Speak Up About Spoilers!

[yourlibrarian]

Welcome to our first Speak Up Saturday! As we mentioned in our re-opening post, we wanted to poll the community about what rules we should have in tv_talk when it comes to spoilers.

We want to encourage discussion about shows that are not recent, but we don't want to spoil someone's enjoyment of a show that they have not watched yet. On the other hand, we don't want to make posting, commenting, or reading unwieldy.

Therefore, we would like to ask you about your preferences. What would you like to see as the rule for spoilers in posts and comments?

Poll #29691 Spoiler Rules for TV Talk

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 33

View Respondents

Using Spoiler Protection:

View Answers

Spoilers for all shows should be spoiler protected in posts and comments
0 (0.0%)

Spoilers for all shows should be spoiler protected in posts but comments are "read at your own risk"
22 (68.8%)

Spoilers should be spoiler protected in posts and comments, but only if the episode mentioned was released in the current calendar year
3 (9.4%)

Spoilers for episodes released in the current calendar year should be spoiler protected in posts, but comments are "read at your own risk"
6 (18.8%)

Something else which I will explain in the comments
1 (3.1%)

"Spoilers" for me include:

View Answers

trailers and promos
5 (15.6%)

casting news
6 (18.8%)

any news about the future of a show including renewals and cancellations
3 (9.4%)

episode titles
3 (9.4%)

specific plot points
32 (100.0%)

character development/arcs
32 (100.0%)

speculation/rumors that may or may not come to pass
10 (31.2%)

something else which I will explain in the comments
0 (0.0%)

Comments

[rocky41_7]

Generally I would say the body of the post should be spoiler-free but comments are fair game, unless it's a post that sort of necessitates spoilers (like maybe a discussion on character arcs) in which case I think as long as there's a warning at the top of the post that it's not spoiler free would work!

[yourlibrarian]

Yes, I'm thinking judicious use of the cut tag could cover posts like that, but will be talking over the results with misbegotten

[swingandswirl]

Whatever the final decision, it may not be a bad plan to include instructions for how to do spoiler texts in the posts themselves, at least initially.

[misbegotten]

Yes, we will provide instructions!

[jo]

I didn't vote, but my preference would be an "assume there are spoilers and proceed at your own risk" approach, for a few reasons.

1) The way people watch things these days, it's impossible to accommodate everyone. It's simply impossible to know where everyone is re: any given show (have seen every episode multiple times, have never heard of it, just started watching, want to watch but it's not available in their part of the world yet, etc.). Because of that, there's no way to avoid spoilers -- even with fairly old shows.

2) It's also really difficult to know what someone else might consider a spoiler (and the replies to the 2nd question confirm this) -- beyond the obvious major plot developments of course. E.g. if it's a thread about Outlander, and someone's maybe heard of the show but not watched it, and the post references time travel theories because surely everyone knows that's a key aspect of the show -- is that a spoiler for the person who didn't know anything about it? Does it ruin it for them? Have I just ruined things for them writing that? I don't know. This is especially true of older shows -- if it's something that finished airing a few/several years ago, and you watched it from start to finish when it first aired, it's easy to forget what bits might be spoilers for someone just new to the show. Sometimes even what you think is the most innocuous of comments will 100% totally ruin someone's day.

3) Another complication would be series that are adapted from books. Some people may have read all the books but not watched the show, or vice versa. Maybe they are planning to read the books, and someone mentions a plot line from the books that didn't make it into the show. It's technically not a spoiler about the show (or is it?), but did we just spoil everything for the new book reader? Did we spoil it for someone who read all the books but isn't current with the show and is now pissed off that this plot point isn't in the show? Again, I don't know.

So yeah, I'd just start each thread with WARNING: 100% CONTAINS SPOILERS and let people proceed at their own risk/make their own judgement calls. If they're the type to get really hepped up about even the smallest of spoilers they should just skip the post and revisit when they've caught up with the series.

[yourlibrarian]

The books vs show issue is definitely relevant with so many shows being drawn from books these days. As you said, there may not technically be show spoilers but that falls into the Speculations/Rumor category since a lot of times that comes from things in some other source.

And you're right that it can be hard to remember what is spoilery in the course of a whole series. In the Outlander example, I would argue that the premise of the show itself is not a spoiler, since many people will either know that or have it mentioned to them as a factor in suggesting they watch it. But there are other factors connected to the time travel that very much are since they are the foundation of different seasons.

Ultimately, I agree that if a person has not watched something but is considering doing so, reading about it is very much at your own risk.