A good argument that I don't entirely agree with. I have mixed feelings about the IMDB top 250, purely because I think some IMDB ratings are skewed by trolls one way or the other (eg, people who hated The Last Jedi downvoting Knives Out on principle). But you make some good points nonetheless.

The other reasons I struggle with the IMDB is because as an aggregator it suffers the same limitations are Rotten Tomatoes. A film like The Tree of Life tends to split audiences into loved/hated it. How do such scores average out? Five out of ten. I don't think a single person would view a film like The Tree of Life as "average" (including detractors).

Regarding personal versus academic criteria, I actually have a top 100 favourite films list, and a top 100 greatest films list. Some titles are on both lists but over half are not.

Thanks again for your article.