Hah. As if getting it to the top of the list makes it so.

From IMDB:
"For this top 250, only votes from regular voters are considered."

So, although this might artificially inflate the film's individual rating, it should not impact its standing in the top 250. In theory.

A couple things...

1. IMDb only counts votes from regular, long time users, not new accounts

2. The Dark Knight was already at #1 before the Godfather, Shawshank Redemption, and Dark Knight fans got into the ratings war. In fact, that was what started it.

3. While some of the Dark Knight fans have rated Godfather a "1", the same goes for the Godfather and Shawshank Redemption fans. It is hardly one-sided. Indeed, if anything, the Dark Knight fans are outnumbered two movies to one.

4. Is it really so hard to believe that a movie with more widespread appeal than the 30 year old Godfather would be ranked higher than it, even temporarily?

5. Finally, who takes that list seriously anyway?

I simply cannot believe the strange appearance of The Shawshank Redemption on any top list besides the top 2 movies featuring Morgan Freeman's soothing voice.

I thought the dark knight was the sequel to shawshank? fox?

This particular crazy train has many, many boxcars, as Rotten Tomatoes can attest. TDK's online fanboys and their vast armies of sockpuppets have swarmed RT's reviews section to deliver the smackdown in comments to the six (6) negative write-ups posted there. Fandom Wank has the goods here:

http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/1168693.html

Other sites have similar stories. At this point, all the Comic Book Guys need is a challenge match with the Gimp support group for the title of Dead Last on the Food Chain, and their victory will be complete.