Spoiler Cleanup

I've taken a look at the pages Handling Spoilers, Spoilers Off and It Was His Sled.

I don't know about you, but spoilers seem to be a tricky business. For instance, there's this one troper named Kaljinyu who apparently can't tell what's a spoiler and what isn't. The guy thinks that the death of Maggie from Revolution should be declassified because It Was His Sled.

So, I guess my question is how long is the statute of limitations on spoilers? I mean, the show Revolution has only gone through 12 episodes out of 20 over a number of months.

A series that premiered last year should definitely have its spoilers hidden. It Was His Sled is often subject to Fan Myopia. I don't think that example is anywhere near well-known enough to qualify.

Personally, I would mark all spoilers unless it has been at least 50 years since the work was released^note maybe a little earlier for media like Live-Action TV and Video Games, but I don't usually deal with these, but I'm sure others would have different preferences.

edited 6th Apr '13 6:42:52 PM by nemui10pm

Anything less than a decade, preferably two or more, should have spoilers, unless maybe it happens early on and doesn't change too much (like in Puella Magi Madoka Magica; always spoiler on that).

^ Yeah — a "first episode" spoiler generally doesn't need tagging. And something that is advertised in a trailer or promo should NEVER be tagged.

Trailers and promos do spoil, and they're not an excuse to leave things unspoilered. Lots of people avoid them specifically for that reason.

My opinion on spoilers is if it is a plot twist, reveal, secret, or ending the work wants you to discover naturally then regardless of age add a spoiler tag. The exception being if everyone knows this built-up plot point due to popular culture (example - Darth Vader is Luke Skywalkers father).

Late Arrival Spoilers are a problem though. I'm currently something of an Entry Pimp for one series and the character progresses from a Plucky Middie to The Captain. Having all the entries from later episodes covered simply doesn't look good.

And for characters pages, well, if one character has a suspiciously large number of spoiler-tagged examples, I think readers figure out they died. Only they don't see how and which death tropes were used.

I don't like covered spoilers. I prefer avoiding pages for works I am yet to read or watch, or when I see an example from that work, I stop reading. Perhaps it's because I don't mind if I learn spoilers, but I understand that it's a pet peeve for some.

edited 7th Apr '13 9:33:50 AM by XFllo

^^ I disagree on that. Trailers have to spoil something pretty much by definition, but it's usually stuff that you'd see early on so you're not exactly missing much. Now if a trailer is spoiling a key Reveal or Plot Twist that occurs late into the work, that would definitely fall into the WTH category.

Admittedly, trailers for episodic media (e.g: TV shows) are different from trailers for standalone works, because a trailer for episode #21 is going to assume you've seen the previous 20 episodes first.

edited 7th Apr '13 9:48:44 AM by Stratadrake

There is an option to always expose spoilers. So I do not get what the problem with hiding twists, reveals, and endings. Unless it is already common knowledge to almost everyone. Also if we set standard time frames for this thing and make that official policy? We'll have to go back and edit articles in years to come.

Not all people expose spoilers. In fact, most don't.

The point being if one does not like covered spoilers, one always have the option to expose them.

Also consider that wiki editors are likely to spot spoilers while editing. Also they know how to be careful.

The point is probably establishing what is better and preferable for casual readers and lurkers.

edited 7th Apr '13 11:58:05 AM by XFllo

The best way to solve the spoiler problem would be to stop using spoilers on work pages, understanding that the reader has the responsibility to not go to work pages if they wish to not be spoiled.

Failing that, certain policies that seem to be informally adopted need to be codified on the Spoilers Off page. We have a guideline from Fast Eddie that trope names are not to be spoilered on work pages; that needs to be codified. We have a guideline that there's a 50 year time limit for spoilers; we need to pick a time frame, hopefully much less than 50 years, and codify that on the Spoilers Off page as well.

That would lose us a lot of traffic, as well as create inconvenience.

Why do we suppose that it would lose us traffic? And it would seem to be more convenient rather than less—there would be no more wondering about when to spoil things on work pages.

Because lots of people don't want to be spoiled. And sometimes, a work page is written well enough not to spoil.

This is not the correct thread for discussing general policy either. This is still in the Projects forum, which is for organizing cleanups, not discussing policy. If you want to discuss spoiler policy, use the Wiki Talk forum.

Well then you should probably lock this thread, since it was created in April of this year with the express intent of discussing spoiler policy.

Also, it seems to duplicate this spoiler topic. Close?