das Monkey

Thank you. Please show some courtesy and either put it in "spoiler" tags or shut the hell up. My apologies if I sound like an ass, but I'm really getting tired of it ... especially in subject headers. There's a reason it's called a "spoiler" ... because it spoils/ruins/destroys something for someone ... namely me, and many others. Please.

das

Groucho

Yeah, like that guy who leaked that Abe will end up winning Survivor 3.

LBPound

Spoliers - must be french for 'things that piss off das'.

huzefa

I don't remember any posts in the last 2 weeks that had spoilers in the tag line. Maybe you are talking about before that.

bluedevil

I hope you're kidding.

das Monkey

There's a light one now. I'm not going to give him sh!t about it, since it's innocent, but it's info I didn't want to know yet. He could have put it in the post instead of the topic.

das

huzefa

Um.. which thread is it? I'm curious. Maybe your definition of spoiler is not the same as mine.

das Monkey

Spoiler: Revealing information about the content of a television program that has not aired.

das

mikehunt

I agree, and will be staying out of this forum until after I watch enterprise which I'm taping

but I see no spoilers in the thread titles right now

unless you mean the widescreen stuff

JaseXF3

Are previews for the next week's episode spoilers then? How about the standard promo commercials the networks run or the one sentence you'll often find in the tv guide the week before a show airs?

I won't ever do it again, but I think you are making a huge deal out of something very small and at least I did what I did with no intent to hurt or harm anyone.

You blowing this up is not only extremely anal, but it's also not nice. You already made your wishes known in that very thread but you still felt you needed to start your own thread about it and get people stirred up about a non-issue.

das Monkey

If it airs on TV as a promo, then it most definitely has "aired". Let's not argue semantics. Like someone else said, if you're unsure, err on the safe side. It takes half a second to put something in "spoiler" tags. Entire discussions take place in spoiler tags ... it's not that uncommon.

This thread is not about you. Just because you spoiled the season premier of Buffy on UPN in the thread "Buffy on FX" does not mean that I'd start a second thread just to give you hell. I told you I didn't appreciate it in that thread, and that's the end of it. Over the past 2 months, many fall shows and pretaped wrestling events have been spoiled without tags in the threads and sometimes with sensitive information in the subject header. This thread was a call for it to stop. I've asked nicely many times, and it hasn't stopped. Others have asked nicely, and it hasn't stopped.

I'm not even going to respond to that. Everything's not about you.

das

JaseXF3

Get a life. I spoiled the show? Well, then I hope you don't watch it. What I said was being discussed by SMG and it was very small beans that could very well have been put out as disinformation or maybe because the actors and producers WANTED to get a little publicity & discussion going about the first show. I doubt that they did that hoping to SPOIL the show for Buffy fans. The "themed" show I also mentioned was the same thing. I don't think it's a spoiler to let someone know that the Simpsons are going to be having a Halloween Special. If that ruins the show for you, well, maybe you are too sensitive for tv. I never intened to spoil anything and I wouldn't even waste the time going over this with you if I didn't truly believe that I Didn't ruin the season premiere of Buffy for the fans that come here.

das Monkey

At this risk of continuing this useless fight past this point, did you even read my post? I'm not talking about you.

das

JaseXF3

Your exact words were that I RUINED the Buffy opener. That's extremely harsh and a gross exaggeration and IT, even if this very post, was very much about me.

I simply didn't do any such thing and that's that.

huzefa

Children, please! Calm down....... let's all take a deep breath and remember NBC's mantra, "If you haven't seen it, it's new to you."

das Monkey

Oh, geez. My exact words were that you "spoiled" it. Give it a rest. Argue with me in the other thread. This thread is a general request to end spoilers. Actually, don't do it in the other thread - no one else cares. Most of these people have children of their own. They don't need two more. If you want to get into a cat fight with me, do it over email. If I referenced threads that you never even posted in, refered to spoilers in the plural and told you three times that I'm not talking about you, and you STILL don't believe me, I don't know what else I can say. Send me a really nasty email if you like, but for the love of God, all I want is for the spoilers to stop. I don't give two sh!ts who said what or who did what or who has the bigger penis or who got a Tonka truck when I only got socks. I just don't want shows spoiled. That's all I ask. Let everything else go. If you don't like me ... fine ... I'll survive ... but let's act like two-year-olds away from the Forum.

das

Bobubott

So part of the reason you're complaining is because you weren't able to enjoy the original, unscripted, sponaneous events that unfolded on professional wrestling? Sorry, but I don't see what you're getting so upset about, especially if it concerns pro wrestling (pure formulaic melodrama). I haven't noticed any threads that gave away any tv plotlines, so why don't you just save us all a lot of time and just tell us what specific threads annoyed you; we're not mind-readers.

P.S. I don't intend for this post to sound mean, but I was just hoping we could get to the point here, because it sounds like everybody's just going around in circles on the issue.

Boot

Hey! I don't appreciate your claiming to have a bigger penis than me! My penis is at least a full quarter inch longer. And give me back my damn Tonka truck.

das Monkey

You can see above what happened the last time I pointed out a specific spoil that frustrated me. I won't make the same mistake again. Like I said, I don't care about pointing fingers. I just wanted to appeal to people to be more careful in the future. The past is past. If I came across to harsh, I apologize. I have politely asked before and been ignored. The request is quite simple: in the future, use SPOLIER tags inside threads, and don't post sensitive info in the subject headers. That's all I ask.

As for pro wrestling, if you don't like it, that's fine. But some of us do. And it really sucks to read who wins what title and what big surprise is going to happen before it happens. When a thread topic says "[Insert Wrestler Here] Wins Title at Smackdown This Thursday" it kind of ruins it for us ... or I should say "me" since I'm obviously all alone on this.

I don't understand why this is such a point of contention and why I have to keep defending this request. Again, the past is the past ... let's just let it die. All I want is for people to be more careful in the future.

das

das Monkey

You're adopted.

das

Boot

Oh...well, that explains my gigantic penis then.

das Monkey

I have most definitely lost this battle At least Mom and Dad still love me more.

das

Jlbkwrm

So, wait, honest question:

Is format based a spoiler?

Like, mentioning the ballet episode of Roswell (which there isn't, but if there was) before the ads hit the airwaves?

I'm a /huge/ spoiler junkie (though, I'm debating going free after the halfway point. All evidence supports that the first real information for the first 8 Buffy eps was leaked /months/ ago, so it's just getting too easy), but I'm not clear on what etiquette calls for here.

WarriorPrincess

To not start another fight - I'm not addressing anyone specific, I have no particular person in mind while posting this. These are just my feelings in general on spoilers. So here are my two cents (though I pretty much covered it in the Buffy on FX thread).

Short reply: I hate spoilers.

Long reply (fair warning ):
My best friend loves them, and of course wants to tell me everything she knows - so sometimes I let her depending on the show. But I only let her tell me on certain shows (she knows which ones) because it means so much to her to be able to share the info with me, and I care about her a lot, so her feelings are more important to me.

I don't watch trailers, period. I don't watch promos, period. I don't watch ads, period. I don't read ads, period. I don't read the tv guide blurbs, period. I don't read billboards, period. I don't open a thread that is discussing a show unless I'm fairly certain it isn't a spoiler thread (how do I know? The word "spoiler" is in the thread title - so if the title doesn't say that, then I expect any spoilers to be contained within spoiler tags), period. I tape *everything* I watch and watch it later so I can fast forward over the commercials and avoid the "next week on" spoilers. The pattern here is obvious.

As you can see, I'm probably as anal as das (if not more )about avoiding spoilers at all costs - BECAUSE I LIKE TO BE SURPRISED. Now some of you might say - how can you be surprised at some things, isn't [insert show] full of cliches? Wouldn't any intelligent person leap to that conclusion anyway? The writing on that show is predictable? Or doesn't matter to "normal" people? or whatever comment you may choose to say. My answer to that is - yes, I freely admit I am picky and anal. So what. Free country - I like how I am and my friends and family do too. I happen to have this marvelous ability to completely and totally suspend all disbelief when watching a tv show or movie. I intentionally do NOT try to guess what will happen next in most cases - and the last thing I want is for someone to open their mouth/keyboard and give something away that hasn't been shown yet (and I might mention that I'm far from the only person who timeshifts their watching, so spoilers should be isolated with tags if it's in remote vicinity of when something aired, imo).

It doesn't matter that you may think I'm too sensitive - it isn't for you to judge me and then decide to post the info anyway. I, like das, don't need an apology. Just own up to your mistake, realize what it was that you gave away, and don't do the same thing again - i.e., be a grown up.

Simple common courtesy is not too much to ask for - and that's all spoiler tags are. There is NO excuse for posting a spoiler in a thread title. As an example that I'm totally making up - if someone wants to start a thread on the Miss America Pageant (I dislike pageants, so please know this is for example only) and they just finished watching it and were all excited over the winner, they might call it "Miss California won the Miss America contest!!"...which would be a spoiler in the title. Instead, they could have called it "Miss America Pageant - it was great!!"...and then discussed the winner within the body of the thread using spoiler tags. Or if they hate spoiler tags, they could call it "Miss America Pageant **spoilers!!**" and inside it's usually a free-for-all. Thread titles are not newspaper headlines meant to give the reader the end of the story - they are merely a way to categorize discussions. (incidentally, I have no idea who won the Miss America pageant - I picked a random state ).

The whole point is that with a well-chosen thread title and the proper use of spoiler tags, no one is disappointed at having something "spoiled" for them. Please don't presume to know what info other people have seen or heard (e.g. ad campaigns differ by station/region/etc.) or why knowledge of something "shouldn't spoil" someone else's experience. Just know that it can and does - and that should be enough of a reason to type in the tiny extra letters that comprise spoiler tags.

We have many rules on dvdtalk - no trolling, for example. No name calling, for example. No spoilers without proper identification and spoiler tags should be another forum rule if it isn't already.

Sorry for going on for so long - this issue just REALLY bothers me. If you don't get why it does - maybe this'll help - most people who dislike spoilers feel it's akin to someone telling them the pivotal part of a book without warning the audience first. Like describing a new murder mystery as a book where "it ends up that the wife kills her secret lover - but you'd never guess it until the end!!" - uh...no need to read it now, thanks. Sheesh. Extreme example, but it illustrates my point.

Oh, and yes, I consider a "format" reference (e.g. the "ballet" episode) to be a form of a spoiler.

das Monkey

Jlbkwrm, the eloquent Princess may have answered this already for you, but as I as saying before, it's better to err on being overly sensitive than not sensitive enough on this issue. Below I'm going to type something in spoilers:



I know where you're going with the ballet thing on Roswell, and to me, that's not something I'd want to know. All the Buffy info was leaked so long ago, and the same with Enterprise, and I've heard way more about both than I want to. It's impossible to completely avoid. But those of us at this forum can make a concerted effort to avoid spreading it in thread subjects.

As with shows that have already aired, I've always thought a good idea was to include the date. Like "Enterprise (9/26)" or "Band of Brother Episode 4" or something like that. Anyone who goes into that thread knows it's going to talk about events that occur, so you don't need to put *spoiler* in the title, but it can't hurt. What I don't like, though, is like WarriorPrincess was saying. Don't say "Miss California Wins Miss America Pageant!!!" in the title. Call the thread "Miss America Pageant" and then talk all about it inside the thread. Anyone who enters a thread about something that has already aired enters that thread at their own risk, but they shouldn't have to see the sensitive info in the subject headers.

If the show hasn't aired, I'd consider EVERYTHING sensitve information. Sure, I'm anal, but there are even things that I don't consider a spoiler that I'd put in *spoiler* tags just to be safe. Again, better to be safe than to have the argument that took place yesterday.

There was a thread a while ago that outlined the first 8 episodes of Buffy. I think that's great! The subject was something like "First 8 Episodes of Buffy *SPOILERS*" All the spoiler junkies could get all the dirt, and all the anal spoiler-haters like me could stay away. Everyone could play nice.

It all boils down to a 'better safe than sorry' situation. I know some of us take our TV way too seriously, and I know we seem like anal jackasses, but it is important to us, however uncool that may be. I hope people can respect that, and to those of you honestly making an effort to understand our point, I sincerely appreciate it.

das