Webisode (extra material) spoiler tag or no tag?

brott · 09-21-2006, 01:38 PM

After watching Jericho this week, I noticed that there was extra "show" material (or webisode) available on the Internet from CBS that is not included in actual episode. This content may, or may not be relevant to the current story line. My expectations are that this practice will only grow rather than go away.

So, that leads me to this question. Should extra show content be spoilerized within the "official" show thread for that week? My personal thought is that a certain weeks webisode is fair game in the "official" thread. However, my opinion is an opinion of one and that may not be the consensus.

Let's hear what you think.

DevdogAZ · 09-21-2006, 01:49 PM

I have no problem including it unspoilerized. The fact is that most people who watch a show won't go and watch the extra web content, so any additional information you can gain from reading the thread gets a

from me.

EchoBravo · 09-21-2006, 02:26 PM

Personally, I don't care, but you've got people here who get fired up about revealing stuff from next week's preview. I'm guessing they're not going to want unspoilerized stuff from the web posted here without some precautions.

jschuur · 09-21-2006, 02:36 PM

In the case of Jericho, it looks like the webisode content is not as heavily tied to the story as e.g. the Battlestar Galactica webisodes were (which don't run concurrent to new episodes though).

I think the original poster that starts a thread should include a link to the corresponding webisode for that episode, just so nobody can claim that they didn't know about them. As long as they (or anyone else leading up to discussion of that webisode) has posted that link, no spoiler tags should be neccesary.

The argument that not everyone can look at webisode content (if e.g., they're at the office) would be moot, since if you had the ability to view the episode in the first place, you've probably been home for it, where you have a computer to watch the webisode.

unicorngoddess · 09-22-2006, 03:46 PM

I voted to spoilerize because I don't see how it could hurt. As someone that's been yelled at a lot for not spoilerizing something (and in some cases I've been yelled at even when I DID at spoiler tags because of the email notification issues) I'd say it's better safe than sorry. What if the webisodes come up in the actual show later in the season and the people that don't want to be spoiled are disappointed because someone didn't use spoiler tags for a webisode?

I just don't see how using spoiler tags could hurt, and, like I said, its better to be safe than sorry. It's never fun to have someone yelling at you on a public board for spoiling something for them.

brott · 09-22-2006, 04:02 PM

It may in fact be a case of "it doesn't hurt," but that statement could be true of everything in the thread. If every post was spoilerized, it would actually be more work to read the thread and that would hurt.

Again, my thought is that it is fair game, particularly when a web episode is clearly marked as extra material for a particular TV episode. It would be nice if there was more input, but this web episode practice may not be big enough yet that anyone cares.

Thanks for your input, though.

TriBruin · 09-22-2006, 04:18 PM

I think that the Rules stick pretty much covers it:

Quote:

Previews of Next Week and other spoilers:
Anything shown on the “previews of next week” is considered a spoiler on this forum, and must be tagged as such, using spoiler tags. (See below for instructions.) Any spoiler information from other sources, such as articles, websites, personal friendships with producers, etc., must also be tagged

Anything presented outside the context of the actual show should be considered spoilers and the appropriate spoiler tags should be used.

unicorngoddess · 09-22-2006, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RBlount

Anything presented outside the context of the actual show should be considered spoilers and the appropriate spoiler tags should be used.

I agree. If it's not something shown in the originally aired episode then its a spoiler.

jschuur · 09-22-2006, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RBlount

I think that the Rules stick pretty much covers it:

I see the spirit of those rules referring to the 'old days' when third party web sites only covered news and gossip about a show, pre-dating the era of webisodes, which have only hit the scene in the past year.

unicorngoddess · 09-22-2006, 06:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jschuur

I see the spirit of those rules referring to the 'old days' when third party web sites only covered news and gossip about a show, pre-dating the era of webisodes, which have only hit the scene in the past year.

But its still something maybe everyone doesn't want to see. Like The Lost Experience thing. I love Lost to death but I just couldn't keep up with their online thing. Some people would just rather stick to what they see on the show. And of those people, some of them may or may not want to know what's going on in the webisodes. It's just better to cover your bases and assume that there's at least one person reading this forum that doesn't want to know what's going on in the webisodes.

And if the webisodes are that important, maybe there can be a seperate thread to discuss just that part of the show. Like: Jericho Webisode Week 1. Then there would be no need for spoiler tags in that thread because when you read it you know what it contains. I know The Lost Experience had it's own thread and Big Brother had a Live Feeds thread. So maybe the answer is to just do a seperate thread for webisodes.

appleye1 · 09-22-2006, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jschuur

I see the spirit of those rules referring to the 'old days' when third party web sites only covered news and gossip about a show, pre-dating the era of webisodes, which have only hit the scene in the past year.

"Old days"! That rule thread was just created last November (although the rule is older than that.) It's not even a year old yet!

But you're right, webisodes are even newer than that. We have to reach some sort of consensus and then get Justapixel (if we can find her) to update the rule thread.

jsmeeker · 09-22-2006, 06:24 PM

my general thought is that anything that is seen on TV during the time slot the show airs is fair game. For me, it INCLUDES previews of epcoming episodes.

Webisodes fall into a weird "gray" area. Some are totally "independent" of the story line(s) on TV. Others may not be.

jschuur · 09-22-2006, 07:17 PM

I'm beginning to think that since there are so many options here (concurrent with the season or between seasons, same characters or not, related plots) that it would be difficult to create a simple set of rules that could be followed to justify untagged spoilers without creating a per-scenario judging body. The only way to create a simple ruling is to not allow untagged spoilers from webiside content across the board and suggest a dedicated thread for the whole webisode season.

I think I've made a 180.

Bill Reeves · 09-22-2006, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jschuur

The only way to create a simple ruling is to not allow untagged spoilers from webiside content across the board and suggest a dedicated thread for the whole webisode season.

I think it depends on the show and how integrated the webisode content is with the plot/characters, but yeah, what you posted here as a general rule should work.

For example, the first webisode for Jericho does not seem to have any connection to the characters or locale of the TV show, so any discussion of the webisode should be in its own thread. (I'll be sure to post there about how crappy the first webisode was.) And in theory, the webisodes shouldn't even be mentioned on the weekly threads about the TV show.

But for BSG, the webisodes feature some characters from the TV show - if the webisodes were taking place concurrently with the new season, and a character says something on the TV show which is then expanded upon in a webisode, discussion of the webisode may be relevant in the TV show thread, but it should probably be spoiler tagged so people who want to watch the webisode don't get spoiled.

So that's a long way of saying "I agree."

unicorngoddess · 09-22-2006, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill Reeves

For example, the first webisode for Jericho does not seem to have any connection to the characters or locale of the TV show, so any discussion of the webisode should be in its own thread. (I'll be sure to post there about how crappy the first webisode was.)

And I'll be the first to agree with your post about how crappy it was. (Oops, should we have spoilerized that

)

I guess a general rule of thumb should be if it has nothing to do with the actual characters and storylines of the tv episodes then it should get its own thread to specifically discuss the webisodes. If it actually has a connection to what's going on in the actual tv episodes though, a courtisy spoiler tag should be given so at the very least those that haven't gotten around to seeing the webisode don't get spoiled. Since there is no set time that webisodes air and they can be accessed at the viewers convienance the spoiler tags act as a safety net just in case someone hasn't gotten around to seeing it yet.

darthrsg · 09-22-2006, 08:29 PM

If it's in its own thread I say no spoiler needed, if it's in the Episode thread it should be spoilerized.

Mike Lang · 09-22-2006, 08:54 PM

Yes, these should be spoilerized.
Thanks.

unicorngoddess · 09-22-2006, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike Lang

Yes, these should be spoilerized.
Thanks.

And I guess that makes the ruling final.

Will the spoilers rule in the sticky thread be modified to include adding spoilers for webisodes then?

brott · 09-23-2006, 02:14 AM

Thanks Mike. I guess that resolves it. It seemed like the consensus was moving that direction anyway, so even if it was a "veto" type decision, it looks like the decision is what would have been desired anyway. So, while not my choice, thanks for making it clear and adding it to the rules.

appleye1 · 09-24-2006, 05:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by unicorngoddess

And I guess that makes the ruling final.

Will the spoilers rule in the sticky thread be modified to include adding spoilers for webisodes then?

Hmmm...It's been a while and there's been no change to the sticky rule thread, so I guess the ruling is not "final". Maybe Mike was just joking around.

brott · 09-24-2006, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by appleye1

Hmmm...It's been a while and there's been no change to the sticky rule thread, so I guess the ruling is not "final". Maybe Mike was just joking around.

Yes, there was a change to the rules. Mike added one word, I think.

Quote:

Any spoiler information from other sources, such as articles, websites, webisodes, personal friendships with producers, etc., must also be tagged.