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Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Yes folks, a discussion and not a lecture.

Spoilers. Most hate them. Some take great pains to avoid them. A rotten minority take great pleasure in blurting them out anywhere they can, even in unrelated topics (haven't seen any of that on here).

But.....do Spoilers come with a reasonable 'sell by date'? Is there a certain period of time where the uninitiated are on their own in terms of not hearing or reading spoilers?

Does this change from media to media?

I'll give you my potted take.

TV? Around 1 week. With plentiful digital catch up methods out there, I don't think it's reasonable for those yet to watch to expect everyone else to keep schtum for longer than a week. Simply put, it's easy enough to catch up in a reasonable time frame.

Film? Probably around 2 weeks to a month. Depends on how big the film is. Why longer than TV? Well, dirty illegal piracy aside, not everyone can do a cinema viewing at the drop of a hat. There's costs and logistics involved there.

Books? Arguably never. They're just not the same mass media as TV and films. There twists and turns are your reward for the dedication of spending hours reading it.

Punishment for deliberate spoilers? Hung, drawn and quartered. THOU SHALT NOT SPOIL.

But what do you reckon?

   
Made in us
Secret Force Behind the Rise of the Tau




USA

My rule is that if it's been half a decade you can't be angry about spoilers anymore. If its ongoing I'll make an effort to be cryptic or nondescript, or I'll slap it in spoiler tags if that won't work but there comes a point you just can't complain anymore. But 5 years, because there's a line and if you cared that much why didn't you read/watch/play it when it came out?

The only real way to protect yourself from spoilers is to hide under a rock, but who wants to do that? I knew the big "wham" moment of GoT's Season 7 episode Beyond the Wall before ever watching the episode because Imgur was littered with gifs and memes about it the day after. It hit the internet that quickly. Is there seriously anyone who didn't know Snape kills Dumbledore at the end of the Half-Blood Prince? Or that you were Revan all along? Or that Vader is Luke's father? Some things just hit pop culture so hard and so fast there's no hiding from it. It's not even really about people spoiling things as much as people will talk about stuff and it's harder than ever to avoid inadvertently stumbling into it.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2017/10/05 08:13:45


   
Made in au
The Dread Evil Lord Varlak





Yeah, it isn't just about the time but also the place that the discussion is happening. For instance, if you haven't seen the night before's episode of Game of Thrones and you go on twitter and get mad that it got spoiled for you then it really is your own damn fault. That format doesn't have a practical way of giving spoiler warnings, and given GoT is a big cultural force, it's just a given that loads of people are going to want to talk about straight afterwards and there won't be spoiler warnings.

And there's also an issue with exactly what is and isn't a spoiler. Even just saying that the ending was sad, or that there's a surprise can give someone enough of a clue that they figure out what's coming, or it is at least not as much of a surprise when it happens. I know a few friends who said that the twist at the end of the Sixth Sense was so obvious, whereas I was caught off guard - I think the difference is that I knew nothing about the movie beforehand and so I wasn't looking for a twist, whereas they were told beforehand the show had an amazing twist, and so they looked for the clues that are pretty obvious when you're looking for them. It isn't practical to have spoiler tags for every little comment like 'the twist is amazing', so to some extent people who don't want to be clued in on anything in the show just need to avoid those conversations or accept that some things won't be massive surprises.

I don't know if there's an easy point where different media becomes okay to spoil. But personally I'm not sure it works out to be that much of a conundrum. If the spoilers are because you want to talk about some piece of media, then you say 'let's talk about this, and anyone who doesn't want to be spoilered can avoid the conversation', but if its because you want to blurt out something that includes a spoiler from a show, either as a joke or a comparison or something, then either that spoiler is going to be so well known that you're spoiling nothing, or you know your audience is familiar with it. I mean, why make a comparison or joke referencing something you're not sure the audience is familiar with?

“We may observe that the government in a civilized country is much more expensive than in a barbarous one; and when we say that one government is more expensive than another, it is the same as if we said that that one country is farther advanced in improvement than another. To say that the government is expensive and the people not oppressed is to say that the people are rich.”

Adam Smith, who must have been some kind of leftie or something. 
   
Made in nl
Stone Bonkers Fabricator General




We'll find out soon enough eh.

Sebster has the right of it - context is everything. I think MDG's cutoffs are fair, but only in topics specifically related to the subject matter; I don't go to the cinema any more, at all, if I can possibly avoid it. I just don't enjoy it, it lessens the experience of watching the film for me. The downside of course is that I often have to wait months, even if I were to avail myself of a bit of plunder, to see movies.

Now, I have no problems avoiding topics and articles discussing a film I've not yet seen, reading those and getting angry about spoilers would be like walking up to a group of people, asking what they're talking about, being told it's that film you've not seen, sticking around and then being mad when they spoil it for you. But I despise with the firey passion of a thousand burning suns people who post in random places or bring up in conversation plot details of media they've watched without any regard for other people. The only thing I hate more are the people who ask "hey have you seen the latest X yet?" and then deliberately ruin it for you after you tell them you haven't.

I need to acquire plastic Skavenslaves, can you help?
I have a blog now, evidently. Featuring the Alternative Mordheim Model Megalist.

"Your society's broken, so who should we blame? Should we blame the rich, powerful people who caused it? No, lets blame the people with no power and no money and those immigrants who don't even have the vote. Yea, it must be their fething fault." - Iain M Banks
-----
"The language of modern British politics is meant to sound benign. But words do not mean what they seem to mean. 'Reform' actually means 'cut' or 'end'. 'Flexibility' really means 'exploit'. 'Prudence' really means 'don't invest'. And 'efficient'? That means whatever you want it to mean, usually 'cut'. All really mean 'keep wages low for the masses, taxes low for the rich, profits high for the corporations, and accept the decline in public services and amenities this will cause'." - Robin McAlpine from Common Weal 
   
Made in gb
Courageous Grand Master




-

When it comes to films and TV shows based on historical events, I think it's open season and people should say what they want about the plot, when they want.

I heard people complaining about spoilers for the Dunkirk film, and one of the funniest things I've ever heard was a few years back, a woman on the radio, who was complaining that the Lincoln film had been spoiled for her, because somebody told her that Lincoln got assassinated.

As for any other type of show or film, I usually wait 2-3 weeks after the release before I talk spoilers. I think that's a reasonable limit.


"Our crops will wither, our children will die piteous
deaths and the sun will be swept from the sky. But is it true?" - Tom Kirby, CEO, Games Workshop Ltd 
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut






Burtucky, Michigan

I try not to spoil ever unless asked. Typically Ill end it with well youve got to see/read/play it. But as far as freely talking about a spoiler Ill stop caring after a year regardless of what it is. If someone hasnt experienced the spoiler in a year then they honestly didnt care about it before
   
Made in gb
Is 'Eavy Metal Calling?





UK

I think with movies I'd suggest the cutoff be put back to after the home release. Plenty of people simply don't go to the cinema, I myself didn't for a long time, so for them the DVD or equivalent is going to be their first time watching something. I think it's reasonable to try and keep things under wraps until at least then.

Similar for TV shows that air in different seasonal slots in different countries. We've just got Gotham series 3 over here and series 4 just started in the US, I'd be irked if I just ran into Gotham S4 spoilers in an article headline or in a tangentially related conversation. It's all well and good knowing to avoid specific pages/threads/forums ect but if it was, say, a general Batman discussion that just casually referenced something people outside the US won't get to see for a year that'd be unfair.

Youtube video titles are the worst. No matter how hard you try to dismiss and filter your suggestions and all that, every so often an episode promo will get through or someone will upload a clip with a spoilery title that slips through the net. This tends to be for TV where we're almost constantly behind America, the amount of times I had stuff like The Flash spoiled a few weeks early got ridiculous.


And then there's the person who walks into a room the morning after The Force Awakens premiers and... (TFA spoilers below, but seriously, who hasn't seen it by now?)

Spoiler:

yells 'HAN SOLO DIES'. Yes, this did happen to me. Yes, it was nearly two years ago now. No, I have not forgiven him. )



I think in general, a good rule of thumb is that if you have the capacity to spoiler tag something, do it, and if you don't have to actually spoil anything explicitly (ie. unless you're talking directly about it) then it's best not to.

 
   
Made in gb
Fresh-Faced New User





I agree that context and exposure are important. As mentioned use of Social Media makes avoiding spoilers very tricky. As a UK based NFL fan, I avoid it as much as possible, especially if life commitments mean that staying up for the Superbowl isn't practical. In that case, its almost total media shutdown, as it does have a habit of being tagged into the end of news bulletins!
For TV shows, it depends. Most 'big' shows I do tend to watch when they are on or within a few days.
Films are different as with small children I don't get to go as often as id like, so while I try and avoid spoilers, I accept that I might encounter some.
As for books, I don't think I've encountered a reader who wants to spoil a book. Maybe there is something about the enjoyment of reading that means people want to others to undergo that experience.

Overall think I'm lucky that the people I know who watch/read the things I'm interested in, are happy/understanding enough to wait the day or so to discuss spoilers.
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






On the subject of TFA, I had similar with Into Darkness.

Spoiler:
Goon posts on FB 'Into Darkness, what can I say? KAAAHHHNNNN!' (complete with misspelling). Just....why? WHY? IT'S MEANT TO BE A SURPRISE. By all accounts, not a very good or unexpected surprise, but by that point I'll now never know

   
Made in us
Did Fulgrim Just Behead Ferrus?





Fort Worth, TX

Game of Thrones is also a rather unique example. A TV series, based on a book series, but the TV version has now moved beyond what the books have covered. I have to avoid any and all GoT coverage, because I'm a reader of the books. I only watched the first season. I'll most likely binge the entire series once it's done, regardless of where the books are at that point. But now, ANYTHING from the current seasons would be a spoiler for those who stick with the books.

"Through the darkness of future past, the magician longs to see.
One chants out between two worlds: Fire, walk with me."
- Twin Peaks
"You listen to me. While I will admit to a certain cynicism, the fact is that I am a naysayer and hatchetman in the fight against violence. I pride myself in taking a punch and I'll gladly take another because I choose to live my life in the company of Gandhi and King. My concerns are global. I reject absolutely revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method... is love. I love you Sheriff Truman." - Twin Peaks 
   
Made in us
Douglas Bader






IMO, spoiler protection should not be expected for longer than it takes for the majority of the audience to have a reasonable chance to see the thing spoiler-free. A few days, maybe a couple weeks at most, but after that it's just not reasonable to limit discussion like that. It's very hard to have a conversation about something if you have to carefully hide all possible spoilers just in case someone might not have seen the thing you're talking about. At some point you just want to, to use the TFA example, talk about whether Han's death* is a legitimate story point or just a cheap way to get an emotional reaction without having to hide it all with vague references to "that thing people are disagreeing about" or whatever. Even in a written medium with spoiler tags it makes an unreadable mess of a discussion. That's a price worth paying if it's opening weekend and people are still trying to get out to see the movie, it's just plain stupid if you're spoiler tagging stuff from years ago just in case you find the rare person who both cares about the subject and hasn't had a chance to see the movie yet.

*No, I am not going to put spoiler tags on something that old, stop being ridiculous.

There is no such thing as a hobby without politics. "Leave politics at the door" is itself a political statement, an endorsement of the status quo and an attempt to silence dissenting voices. 
   
Made in gb
Is 'Eavy Metal Calling?





UK

I think there has to be some distinction between actually taking about something, and spoilers in unrelated/tangential discussion. If you're reading an article or forum thread or watching a Youtube video on something a few days after it's out, the chances are you've seen that thing, there's little point looking at such stuff if you haven't, so there I think things can be a bit looser.

But if you're dropping spoilers into an unrelated discussion, you've got to take into account that just because they've seen/played/read the thing you're talking about, it doesn't mean they've seen/played/read the similar thing you're introducing into that discussion. Take two films that came out within a month of each other earlier this year, Logan and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2.

Spoiler:

In a discussion about Logan, feel free to talk about Logan dying. In a discussion about GotG2, feel free to talk about Yondu dying. But going into the GotG discussion and saying something like 'Wow, Yondu dying was sad, but not as bad as Logan dying!' then you're spoiling a major plot point at the finale of a film it's unfair to assume everyone discussing Guardians has also seen.


At the end of the day, warning people that you're about to spoiler something is a courtesy that even in a written medium takes only a few seconds of your time, and it's always worth just erring on the side of caution, I think. We've all had things spoiled for us in the past that we didn't want, so we should try and make sure we don't do that to anyone else if possible.

 
   
Made in nl
Stone Bonkers Fabricator General




We'll find out soon enough eh.

 Peregrine wrote:
IMO, spoiler protection should not be expected for longer than it takes for the majority of the audience to have a reasonable chance to see the thing spoiler-free. A few days, maybe a couple weeks at most, but after that it's just not reasonable to limit discussion like that. It's very hard to have a conversation about something if you have to carefully hide all possible spoilers just in case someone might not have seen the thing you're talking about. At some point you just want to, to use the TFA example, talk about whether Han's death* is a legitimate story point or just a cheap way to get an emotional reaction without having to hide it all with vague references to "that thing people are disagreeing about" or whatever. Even in a written medium with spoiler tags it makes an unreadable mess of a discussion. That's a price worth paying if it's opening weekend and people are still trying to get out to see the movie, it's just plain stupid if you're spoiler tagging stuff from years ago just in case you find the rare person who both cares about the subject and hasn't had a chance to see the movie yet.

*No, I am not going to put spoiler tags on something that old, stop being ridiculous.


Again though, that PoV both disregards people who won't or even can't go to the cinema(or who restrict themselves to legal methods of TV consumption and have to wait for the often ridiculous IP rights BS to be resolved so the show can come to their country), and totally ignores context. Discussing the Han thing in a thread about TFA? Or about the next film? Sure, OK. Randomly dropping it into a conversation in, for example, the N&R thread for SW:Legion though is just inconsiderate. Randomly posting huge plot spoilers on open social media where anyone who happens across it can see? I'd say that's active dickery frankly, because doing that someone knows fine-well they'll be ruining the film/show for other people and don't care.

A month after the release of home media/streaming access seems like a fair time for things to be open season, prior to that outside of very specific discussion threads or private conversations I think the chance for someone else to enjoy something I enjoy without having the story spoiled is a tad more important than me having to go to the Herculean, nay, Sisyphean( ) effort of clicking the "show spoiler" button a couple of times.

I need to acquire plastic Skavenslaves, can you help?
I have a blog now, evidently. Featuring the Alternative Mordheim Model Megalist.

"Your society's broken, so who should we blame? Should we blame the rich, powerful people who caused it? No, lets blame the people with no power and no money and those immigrants who don't even have the vote. Yea, it must be their fething fault." - Iain M Banks
-----
"The language of modern British politics is meant to sound benign. But words do not mean what they seem to mean. 'Reform' actually means 'cut' or 'end'. 'Flexibility' really means 'exploit'. 'Prudence' really means 'don't invest'. And 'efficient'? That means whatever you want it to mean, usually 'cut'. All really mean 'keep wages low for the masses, taxes low for the rich, profits high for the corporations, and accept the decline in public services and amenities this will cause'." - Robin McAlpine from Common Weal 
   
Made in us
Ancient Venerable Black Templar Dreadnought





Where ever the Emperor needs his eyes

Im normally not put off by spoilers as I'll generally look things up before hand, dont know why i do but I do. So it doesn't really bother me, like I may know that X happens in Y at somepoint, but out of context the spoiler means little to me, and I can still enjoy the reveal of X when it gets there.

The only time it really bothered me, was when a friend convinced me to watch Young Justice and when I got to season 2 I was like "Oh yeah, just started season 2." And then had something that happens at the end to a character I liked spoiled for me. I was like, "I just told you I started the season, why would you say that?"

Other than that, I cant really think of a spoiler that bothered me alot.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Yodhrin wrote:

Randomly dropping it into a conversation in, for example, the N&R thread for SW:Legion though is just inconsiderate.


I would think anyone actually reading the N&R for SW:Legion would already have known that happens, or would have had adequate time to watch the film.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/10/05 18:15:50


 
   
Made in nl
Stone Bonkers Fabricator General




We'll find out soon enough eh.

 VictorVonTzeentch wrote:

 Yodhrin wrote:

Randomly dropping it into a conversation in, for example, the N&R thread for SW:Legion though is just inconsiderate.


I would think anyone actually reading the N&R for SW:Legion would already have known that happens, or would have had adequate time to watch the film.


It was just an example, the point being that even if a topic is somewhat related it's still not unreasonable to expect to be able to browse that topic without being spoiled for a different thing, and that people shouldn't be making assumptions but rather erring on the side of caution out of simple politeness.

I need to acquire plastic Skavenslaves, can you help?
I have a blog now, evidently. Featuring the Alternative Mordheim Model Megalist.

"Your society's broken, so who should we blame? Should we blame the rich, powerful people who caused it? No, lets blame the people with no power and no money and those immigrants who don't even have the vote. Yea, it must be their fething fault." - Iain M Banks
-----
"The language of modern British politics is meant to sound benign. But words do not mean what they seem to mean. 'Reform' actually means 'cut' or 'end'. 'Flexibility' really means 'exploit'. 'Prudence' really means 'don't invest'. And 'efficient'? That means whatever you want it to mean, usually 'cut'. All really mean 'keep wages low for the masses, taxes low for the rich, profits high for the corporations, and accept the decline in public services and amenities this will cause'." - Robin McAlpine from Common Weal 
   
Made in us
Terrifying Doombull




 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

TV? Around 1 week. With plentiful digital catch up methods out there, I don't think it's reasonable for those yet to watch to expect everyone else to keep schtum for longer than a week. Simply put, it's easy enough to catch up in a reasonable time frame.

Film? Probably around 2 weeks to a month. Depends on how big the film is. Why longer than TV? Well, dirty illegal piracy aside, not everyone can do a cinema viewing at the drop of a hat. There's costs and logistics involved there.

Books? Arguably never. They're just not the same mass media as TV and films. There twists and turns are your reward for the dedication of spending hours reading it.

Punishment for deliberate spoilers? Hung, drawn and quartered. THOU SHALT NOT SPOIL.

But what do you reckon?


I think your time limits are unreasonably short. Just because someone can find/watch things in short amounts of time doesn't mean they will.

There isn't any reason not to spoiler something- it's just basic manners.

Efficiency is the highest virtue. 
   
Made in gb
[MOD]
Villanous Scum







Was having a discussion with a friend on the train and had a woman go mental at me for spoiling Vikings (the TV show) that I had no idea even existed.
Spoiler:

We were talking about SAGA and historical battles that we could use and the great pagan army and Ragnars death were mentioned.

I must admit that I was a bit puzzled at this being a spoiler as it actually happened hundreds of years ago, are we expected to avoid talking about history on the off chance that a film/TV/book may be made on it? Where do you draw the line on that? Had a similar experience when LotR was being made, the book is 50 years old if you hadn't gotten around to reading it yet that is not my fault...

On parle toujours mal quand on n'a rien à dire. 
   
Made in us
Did Fulgrim Just Behead Ferrus?





Fort Worth, TX

Here's another interesting thought: what about old stuff? Sure, we might say it's cool to spoil the summer blockbuster that came out last year as everybody who cares would have seen it by now, but what about a movie from 40+ years ago? You're finally getting around to watching Psycho and someone tells you how it ends. Citizen Kane, Casablanca, or The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Another example: Murder on the Orient Express. Already had a movie back in the 70s, and the book written before that, but we've got a new movie coming later this year. Can we expect everyone going to see the new movie to have seen the old movie or to have read the book?

"Through the darkness of future past, the magician longs to see.
One chants out between two worlds: Fire, walk with me."
- Twin Peaks
"You listen to me. While I will admit to a certain cynicism, the fact is that I am a naysayer and hatchetman in the fight against violence. I pride myself in taking a punch and I'll gladly take another because I choose to live my life in the company of Gandhi and King. My concerns are global. I reject absolutely revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method... is love. I love you Sheriff Truman." - Twin Peaks 
   
Made in us
Secret Force Behind the Rise of the Tau




USA

ingtaer wrote:
Was having a discussion with a friend on the train and had a woman go mental at me for spoiling Vikings (the TV show) that I had no idea even existed.
Spoiler:

We were talking about SAGA and historical battles that we could use and the great pagan army and Ragnars death were mentioned.

I must admit that I was a bit puzzled at this being a spoiler as it actually happened hundreds of years ago, are we expected to avoid talking about history on the off chance that a film/TV/book may be made on it? Where do you draw the line on that? Had a similar experience when LotR was being made, the book is 50 years old if you hadn't gotten around to reading it yet that is not my fault...


I do love when people get annoyed that a historically based series might actually contain some historical events


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Tannhauser42 wrote:
Here's another interesting thought: what about old stuff? Sure, we might say it's cool to spoil the summer blockbuster that came out last year as everybody who cares would have seen it by now, but what about a movie from 40+ years ago? You're finally getting around to watching Psycho and someone tells you how it ends. Citizen Kane, Casablanca, or The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Another example: Murder on the Orient Express. Already had a movie back in the 70s, and the book written before that, but we've got a new movie coming later this year. Can we expect everyone going to see the new movie to have seen the old movie or to have read the book?


I think this is part of the absurdity of complaing about spoilers (not so much in an immediate sense, but in the long term). Vader being Luke's father is pretty much known by everyone, even without having ever seen Episode IV. The line is referenced that much and permeates our pop culture. Yet people still love Episode IV. If something is only good because you didn't know how it ended, then it probably wasn't actually all that good. Just shocking or surprising, which is a momentary thrill. If something has endured decades of being rewatched and loved by audiences, then its because there's a lot more going on than simple twists of the plot and that in itself calls to question (for me at least) what's more important to quality media. A sick ending, or a great journey. If the former, then how do we explain films like The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, The Magnificent 7, or Star Wars? These are classics. People still watch and enjoy them even knowing how they end. I've probably rewatched Deathnote and Fullmetal Alchemists a dozen times in my life, and both those series relied heavily on plot twists to maintain tension and they didn't cease to be enjoyable just because I knew the ending. I certainly didn't get the same thrill I got from watching them the first time through, but they're still good. Come on Deathnote somehow turned eating a potato chip into one of the most intense and riveting five seconds of television for an entire year. A damn potato chip! You don't pull that off just by being surprising.

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2017/10/05 23:43:39


   
Made in us
Did Fulgrim Just Behead Ferrus?





Fort Worth, TX

 LordofHats wrote:

 Tannhauser42 wrote:
Here's another interesting thought: what about old stuff? Sure, we might say it's cool to spoil the summer blockbuster that came out last year as everybody who cares would have seen it by now, but what about a movie from 40+ years ago? You're finally getting around to watching Psycho and someone tells you how it ends. Citizen Kane, Casablanca, or The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Another example: Murder on the Orient Express. Already had a movie back in the 70s, and the book written before that, but we've got a new movie coming later this year. Can we expect everyone going to see the new movie to have seen the old movie or to have read the book?


I think this is part of the absurdity of complaing about spoilers (not so much in an immediate sense, but in the long term). Vader being Luke's father is pretty much known by everyone, even without having ever seen Episode IV. The line is referenced that much and permeates our pop culture. Yet people still love Episode IV. If something is only good because you didn't know how it ended, then it probably wasn't actually all that good. Just shocking or surprising, which is a momentary thrill. If something has endured decades of being rewatched and loved by audiences, then its because there's a lot more going on than simple twists of the plot and that in itself calls to question (for me at least) what's more important to quality media. A sick ending, or a great journey. If the former, then how do we explain films like The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, The Magnificent 7, or Star Wars? These are classics. People still watch and enjoy them even knowing how they end. I've probably rewatched Deathnote and Fullmetal Alchemists a dozen times in my life, and both those series relied heavily on plot twists to maintain tension and they didn't cease to be enjoyable just because I knew the ending. I certainly didn't get the same thrill I got from watching them the first time through, but they're still good. Come on Deathnote somehow turned eating a potato chip into one of the most intense and riveting five seconds of television for an entire year. A damn potato chip! You don't pull that off just by being surprising.


I apologize ahead of time if I don't word this in the best way. I have the idea in my head, but I know I'm going to have a hard time properly translating this one into words:

The thing about much older movies/books is that each person's opportunity to see them is different. With a modern movie, there is a desire to see it on release, to enjoy the big screen experience, so most will see it in roughly the same timespan, but there is no such opportunity with classic movies (well, sometimes there is), so most will approach that classic within a different timeframe. Returning to my example of Murder on the Orient Express, can we really expect everyone who might be interested in the new movie to have read the book? The book is a classic of mystery fiction, rightfully so, but not every genre fan has read every classic of that genre. Not every fantasy fan has read Lord of the Rings, not every sci-fi fan has read Dune, and even if they were to do, they would not all do so at the same time. Star Wars EpIV, I feel, is a poor example because Star Wars is still very much current. There are consistently new movies, new books, new games, etc., that continue to keep the knowledge of it in the modern consciousness, and continue to encourage people to experience it. Until the Lord of the Rings movies came along, there was no such impetus to get people to read the books and experience that story.

Looking at what I wrote, I'm still not sure if I properly expressed what I'm thinking.


Edit: Another try: Citizen Kane. You already know how it ends because it's a classic and it's already spoiled. You watch it and enjoy it. You get curious about Orson Welles's other works. You mention in passing to me that you're about to watch The Third Man. A true classic, but certainly a less well known one compared to others. And I blurt out about how cool the ferris wheel scene is and spoil the details of that for you. How would you feel about that?

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/10/06 02:02:43


"Through the darkness of future past, the magician longs to see.
One chants out between two worlds: Fire, walk with me."
- Twin Peaks
"You listen to me. While I will admit to a certain cynicism, the fact is that I am a naysayer and hatchetman in the fight against violence. I pride myself in taking a punch and I'll gladly take another because I choose to live my life in the company of Gandhi and King. My concerns are global. I reject absolutely revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method... is love. I love you Sheriff Truman." - Twin Peaks 
   
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USA

You expressed it fine. I gotcha.

 Tannhauser42 wrote:
How would you feel about that?


That would be a dick move, but I think there's a difference between keeping quite around someone who has specifically expressed interest in something, and the absurd reaction people have to other people talking about something with no knowledge that the first person hasn't seen/read/watched it yet (which is more to what I'm talking about). If you and I are talking about Murder on the Orient Express, and I bring up Strangers on a Train for... some reason I don't know its an example, and some third person yells at me for spoiling Strangers on a Train I'm not very sympathetic to that. It's an old movie. I'm not going to shut up about stuff on the random off chance some bystander is interested beyond my knowledge.

Going out of one's way to spoil something is a dick move, but if it's been awhile since that thing was new it's kind of dickish to expect the whole world to be silent about it on the account of whoever hasn't experienced it yet, especially when I don't think the plot twists are what really makes something worthwhile.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2017/10/06 02:36:38


   
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Pleasant Valley, Iowa

I think the context is important. For Game of Thrones, if you log onto Dakka Dakka, go to the Geek Media subforum, click on the Game of Thrones thread, and then go to page 45 or what have you, then you have largely authored your own misfortune if something gets spoiled.

It's also a little complex when it's a series based on books. I personally don't share show spoilers for at least 24 hours unless it's already open discussion, but book spoilers? Get bent, the most recent book was published 6 years ago.

I think a good rule of thumb for TV shows is at least a day, and I don't know how long for movies. A few weeks at least, maybe more if I know it's got asymmetric release dates - Alien Covenant comes to mind, where it was released in the UK 2 weeks before the US.

Regardless of what I have said above, I think the thread title takes precedence: if the thread title says "spoilers" or "no spoilers", that's what I do.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/10/06 03:32:36


 lord_blackfang wrote:
Respect to the guy who subscribed just to post a massive ASCII dong in the chat and immediately get banned.

 Flinty wrote:
The benefit of slate is that its.actually a.rock with rock like properties. The downside is that it's a rock
 
   
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Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

He was dead the whole time.
It's the sled.
The ship sinks at the end.
Wolverine dies at the end*.
He's Luke's father.
Soylent Green is people.
He was Keyser Söze all along.
They destroy the ring.
They're trapped in a virtual reality prison created by the machines.

*ahem*

I've always figured that if you have a thread set up to discuss a topic, then spoilers should be expected. If there's a TV show that I watch and a new episode has aired and I haven't seen it, yet I go into that thread and get spoiled, then that's on me.

Why should I expect others to not talk about something, or 'hide' their conversation just because I was stupid enough to wander into the thread expecting people not to be talking about it?

If it's something unrelated or even tangentially related (ie. the talking about Han dying in a non-SW thread, or in something SW related but not related to The Force Awakens) then yeah, maybe don't, or spoiler it, but otherwise if the topic of discussion is the thing that you don't want to be spoiled over, then don't go into that discussion until you've seen the thing!



*This was actually a comic book joke long before Logan came out, but works even better now that that film is out.

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
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USA

 H.B.M.C. wrote:

He was Keyser Söze all along.


I think this is an even better example than Star Wars, because most people know what Star Wars is and recognize that "I am your father" is a reference to it, but jokes get made about "he was Keyser Soze" all the time and I don't think most people know what movie it's from or even what that movie was about.

The reference is more well known than the source material by magnitudes.

   
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Douglas Bader






 Tannhauser42 wrote:
Here's another interesting thought: what about old stuff? Sure, we might say it's cool to spoil the summer blockbuster that came out last year as everybody who cares would have seen it by now, but what about a movie from 40+ years ago? You're finally getting around to watching Psycho and someone tells you how it ends. Citizen Kane, Casablanca, or The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Another example: Murder on the Orient Express. Already had a movie back in the 70s, and the book written before that, but we've got a new movie coming later this year. Can we expect everyone going to see the new movie to have seen the old movie or to have read the book?


No, worrying about spoilers on a 50 year old movie does not make sense. At some point you just have to accept that it's open for discussion, staying spoiler-free on literally every piece of fiction ever created makes it way too difficult to have a conversation about anything.

There is no such thing as a hobby without politics. "Leave politics at the door" is itself a political statement, an endorsement of the status quo and an attempt to silence dissenting voices. 
   
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Burtucky, Michigan

 Tannhauser42 wrote:
Here's another interesting thought: what about old stuff? Sure, we might say it's cool to spoil the summer blockbuster that came out last year as everybody who cares would have seen it by now, but what about a movie from 40+ years ago? You're finally getting around to watching Psycho and someone tells you how it ends. Citizen Kane, Casablanca, or The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Another example: Murder on the Orient Express. Already had a movie back in the 70s, and the book written before that, but we've got a new movie coming later this year. Can we expect everyone going to see the new movie to have seen the old movie or to have read the book?




Thats a good point I didnt touch on in my first post. Those would fall under that section of "Ill stop here you need to see/read it before I continue". And really that comes down to the person, if youve seen a movie or read a book that has a fantastic ending then you should know not to ruin that emotional connection you yourself had experiencing it.
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka






I try and avoid spoilers, but I managed to spoil myself about series 3, 5 and 6 of Game of Thrones. Series 3 wasn't "ruined", and I expect series 5 and 6 won't be when I get round to it (although I might have forgotten the spoilers by that point )

More annoying is trying to avoid F1 results until I can watch the race. A bit like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQOVhtjL2rc

"student" editions of classic literature often don' even pretend that spoilers are important - I've seen books where the academic introduction discusses the main plot element and the ending before you even begin the text proper.
   
Made in gb
Joined the Military for Authentic Experience





On an Express Elevator to Hell!!

Interesting idea for a thread! Guess it's different for everyone. I remember following Barry Norman (BBC film critic who had his own TV movie review show) receiving complaints that he had given away the ending of Titanic during the review..

The other end of the scale is people writing about the leaked GoT episodes before they had screened on TV or talking about TWD future events based on the comic. Think those are definitely 'spoilers'in the literal sense of the term.

Also - outside of forums, why did Google insist on sending me the MotoGP results in a notification? Either I had seen the race, in which case I didn't need to see the results. Or, it was giving me the result for something I wanted to watch later. Grrrr !

Epic 30K&40K! A new players guide, contributors welcome https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/751316.page
Small but perfectly formed! A Great Crusade Epic 6mm project: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/694411.page

 
   
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Secret Force Behind the Rise of the Tau




USA

 Pacific wrote:
Interesting idea for a thread! Guess it's different for everyone. I remember following Barry Norman (BBC film critic who had his own TV movie review show) receiving complaints that he had given away the ending of Titanic during the review..


That... that the boats sinks in the end? XD

   
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Fixture of Dakka






I had someone complain that I'd ruined the end of Apollo 13 when I said "and of course they made it home".
   
 
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