On spoilers.

[seanan_mcguire]

So Chuck Wendig posted his thoughts on spoilers recently. I agree with many of them. There are entire media empires I have chosen to have no truck with because they were spoiled for me so thoroughly before I could start embracing them, as often through the intent of the people doing the spoiling as by accident. There is a whole subculture on

Comments

[autographedcat]

I strongly believe (and have written about extensively) that spoilers are primarily a question of manners.

In the case you cite, you prioritise the general courtesy of "don't ruin the surprise for someone who doesn't want surprises" lower than the *specific* courtesy of "don't let your friend walk into a known trigger". And that's *entirely* appropriate, when you view it through the lens of etiquette.

[seanan_mcguire]

<3

[beccastareyes]

I like that. I've also been known to ask 'do you want spoilers?', even if I don't know the specific person's triggers. Because it puts the decision on the person who might be harmed or annoyed by it: a few of my friends don't have specific triggers, but don't care about spoilers. Others do, and I'm a better person to ask than the Internet*.

* Since a living, breathing person can be a lot more selective. If someone asks 'does this have a depressing or uplifting ending?' I can answer 'yes'/'no'/'sorta' and give as much or little detail as that person wants, without outlining the ending of the story unless requested.

[legoline]

I generally do that as well. Even with people who aren't half obsessed with films and tv as I am. I just don't want to ruin things for them.

[codevixen]

I was pretty alarmed when I watched "Hemlock Grove" because of triggering reasons. I myself don't have those kinds of triggers, and it is labeled horror so I expected the violence, gore, nudity and sex, but there was absolutely no warning for the incest and rape scenes. I was left wondering what people who have those triggers can even *do* to find out what they can and can't watch comfortably.

[seanan_mcguire]

Mostly, ask trusted friends, and have people who understand that sometimes, you're just gonna get up and flee the room if there was no safe source for spoilers.

[apocalypticbob]

Oddly, I have also found that IMDB's Parent Guides pretty useful if I need to know if a movie has triggers before going. They aren't always there and accurate for the opening night of a movie, but for movies that have been out for a little bit, it's a good resource. My roommate has issues with rape portrayals, and a quick peek at it has enabled me to help her make informed decisions more than once.

[full_metal_ox]

Another useful film review site is Kids In Mind; clicking on the "Complete Content Analysis" bar for a given film will yield extraordinarily detailed synopses that seem to be attentive to a vast range of possible squicks and triggers.

And this film review site addresses the specific topic of animal death, while doing their best to avoid spoiling other plot details: http://doesthedogdie.com/

(One rating category they could add--although it'd be a rare one--is "Fate of a pet is uncertain"; I'm thinking specifically of The Raven [1963], in which [ROT-13 for spoiler]: va gur pbhefr bs gur pyvznpgvp zntvpny qhry, gur ivyynva navzngrf fbzr fgbar tnetblyrf; gur ureb'f qrsrafr vf gb genafsbez gurz vagb phqqyl chccvrf. Nf vf fgnaqneq bcrengvat cebprqher sbe guvf xvaq bs zbivr, gur ivyynva'f pnfgyr fhpphzof gb synzvat Ynve Pbyyncfr hcba uvf qrsrng, naq jr arire svaq bhg jung orpnzr bs gur chccvrf; gurl qba'g nccrne va gur rcvybthr onpx ng gur ureb'f ubhfr. Gur gvghyne enira--

[dragonsong]

I can say from hanging out on Tumblr that I've seen 99% of Supernatural through gifs alone. Watching the series hasn't been so much a discovery of the story as a discovery of, "Oh so THAT'S where that gifset came from." I'm still sitting around 3 seasons behind because there's not that much that's new to me. I was spoiled for season 9 drama about 30 minutes after the east coast episode. Shit, I was essentially spoiled by the ACTORS on Twitter.

Part of me wonders if there's some kind of divide based on your longevity as an internet denizen. The people I know who've been around forever tend to have a more rigorous spoiler filter, either using cut tags or other announcements. At least in my internet neighborhood (barring Tumblr, which is just spoilerville), the people who tend to post the most spoilers are random relatives or young cousins, neither of which grew up with any kind of ingrained internet manners. Maybe it's similar to how vigilant people are with trigger warnings, those of us who've been around a while see them as

[gajastar]

I started watching Supernatural because of all the gifs on tumblr. And, ugh, I'm right there with you on the actor spoilers on twitter. If I had...whatever channel SN was on, all Padalecki's livetweeting would be great, but as it stands I have to bail off twitter for like two hours on a show night because I don't want to know what's going on and because, without context, some of it is kinda gibberish.

[seanan_mcguire]

I had to unfollow the SyFy Twitter, because they kept having actors live-tweet shows DURING THE EAST COAST VIEWING.

Fuckers.

[dragonsong]

I really don't understand this whole, "We HAVE to get people to engage with us on social media WHILE they're trying to watch the show!" thing.

Let me do one thing at once. I really don't like this whole trend.

[dewline]

There is a truth in this.

[seanan_mcguire]

Yes.

[herefox]

I agree so much with this. I still remember how TIRED it made me that I had to read Harry Potter the instant it came out so that I wouldn't be spoiled on things...eventually it ruined my enjoyment of the series...which is sad since I probably would have still read them in the first two days or so that that they were released anyway!

I've definitely been known not to watch a movie or a series if something was spoiled for me and, while I definitely appreciate if someone warns me that giant spiders are going to eat the face of every main character, I usually try to avoid spoilers.

[seanan_mcguire]

Yeah, I so get that.