A Discussion on Spoilers: NO SPOILERS FROM ANYTHING!

[bruinfan]

After reading a recent thread on Heroes and its discussion on casting, a spoiler issue arose from the title of the thread, and it started a debate on what constitutes a spoiler. I know there are the forum rules, and I try to abide by them. I personally watch previews, read EW spoiler articles, and read spoiler tags, but avoid episode threads until i've seen the episode. I respect that people try really hard to avoid spoiler info, and do my best to refrain from being a spoiler.

That being said...

A comment in the previously mentioned thread said they got yelled at for giving up a major plot point from the movie "The Godfather". I responded with "there's gotta be a statute of limitations on spoilers", and someone else responded, no.

This got me thinking quite a bit over the weekend. At what point does getting mad at spoilers become unreasonable? The Godfather was from the 70's... 30 years ago!! It won many awards, and it is ingrained in Pop Culture. People refer to it casually everyday. Shouldn't there be a responsibility on the individual to make an effort to see the movie or show? Isn't it unreasonable and selfish to expect people to assume you are the only one who hasn't seen the godfather? You have had your whole life to see the movie, if a major plot point is revealed that the majority of people know about, it's bound to be a topic of discussion or comparison at some point, and it's your fault you didn't see the movie.

And with TV shows... with the proliferation of series TV on DVD... many people are sensitive about spoiling season1 info when it's season 5. Is this reasonable? Maybe... but if you don't want anything spoiled, and you are catching up, shouldn't you watch season 1 before watching season 5, and therefore, not be reading season 5 threads?? and thus accept responsibility for avoiding season 1 spoilers instead of blaming someone who talked about season1.

IMO, There should be some kind of guideline as to when spoilers are not scrutinized. I realize this would be a very grey area... but it's a reasonable concept, nonetheless. For starters:

1. Any award winning/nominated movie over 2 years old
2. Any movie over 5 years old
3. Any cancelled TV series, as long as episode threads are dead
4. Any previous season info in a tv series

this is purely my personal preferences, and not meant to be a submission into forum rules. I just think there is a point where spoilerphobes are unreasonable.

that's all... discuss if so inclined. and I would be interested in any arguements against any of my statements. seriously, i'm curious how one can be indigant at having godfather spoiled for them.

[Sparty99]

If someone gave you crap about spoiling the Godfather, you should have ripped into them. That's their responsibility. I would've started a thread that discussed major twists in well-known movies. But then, I'm a jacka$$.

I think your guidelines are pretty solid, although I'd go so far as saying that you shouldn't expect people to keep a spoiler secret if the next episode of a given show has aired (with the exception of special events like 24).

And you forgot to bring up guidelines for sports spoilers, which are beyond ridiculous, IMO.

[busyba]

Rosebud is his sled.

[TostitoBandito]

I agree with you for the mostpart, but would probably go even farther.

If you are coming to a forum like this, you need to expect to see at least SOME spoilers in just about every thread. Yes people will make an effort to conceal or label major spoilers (major plot developments, characters dying, etc...), but it mystifies me why people get all angry when they come to a TV SHOW DISCUSSION FORUM and see *gasp* discussion and information about those TV shows, very likely containing information which they were not aware of. It's not that hard to avoid spoilers for people who are sensitive about such things. All they need to do is not read this forum, at least not until they are caught up on whatever shows they care about which are discussed here.

As for movies, in my opinion once a movie has been out on DVD for at least a couple months (usually around a year after theatrical release) it's fair game for anything. Until then, people should probaby be careful about discussing major plot points.

Sports shouldn't even be argued about. If you aren't watching a sporting event live, then it's your own damn fault for coming here and reading about it before you have seen it.

[busyba]

The Titanic sinks.

[Sparty99]

Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father.

[DevdogAZ]

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!!

[mrpantstm]

Originally Posted by busyba

Rosebud is his sled.

Thanks for saving me two boobless hours.

[bruinfan]

BTW, this is not meant to ridicule pro-spoileravoider people... I just want some insight to the reasoning behind avoiding spoilers for anything longer than a year.

there is a very real spoiler problem, or issue.. .sometimes people legitimately and unknowingly reveal spoilers... and that does kinda suck when it happens. And the less serious offense of revealing preview info... that happens time to time as well. So I am sensitive to the issue. just saying...

[DreadPirateRob]

Originally Posted by TostitoBandito

Sports shouldn't even be argued about. If you aren't watching a sporting event live, then it's your own damn fault for coming here and reading about it before you have seen it.

Agreed, at least with regard to in-thread discussions. We should still keep thread titles spoiler-free, however.

[MikeMar]

Just put the title of the show/ep/movie in the title, no spoilers in there

and then in the thread spoil away!

like for the super bowl

put Super Bowl XLI in the title

not the names of the 2 teams in there

[Bierboy]

There is NO Santa Claus?

[Royster]

She's really a guy.

[DreadPirateRob]

Anakin=Darth

It was Jason's mother.

[DevdogAZ]

He was dead all along.

[Squonk]

Originally Posted by DreadPirateRob

Anakin=Darth

Thanks alot. My poker buddies and I were going to watch this tonight while playing poker. Nuts.

[allan]

Originally Posted by serumgard

Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father.

Augh! How could you? And I was going to finally watch that this evening!

[TonyD79]

Jesus is crucified.

[Squonk]

Originally Posted by allan

Augh! How could you? And I was going to finally watch that this evening!

you aren't in my poker group are you?

[Zevida]

If a show is current, meaning still on the air or very recently finished, then I think spoiler tags are warranted for major plot info.

Honestly, I don't think it is that hard to keep thread titles generic, and indicate that spoilers are enclosed. For Heroes, I don't mind spoilers. But god help you if you spoil something in 24, I'll come through the screen and murder you.

I figure, when in doubt, use spoiler tags. It takes so little effort to do so, I never understand why people have a problem with it.

Since this is a TV Show forum, we don't talk about movies much anyway, but I'd follow the same principle. A current movie needs spoilers (current = within the last 2-3 years), beyond that, spoiler tags are a courtesy but not required.

[marksman]

I don't really know that old movies should qualify for spoliers in a tv discussion forum. I think in general people should not spoil such things as the twists to recent movies, but I would say in any context once a movie gets to dvd status, you are going to have to be more careful if you are waiting to see it.

As for tv shows, I don't know about any specific time frame, but I do agree when discussing a specific show anything that has happened in or before the episode being discussed is entirely fair game. People need to be a bit sensitive about spoiling other shows in comparison. However I think anything beyond the current season is fair game for the most part.

[zordude]

Dread Pirate Roberts is Wesley.

Z

[busyba]

The guy gets the girl in the end.

[busyba]

Originally Posted by zordude

Dread Pirate Roberts is Wesley.

Really?!? All this time I thought it was Westley.

[Squonk]

Originally Posted by busyba

The guy gets the girl in the end.

Brokeback Mt?

[drew2k]

This is a TV forum, so to me, the spoiler rules for TV are simple and clear:

If we're discussing a particular episode of a series, anything goes regarding anything that has previously been revealed in that episode or any prior episode of that series. Spoiler tags not needed.

If we're discussing previews for an upcoming show, spoiler tags are needed, because it "hasn't happened yet."

If we're discussing news learned from somewhere else about a future episode (or even a future season), it's spoilerized for the same reason as previews: "it hasn't happened yet".

(I'll leave it to another thread to discern if it hasn't happened yet if the same episodes were not yet shown in my country, but were previously shown in another country. )

And you're all on your own regarding Movie spoilers!

[pdhenry]

Pssst...

Spoiler:

The Union wins at Gettysburg

[drew2k]

Originally Posted by pdhenry

Pssst...

Spoiler:

The Union wins at Gettysburg

I see you did some Ninja editing there!

Because I was going to post that

Spoiler:

Rosebud is a retaurant. And a bunch of other things. Just Google it ... you'll see!

[JYoung]

Spoiler:

Rhett walks out on Scarlett

[Charlutz]

The rules on spoilers in this forum are clear regarding threads discussing specific episodes. Basically, discuss what was in the episode. Anything in the preview or outside the episode should be spoilerized. As long as people stick to the rules and use descriptive introductions to spoilerized material, there's no problem.

I agree that it's more of a gray area when talking about outside shows, e.g. spoiling The Godfather. But I don't think we need rules there. Use a little common sense people. You are just as likely to have The Godfather spoiled by walking down the street than in here. Far different if someone discusses the current ep of Lost in the 24 thread, etc.