Spoiler Policy Q&A thread

[karice67]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

So I honestly don't really know what to do. If you report posts, the mod team will try to deal with them. I deleted a bunch of posts in that particular thread now, and will leave a warning.

Thanks for that. I hadn't really gone to the thread until the last week or so, so I probably missed some of the earlier blatant spoiler posts. I guess many of the other people who don't like it just didn't bother or know to report them, and I have no idea how to deal with that either. I know I only really started using the report button over the last few years, and my own forum participation has largely dropped in that time.

===

re: the example of comparisons given by Marcus H.

I think it's find if they're under appropriate spoiler tags and kept short. Where it gets tricky is if posters start having lengthy conversations, which would then fill the thread with spoiler tags.

As long as it's kept to just one or two tags, with any subsequent discussion taken to the source thread, I'm fine with it.

[Marcus H.]

I don't see how that is of any relevance to people who are not interested in actually reading (or otherwise experiencing) the source material.

It does, especially if you don't want a particular director or scriptwriter to "butcher" another adaptation by putting stuff that's (1) not even in the source and/or (2) making things too fast or too slow. (It still depends on the viewer on what's "too fast" or "too slow", but there are cases that even the other staff find the pacing as "out of whack", for example in Mahou Sensou.)

And I also kind of agree with monster as well in the sense that, a lot of times, these comparisons aren't really as interesting to anime-only viewers as the source readers posting them think they are. A lot of it can be "inside baseball" as best, and actually irrelevant to the anime viewing experience at worse.

To be blunt, that's their problem... or rather, it's a non-issue most of the time.

And I don't think it's fair to assume that only the "sourcegnostic" people open the topics about technical stuff. These things appear usually when Urobuchi or Mari Okada or Yamakan is part of the staff, but some other lesser known staff people are usually talked about too but don't have their own threads for discussion.

I think it's find if they're under appropriate spoiler tags and kept short. Where it gets tricky is if posters start having lengthy conversations, which would then fill the thread with spoiler tags.

Unfortunately, that is the lesser evil in the choice between "Berlin Wall of spoilered text" and "spoiler Chernobyl". You really can't do anything about that, but at least it's conveniently hidden and you can scroll past it.

[karice67]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

Unfortunately, that is the lesser evil in the choice between "Berlin Wall of spoilered text" and "spoiler Chernobyl". You really can't do anything about that, but at least it's conveniently hidden and you can scroll past it.

As I said, I don't mind if there are one or two posts with spoiler tags. But the spoiler policy does say this:

extended comparisons should be directed to the appropriate manga/novel/game thread.

and I would say that continued discussion about comparisons between two or most posters would qualify as "extended comparisons."

So, since you yourself have said:

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

I won't be that worried about comparisons, provided that they adhere to the Spoiler Policy.

are you going to go against that?

All I'm suggesting is that, if people want to continue discussion, then they should post a link to the source thread and continue it there. There is the argument that discussion drops off when that happens, but isn't that also a choice between the lesser of two evils, i.e. having to take the discussion elsewhere vs. not being able to discuss comparisons at all?

[Marcus H.]

are you going to go against that?

I've always not liked the Spoiler Policy because it feels unneededly restraining, but I'm trying to be considerate. That said, I've made several topics on General Anime before and I can personally say that "taking the discussion elsewhere" doesn't work most of the time. You're often left with a one page thread and discussion's over.

You can even try making a thread about those comparisons, and even if you're able to make the entire community post there whenever someone needs comparing, you'll just be "taking those tangents and pushing it somewhere else". In any case, the Spoiler Policy still holds, and what happens is we have a thread that's filled with spoiler-tagged posts. Really, there's no way around it.

[monster]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

It does, especially if you don't want a particular director or scriptwriter to "butcher" another adaptation by putting stuff that's (1) not even in the source and/or (2) making things too fast or too slow. (It still depends on the viewer on what's "too fast" or "too slow", but there are cases that even the other staff find the pacing as "out of whack", for example in Mahou Sensou.)

I don't see how a casual online discussion between fans is supposed to prevent a director/scriptwriter from "butchering" another adaptation. Perhaps you meant to say something else?

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

You can even try making a thread about those comparisons, and even if you're able to make the entire community post there whenever someone needs comparing, you'll just be "taking those tangents and pushing it somewhere else". In any case, the Spoiler Policy still holds, and what happens is we have a thread that's filled with spoiler-tagged posts. Really, there's no way around it.

A thread made specifically to compare an adaptation with its source material wouldn't need a spoiler tag as long as the topic of discussion has been covered by the adaptation in some form or another, which should be the case for most comparisons. It could also be a thread that allows for spoilers.

[Marcus H.]

I don't see how a casual online discussion between fans is supposed to prevent a director/scriptwriter from "butchering" another adaptation. Perhaps you meant to say something else?

It doesn't, obviously. What I meant is: if you're about to pick up a show A that's made by person X who made a lackluster adaptation B, then you'll end up asking about both adaptation B and person X OR the original source of show A if it's an adaptation. The response will help you avoid person X's works in the future. The comparisons will begin there, as do the spoilers.

[monster]

Originally Posted by Marcus H.

It doesn't, obviously. What I meant is: if you're about to pick up a show A that's made by person X who made a lackluster adaptation B, then you'll end up asking about both adaptation B and person X OR the original source of show A if it's an adaptation. The response will help you avoid person X's works in the future. The comparisons will begin there, as do the spoilers.

There is a difference between a lackluster adaptation and a lackluster show, which goes back to my point that the former is not as useful to know if you're not already familiar with the source material or interested in it.

[Fufufu]

How I use the blurry spoiler?