<abbr title="Enter spoiler text here">SPOILER</abbr>I've given up on arguing Metafilters "Spoilers are mandatory and you're an asshole for expecting otherwise" policy.Dude, it's not the dislike of spoilers that's making you an asshole, it's the histrionics.
I don't see why we can't have a policy of: Accidental spoilers are going to happen, but please try to mark things that you think might be spoilery. We're already having these discussions, so it's not like there will be a sudden upsurge in complaints. "We can't stop spoilers or catch them all, so read at your own risk. But please don't be an ass, either."But.... that is the policy! (more or less). I think there's also been a rider that posters who are obfuscating spoilers should try to keep the volume down to the point that it doesn't obscure a whole thread.
I see it there every time you say "we don't do that kind of discussion" or "people don't really consider it a problem" or "just don't read that thread"...Then maybe you should work on your reading comprehension, because none of those things are synonyms with "anyone who cares about this is stupid."
Yeah, it's actually not remotely complicated. If the thread is about the TV show, spoilers are unaired content for the show.It's more complicated than you think. For example, many networks show a little trailer for the next episode after the credits. If I post "OMG!!! Character X is coming back next week!!" after seeing that, have I committed a spoiler? How about if I read in the tabloid that Actress X is pregnant. "Oooh - the character played by Actress X probably won't be in episodes 10 or 11 - they'll be filmed when she's due." Have I committed a spoiler? How about if I recognize that a character is really blatantly an homage to Achilles. "So, Character Y is about due to pitch a fit and miss a major battle." Have I committed a spoiler?
It really, really bothers me that the assholes are in charge of media threads at Metafilter, that the people who take malicious joy in ruining the surprise for others aren't suppressed in any way.While, yes, there are people who come in after folks complain about spoilers and post spiteful comments, by and large that's a really unfair accusation.
"If you are posting content or linking to content that you think may be NSFW or a spoiler, please make a good faith effort to prefix it with a [NSFW] or [SPOILER] warning in your comment. There is no penalty or punishment for posting unmarked spoilers or NSFW content, but marking them is a nice, community-minded thing to do."Right now, it's all about, "Hey, user, shit happens," without mentioning anything the users can/should do to make MeFi a better place. Just because you can't control/police a behavior doesn't mean you shouldn't encourage folks to be excellent to each other.
Hi! This is a question about Six Feet Under from someone who's never seen it, so please no major spoilers.On preview:
Anyway, like I said, I've never watched the series, but I heard interesting things about it, so I'm wondering if another Mefites can chime in with a recommendation on whether to watch the series or not. Either yea or nea is fine, but with your recommendation can you give a brief explanation of why, with a few spoilers as possible? Thanks!"
That was a link to the Something Awful forums. SA has threads full of asshole mobs. In other news, water is wet."Aha! At last, an opportunity to spoil someones day!!! My evil plans are coming to fruition -- let the tears and lamentations flow like music to my ears..."Again, yes, people say this for Game of Thrones.
I'm speaking specifically about people who post spoilers on purpose"This is like the 10th time someone has said this. Name names, please.
I think the reason some people are getting so heated is because the general tone here is so at odds withwhat is normal here.So in the above, I avoided mentioning other media, then I read Eideteker again pushing the 'Why can't you do this one simple "thoughtful and conscientious"' thing line. This is annoying, presumptuous and dividing. I made a bland comment in the Super 8 thread to try avoid conversation drifting too much or revealing any plot points in a nine year old movie. I' avoided writing about The Tudors in response to fg's comment about "One of the features of the story is the "anybody can die" nature of it which the show just illustrated for the viewers very dramatically. " I was going to compare and contrast who The Tudor's handled major characters dying, while noting there were two different types of dramas, but christ! I just want to talk about some media with like minded folks, but now it's turned into some minefield of what to talk about, how to do it and where to do it. And these comment is getting long and rambling on and leaving me frustrated. That's nobodies problem but mine, but hopefully this articulates why I'm opposed to putting in spoiler tags.
It's more of a tomato vs tamato and each side thinks they're right and wants the other to follow the one true way. Or at least not have to change their way.
Personally, I find having to think about spoilers shapes what I write on Metafilter, often dulling the point I want to make. That's not a solution, IMO, especially with some of the recent media, like stuff less than 5-10 years old. In the current FPP about Super 8, I wanted to make a point about similarity between that film and M. Night Shyamalan's Signs. Wishing to avoid spoilers, I wrote the sentence fairly blandly instead of mentioning the specific similarities. I'm not happy with that. Multiply that by n number of discusses about various media and it gets annoying, tedious and boring. I don't like puting **SPOILER** in there because it looks distracting and often lets me know there's SOMETHING going in the story, which usually has my mind racing to figure out what and sometimes figuring it out.
I didn't see the mods saying readers should "suck it up or go elsewhere".
I call this "The mods are not listening to my obviously brilliant idea and the world is the poorer for it, why are they so cruel?!" Sometimes the mods have to say "No" because they have to think of the entire ship as opposed to every single individual passenger's wants and desires. Sometimes, in their desire to keep us individually happy, they'll offer a solution that might involve going off-site. It's not the perfect solution, no, but it's better than nothing.
It's good manners, if nothing else.
posted by Trurl at 4:43 PM on June 14, 2011 [3 favorites]