Spoiler Discussion - (spoiler free)

[andrewducker]

In the last couple of days I've been in discussion with a couple of different people about spoilers. One of them about BSG season 2 (now two years old) and the other about HP:Half Blood Prince (now four years old), with them considering that as they'd experienced them years ago, they couldn't possibly be considered spoilers.

Which is the exact opposite of how I feel about it. Because there are movies I still haven't seen fronm the 1950s, where discussion of the twist in the tale would spoil the movie for me. And I'm very aware that the majority of people who go to see the new HP movie won't have read the book.

To me, spoilers are all about politeness. If you tell someone the end/twist of something they didn't know, and will possibly experience in the future, when they didn't want to know, then you've spoiled that experience for them. I remember the feeling of watching Empire Strikes Back and discovering that Han and Chewied were lovers. The shock and surprise at the moment of reveal was an integral part of the experience for me, and taking it away from people that haven't seen the movie yet is just plain rude.

Now, you can argue that it being years old, the chances that people on your friends list haven't seen Empire Strikes Back is low. Which is true if you're posting friends-only and have nobody under the age of 20 on your friends list. But it's not like the olden days, when a movie would appear, and then vanish again, when TV that had made the rounds was lost. Nowadays I can go out and buy box sets for TV made before I was born, and watch it entirely fresh. There are more hours of TV and movies out there than I have time to watch in my whole life, and the chances are that some will be watched years out of synch with their original release. And I'd really appreciate you not telling me the details before I do!

Obviously I consider all of the following to be spoilers. I'm curious whether you do too. If you don't then I'd love to know why...

[Poll #1430090]

Also: NO SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS!

Comments

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

I don't get comments e-mailed to me so I have no way to repost what I wrote. So that's really unreasonable and has really incensed me. You're the one being unreasonable about spoilers that have passed into general knowledge, spoilers that would be regarded as fair game in pub quizzes, in effect, SPOILERS THAT HAVE STOPPED BEING SPOILERS.

I would not do that to you, I'd at least give you a chance to edit your bloody comment, but I see that although you're whining about how selfless you are and how everyone should walk on cotton wool around you because you get all emo when you get films spoiled, you don't have the common decency to allow me the same privilege.

This is way below what I expect of such an intelligent person.

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

I have nothing more to say on the subject, I took the time to make a reasonable point and it got deleted, so I don't see why I should contribute to this any further.

[andrewducker]

I am not being unreasonable. You stated something that would spoil a movie for people who did not already know that information. I know several people that do not know said information. The comment you left would spoil it for them.

I will email you your comment if you like.

And I'm not being rude here - I haven't sworn, and I'm trying to be as helpful as possible.

Now, would you like your comment emailed to you?

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

I apologise for swearing, but no, as I've said, I'm not willing to participate in this one any further.

[andrewducker]

That's fair enough. I had assumed that my reply would arrive in your inbox with your original text in it. I didn't realise you'd be left without it at all, I thought you'd be able to recomment with a small chunks of XXXXXs.

Never mind.

[nmg.livejournal.com]

I agree with this comment.

[andrewducker]

What do you agree with exactly? Were you watching over his shoulders when, despite what I stated above, he posted a spoiler? When I left him a comment saying to post again, and that I was removing his comment so others wouldn't be spoiled?

???

[nmg.livejournal.com]

I agree with John that your attitude about common knowledge verges on unreasonable.

Quite frankly, would it have hurt you to have screened the comment? Deleting the comment was a bad call, and I expected better of you.

[andrewducker]

I completely forgot about screening - it's not something I've ever done.

And I don't see a problem deleting a comment - especially when I expected him to get a copy of it in my reply, and I offered to email it to him.

Also, I don't care about "common knowledge". I care whether people who read something will be upset by it. I know, for instance, several people who are looking forward to seeing the movie of Harry Potter who do not know the ending. The fact that to some people the end of the movie is common knowledge that what happens at the end is beside the point - these people are looking forward to seeing the movie, enjoying it, and being surprised by its twists and turns. Telling them the ending is simply rude.

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

John, just because something is generally known by a lot of people doesn't mean that everyone knows it. Why do you want to detract from their potential ability to see the content fresh and without prior knowledge - or if "want to detract" is overstating it, why do you simply not care to respect their wishes?

Movies, books, tv are all a form of craft. Telling me what happens halfway through something I've not yet seen is changing the experience. Some people don't care, others do. Andy specifically asked for no spoilers in the comments and removed whatever it was that you put here that broke that "rule". His LJ, his decision, and it's not rude. If you're incensed by this then you need to chill out, mate.

[johncoxon.livejournal.com]

I answered your questions in my comment, which has since been deleted.

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

But from what I can glean from this conversation, that comment also did that very thing which is the very reason it's gone. And meanwhile Andy has offered you the chance to put it all back, by providing you with the content, just missing out the bit that might piss people off but in response you're sulking and throwing and online strop about how harsh he's being and refusing to. LJ is clunky, he couldn't remove the spoiler by itself, and you're complaining because he edited it away.