldn’t let a bunch of fucking children stop you doing something you obviously love….that is nuts
Comment by get carter | July 4, 2006 |
It would be a sad sad day if TMB closes. I understand your frustration John, and sometimes you have a couple of bad weeks when you’re blogging. Just take a vacation!
Designslave have som excellent ideas!
I would gladly pay for the Audio Edition. It really is the best damn movie-related podcast on the Inernet!
To quote Carl: “all hail campea! you fucking rule!”
Comment by Daniel @ Bloggywood | July 4, 2006 |
Hey John,
Thi is my first ever post to your personal blog. I hear ya with the flamming. TMB has indeed avoided most of it. I try not to get to “attack-y” (nice word, huh.), but sometimes i fail and give into temptation. I think most of the Movie bloggers are sensible and understanding and great, and they understand you guys work hard to do the site. So, i say continue, all of those who really matter, would want you to do so.
Side note: Trek has ‘Trekkies’ Stargate has ‘Gaters’… The movie blog has MOvie BLogErS or ‘MOOBLES’???
Comment by Jim | July 5, 2006 |
I’ve been a regular reader for a couple of years now and an avid listener of the audio edition.
I like that you give your opinions, presented logically and even though I may not always agree with your views, I respect them greatly.
An international friend who salutes you, Doug and Darren back!
Comment by Vix | July 7, 2006 |
John you… don’t tease us like that. TMB is my favorite site. By the waygood call on your pickfor the World Cup.
Comment by Russell | July 10, 2006 |
William Styron, whose Holocaust novel Sophie’s Choice became a film and an opera, has died, aged 81…
Comment by Grady Lindley | November 17, 2006 |