Quote:
Originally Posted by DragoZERO
Another thing to think about, Crunchyroll and other simulcast sites... has created a lot new issues to address. As far as spoilers go, in the past once a fansub was released spoiler tags were not required, but used sometimes if the person wishes to be considerate. Now, we have a lot of people using simulcast sites and others fansubs. In some cases, fansubs beat out simulcast subs (ie: Crunchyroll posts White Album six days after it airs).
Therefore, should spoiler tags be required until Crunchyroll or the simulcast site associated with the series posts it? Obviously I think they should be used, but the staff may think otherwise.
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Keep in mind that, actually, spoiler tags are never
required to discuss the episode once it has been released in any form, including raw. But it is considered "considerate" to use them if you're discussing raws. Here's the original wording of the point:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Spoiler Policy
Because our forum is targeted primarily at fansub viewers, it is inconsiderate to openly discuss or post impressions of an episode before the fansubs are released, except in threads discussing that specific episode. So, when multiple raw and fansubbed episodes are being discussed in the same thread, please keep all discussion of unsubbed episodes behind clearly-marked spoiler tags. Discussing unsubbed anime is not a spoiler according to this policy, but please be considerate.
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(Note that it's possible some specific threads may have additional restrictions outlined in the first post.)
Now, this was written before Crunchyroll existed in its present form, and I think arguments could be made either way about whether Crunchyroll subbed streams should be treated as "raws" (because access is limited to people who pay subscriptions and are in the target areas), or as "fansubs" (because they are in English and targeted at many of the same people who would otherwise view fansubs).
Personally speaking -- and this is just me alone for now -- I side a little bit more towards the latter. Even before when we were just talking about fansubs, there were always cases where people were waiting for another group to release, or where they had to wait a while to be able to view the episode for whatever reason. If someone were to discuss the episode in the open without spoiler tags, since it was subbed, I probably wouldn't consider that inconsiderate since it
is the official, licensed subtitled version. I am reminded of the fact that the current spoiler policy was designed to prevent the
superfluous use of spoiler tags as well, so just blanketing everything in spoiler tags "to be safe" is not in accordance with the goals of the policy either.
But again, this whole area is one of the few deliberate "grey areas" of the policy. Technically speaking, anything in the specific episode once it airs is never a spoiler according to the policy. And even though the wording currently says "fansub viewers", it should probably be revised to be a bit more broad in light of the more wide arrange of options available now. It was written in "simpler times".
Quote:
Originally Posted by SeedFreedom
I have asked the mods if it would be satisfactory to strictly enforce proper use of spoiler tags, with full punishments to those who don't instead of an outright ban on spoilers. Their reply was they weren't going to take a chance with that. Later the new reply was, we don't want pages of spoiler tags after spoiler tags and this has nothing to do with people complaining about accidentally clicking it.
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To clarify, to "strictly enforce proper use of spoiler tags" is what we used to have before the current policy. We tried that, and it wasn't working because people really didn't "get" how to label, even though we tried and tried to explain it and enforce it. So Irenicus was to a large degree correct when he said that a root cause of the problem was poor labeling. But in discussing how to solve the spoiler tag problem, some of the mods/admins
also felt that they wanted to reduce the amount of spoiler tags in threads because anime threads are about the anime and manga/novel comments should go elsewhere. By reducing the amount of spoilers allowed in threads, you would reduce the likelihood of a severe spoiler being buried in a sea of benign spoiler tags, thus again reducing the risk of people being accidentally spoiled.
I guess you could sum up the goal/philosophy of the current spoiler policy as follows:
"Managing the acceptable use of spoiler tags by directing spoiler-rich conversations in advance to more appropriate venues."
The net effect of the policy was a reduction in the amount of spoiler tags being used in threads across the board, and a reduction in the amount of "big deal" spoilers being posted in anime threads. In that sense, "mission accomplished". That isn't to say the current policy is perfect by any means -- there are some quirks that I don't really like myself -- but I think I can at least speak for most of the staff when I say that this is a heck of a lot better than the old way.
So again, this is in the spirit of progress; understanding how we got here helps us know where to go next.