Hello. Over the past few months I've noticed some huge inconsistencies in your system of choosing what is considered a "film" and allowed to stay on the database. This all started when I tried to add "Falsettos (2017)" as one of my 4 favorites on my profile, only to find that I wasn't able to as it had been removed from the database. I emailed you guys and the answer I received was "Falsettos is technically not eligible for a page as it's both a Broadway musical and an episode of a TV series".

Here are some reasons why I think this ruling is extremely inconsistent and should either be reversed or something should be done to the plethora of other films that break these rules but are still on the database.

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  In regards to "Falsettos was removed from the database because it's a Broadway Musical":

  
  

  1. Yes, it is a Broadway musical, but it a professionally recorded Broadway muscial. There are countless other popular professionally recorded shows that are still on the database, i.e Into The Woods (1991), Sweeney Todd (1982), Cats (1998), Grease Live, Hamilton (2020), Newsies: A Broadway Musical, Sunday In The Park With George, Legally Blonde: The Musical, Pippin, Miss Saigon, and the list goes on and on. So right off the bat i don't see why Falsettos has been singled out when pretty much every other professionally shot musical is still on the database.

  
  

  2. A lot of the professionally shot musicals still on the database don't even have any legal ways of being watched (i.e Legally Blonde: The Musical) , whereas Falsettos is readily available on a streaming service.

  
  

  3. If professionally shot stage shows aren't ok then why are things like Bergman's "The Magic Flute" (which is just a professionally shot stage opera) or even other types of professionally shot stage shows i.e. concert movies (Stop Making Sense) still up on the database?

  
  
  
  


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  In regards to "Falsettos is not eligible for a page as it's an episode of a TV series"

  
  

  1. First off I think this is unfair seeing as Falsettos was aired on TV as part of PBS's "Live From Lincoln Center" series, which isn't even an actual TV show but is just the name they give to the various professionally recorded shows that they sometimes air. If anything I think it would fall more into the "TV Movie" category if even that.

  
  

  2. Radiohead's "In Rainbows: From The Basement" originally aired as part of the "From The Basement" TV show and yet it's still on the database even though it has almost 6 times the amount of users watched as Falsettos and has a 4.6 avg Rating.

  
  

  3. Countless other actual serialized TV shows are on the database (Black Mirror, Hollywood, etc.), which was cool at first because I know you've said in the past that you're very selective with what TV shows you want to keep on the site, but.....

  
  

  4. You guys just recently added a filtering option for "show TV shows" and "hide TV shows" , so you clearly acknowledge that there's a ton of TV content on the platform, but yet Falsettos got the chop because it just happened to be aired on TV as part of a PBS special.

  
  
  
  

I understand that as a platform you have the right to decide what goes on the database, but when the reasoning you give for taking something off the database directly conflicts with other things that are still on the database, it comes off as being unfair. Seeing you say "it was removed because it aired as part of a TV show" and then turn around and keep "Hollywood (2020)" on the database and go as far as to even add a TV show filtering option was a bit of a cold blow.

Anyways it would be really cool if you could either:
a) put Falsettos (2017) back on the database so that i can just add it to my favorites or

b) just be more consistent with your reasonings for why films are removed instead of giving reasonings that directly contradict other things that you've knowingly kept in the database.

It would be very helpful to be able to include private information in tags. In particular, I want to be able to organize my collection or diary with private information for myself only. On the FAQ page that describes tags, one of the use cases is to keep track of "where/how/with whom you saw a film," which I would like to do and I think that a tagged diary system (like Letterboxd) is perfect for this. However, this can include private information which I don't want to share publicly: for example, names of friends and locations. Also, this use case doesn't make sense with public tags as a filter feature for other people. So with the current implementation, I can't comfortably use tags in this way.

I agree with not adding video games, books, or music, but I do believe that TV series should be represented on here. Obviously TV shows rival some of the best films in terms of storytelling and technique, and now the boundaries created by distribution are also not clear.

That said, I understand it would be a big task and I am not sure how you would handle shows that do not have discrete Seasons. Perhaps there are some criteria that could created to limit the show to the ones people are actually looking to add. (I want to add "The Americans," but I doubt people would care if "American Ninja Warrior" is on here.)