A Rant About Spoilers

[martyrdrebel27]

So, a friend today passive aggressively posted on FBook today "The combination of about 5-10 statuses spoiled what I haven't watched yet. Consider silence even if your not flat out saying what happened." And I have been annoyed with him ever since.

Consider Silence? are you kidding me? it's SOCIAL MEDIA, a place people go to talk about things in their lives, including cultural phenomenon status television shows. How arrogant is it to expect the world goes on hold because you didn't watch the show. The real problem is his saying that even hinting at the show is somehow reprehensible. I could ALMOST agree with him had his problem been people posting obvious spoilers, but even then, you don't have the right to expect the internet to stop for you.

as i said to him "In all fairness, during Game of Thrones and Walking Dead seasons, you should probably avoid the internet on Sundays if you haven't watched yet."

so, what is your take? is it reasonable to expect people to shut down social media because you didn't watch, or is it unreasonably arrogant? okay, obviously, i asked that in a biased way, but the question is still valid.

CAPTCHA: nose bleed. AWESOME. if you watched game of thrones tonight, you know why that's so awesome and apt. i heart the oddly sentient CAPTCHA.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I seriously try to avoid spoilers whenever possible, even if the show is years and years old. As much as I love Persona 4 I would hate to spoil any of it for anyone because everything is interconnected since it's a mystery story. Even in the SMT user group! I can class anything and everything a spoiler as well, including the soundtrack that plays during the final boss.

Those people who think they're being clever by being "vague" are almost worse than outright spoilers too. It's not hard for a half intelligent person to deduce enough out of the information you've oh so cleverly disguised to get a grasp of the spoiler y'know. Especially if they're familiar with the genre.

I don't have a Facebook, every friend I have doesn't use it so I have no reason to even make a page to begin with. Skype statuses are our version of it though, passive aggressive non-replies all day.

 

[Queen Michael]

Those people who think they're being clever by being "vague" are almost worse than outright spoilers too. It's not hard for a half intelligent person to deduce enough out of the information you've oh so cleverly disguised to get a grasp of the spoiler y'know. Especially if they're familiar with the genre.

So true. I honestly don't see why they couldn't just not talk about that kind of stuff on Facebook.

 

[Eamar]

People who get all uppity about spoilers irritate me, but that might just be because I've never had a problem with them myself. Obviously I make some basic effort to avoid huge spoilers, but if I stumble across something... oh well, if the show/book/movie's good it won't detract from my enjoyment. I usually come to these popular things (GoT, TWD etc) late anyway (I'm a season behind on both), so I definitely don't feel like I have any right to demand silence.

That said, I'd agree that posting blatant, major spoilers a few hours after an episode airs is a bit inconsiderate. HOWEVER, the same cannot be said for vague allusions or reactions. And seriously, this guy is complaining because of a combination of 5-10 different statuses? Not even one person deliberately spoiling everything? Yeah, that's arrogant.

I got really annoyed when one of my friends got pissed at me for posting my reaction to one of the last episodes of Breaking Bad. No spoilers or plot points, just how it made me feel (which would have come as no surprise at all to anyone who'd watched the preceding episodes anyway). I'm sorry, but no. I draw the line there. If you don't want to see anyone discussing/reacting to the latest massive media phenomenon, stay off social media the night it airs.

EDIT: I should add that she didn't even watch BB herself. She was acting on behalf of other, theoretical people she thought might be annoyed (who never actually materialised).

 

[El Luck]

I don't really care either way about spoilers. If someone wants to 'spoil' something for me, fine, whatever. I couldn't care because them telling me something that happens will not effect my reaction when I see it/hear it/read it.

Then you've got all these stupid rules regarding 'spoilers' that people make the fuck up. You can't spoil this because its new, but then this is old so you can spoil that no problem blah blah blah.

My rule is simple: If you wanna talk about something that has potential spoilers with me, and I've seen it and you haven't? Don't talk to me about it until you've caught up. Especially with something like Game of Thrones where the Material has been out for years.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

Those people who think they're being clever by being "vague" are almost worse than outright spoilers too. It's not hard for a half intelligent person to deduce enough out of the information you've oh so cleverly disguised to get a grasp of the spoiler y'know. Especially if they're familiar with the genre.

i disagree. my post was this exactly "Game of Thrones tonight... exactly what i've been hoping for." is that "almost worse"? that could mean any number of things.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

Those people who think they're being clever by being "vague" are almost worse than outright spoilers too. It's not hard for a half intelligent person to deduce enough out of the information you've oh so cleverly disguised to get a grasp of the spoiler y'know. Especially if they're familiar with the genre.

i disagree. my post was this exactly "Game of Thrones tonight... exactly what i've been hoping for." is that "almost worse"? that could mean any number of things.

Well, considering what happened. You can't deny that it's a wish of a large portion of the fanbas.

there are quite a few things i have been wishing for, each one slowly building up. one thing i love about this show versus other shows is that it doesn't take a half-season or season finale for some cray cray shit to go down. we're just starting this season, and DAYAM.

out of curiosity, is there anyone here who has read the books? at the rate we're going, how many seasons do you think will happen? i know that's a hard estimate, but i don't even know how far into the book series the show is.

 

[Eamar]

out of curiosity, is there anyone here who has read the books? at the rate we're going, how many seasons do you think will happen? i know that's a hard estimate, but i don't even know how far into the book series the show is.

Just looked up what happened in the show - looks like the show's up to the second half of the third book at the moment.

At this pace, I'd estimate another couple of seasons for the fourth and first half of the fifth books (which happen at the same time but focus on different characters/locations) and another for the second half of the fifth.

I just hope GRRM's actually written the next book by the time the show catches up with him. Bear in mind there are at least two more books to come, and it takes GRRM anything between 2 and 6 years to write each one.

 

[frobalt]

I think it depends entirely on what they class as spoilers.

I've seen some people on IMDB on the HIMYM boards who saw episode titles as spoilers.

What classes as a spoiler is entirely subjective though, as people define what spoils things differently.

However, if even small details about an episode spoils it for you, then you sure as hell have no right to expect people to adhere to them. If anything, if you're that annoyed by being spoiled, avoid anywhere you could be spoiled and watch the episode as soon as possible. It's pretty simple really.

 

[Padwolf]

I personally don't have that big a problem with spoilers. I don't go out of my way to avoid them or anything, seeing one doesn't stop me from enjoying whatever it is that has been spoiled. If anything it just makes me eager to see/read whatever the spoiler is about, just to see how it unfolds and how it got to that point.

I find that people posting things up on facebook is just unavoidable, it's a poor move by the people posting, it really is, and I can understand the anger at them for it. However it's simple; avoid social media like the plague during that time. There are other means of communicating with people you want to talk to.

Though I do understand people's frustration when they post something and get told off for it. There's so many rules to spoilers now it's beyond a joke. Can't post anything about something that is old - it might be a spoiler! Can't post anything about something that's new either.

I try not to spoil anything for anyone. Though I do find it really really hard when it comes to Game of Thrones. My friend hasn't read the books, has only watched the TV show, so when she asks me questions about characters and things I have to remind her "I've read the books, I know everything that happens and what is going to happen in the TV show and I know everything about this and that character so I can't discuss it with you properly in case I accidently spoil something."

 

[The Wykydtron]

Those people who think they're being clever by being "vague" are almost worse than outright spoilers too. It's not hard for a half intelligent person to deduce enough out of the information you've oh so cleverly disguised to get a grasp of the spoiler y'know. Especially if they're familiar with the genre.

i disagree. my post was this exactly "Game of Thrones tonight... exactly what i've been hoping for." is that "almost worse"? that could mean any number of things.

That's barely information considering I don't watch Game of Thrones. Can't watch it actually, it's on Sky or something and we don't pay for extra TV. However if I knew more about the series and the general gist of your and general fanbase's opinion, all I know of the fanbase is that the entire universe is in agreement that Joffrey is a ****. I could maybe narrow it down to one or two possibilities, someone probably dies i'm guessing because Game of Thrones lol.

Usually people tend to try to badly cover up a character death or event with the most obvious choice of words possible. "Oh it was so bad what happened to that guy in Ep 8, I cri everi tiem T_T" Post that in an Attack on Titan thread for example and you'd be shot to pieces in seconds as it could only refer to death. Very subtle 10/10

Long story short, if people have the context already for a spoiler even something vague can lead them through the most likely scenario in seconds.

For quite a few people strategically placed spoilers really can ruin a perfectly good series for them. I assume you don't get them on FB but on here and other forums you get spoiler boxes that I expect each and every one of you to use. It takes all of two seconds to type

Spoiler

it's not hard.

 

[michael87cn]

Honestly, this is simple imo.

If something is spoiled for me because two people were talking about it and I happened to read it? That's my problem. If someone is posted things like "herp derp snape kills dumbledore" (sorry for anyone reading HP) just because they think its funny, that's stupid and annoying.

OP, now that you know your facebook 'friend' doesn't like you to post spoilers to shows you watch, he should stop reading your facebook, or you could be polite and stop doing it. If neither option is good you could always stop being friends and become hateful to each other, that's always an option...

 

[DocMcCray]

Spoiler: Darth Vader is Luke's father. Feel free to hate me forever.

OT: If a person wants to avoid spoilers, there is a reasonable amount of care the person needs to take. Primarily, avoid facebook until you've seen the episode when it comes to GoT, TWD, or Dr. Who. People *will* talk about it. Sounds like the friend has an entitlement complex...meaning everyone has to take full responsibility for not spoiling him/her, whereas he/she does not have to take any precautions.

And saying that someone died on Game of Thrones is like saying "I ate food today." Saying there was a death there is not a spoiler...no matter what anyone says. Giving the name of the dead character, however, is a spoiler.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

An apt Captcha if ever there was one.

Personally I think the polite thing to do is say "spoiler warning" at the top of the post or not reference something directly, but if your friend needed 5-10 statuses to piece together what happened, maybe they should have stopped after the first 2 or so.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

i keep thinking about Iron Man 3. I was told there was a HUGE spoiler, and managed to avoid finding out about it until I saw the movie, 3 weeks ago. If i can avoid THAT spoiler for that long, I think it's not unreasonable to think others could manage to do the same. It's all about responsible internetting.

 

[Random Argument Man]

In the case of Game of Thrones, my brother read the books and spoiled me pretty much all the major points of season 4. I decided to read the books so he could finally stop doing that.

I really don't like people who spoil because "That X (game, movie, comic, etc.) existed for Y amount of years! It's ok to spoil it". No, it's not. Some games are old now, but they still have their classic appeal. When I want people to try a game from my childhood, I don't want to ruin the experience for them. When I'll have kids, I don't want ruin the twist in Star Wars.

Every media is an experience to live. Spoilers tend to diminish the effects of that experience.

 

[Mojo]

Honestly, this is simple imo.

If something is spoiled for me because two people were talking about it and I happened to read it? That's my problem. If someone is posted things like "herp derp snape kills dumbledore" (sorry for anyone reading HP) just because they think its funny, that's stupid and annoying.

Pretty much this.
Spoiler warnings should be used, especially if your text isn't obviously about some show or something.
But if you really don't want your favorite series/game spoiled then avoid image boards/forums/social media until you've caught up.
Activity trying to spoil people because you think its "fun", now that's just being an asshole. Don't do that!

 

[Eamar]

I really don't like people who spoil because "That X (game, movie, comic, etc.) existed for Y amount of years! It's ok to spoil it". No, it's not.

I'm sorry, but bullshit. If people are discussing something that's been out for ages they are well within their rights to mention the key plot points, especially if it's considered a "classic". I mean, am I really supposed to avoid spoiling LOTR if someone's talking to me about it? The books have been out for sixty years, the films for ten, and it's in no way obscure.

Hell, technically talking about Dracula as a vampire is a spoiler for the original book. There comes a point where avoiding spoilers becomes untenable.