Spoiler Policy Q&A thread

[xris]

Originally Posted by Solace

Then again it's always funny finding out that there are some people who didn't know the Titanic sank.

WHAT.... it sank!!!!

OK, OK, enough jokes, let's get back on topic

[Solace]

Fair enough. ^^ There's a point in there though, there's a lot of people that enjoy the full experience a story provides. Sure, spoilers don't have to reveal the events leading up to the "surprise", but the fact that the spoiler exists removes an element that people might not have expected. Even for people so out of touch as to not know a famous boat sank.

I'm not one to be bothered by spoilers (I'm pretty good at guessing them anyway), but I appreciate it when people do try to keep them under wraps - at least until it's general knowledge. I don't think treading carefully until it's made clear that most people know what happened and are openly discussing it is a bad thing. After that though, I'm also not sympathetic to those who join a discussion late expecting *not* to be spoiled.

[Vivio Testarossa]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

Incidentally, don't because you don't "recall" hearing people ask for this doesn't mean they haven't in fact asked for it. The policy we have now is the result of the many years of experiences with people on this forum, and my own personal position is a reflection of the opinions of the people I've interacted with on these boards over the years. Some people really are adament about not wanting to be spoiled, and the majority seem to agree that spoiler tags should be used. The fact that you don't see people asking anymore is because we now have a relatively-well-defined policy to deal with the issue.

If you really want to read an old but informational thread on the subject, you can check out the question I asked almost two years ago partially related to this, and the results of the poll. It's not a perfect cross-section of opinion, but it was an interesting discussion.

Sorry if it did seem a little aggressive. Now that I look retrospectively at that statement it did seem a big over the top, and more focused on anger than rational thought on my part. I feel like a moron for saying such a thing... now everyone hates me... as for the policy I have simply decided not to post anything that may be potential spoiler material.

[monir]

Originally Posted by Vivio Testarossa

Why exactly is is so important to "protect" those "who don't know" from "spoilers"? I don't recall them ASKING to be protected, from being "spoiled"?

What happens when one mod says post X is a spoiler (because what constitutes a "spoiler" is subjective, not objective), and anther says post X isn't a spoiler? Since it doesn't say how this is to be resolved as such...
Moderator A bans/delete UserX/PostX
Moderator B unbans/undeletes UserX/PostX
Moderator A bans/deletes UserX/PostX
Moderator B unbans/undeletes UserX/PostX
...

or

Moderator A bans/delete UserX/PostX
Moderator B unbans/undeletes UserX/PostX
Moderator C bans/deletes UserX/PostX
Moderator D unbans/undeletes UserX/PostX
...

Also what prevents someone who has only watched up to episode 5 of AnimeX from going into a thread for episode 9, and clicking "Report" on EVERY post?

Just to elaborate a bit further on what NightWish has already explained, every active moderator has contributed to create the current spoiler policy. Believe it or not, it took us months to get the proper wording before all of us could come to an agreement. I hear you about the points you are trying to highlight, but as NightWish has very aptly put, we do trust and respect each other's decision that are made. In this case, we haven't gotten into any disagreement, the kind you've highlighted, just because all of us are responsible for putting this spoiler policy in place. Yeap, it has never happened where another moderator has undeleted/unbanned Userx/Postx when another moderator has deleted/banned the same Userx/Postx.

Granted, a moderator can make a mistake, but it won't be another moderator who will fix the mistake. It will be brought to the attention of the original moderator in question, and that moderator will decide for his/herself how to act on it.

We are a pretty tightly knit group. Good thoughts by the way!

[felix]

The way I see it, there seems to be some sort of special fist time seeing it experience, for them.
I don't know, something to do with it's overall presentation? maybe.

I somewhat get the feeling even if it's pretty damn bad and they hate it they might like to watch it and somewhat take pleasure in watching it; even if it is like I said, horrible. At least that's how I understand it from the people continously explaing how bad spoilers are. It doesn't make too much sense to me, it's not like someone else is thinking for you or your not the one taking in the same grane of information, but they're clingy to that way of thinking so I don't really feel like arguing over it. (there's not a lot of good that would do anyway)

[Daniel E.]

Originally Posted by The Small One

A spoiler is the same thing: It doesn't change anything in the story.

No, a spoiler doesn't change anything in a story...... it just spoils it for others.

Originally Posted by Cats

The way I see it, there seems to be some sort of special fist time seeing it experience, for them.
I don't know, something to do with it's overall presentation? maybe.

I somewhat get the feeling even if it's pretty damn bad and they hate it they might like to watch it and somewhat take pleasure in watching it; even if it is like I said, horrible. At least that's how I understand it from the people continously explaing how bad spoilers are. It doesn't make too much sense to me, it's not like someone else is thinking for you or your not the one taking in the same grane of information, but they're clingy to that way of thinking so I don't really feel like arguing over it. (there's not a lot of good that would do anyway)

Seriously, what's so bad about wanting to have a special fist time seeing it experience?

[xris]

Originally Posted by The Small One

But a spoiler doesn't take anything away from a story.

Originally Posted by Cats

The way I see it, there seems to be some sort of special fist time seeing it experience, for them.

I'm amazed when people take this sort of stance where they seem to say that if something is acceptable to them, then it must be acceptable to everyone else.

Please respect the wishes of other people even if their viewpoint doesn't match yours.

In this case we are taking about the concept of spoilers, so please take into account that some people do not like to be spoiled for any reason. What's more, we even have specific rules here in AnimeSuki about spoilers so it really doesn't matter what your personal viewpoint is on the issue, we specifically ask that spoilers are not posted under certain circumstances.

The issue here isn't if you think spoilers matter or not. For some reason some posters seem to think that is the purpose of this thread is to justify why spoilers do not matter. It really doesn't matter if you think spoiler rules are needed or not, we specifically ask for spoilers not to be posted in certain threads.

For some (many I suspect), if they are about to watch a new movie, they would not like to be told "everyone dies in the end" (or whatever the final plot turns out to be) before they actually get a chance to watch it for themselves. During the course of the movie, it is possible to "get involved" in the plot and form an opinion as to how it might end, you might form an emotional attachment to certain characters and enjoy (or maybe not) how the story progresses and concludes. To be told beforehand (for example) that a character dies can spoil, for some, the enjoyment of the build up, of the experience.

Now if spoilers do not effect you, good for you! But please have some consideration for others who may not share this viewpoint. Like most things, different people like different things. Some find spoilers objectionable, others do not. We have defined some rules concerning spoilers here ate AnimeSuki and just like any of the other rules we request that posters respect the rules of the forum.

And as a reminder, please read our Spoiler Policy before posting in this thread At least be familiar with the topic under discussion.

[Wandering_Youth]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Hmmm, didn't notice the new policy til just now when someone was asking about spoilers within an unsubbed episode (Soul Eater) (which is also MFI but thats a different topic).

I'm on the boat that Vexx was on.

I've must have missed the personal notification sent out to all the forum members when the spoiler tag options were implement back so long ago or they weren't placed in a noticeable place.

I was trying to find my post regarding member X wailing on member J for putting an ending spoiler in Tales of Abyss when the member J did, in fact, put the spoiler in tag.

Ok, I got common sense when it comes to spoilers, however I was not aware about the "in-depth" Spoiler Policy. I was actually was surprised, confused, and panicky when I found out Xris deleted my post. I actually had to fully read the policy and then think about it for a minute. I've been using spoilers tags often but not properly since I always forget to fill in the tag. I've been with AS for quite awhile now hence my "spoiler type" free infraction. I'm amazed really how I haven't gotten a ton of infractions yet. Looking back now, wow a lot of my older post really borderline in breaking the Spoiler Policy.

Can a mod can clip a copy of the detailed spoiler policy and paste in Keitaro's section about spoilers so that it's more clearly visible and noticeable to past and future forum members?

[felix]

Instead of a Announcement your idea of a mass pm sounds really good.

[Daniel E.]

Originally Posted by Wandering_Youth

Can a mod can clip a copy of the detailed spoiler policy and paste in Keitaro's section about spoilers so that it's more clearly visible and noticeable to past and future forum members?

It's already there. ( link on # 6)

[Wandering_Youth]

Originally Posted by Daniel E.

It's already there. ( link on # 6)

I meant the full Policy should be put on Keitaros's section in the fansub forum sticky right where #6 rules is and not a hyperlink.

[Daniel E.]

Originally Posted by Wandering_Youth

I meant the full Policy should be put on Keitaros's section in the fansub forum sticky right where #6 rules is and not a hyperlink.

Can't really say why the policy is not included directly there (best to let the mods explain that one). Though, I do believe that reading the rules, checking the feedback section and the sticky threads from time to time is not that hard to do.

Then again, a notice to all members is not a bad idea either.

[monir]

Originally Posted by Wandering_Youth

Can a mod can clip a copy of the detailed spoiler policy and paste in Keitaro's section about spoilers so that it's more clearly visible and noticeable to past and future forum members?

Glad to see you didn't miss the hyperlink for the spoiler policy. Anyway, I agree on your suggestion, so a new post has been added to the thread for the sake of higher visibility.

[Wandering_Youth]

Originally Posted by monir

Glad to see you didn't miss the hyperlink for the spoiler policy. Anyway, I agree on your suggestion, so a new post has been added to the thread for the sake of higher visibility.

The sad thing is I actually did miss the hyperlink the first time when I checked Keitaro's post. Thanks to that I made an A** of myself in a recent forum post.

[xris]

Originally Posted by Wandering_Youth

The sad thing is I actually did miss the hyperlink the first time when I checked Keitaro's post. Thanks to that I made an A** of myself in a recent forum post.

I'll let you into a little secret, but make sure you don't let anyone else know. Take a look at the post by Keitaro, you will see this message at the foot of that post "Last edited by xris; 2008-10-12 at 22:08", which is 17 minutes after your deleted post In other words I edited the post after I had deleted the posts in the TotA thread. When I had time I was going to add a new post to the thread but monir has done exactly what I intended to do. It's bad news when you find that monir is on the same wavelength as yourself

Anyway, it goes to show that we had all but forgotten the Fansubs Forum Guidelines thread when we created the new Spoiler Policy.

Originally Posted by Cats

Instead of a Announcement your idea of a mass pm sounds really good.

There isn't (for good reason) a "PM all 81,776 users" function here at AnimeSuki, not part of the vB features. Just as well because I would certainly consider doing something like that the same as PM abuse (not just for the users but on the servers as well).

We did post a Spolier Policy Announcement on the 4th May but it was up for only a while. So yes, you more than likely did miss the original announcement (not only the announcement but this sticky as well).

[Konpachi]

Can we have manga spoilers in our sigs and avatars?

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Konpachi

Can we have manga spoilers in our sigs and avatars?

Well, I would say the guideline is as follows: You're not allowed to use spoiler tags in your signature (or, for obvious reasons, for your avatar). So, you're not allowed to put anything that would usually have to be behind spoiler tags in those places.

My suggestion is that you try to avoid things that would be blatant spoilers in any case, because not everyone who reads your posts would be familiar with the material in question, and unless you only ever post in that one thread/section, you may spoil people unintentionally (keep in mind that your avatar appears in every post retroactively). That being said, you should apply common sense here too -- someone could try to argue that showing any scene from any manga/anime could be considered a spoiler to people who haven't read/seen that property yet, but it really comes down to how bad it would be if that scene was given away.

All that to say, don't seriously spoil people in your avatar or signature. If it's a serious spoiler -- serious enough that it'd normally need spoiler tags -- then don't. You can always PM a mod with a specific example if you're not sure (but please don't abuse that privilege either).

[Konpachi]

Yes, thank you.

[ganbaru]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

Well, I would say the guideline is as follows: You're not allowed to use spoiler tags in your signature (or, for obvious reasons, for your avatar). So, you're not allowed to put anything that would usually have to be behind spoiler tags in those places.

My suggestion is that you try to avoid things that would be blatant spoilers in any case, because not everyone who reads your posts would be familiar with the material in question, and unless you only ever post in that one thread/section, you may spoil people unintentionally (keep in mind that your avatar appears in every post retroactively). That being said, you should apply common sense here too -- someone could try to argue that showing any scene from any manga/anime could be considered a spoiler to people who haven't read/seen that property yet, but it really comes down to how bad it would be if that scene was given away.

All that to say, don't seriously spoil people in your avatar or signature. If it's a serious spoiler -- serious enough that it'd normally need spoiler tags -- then don't. You can always PM a mod with a specific example if you're not sure (but please don't abuse that privilege either).

Could be a quotation be considered as a spoiler?

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by ganbaru

Could be a quotation be considered as a spoiler?

Well, I suppose it could be... Would reading that quote give away a key plot point? Is it from the latest raws or further ahead than the average English-speaker is expected to be in the product? Like I said, if it couldn't be posted in a normal thread without spoiler tags, then it shouldn't be used in signatures either, but I suppose there some "grey area" there too. If you're not sure, maybe you could PM a mod you see posting in the threads for that series and ask them what they think.