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This is the thread to report all violations of the site's spoiler policy in, as well as a place to coordinate cleanup of those articles.

Edited by Mrph1 on Oct 18th 2025 at 11:06:42 AM

AGuy Since: Jun, 2009
#851: Jan 8th 2021 at 10:49:05 PM

(Double post because this is independent of the other post.)

Your Soul Is Mine! should really get a spoiler warning and be non-spoiled. There are a lot of examples which are extensively spoilered, some of which are spoilered in their entirety.

EDIT: Just cleaned up Cavalry Betrayal, which had 44 spoiler tags and many, many examples like the above. The page itself already noted that examples would naturally be spoilers, but that didn't deter people.

Edited by AGuy on Jan 9th 2021 at 3:59:23 PM

I'm just.. a guy....
rjd1922 Best robot boy | he/him | Image Pickin' regular, from the United States Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: Love is for the living, Sal
Best robot boy | he/him | Image Pickin' regular,
#852: Jan 9th 2021 at 5:51:12 AM

[up]I don't think either of those tropes have enough white to make them Spoilers Off.

Keet cleanup
AGuy Since: Jun, 2009
#853: Jan 9th 2021 at 9:59:04 AM

Why do you say that? They inherently involve significant spoiler elements - the death of a character, or a major betrayal. As mentioned, they were filled with spoiler tags, with many of the examples being completely spoilered.

Examples commonly looked like:

The mock-up here is useless without the spoiled part, much like many of the examples on that page.

or

  • In Fictional Work, when The Hero is facing off against the huge mook army in the climax battle, he sees The Cavalry coming, and retreats to rendezvous with them, only for them to raise their guns at him when it turns out that they had just changed their side after a deal with the Big Bad.

Even if you don't read the spoiled section, you know The Hero will be betrayed by The Cavalry in the climax battle; despite that, tbe example does nothing to showcase how the trope fits unless you read the spoiled section.

Edited by AGuy on Jan 9th 2021 at 1:31:47 PM

I'm just.. a guy....
Vilui Since: May, 2009
#854: Jan 9th 2021 at 1:50:44 PM

Bringing up an entry on Rosenkreuzstilette:

  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Part of the final battle in Rosenkreuzstilette Freudenstachel involves Freu fighting Tia, who has been brainwashed by Iris.

Can't mention the trope on a characters page without it being a spoiler, so just remove? Or maybe leave it unspoiled, given that the existence of a sequel in which you play as Freudia makes it a Captain Obvious Reveal?

WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#855: Jan 9th 2021 at 1:52:25 PM

I'm just gonna be bold here and say that the presence of a trope in an example list is not inherently a spoiler. Sure, it spoils that at one point this character gets Brainwashed and Crazy, but without context that's still completely meaningless. It just says that a trope occurs at one point maybe.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
Vilui Since: May, 2009
#856: Jan 9th 2021 at 2:01:22 PM

So, un-tag the trope name and leave the entry as-is otherwise?

WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#857: Jan 9th 2021 at 2:15:22 PM

Probably.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
AGuy Since: Jun, 2009
#858: Jan 9th 2021 at 2:19:18 PM

^^^It does for some tropes, as per Spoilered Rotten. However, as per the spoiler policy, the names of example tropes should never be spoilered out.

Edited by AGuy on Jan 9th 2021 at 5:21:19 AM

I'm just.. a guy....
WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#859: Jan 9th 2021 at 2:22:01 PM

[up] Not necessarily. Those are spoilers because it gives away what happens, but a trope name doesn't do that for the same reason trope names don't qualify as context- they're not the end all be all of what the trope is. Context, which will be spoilered-out, is where the actual spoiler is.

Say you're scrolling on a page for a work you've never seen before and see a spoilered-out example for, say, Death Equals Redemption. All this tells you is that someone dies and gets redeemed, assuming it's even played straight. It doesn't tell you who, when, how, why- all the good stuff is still being hidden.

Edited by WarJay77 on Jan 9th 2021 at 5:23:31 AM

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
Albert3105 Since: Jun, 2013
#860: Jan 9th 2021 at 2:52:08 PM

[up] A tangent, but isn't it also possible for a Death Equals Redemption villain to survive the seemingly fatal situation?

AGuy Since: Jun, 2009
#861: Jan 9th 2021 at 2:58:36 PM

^^As per the first folder of tropes in Spoilered Rotten, there are tropes that spoil major plot details with their presence without needing to be explained, such as The Bad Guy Wins or Downer Ending. Your example, Death Equals Redemption, only tells you that someone dies and gets redeemed - without knowing the work, you don't know whether it's actually anything important or has any major bearing on the plot.

Edited by AGuy on Jan 9th 2021 at 6:02:32 AM

I'm just.. a guy....
WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#862: Jan 9th 2021 at 3:40:29 PM

[up] I said "not necessarily", not "never". There are times when a trope name is a big spoiler in and of itself, but even then the context is the actual spoiler. You know the work ends sadly, but not the circumstances of why.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
AGuy Since: Jun, 2009
#863: Jan 9th 2021 at 4:01:36 PM

I myself said "some tropes", so I am wondering why you would argue against that being true when my statement was never absolute.

As for what you mention about Downer Ending: That's still a spoiler, even if you don't know the exact circumstances. If you know the story ends badly, that is still a major detail hanging over you as you go through it.

Edited by AGuy on Jan 9th 2021 at 7:03:44 AM

I'm just.. a guy....
WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#864: Jan 9th 2021 at 4:29:50 PM

Sure, and I'm not disputing that- just that trope titles alone don't spoil everything, and that's all I've been trying to say here. That people are so worked up about trope names when half the time they either aren't enough context to actually spoil the story, or only spoil a few details at worst- in isolation, specifically.

So I just think that all the concerns about what to do with certain tropes is missing the point; as long as you can hide the actual spoiler context, the trope title itself isn't the spoiler 90% of the time and shouldn't be the concern.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
AGuy Since: Jun, 2009
#865: Jan 9th 2021 at 4:37:07 PM

That I fully agree with - spoiler tagging the name of a trope is unnecessary. You might as well spoiler tag the entire example, seeing as the unspoilered part wouldn't show what trope is actually being showcased.

I'm just.. a guy....
PurpleEyedGuma Since: Apr, 2020
#866: Jan 9th 2021 at 4:53:10 PM

I tried to fix that page as best I could.

jandn2014 SMILE! from somewhere in Connecticut Since: Aug, 2017 Relationship Status: Hiding
SMILE!
#867: Jan 9th 2021 at 6:58:09 PM

Adding on to the “spoiler-tagging trope names” discussion, there’s always going to be a risk when browsing work pages. We can’t ensure that you won’t ever be spoiled to some extent.

Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#868: Jan 9th 2021 at 7:46:25 PM

Agreed, you have to stop putting spoilers on things at some point. Some amount of spoilers is to be expected when reading TV Tropes.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
Twiddler (On A Trope Odyssey)
#869: Jan 10th 2021 at 7:52:12 PM

Neon Genesis Evangelion was made spoilers off in 2019, with the rationale (as seen commented out at the top of the page) "the series is nearly 25 years old, has had repeated runs on Toonami and Adult Swim and has a significant influence in popular culture." Is this reasonable? The decision was proposed on the discussion page, but no one responded to it before it was implemented.

rjd1922 Best robot boy | he/him | Image Pickin' regular, from the United States Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: Love is for the living, Sal
Best robot boy | he/him | Image Pickin' regular,
#870: Jan 10th 2021 at 8:22:59 PM

[up]In my opinion no, that wasn't reasonable, especially considering just last year Netflix introduced it to a new generation of fans who likely don't want to be spoiled.

Edited by rjd1922 on Jan 10th 2021 at 10:25:21 AM

Keet cleanup
gjjones Musician/Composer from South Wales, New York Since: Jul, 2016
Musician/Composer
#871: Jan 10th 2021 at 10:34:47 PM

On the Evangelion forum page, the suggestion to make the characters pages spoilers off was approved by Willbyr, one of our moderators. However, he was a little hesitant on making the main page spoilers off.

Come to think of it, I think we should consider asking here if we can consider keeping the main Evangelion page spoilers off or reinstate the spoiler tags. Thoughts?

Edited by gjjones on Jan 10th 2021 at 1:39:08 PM

He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.
Karxrida from Eureka, the Forbidden Land Since: May, 2012 Relationship Status: I LOVE THIS DOCTOR!
#872: Jan 10th 2021 at 10:48:38 PM

Characters.Final Fantasy XIV Disciples Of War has spoiler tags in folder names and in the character descriptions. The page is huge so it's not realistic for me to point to everything. I suspect the other FFXIV character pages have similar tagging issues.

Edited by Karxrida on Jan 10th 2021 at 10:48:46 AM

Vilui Since: May, 2009
#873: Jan 10th 2021 at 11:00:09 PM

[up][up][up][up]It came up recently in ATT that other pages, including Labyrinth, had been made spoilers-off on the basis of one troper asking on the discussion page, getting no response, and taking that for consensus.

Large decisions like this should never be made on the discussion page because the people who would like to be involved in the discussion won't know that anything is there to discuss. If the wrong decision was made at the time, it should be reverted.

gjjones Musician/Composer from South Wales, New York Since: Jul, 2016
Musician/Composer
#874: Jan 10th 2021 at 11:02:27 PM

[up] This was also the case with The Iron Giant. After a brief discussion on ATT not too long ago, the spoiler tags were reinstated (for the story-breaking elements, of course). I also discussed the Evangelion situation on the forum back in 2019.

For Characters.Sky High 2005, should we consider unmarking all spoilers for Gwen's folder since the character is a Walking Spoiler?

Edited by gjjones on Jan 10th 2021 at 2:09:49 PM

He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#875: Jan 11th 2021 at 8:19:22 AM

Reposting what I put in the ATT thread:

About Labyrinth, I agree that this should not be spoilers off. And I'd argue that there is always a new audience for works who would like to not be spoiled, regardless of how old the work is. I wouldn't even unspoiler the Odyssey for that reason.

This XKCD comic gives a good demonstration of why there is always an audience who has never heard of a work. The comic puts the amount of people who are learning about something by 30 years old in the US at 10,000 per day. The example is on coke and mentos, but it applies just as much to media, so that shows there are always people who have not heard of a work, no matter how old or famous it is.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times

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