Frequently asked questions

Do you have a burning question? Check here to see if some other smarty pants beat you to it!
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Get answers to questions about…

General

What does this website do?

Check out our awesome tour.

I want to start checking movies, what do I do?

Simple! Select a movie or select one from a top list and start checking. Oh, don't forget to login or register first.

Who do I have to thank for creating this wonderful website?

Check us out at the people page. Furthermore, thank IMDb for having such an awesome movie database available online.

Movies and lists

What do I do when I cannot find the movie I searched for?

You can add movies yourself by going to add new movies page.

What do I do when I cannot find the toplist I searched for?

You can add a toplist yourself by going to add new top list page.

How often are the top lists updated?

That depends. The IMDb lists are updated twice a week: every monday and thursday. Most other lists are static and are only updated when a new versioned is released. If you notice a mistake in one the lists, please contact us.

Any chance that you will adopt other movie lists?

Sure, we are always looking for new lists. You can send us your suggestion.

Profiles

How do I remove my account?

If you are really sure you want to permanently leave our website (why would you want to do that? ;)), please go to the account removal page.

How do I change my username?

You can change your username by going to the personal settings page.

How do I change my email address?

You can change your email addresss by going to the personal settings page.

How do I import my IMDb votes?

You can import your IMDb votes through our special IMDb import page. Hey, we even allow you to automatically mark movies as a favorite of yours by letting you specify a minimum vote rating!

Why is my number of checks in the top users list different from my checks count?

Actually, there ar two different check counts:

  1. Your total amount of checks.
  2. Your amount of checks of movies currently in at least one top list. This amount is always less than or equal to the first count.
For the top users chart, only the second count is taken into consideration. Therefore, to rise in the charts requires you to go see movies that are in at least one top list at the moment. Please note that sometimes movies you have checked disappear from a top list, thereby lowering your second check count but not your first. Should the movie re-appear in a top list (not necessarily the same one), check count #2 will be incremented again.

How do I get awards?

You get awards for checking at least half of the movies in a list. The thresholds for gaining an award are as follows:

Bronze
Seen 50% of all movies in a top list
Silver
Seen 75% of all movies in a top list
Gold
Seen 90% of all movies in a top list
Platinum
Seen 100% of all movies in a top list
How is my rank calculated?

Your rank is calculated based on the percentage of movies currently in at least one top list you have seen. Thus, a movie that was once in a top list but now is not is not taken into account. The thresholds for moving up a rank are as follows:

Walk of Fame
Seen at least 70% of the top list's movies
Oscar winner
Seen at least 40% of the top list's movies
Oscar nominee
Seen at least 25% of the top list's movies
Movie star
Seen at least 15% of the top list's movies
Lead role
Seen at least 10% of the top list's movies
Actor
Seen at least 5% of the top list's movies
Extra
Seen less than 5% of the top list's movies
How are my neighbors calculated?

The neighbors are calculated by picking the users with the highest compatibility rating. The exact formula used to determine the compatibility rating of a user with you is as follows:

compatiblityRating(U) = CS(U) × SW + CF(U) × FW + CD(U) × DW

Where:

U
The user to compare yourself to
S
Number of movies seen by you
SU
Number of movies seen by the other user
F
Number of movies marked as favorite by you
FU
Number of movies marked as favorite by the other user
D
Number of movies marked as didn't liked by you
DU
Number of movies marked as didn't liked by the other user
SS(U)
Number of movies seen by you and user U
SF(U)
Number of movies marked as a favorite by you and user U
SD(U)
Number of movies marked as a didn't liked by you and user U
SSP(U)
Percentage of number of seen movies shared = (SS(U) / S) * 100 if S > 0; 0 if S = 0
SSPU(U)
Percentage of number of shared seen movies = (SS(U) / SU) * 100 if SU > 0; 0 if SU = 0
SSF(U)
Percentage of number of favorite movies shared = (SF(U) / F) * 100 if F > 0; 0 if F = 0
SSFU(U)
Percentage of number of favorite movies shared = (SF(U) / FU) * 100 if FU > 0; 0 if FU = 0
SSD(U)
Percentage of number of not liked movies shared = (SF(U) / F) * 100 if D > 0; 0 if D = 0
SSFD(U)
Percentage of number of not liked movies shared = (SD(U) / DU) * 100 if DU > 0; 0 if DU = 0
SC
Scale factor = 0.3
MSC
Maximum scaled value = 100^SC
SSSP(U)
Scaled percentage of number of seen movies shared = ((SSP(U)^SC) / MSC) × 100
SSSPU(U)
Scaled percentage of number of other user's shared seen movies = ((SSPU(U)^SC) / MSC) × 100
SSSF(U)
Scaled percentage of number of favorite movies shared = ((SSF(U)^SC) / MSC) × 100
SSSFU(U)
Scaled percentage of number of other user's shared favorite movies = ((SSFU(U)^SC) / MSC) × 100
SSSD(U)
Scaled percentage of number of not liked movies shared = ((SSD(U)^SC) / MSC) × 100
SSSDU(U)
Scaled percentage of number of other user's shared not liked movies = ((SSDU(U)^SC) / MSC) × 100
CS(U)
Corrected seen movies percentage = (SSSP(U) * SSSPU(U)) / 100 if SSSP(U) < 100; 100 if SSSP(U) = 100
CF(U)
Corrected favorite movies percentage = (SSSF(U) * SSSFU(U)) / 100 if SSSF(U) < 100; 100 if SSSF(U) = 100
CD(U)
Corrected not liked movies percentage = (SSSD(U) * SSSDU(U)) / 100 if SSSD(U) < 100; 100 if SSSD(U) = 100
SW
Weight applied to seen movies percentage = 0.2 if F > 0; 1.0 if F = 0 and D = 0; 0.6 if F = 0 or D = 0
FW
Weight applied to favorite movies percentage = 0.4 if S > 0; 1.0 if S = 0 and D = 0; 0.6 if S = 0
DW
Weight applied to not liked movies percentage = 0.4 if D > 0
How are my recommendations calculated?

The recommendations are calculated by picking the movies with the highest recommendation rating. The exact formula used to determine the recommendation rating of a movie is as follows:

recommendationRating(M) = S(M) × SW + F(M) × FW + D(M) × DW

Where:

M
A movie that is seen by at least one neighbor but not by you
S(M)
Number of times movie M has been seen by your neighbors but not by you
SW
Weight applied to seen movie = 1
F(M)
Number of times movie M has been marked as favorite by your neighbors
FW
Weight applied to favorite movie = 5
D(M)
Number of times movie M has been marked as not liked by your neighbors
DW
Weight applied to not liked movie = -5
How are the most favorite movies calculated?

The most favorites movies are calculated by picking the movies with the highest favorite/checked count ratio. The exact formula used to determine the ratio of a movie is as follows:

ratio(M) = F(M) ÷ (C(M) + 50)

Where:

M
A movie
F(M)
Number of times movie M has been favorited
C(M)
Number of times movie M has been checked

Export

Why do my exported files have all values in a single column?

When reading the exported .csv file, most applications will assume that column values are delimited by commas. However, in most European countries, the applications actually expect the column values being separated by semicolons. By default, iCheckMovies uses commas as the delimiter when exporting data. However, you can change it to semicolons (and vice versa) by going to the export settings page. Once you have changed the delimiter and saved it, please try to export your values again. Everything should be properly formatted now.