Spoiler poll
'kay I've talked before about When Spoiler Policies Attack, how I think it can be extreme to ban mention of episode names. I can see the point about not using spoilery images in icons immediately after a show has aired.
I can also accept that once something has aired in the US, it's not considered a spoiler anymore. It feels a bit like the whole foreign/non-foreign thing, but if you join a US based comm, I think it's fair enough that the US broadcast times are the benchmark. I have to say though that there was the most annoying furore over at 206_bones in which some people got narky because they said they weren't from the US and it was still a spoiler for them. Well, I feel like saying deal with it. I'm trapped in China, 99% of what happens in any of my favourite shows will be a spoiler because most of them will NEVER air in China so I should I expect everything to always be under a spoiler cut??? :p
But I digress, that is not what this post is about. I'm puzzled at the people at this post at 206_bones who got snotty about the fact that the moderator mentioned that a new character was joining the cast and please refrain from character-bashing. The views of the Snotters (people who were snotty) was that a new member of cast joining was a spoiler (and also they weren't from the US so blah blah blah). I think that the Snottee (the moderator at whom the snot was aimed) was justified in posting the warning given the Cam bashing that exists. I myself am guilty of mild Sully-bashing, albeit in my own journal :D Point is, I really don't see how mentioning a new actor or possibly even a new character counts a Huge Spoiler, but I might be in the minority here. For instance when Lucy Lawless joined BSG or now that Edde McClintock has joined Bones or most particularly, when Christopher Eccleston joined Heroes. Why is this is a spoiler when it can be found in the popular public press and not in specialised Spoiler Fora? OK I know some people don't even want to watch previews for the next week's episode, but should the LJ mainstream cater for the mainstream view of spoilers or are we applying the torts egg shell skull* test when crafting spoiler policies?
Then there's also the issue I wrestle with from time to time about Glee. If I post about a show I love and I am Gleeful, sometimes this in itself is a spoiler.
If it's Heroes, Supernatural, Grey's Anatomy etc (no that I have watched any of season 3 of GA yet, that whole stoush between the actors put me off), then my glee may be of a generic nature. I might have just thought: "Great ep. So, glee!" Generic Glee is non-spoilery.
If it's for Prison Break or even Bones, chances are there's a very high likelihood of shippiness-induced glee, in which case even if everything is under a cut, the fact that I have glee about Prison Break probably means:
- Michael and Sara are finally in the same room.... or timezone
- Michael and Sara share a shippy moment
Do you know what I mean? I'm never going to get excited about T-Bag (unless he dies a karmically appropriate death) or Bellick (unless he goes to another show and stops sucking away precious minutes) etc. So sometimes I worry that the mere fact that I am gleeful in the text above the lj-cut and gleeful/jubilant in my mood theme is a spoiler in itself.
So for this poll, this is not a debate about whether spoilers are good or bad, do you read spoilers or not. I'm more interesting in knowing whether most people would characterise the two things below as 'spoilers' per se. See an actor joining could be anything as long as you don't say who he/she is playing. Even a departure could mean a few things - death, eternal dee freeze, going away on a trip ...... It doesn't need to be spoiler.
Poll Spoilers: New character
Also, I think there's an obligation to possibly be more circumspect in a comm but on my own journal, while I will put all spoilers beneath a cut, I think I should still be allowed to write the episode name and give a vague idea of what the post is about instead of being forced to make every post very generic:
This post, might be about Prison Break, its characters and its episodes, then again it might not.
*From wikipedia: The eggshell skull rule (or thin-skull rule) is a legal doctrine used in both tort law and criminal law that holds an individual liable for all consequences resulting from their activities leading to an injury to another person, even if the victim suffers unusual damages due to a pre-existing vulnerability or medical condition. The term implies that if a person had a skull as delicate as the shell of an egg, and a tortfeasor or assailant who did not know of that condition were to hit that person on the head, causing the skull unexpectedly to break, the responsible party would be held liable for all damages resulting from the wrongful contact, even though they were not foreseeable. The general maxim is that the defendant must "take their victim as they find them".
In a spoiler context, does that mean that we should be catering for people who are extra sensitive to spoilers, or is it all right to just follow the norm which is no plotlines, no dialogue etc?
Update: Another instance of spoiler extremism ...
I can also accept that once something has aired in the US, it's not considered a spoiler anymore. It feels a bit like the whole foreign/non-foreign thing, but if you join a US based comm, I think it's fair enough that the US broadcast times are the benchmark. I have to say though that there was the most annoying furore over at 206_bones in which some people got narky because they said they weren't from the US and it was still a spoiler for them. Well, I feel like saying deal with it. I'm trapped in China, 99% of what happens in any of my favourite shows will be a spoiler because most of them will NEVER air in China so I should I expect everything to always be under a spoiler cut??? :p
But I digress, that is not what this post is about. I'm puzzled at the people at this post at 206_bones who got snotty about the fact that the moderator mentioned that a new character was joining the cast and please refrain from character-bashing. The views of the Snotters (people who were snotty) was that a new member of cast joining was a spoiler (and also they weren't from the US so blah blah blah). I think that the Snottee (the moderator at whom the snot was aimed) was justified in posting the warning given the Cam bashing that exists. I myself am guilty of mild Sully-bashing, albeit in my own journal :D Point is, I really don't see how mentioning a new actor or possibly even a new character counts a Huge Spoiler, but I might be in the minority here. For instance when Lucy Lawless joined BSG or now that Edde McClintock has joined Bones or most particularly, when Christopher Eccleston joined Heroes. Why is this is a spoiler when it can be found in the popular public press and not in specialised Spoiler Fora? OK I know some people don't even want to watch previews for the next week's episode, but should the LJ mainstream cater for the mainstream view of spoilers or are we applying the torts egg shell skull* test when crafting spoiler policies?
Then there's also the issue I wrestle with from time to time about Glee. If I post about a show I love and I am Gleeful, sometimes this in itself is a spoiler.
If it's Heroes, Supernatural, Grey's Anatomy etc (no that I have watched any of season 3 of GA yet, that whole stoush between the actors put me off), then my glee may be of a generic nature. I might have just thought: "Great ep. So, glee!" Generic Glee is non-spoilery.
If it's for Prison Break or even Bones, chances are there's a very high likelihood of shippiness-induced glee, in which case even if everything is under a cut, the fact that I have glee about Prison Break probably means:
- Michael and Sara are finally in the same room.... or timezone
- Michael and Sara share a shippy moment
Do you know what I mean? I'm never going to get excited about T-Bag (unless he dies a karmically appropriate death) or Bellick (unless he goes to another show and stops sucking away precious minutes) etc. So sometimes I worry that the mere fact that I am gleeful in the text above the lj-cut and gleeful/jubilant in my mood theme is a spoiler in itself.
So for this poll, this is not a debate about whether spoilers are good or bad, do you read spoilers or not. I'm more interesting in knowing whether most people would characterise the two things below as 'spoilers' per se. See an actor joining could be anything as long as you don't say who he/she is playing. Even a departure could mean a few things - death, eternal dee freeze, going away on a trip ...... It doesn't need to be spoiler.
Poll Spoilers: New character
Also, I think there's an obligation to possibly be more circumspect in a comm but on my own journal, while I will put all spoilers beneath a cut, I think I should still be allowed to write the episode name and give a vague idea of what the post is about instead of being forced to make every post very generic:
This post, might be about Prison Break, its characters and its episodes, then again it might not.
*From wikipedia: The eggshell skull rule (or thin-skull rule) is a legal doctrine used in both tort law and criminal law that holds an individual liable for all consequences resulting from their activities leading to an injury to another person, even if the victim suffers unusual damages due to a pre-existing vulnerability or medical condition. The term implies that if a person had a skull as delicate as the shell of an egg, and a tortfeasor or assailant who did not know of that condition were to hit that person on the head, causing the skull unexpectedly to break, the responsible party would be held liable for all damages resulting from the wrongful contact, even though they were not foreseeable. The general maxim is that the defendant must "take their victim as they find them".
In a spoiler context, does that mean that we should be catering for people who are extra sensitive to spoilers, or is it all right to just follow the norm which is no plotlines, no dialogue etc?
Update: Another instance of spoiler extremism ...