Sorry to bump a year old post, but please reconsider.
Look at this.
https://trakt.tv/movies/the-suicide-squad-2021
This movie comes out an entire year from now. There's zero chance for there to be press copies or bootlegs this early.
Maybe if you limit rating to like 3 months before release you'd stop some of the fanboys who saw the 1 minute long teaser trailer then decided to rate the end product without affecting any legit demo views (which are usually about a month or so before release)

@verumsolum if you are REALLY a member of a PBS station doesnt mean anything. you are probably 0.001% of ratings on a unreleased episode or movie on trakt.

You still can track but not rating. Thats what is talking here.

Of course, I am currently watching an episode which does not air on TV for another week and half, but as a member of a PBS station, I have access to stream the show via that network's app.

Why should my viewing not be tracked now? If we were doing this, how would we be sure that Trakt has accurate information about when episodes are first available to the public (especially when that happens before its first TV airing)?

I'll never understand those people who rate episodes, Shows or seasons not even aired. or rate a Show, season after one Episode :-)

As mentioned this was already discussed in multiple places and pops up again and again so I won't go into it. Justin has recently added the "watched" status of a user posting on an item (which I feel is sort of redundant) but maybe it's time to pick up on an old idea that was supposed to be implemented: rating breakdowns. This would at least tell you who votes as such and add some credibility?

You should not be able to buy into some kind of moderator status with a VIP access. Ever.
I think given the fact that VIPs pay money they are generally seen as more trustworthy than the random non-VIP and considered to care more. But all it does is favor elitism and abuse of rights.
Displaying the VIP badge is already too much.

I wholeheartedly disagree with this in general. There is no need to do anything against early ratings. Sure, it does lead to a certain bias but that bias will come anyway and no rating is absolute nor is it in any way reliable. All ratings are nothing more than an indicator for how good or bad something is received and in any case context plays a huge role as well.
There is no negative impact (overall) on early ratings as that would mean that ratings on trakt mean more than they actually do.

I have to agree with Justin as I happen to early rate some movies because I see them before their release (Trakt) date, (often because movies are released on wednesday in France and then on Friday in the US and the release date is the american one, sometimes because of press release or early release). The Idea of User/VIP moderator/superusers does sound good though!

@Justin Maybe somethink like system of trust.
Let's assume that users with some numbers of years and/or VIPs will have ability to vote before offical release. It based on assumption that if someone is willing to pay for VIP he probably doesn't fake vote.

Another idea is to don't show any rating before official release. It could have some positive effects:
1) some spammers would have ability to see effects of their "jokes" - it wouldn't have same appeal.
2) shows wouldn't have biased rating before wider audience has opportunity to vote.
3) you can still count votes premature votes but do not show them before premiere
4) it should be really easy to implement

I also would like to suggest something like "user moderator". Some trusted users from community would be able to delete comments, mark them as non-english or spoilers, delete premature votes or refresh some content. It could be more useful in future, but it would allow to:
1) tackle problematic comments faster
2) allow core trakt team to spend their time on more important things
3) build more invested community that can be more helpful in future.

Well at least don't allow it until first release in the world ? Something like that

I agree we need to limit it in some way. As mentioned in the other topics, it is not quite that simple due to different release dates around the world, early premieres, or press viewings.

I just dont understand why it can't be built into the site to not allow rating until after release date. It just doesn't make sense from any prospective.