Superbowl Spoilers February 3, 2002 9:31 PM   Subscribe

A plea from those of us in other countries - could you guys not give away the Superbowl results in a FPP next year?
posted by obiwanwasabi to Etiquette/Policy at 9:31 PM (52 comments total)

Or maybe you could not log on to Mefi before the Superbowl?
posted by owillis at 9:38 PM on February 3, 2002


Why? I didn't expect that in this generally spoiler-friendly place that not only the winner, but the exact score would be emblazoned on the front page in glorious HTML.

If it had been Survivor (RICHARD WINS!!), or the last episode of Seinfeld (SEINFELD IN JAIL!), or the father of Rachel's baby (I dunno - we're a season behind) people would be screaming murder.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 9:49 PM on February 3, 2002


MetaFilter: Warning - Spoilers!
posted by whatnotever at 9:50 PM on February 3, 2002


They revealed that Rachael's pregnant by Chandler's cross-dressing father LAST season, didn't they?

Kidding, kidding...
posted by Optamystic at 10:01 PM on February 3, 2002


I've always thought the spoiler thing wasn't necessary for metafilter. Then I realized I'm on the east coast of America. We get everything good first.

I guess it would be nice if people kept spoiler info off the front page, out of courtesy. I don't even think a spoiler warning would be necessary...cause if you live in Australia, for instance, and go into the Superbowl thread, you're nuts if you don't think people will be discussing the score.
posted by Doug at 10:18 PM on February 3, 2002


Wow... that's kinda strange. If you don't mind my asking, obi, do they not give the news of the Superbowl wins over there after it happens, on some news station or something?

(Absolutely sincere question: I never considered the possibility that they keep news of sports events on the Q.T. in other countries until they're rebroadcast later; I assumed it all just got passed through like a regular AP newsfeed...)
posted by Perigee at 10:25 PM on February 3, 2002


You East Coasters, you're so F'ING superior, aren't you?

Hey, I feel pretty good. That trolling stuff is really cathartic.

Seriously, though, I thought (wrongly, it appears) that the Super Bowl was one of those worldwide-LIVE events. Sue me for being America-centric.

So, when I get the Olympic curling results live from the Ogden Ice Sheet, are you saying you don't want me to post them?
posted by mr_crash_davis at 10:27 PM on February 3, 2002


Man, can't beat the excitement of Curling. After a few Curling Black Labels anyway.

Have broom will travel.

Too. Much. Beer. *urp*
posted by Kafkaesque at 10:30 PM on February 3, 2002


The Summer olympics caused the same problem in the U.S.

consider it payback, obiwan.


posted by ttrendel at 10:32 PM on February 3, 2002


Seriously, though, I thought (wrongly, it appears) that the Super Bowl was one of those worldwide-LIVE events.

It is (well, it's live here in Oz). However, being on at 10am, most NFL fans I know tape the game, then head home to watch it over a keg and steaming piles of buffalo wings.

I'm not saying that the FPP was out of line, or that you shouldn't have a thread. I'm on the other side of the planet - I can't complain about what you guys do about your game in your country, and you don't have to make special arrangements for us.

I'm just asking (pleading, actually), if you could keep it under wraps for just a little longer next year. Post away, by all means - just not the winner/score in the FPP text.

And as for the Olympics, look, we've already apologised for Nicki Webster. Let it go, and we'll forget you guys arriving late for both wars. ;)
posted by obiwanwasabi at 10:40 PM on February 3, 2002


Oh, you dirty sonofabitch. Why, I oughta-
(quickly handed history textbook)


Oh.
posted by dong_resin at 12:43 AM on February 4, 2002


Seriously, though, I thought (wrongly, it appears) that the Super Bowl was one of those worldwide-LIVE events. Sue me for being America-centric.

Maybe because some other countries couldn't care less about such a petty event in a so-called sport. (I don't mean to troll, this would go into the usual anti—american-specific-sports, but I hope you get my point.)
Seriously, I never even considered SuperBowl to be something 'worldwide', let alone LIVE.

Now about the results, it would be good to put an FPP like 'blah blah the match woah' and then in the thread, 1st comment, putting the score etc. That way people who do not want to be spoiled, yet still want to read the other threads on MeFi, can afford reading the front page...
posted by michel v at 1:57 AM on February 4, 2002


I'd have to agree with obi. Even if the event was broadcasted live in French (one a crypted network, though), some FPP should contain a "warning : spoilers inside !".
posted by XiBe at 3:26 AM on February 4, 2002


Maybe because some other countries couldn't care less about such a petty event in a so-called sport

When is a troll most likely a troll? When it says it isn't.
posted by owillis at 3:31 AM on February 4, 2002


You're right, he could have found a nicer way of saying the NFL blows. Or even have tried not to say the NFL blows. But he said it.

Anyway, while we're on this subject, I'd like to request that no one post the results of the next World Snooker Championship until I've had time to go down to the news stand and buy the paper and 20 Rothmans.

Thanks.
posted by pracowity at 6:32 AM on February 4, 2002


Shouldn't this be on Sports Filter?
posted by thirteen at 7:53 AM on February 4, 2002


It's certainly not a very nice way of saying that "soccer" is the worlds most popular game, and that "football" is largely disregarded outside the states, which are nevertheless facts.

Personally I have nothing against the game: it's just totally foreign to most people in the world. I actually went through a period of vaguely following it, but the coverage we do get is on at something like 3 in the morning. I prefer rugby certainly, but I wouldn't call american football a "so-called" sport. It's definitely a sport.

Snooker, on the other hand, is a religion.
posted by walrus at 7:59 AM on February 4, 2002


It's certainly not a very nice way of saying that "soccer" is the worlds most popular game, and that "football" is largely disregarded outside the states, which are nevertheless facts.

Personally I have nothing against the game: it's just totally foreign to most people in the world. I actually went through a period of vaguely following it, but the coverage we do get is on at something like 3 in the morning. I prefer rugby certainly, but I wouldn't call american football a "so-called" sport. It's definitely a sport.

Snooker, on the other hand, is a religion.
posted by walrus at 7:59 AM on February 4, 2002


shit
posted by walrus at 7:59 AM on February 4, 2002


When is a troll most likely a troll? When it says it isn't.
so. there is absolutely no way to express the perfectly valid (and long held by myself) opinion that 'sport' turns most people into bigger morons that they already are, that most become foaming at the mouth idiots endlessly discussing the moves of big dumb brutish overpaid loutish substance abusing violence freaks chasing a little ball around a big stadium, and the whole thing is so meaningless and trite and embarrassing that those of us with actual minds experience nausea? lets not even mention the deception of hordes of minority kids who are encouraged to see salvation in becoming a sports star as opposed to something useful in life. what's the ratio of black college professors to black NFL players? troll? fuck you, owillis, and the ball you dribbled in on.

posted by quonsar at 8:15 AM on February 4, 2002


Oh, dear. I'll read this rest of this tomorrow.
posted by pracowity at 8:23 AM on February 4, 2002


Elitism much?
posted by darukaru at 8:27 AM on February 4, 2002


Perigee - In the UK on the sports news this morning the superbowl was fourth on - Cricket, Rugby, Football and then the superbowl as a kind of 'hey, the Patriots won the Superbowl, how appropriate' aside.
posted by brettski at 8:27 AM on February 4, 2002


Seriously, I never even considered SuperBowl to be something 'worldwide', let alone LIVE.

Michel v is absolutely right. I've never seen a baseball or American football game in my life and it's weird to hear terms like "World Series" and whatever bandied about.(Yeah I know "World" comes from the name of the NYC newspaper - but how many Europeans do?)

These sports just don't exist in Europe - they pop up in movies and that's about it. They look like fun(well, not much) - but they're still a strictly American pastime. So definitely no trolling there, owillis - just honesty. ;)
posted by MiguelCardoso at 8:27 AM on February 4, 2002


I should clarify. I don't like sports, and I don't watch them, but I also don't go around characterizing everyone who does as a drooling moron.
posted by darukaru at 8:29 AM on February 4, 2002


I guess someone always got picked last. Eh, quonsar?
posted by Kafkaesque at 9:09 AM on February 4, 2002


I guess someone always got picked last. Eh, quonsar?
ROFLMAO!
but...uh...yeah.
posted by quonsar at 9:13 AM on February 4, 2002


fuck you, quonsar. christ.
posted by owillis at 9:21 AM on February 4, 2002


Superwhat?
posted by Frasermoo at 9:49 AM on February 4, 2002


how did this go from a non-american lamenting having the ending of an american game spoiled to several non-americans crapping on how i choose to spend my free-time?

obiwanwasabi has a legit beef. but you other folks....if you don't like american football why are you even reading this thread? much less posting in it.
posted by danOstuporStar at 10:28 AM on February 4, 2002


quonsar: I just checked out your weblog. Are you really in the best position to criticize me because I like watching people play with their balls?
posted by rcade at 10:40 AM on February 4, 2002


"If it had been Survivor (....) people would be screaming murder."

I guess that's kind of what happened. I didn't mention the murder part though. I wanted that to be a surprise.
posted by lucien at 11:38 AM on February 4, 2002


Y'know if they called it foaming at the mouth idiots endlessly discussing the moves of big dumb brutish overpaid loutish substance abusing violence freaks chasing a little ball around a big stadium, I'd fucking watch the thing.
I think quonsar may be on to something.

Nine inch nails music would have to be in the background, of course.
posted by dong_resin at 12:40 PM on February 4, 2002


rcade: thank you for checking out my weblog. perhaps you have gained some insight as to the intense seriousness which i bring to these light-hearted little tea parties.
posted by quonsar at 5:45 PM on February 4, 2002


I just checked out quonsar's blog as well. Interesting, makes stileproject look like camworld
posted by jonmc at 5:51 PM on February 4, 2002


thirteen: Shouldn't this be on Sports Filter?

It was, actually- I posted the "Pats win!" thread there instead of Metafilter, and in fact posted it before it got posted here at MeFi (yay me!). And I'll defend with my dying breath the right to post scores in the FPP text at sportsfilter. Well, unless the SpoFites (spofites?!) think it's better not to do so. Hmmm...

That said, I can empathize with obi's pain; this was a classic superbowl, and to know it had a dramatic and close underdog finish would certainly be a downer. But he should have expected that it would be posted, and should have stayed away from MeFi until he'd watch the game. If you had taped a big game to watch later, you'd generally avoid turning on the tv or news in case they gave away the score, nor would you wander into a sports bar for dinner before going home. You can't expect MeFi to be any different...
posted by hincandenza at 1:47 AM on February 5, 2002


"shit"

not here, it attracts flies.
posted by jcterminal at 9:22 AM on February 5, 2002


You don't want to make me constipated ... you wouldn't like me when I'm ... oh, never mind.
posted by walrus at 9:45 AM on February 5, 2002


obiwanwasabi, you're basically asking people not to put the score in a front page post to accomodate your choice not to watch the Super Bowl live. It's on at 10:00 a.m., so you could watch it live, but you'd prefer to tape it and watch it later.

Even if you were in a time zone that would make it tough to watch the game live, I agree with hincandenza: why is MetaFilter any different than any other news source?

posted by kirkaracha at 9:52 AM on February 5, 2002


hincandenza: this goes double for SportsFilter; I mean, it does have sports in the name and all.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:54 AM on February 5, 2002


I can understand how Obianwasabi feels. Here in Hawaii, we get Monday Night Football on a tape delayed feed. It takes a concerted effort to avoid both television and internet news revealing the outcome if you can't get to a place with a satellite dish to see it live. Also, it's well known throughout the islands that walking into a bar and blabbing the score is a good way to get hurt.
posted by scottymac at 10:08 AM on February 5, 2002


Shouldn't your concern be focused on the Olympics?
posted by ParisParamus at 12:56 PM on February 5, 2002


obiwanwasabi, you're basically asking people not to put the score in a front page post to accomodate your choice not to watch the Super Bowl live.

I thought I explained exactly that earlier on. I'm asking. Not telling, not bitching, not waxing poetic. Just plain old asking, one Me-Fi to a heap of others, for a favour.

And as for why MeFi is different to any other news source: despite the place looking more and more like a CNN ticker every day, I've never considered MeFi a news site. I don't expect to see news posted here. Countless MeTa threads indicate that a lot of folks feel the same.

I don't want to take the 'stop posting fucking news links to the FP' line - I prefer to ask, I hope that I shall receive.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 5:10 PM on February 5, 2002


Come to think of it, we've got a couple of new lines for the shirt:

Metafilter: No different to any other news source
Metafilter: You can't expect it to be any different.
Metafilter: Like a sports bar, but without the big screen.

By the way, kirkaracha - some of us have jobs to be at by 10am on a Monday morning, so no, watching it live was not an option.

posted by obiwanwasabi at 5:15 PM on February 5, 2002


Judging from his writing style and stretch-marked belly, I think this may have been written about quonsar.
posted by hellinskira at 5:46 PM on February 5, 2002


Judging from his writing style and stretch-marked belly
stretch-marked belly?!?!? what the...? oh! hahahahahahaha!
the link is the title of the page linked to - disgusting pictures of me - and are not disgusting pictures of 'me', but disgusting pictures of darren hundley. which the url makes quite clear to those blessed with the ability to see. perhaps my writing style isn't up to mefi standards, but one thing i have learned to do is read/comprehend.

all of that aside, i quite agree about the book.
posted by quonsar at 8:46 PM on February 5, 2002


some of us have jobs to be at by 10am on a Monday morning, so no, watching it live was not an option.

be still my bleeding heart.
posted by Frasermoo at 1:19 AM on February 6, 2002


some of us have jobs to be at by 10am on a Monday morning

Well, I've been to bars at 6:00 a.m. to watch the Six Nations rugby tournament (the only way to see the matches here) and one of my soccer teammates is restructuring his whole work schedule for the next couple of months around The World Cup, so it's possible to work and also see the big game. But maybe you have a job that's not that flexible.

I actually agree that the score shouldn't be posted on MetaFilter, but the fact is that MetaFilter has evolved into a place where news is routinely posted on the front page. Yes, it goes against the guidelines, and yes, a lot of people are unhappy about it, but that doesn't change the way it is. If I lived where it was inconvenient or difficult to see the game live, and I didn't want to know the outcome, I'd follow scottymac's example and make a concerted effort to avoid places that might reveal the outcome of the game. Maybe MetaFilter shouldn't be one of those places, but it seems like it is to me.

And sorry about always showing up late to the wars. I promise we'll do better in the next one...and the one after that, too.


posted by kirkaracha at 1:20 PM on February 6, 2002


"why is MetaFilter any different than any other news source?"

Metafilter, in it's inception, was intended to be a place where you could post links and discuss topics that you didn't get a chance to post and discuss anywhere else on the 'net. There are literally thousands on places on the Internet where you can discuss the results of the Super bowl. So, wouldn't it make more sense, if anyone was being asked to "not use the site for a while" for those people to be the ones discussing the Super bowl, since there is only one place like Metafilter, but scores of message boards and communities where you can discuss the Super Bowl?

Not that I would ever suggest that anyone "didn't use the site for a day." I feel like that would be patronising. Obviously, people are well aware of their options. Nor am I suggesting that people didn't post that sort of stuff here, not because I'm not interested in the kind of content that is posted at Metafilter, but it's not the point.

OK, for the sake of the discussion, I will agree with your stance that Metafilter is a "news source" and respond to it.

1) Nobody is requesting that you don't share the news, or discuss it, although I doubt it's news to anyone except those who aren't from the US and thus haven't had a chance to see it yet. Just requesting that you not put the actual results in a front-page post.

2) It’s a community.

3) People are already careful not to post spoilers for movies, books, and other media. Why? Presumably because they want other people to enjoy the experience as much as they did.

For those who say "well, don't use metafilter for 24 hours.... first of all, we don't know when the TV event is being shown overseas. Even if we researched it we would probably still get it wrong, due to the fact that it airs first in some states before others. Then you have to try to work out the time zoning difference. Then you have work out the difference re when it is being shown here. Then you have to try and guess when it will be posted to metafilter.

"you're basically asking people not to put the score in a front page post to accomodate your choice not to watch the Super Bowl live."

Not all of us had the choice to watch it live. For some people, it was shown delayed because of local time zone differences.

Or, to paraphrase your assumption-posed-as-a-fact - You're basically asking people not to use metafilter, just to accommodate your choice to put the score in a front page post.

kirkaracha can you explain to me why it's such a big deal to put results within the thread proper? What are others missing out on if the actual result is put within the front-page post, at least for a short span of time after it is first shown?
posted by lucien at 2:19 PM on February 6, 2002


Jeez, I thought we were done.

I've already conceded the point that people shouldn't put the score on the front page. I also agree that MetaFilter is a community with an etiquette of not posting spoilers, and I agree with your implication that the same etiquette should apply to the Super Bowl. But that doesn't change the fact that people will violate the etiquette. I'm not saying it's OK to post the score on the front page, I'm saying people are going to do it anyway.

About MetaFilter being a news source: people post news on the front page all the time, even though that's not what MetaFilter was originally intended to be, and even though it goes against the guidelines. I'm not saying that MetaFilter should be a news source, I'm saying that, in my opinion, it is a news source, even though it shouldn't be. There's the way it ought to be, and there's the way it is.
posted by kirkaracha at 8:53 PM on February 7, 2002


"Jeez, I thought we were done."

Sorry? Oh, you mean that you were done. Fair enough. I guess the thread expired some ten minutes after you posted your note. Darn. Sorry.

I understand what you are saying, but I don't think things are static or held in stone. People struggle over the meaning of metafilter all the time. Things can always be better.

I'm sure Obi wasn't asking you to be responsible for the behaviour of others. But to say "this is the way I think things are" is pretty superfluous. Because Obi was also saying "I think this is the way things are" and saying "hey, can we by one very easy act, change this?"

"I'm saying that, in my opinion, it is a news source, even though it shouldn't be. "

OK, yes, I'm still baffled by the fact that you basically just repeated the points you made earlier, as if you felt I didn't understand them. But here's what I said in response to that point the last time you made it -

OK, for the sake of the discussion, I will agree with your stance that Metafilter is a "news source" and respond to it.

1) Nobody is requesting that you don't share the news, or discuss it, although I doubt it's news to anyone except those who aren't from the US and thus haven't had a chance to see it yet. Just requesting that you not put the actual results in a front-page post.

posted by lucien at 2:34 AM on February 8, 2002


lucien, if you understood my original points, why did you explicitly ask me to "explain to me why it's such a big deal to put results within the thread proper" when I had already agreed that the score shouldn't have been posted on the front page? And how can I respond to you without repeating myself when you keep raising the same points?

posted by kirkaracha at 4:06 PM on February 8, 2002


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