# SPOILERS RULES



## Morrus (Oct 19, 2014)

A few people have accidentally had things spoiled for them recently, so I've put together a very simple spoiler policy.

1) If a thread is not marked with the tag [SPOILERS] do not put any spoilers in it.  Spoiler tags used to work, but they don't translate to a lot of the recent ways to view forums (Tapatalk, etc.) and, let's face it, they're a bit of a pain the ass.

2) If a thread is marked [SPOILERS] post any spoilers you wish visibly.

A SPOILER counts as information prior to FIRST BROADCAST. This includes set photos, leaks, etc.  It does NOT include official trailers or promotional materials.

So, if a thread does not have the [SPOILERS] tag, you are safe to view it if the show/movie has not shown anywhere yet. 

If you want to discuss spoilers which have not yet been broadcast in the show itself, you are welcome to start a thread tagged [SPOILERS].  It's fine for a movie or TV show to have two simultaneous threads.  You can join in the one your spoiler tolerance prefers.

I think that makes it as simple as it can be!  If you see a spoiler in a on-spoiler thread, report it and a moderator can move it to a spoiler thread if necessary.


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## MarkB (Oct 19, 2014)

Morrus said:


> So, if a thread does not have the [SPOILERS] tag, you are safe to view it if the show/movie has not shown anywhere yet.
> 
> If you want to discuss spoilers which have not yet been broadcast in the show itself, you are welcome to start a thread tagged [SPOILERS].  It's fine for a movie or TV show to have two simultaneous threads.  You can join in the one your spoiler tolerance prefers.
> 
> I think that makes it as simple as it can be!  If you see a spoiler in a on-spoiler thread, report it and a moderator can move it to a spoiler thread if necessary.




Just for clarification, if there's a non-SPOILER-tagged thread for a specific episode, are there any restrictions upon discussing the content of that episode? And, if there's a SPOILER-tagged thread on the same episode, is it acceptable to post a leaked spoiler for a later, as-yet-unbroadcast episode?

Not wishing to overcomplicate things, just checking what to expect.


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## Umbran (Oct 19, 2014)

By what he's saying here - if the thread isn't Spoiler Tagged, then you don't discuss the content of the episode, other than what's been put out before the airing.

So, if you were discussing Star Wars: Rebels, and you saw an ad for the next episode that had Obi Wan Kenobi in it, it would be safe to say, "Hey, they had Obi Wan in the trailer, so he's probably in the episode!"  But, after watching it, you wouldn't go back and post in that untagged thread, "OMG, Obi Wan got killed!"

I mean, really, it is simple - don't be a nozzle.  You know some folks don't want to be spoiled.  Be considerate.  If the thread isn't tagged, don't put spoilers in there.


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## Janx (Oct 20, 2014)

If a person enters a thread about a specific episode (like Dr. Who), and they haven't seen it, it's on them for the spoilage.  Regardless of Taggage.

If a person enters a thread about a movie that hasn't been released yet, and that thread isn't tagged SPOILERS, the discussion should be about general things in the movie and not reveal secrets that somebody who stole the script has.

I agree it's good to alert folks to SPOILERS, but the reader has some culpability for entering a thread about their favorite topic that may share information they don't already have.  If you haven't seen all of Breaking Bad, don't read stuff about Breaking Bad.


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## Morrus (Oct 20, 2014)

The rules are here to be helpful, not punitive. And they're simple, not complex. It's not a system designed to cast blame or culpability, but to help inform about the contents of a thread in a simple way.


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## Mustrum_Ridcully (Oct 21, 2014)

Morrus said:


> A SPOILER counts as information prior to FIRST BROADCAST. This includes set photos, leaks, etc. It does NOT include official trailers or promotional materials.



I think that works for me. That means a thread about a doctor who episode that has just aired can contain content about that episode, but not about the next episode that hasn't been aired yet.


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## The_Silversword (Oct 21, 2014)

Rosebud is the sled.


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## Kramodlog (Oct 22, 2014)

The_Silversword said:


> Rosebud is the sled.



You monster! Now I know it is a symbol of his lost youth and innocence! 

And it was the name Hughes gave to his mistress' koochie.


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## GameNightLife (Mar 27, 2015)

So glad that this is an actual forum rule.

I've missed out on a lot of good movies because people didn't even understand the concept of a "spoiler."


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## nerfherder (Nov 22, 2015)

So, can we post our thoughts about Star Wars: The Force Awakens in the non-spoiler thread after we've seen it in the UK or Germany on December the 17th?


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## Morrus (Nov 22, 2015)

nerfherder said:


> So, can we post our thoughts about Star Wars: The Force Awakens in the non-spoiler thread after we've seen it in the UK or Germany on December the 17th?




Sure! Same rule as always. Once it's released, it's fair game.


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## Janx (Dec 2, 2015)

Morrus said:


> Sure! Same rule as always. Once it's released, it's fair game.




One bummer of the Spoiler thing and the All-at-once release style of Amazon/Netflix original series like Jessica Jones is that I pretty much can't participate in the thread because I'm a few days behind in watching them all and somebody's going to talk about the whole series because they gorged on it.

Not anybody's fault, but I kind of miss the One episode/one thread style of discussion that helped pace discussion of a show vs. spoilage.


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## Morrus (Dec 2, 2015)

Janx said:


> One bummer of the Spoiler thing and the All-at-once release style of Amazon/Netflix original series like Jessica Jones is that I pretty much can't participate in the thread because I'm a few days behind in watching them all and somebody's going to talk about the whole series because they gorged on it.
> 
> Not anybody's fault, but I kind of miss the One episode/one thread style of discussion that helped pace discussion of a show vs. spoilage.





So start one episode/one thread threads. I personally start series threads as I prefer that, but you can start whatever threads you want!


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## Janx (Dec 2, 2015)

Morrus said:


> So start one episode/one thread threads. I personally start series threads as I prefer that, but you can start whatever threads you want!




I like the series threads for stuff that is released on a weekly basis (like Walking Dead), but the all-at-once thing really kind of skews the whole matter as there is always that dude who watched it right when it unlocked...

I'll start an Ep 1 discussion of the Man in the High Castle, as we just watched that last night...  see how it goes...


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## Umbran (Dec 10, 2015)

Yeah, time shifting has done unfortunate things to discussion of media.


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## CapnZapp (Dec 11, 2015)

Morrus said:


> 1) If a thread is not marked with the tag [SPOILERS]



A clarification, if I may...

By "tag" you mean the graphic symbol right next to threads, right? Politics is white text on black background, Religion is red text on white background, TV has a television icon right next to it and so on...

But you can only choose one of these right?

So how do you tag a thread with Spoilers if you also want to tag it as Marvel or DC Comics or Movies, say?

Or do you literally mean that the thread title should start with the characters [, S, P, O, I, L, E, R, S, and ]?

Have a nice day,
Zapp

PS. Not trying to be onboxious. I guess another way of phrasing this could be: Do you use "tag" to mean two things?


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## CapnZapp (Dec 11, 2015)

Morrus said:


> Sure! Same rule as always. Once it's released, it's fair game.



Okay, so if I'm late to a show, I can't really read any thread on that episode?

Not complaining, just thinking it's possible to label something as spoilery years after release. It's common for sites to separate the production blurb about a movie from a full synopsis, for instance. The first kind is non-spoilery by design as it is meant to make you curious about how the film ends; the second spoils everything.

But perhaps you have concluded you have little or no discussion on shows and movies that isn't inherently spoilery, and so you've decided to limit the "spoiler alert" to prerelease info for that reason?

Regards,
Zapp


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## Morrus (Dec 11, 2015)

CapnZapp said:


> A clarification, if I may...
> 
> By "tag" you mean the graphic symbol right next to threads, right? Politics is white text on black background, Religion is red text on white background, TV has a television icon right next to it and so on...
> 
> ...




A word in the title.


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## CapnZapp (Dec 30, 2017)

Morrus said:


> Spoiler tags used to work, but they don't translate to a lot of the recent ways to view forums (Tapatalk, etc.) and, let's face it, they're a bit of a pain the ass.



The sblock tags work on desktop.

The spoiler tag hides info on mobile, but only works properly in the app (it's broken in the mobile skin).

Using both tags (one nested inside the other) does prevent spoilers everywhere. Like this:

[SBLOCK]


Spoiler



Info here can't be seen anywhere. 

SBLOCK protects it from desktop browsers (and the SPOILER tag remains visible). 

SPOILER protects it from the app (and I guess readers using the mobile skin, which won't be able to read it at all), where SBLOCK tags remain visible.

It's not pretty but at least this text is safe from accidental viewing.


[/SBLOCK]
(You can't see the spoilered text if you're using the mobile skin, which you are by default if you're browsing here using your phone. It's basically just saying that)


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## CapnZapp (Feb 6, 2018)

Morrus said:


> A SPOILER counts as information prior to FIRST BROADCAST. This includes set photos, leaks, etc.  It does NOT include official trailers or promotional materials.
> 
> So, if a thread does not have the [SPOILERS] tag, you are safe to view it if the show/movie has not shown anywhere yet.
> 
> I think that makes it as simple as it can be!  If you see a spoiler in a on-spoiler thread, report it and a moderator can move it to a spoiler thread if necessary.



I don't know what to think about this.

As written, this makes everything unsafe as soon as a show has been released. Yes, released. This is the age of Netflix after all, where whole seasons are dumped at once.

I could have started a thread on Altered Carbon Friday, with no spoiler tag in the thread title, and immediately told how ep 10 ends, and still technically not be in breach of your policy.

You can well have visitors wanting to discuss a show with a full season (or I guess you call'em series?)  available, but they still want a spoiler-free debate.

Why would a spoiler not count as a spoiler as soon as it becomes theoretically possible to have seen it all?

I think you would be better served saying a spoiler counts as such for *at least* two weeks after release, giving most people time to catch up.

Or why not ask people not to discuss whole seasons in a single thread? Threads for individual episodes, there the policy makes sense.

Regards 



Sent from my C6603 using EN World mobile app


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