Spoiler Policy Q&A thread

[xris]

We are going to implement the following Spoiler Policy here at AnimeSuki. If you have any questions concerning the new policy please refrain from posting in any of the discussion threads (since it may be off-topic or it may be a spoiler in itself), ask your question in this thread instead.

Inappropriate spoilers are not welcome here at AnimeSuki Forums. A spoiler is anything that discloses an event, character, plot or other information before it is revealed within the specific work being discussed. Any post containing spoilers may be deleted in its entirety and an infraction will be issued to the poster. Repeated violations of this rule will lead to a ban.

Anything outside the scope of a topic is considered a spoiler. Check the thread's title and forum to determine what is allowed. For example, in an anime thread (e.g. threads in the Fansubbed forum), information from the manga, novels, or games would be considered a spoiler. In a thread about a specific episode of a show (in series-specific forums like the Naruto forum), information about future episodes would be considered a spoiler. In a thread about one show, information about a different show would be considered a spoiler (e.g. revealing Kanon's plot in a Clannad thread is a spoiler). So pay attention to the topic and forum. Restrict your discussion to the subject in question since anything else is a spoiler!

Exceptions:
Spoilers are permitted in limited circumstances, provided that they are posted under clearly marked spoiler tags. These exceptions include:

• Posting and discussing content found on official sites or blogs.
  
• Answering specific questions about past or current events using knowledge of the source material. (We strongly encourage posters to discuss any spoilers via PM, rather than in the work's discussion thread.)
  
• Comparing events in an adaptation to the way they were presented in the source material or other adaptations. (Discussions about the source material itself, or extended comparisons should be directed to the appropriate manga/novel/game thread.)
  
• Comparing one story to another, when such comparisons are useful or informative. (These spoiler tags must always be labeled with the name of the other work whose spoilers it contains.)

Please note that additional restrictions may apply in certain threads so consult the opening post of each thread for more information. If you have a question about whether something is considered a spoiler or if it is permitted under this policy, please refrain from posting in the discussion thread and either contact a moderator or ask your question in the Spoiler Policy Q&A thread.

Note regarding unsubbed "raw" anime episodes:

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.

Adding a Spoiler tag:

Please use the Report button if you see any spoilers:

Note: Reporting a post does not mean the poster will be banned instantly, so you shouldn't feel bad about it. The moderators prefer not to use bans unless warnings are repeatedly ignored. Permanent bans only follow for habitual recidivists.

[SeedFreedom]

Why cant we just trust people to have enough sense not to open spoiler tags when they are labeled spoilers?

I have a specific situation i wanted to ask about. in the Clannad thread, there is a discussion on the after story (the second season). Is it alright to mention things in the game about the after story there?

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by SeedFreedom

Why cant we just trust people to have enough sense not to open spoiler tags when they are labeled spoilers?

If you ask me, I think one reason is because spoiler tags have become so commonly-used now that it's really hard to differentiate between the spoilers that you might want to read, and those you probably don't want to read. The other thing, though, is that we also consider spoilers from future source material to be off-topic. If you're talking about an anime, it isn't the right time or place to be like...

Spoiler for manga:

Oh, I just can't wait 'till they animate chapter 8192 when <insert massive spoiler here> happens!

1) How is anyone supposed to know that you're going to what you're spoiling? 2) People who are just watching the anime probably don't want to know what's happening in manga chapter 8192. 3) Not everyone following the manga is at chapter 8192 either. We see this way more often than we care to count. In addition to being inconsiderate, we also consider it off-topic -- it hasn't happened in the anime and is clearly in the future, so let the anime reveal it in due course.

I guess you could say that all policies are created in response to a perceived need. The answer to the "why can't we just trust people" question probably lies in that statement.

Originally Posted by SeedFreedom

I have a specific situation i wanted to ask about. in the Clannad thread, there is a discussion on the after story (the second season). Is it alright to mention things in the game about the after story there?

In this case, there's a thread for this express purpose called the Spoiler & Speculation thread. I suggest that would be the best spot for your question (though this is unchanged with this new spoiler policy).

[SeedFreedom]

But then wouldn't that leave the Clannad after story thread to be just "OMG i cant wait!!!!11111oneoneone". Theres really no point in opening a thread early then if all spoilers are off limits.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by SeedFreedom

But then wouldn't that leave the Clannad after story thread to be just "OMG i cant wait!!!!11111oneoneone". Theres really no point in opening a thread early then if all spoilers are off limits.

People could certainly post their ideas and anticipation of what will be in the season, but questions about the game or posts that depend on game knowledge should either be directed to the Q&A thread or Spoiler & Speculation. This isn't something that changed recently though -- it's been like this since the forum was created. The new policy is, for the most part, dealing with threads that don't have a series-specific forum (like those in the Fansubbed and DVD & Licensed forums), and is mostly to make things more consistent.

[Daniel E.]

Hope everyone gets the message.

I was spoiled big time in the Claymore section, all because manga readers wouldn't even bother with spoiler tags in the first place.

I can see something similar starting in the Soul Eater forum too. >_< !

[KholdStare]

I just want a clarification that I hope is in my favor:

Comparing one story to another, when such comparisons are useful or informative. (These spoiler tags must always be labeled with the name of the other work whose spoilers it contains.)

This means that I can compare Kanon's plot to Clannad's plot, if it's relevant in some way, correct? If I reveal Kanon's plot under a spoiler tag in a Clannad thread, I would hope that it is completely okay, because many good discussions include compare and contrasts to other series to further emphasize a certain point.

EDIT: To clarify, I'm not talking about favoritism wars such as "which anime is more dramatic, Kanon or Clannad" within a certain thread, but more civilized discussions that don't go completely off-topic.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by KholdStare

This means that I can compare Kanon's plot to Clannad's plot, if it's relevant in some way, correct? If I reveal Kanon's plot under a spoiler tag in a Clannad thread, I would hope that it is completely okay, because many good discussions include compare and contrasts to other series to further emphasize a certain point.

Yes, I think you're right. But the key things here are that:

1. The entire comparison (not just the spoilerish parts) should be behind spoiler tags
2. The spoiler tags should be clearly marked so that people know exactly what they should have watched before reading the paragraph
3. As you emphasized yourself, it should be relevant and useful.

This would be a BAD example:

Originally Posted by BAD example - DON'T DO THIS!

I think the way this is going it'll be like

Spoiler for kanon:

so-and-so's oh-so-shocking ending!

don't you think?

I'm sure anyone who's been around the forum for any length of time can remember far too many posts of this sort.

Please note also that certain threads may have additional restrictions about spoiler tags. Anime episode threads in particular tend to have more restrictions. So please be mindful of that.

But yes, that exception was intended to allow for relevant comparisons like that, so long as everyone knows exactly what to expect when they click on the spoiler tags.

[Skyfall]

Originally Posted by KholdStare

This means that I can compare Kanon's plot to Clannad's plot, if it's relevant in some way, correct? If I reveal Kanon's plot under a spoiler tag in a Clannad thread, I would hope that it is completely okay, because many good discussions include compare and contrasts to other series to further emphasize a certain point.

Thats correct - you are allowed to make such cross-series comparisons, as long as they are relevant and serve a point. Needless to say they must be concealed under properly labeled spoiler tags, so that people would have a clear understanding just what they are getting themselves in to.

Edit: beaten to it. *grumble*

[SeedFreedom]

So shouldn't the emphasis be on using spoilers more correctly, than to say "no spoilers in anime threads ever". If you want to talk about what happens in the manga, then include chapter title to in the spoiler title. If you want to talk about the game, include what route. If you hate to be spoiled and are unsure, don't take the risk. This is just going to lead to more confusion and more arguments about what is bannable and who went over the blurry line.

Talking about future events aren't always off topic. There are conversations about what diverged from the source and how this will affect future events. Or talk about pacing about future events that were shuffled around.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by SeedFreedom

So shouldn't the emphasis be on using spoilers more correctly, than to say "no spoilers in anime threads ever".

If anything, these rules just encourage more attention to using spoiler tags. I don't see anything banning spoilers per se as long as they're tagged.

Talking about future events aren't always off topic. There are conversations about what diverged from the source and how this will affect future events. Or talk about pacing about future events that were shuffled around.

Personally that's exactly the stuff I don't want to see in an anime thread. I don't care whether it diverged from the source or how that might affect future developments in the anime. If you want to talk about the source, do it in a manga thread.

[KholdStare]

Actually, I think that including "Be careful when opening spoiler tags" would be wise, since like relentlessflame said, many of us tend to just open spoiler tags like it's an automatic thing, and sometimes we should be reminded at the severity of some spoilers.

[Daniel E.]

As a fan of image threads, I am fully aware that I am gonna be exposed to images from characters that may or may not show in the animated version at any given time.

What gets me a bit is when people starts to comment on said images.

Who is she?

What's her role in the story?

And on, and on...... >_< !

I mean, it's an image thread; Why discuss future events in such a place?

[felix]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

If you ask me, I think one reason is because spoiler tags have become so commonly-used now that it's really hard to differentiate between the spoilers that you might want to read, and those you probably don't want to read.

Isn't it so much easier to just implement a HIDE tag. People wanting to just hide content is common place and it's just copy/paste and it's implemented! anyway. BTW as for spoilers in Image threads... wouldn't those threads be better merged with merchendise, events, and magazine stuff in one big thread? (eg. XXX Images, Media & Merchandise [Spoilerific])

[NightWish]

Originally Posted by Cats

Isn't it so much easier to just implement a HIDE tag.

Yes, it is easy to do, but that does not mean it is the right thing to do We have considered this suggestion before (the last time you made it ) but decided not to adopt it as yet. We would prefer people used thumbnails or links in preference to "hiding" content under any sort of tag, unless the content is actually a spoiler, in which case the semantics of "spoiler" are correct and desirable.

Originally Posted by Cats

BTW as for spoilers in Image threads... wouldn't those threads be better merged with merchendise, events, and magazine stuff in one big thread? (eg. XXX Images, Media & Merchandise [Spoilerific])

No. The threads serve different purposes, merging them simply because they both might have spoilers would be silly.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by NightWish

Yes, it is easy to do, but that does not mean it is the right thing to do We have considered this suggestion before (the last time you made it ) but decided not to adopt it as yet. We would prefer people used thumbnails or links in preference to "hiding" content under any sort of tag, unless the content is actually a spoiler, in which case the semantics of "spoiler" are correct and desirable.

So what is your preference for handling large blocks of text like this one that have only marginal pertinence to the show but are relevant to the issues raised in the thread? I'd like to have another option to hide long blocks of text like this so they don't interfere with the flow of the dialog in the thread. I typically use spoilers for this purpose since there isn't any other alternative. Like Cats, I think it would be helpful to have another kind of tag that hides material in a thread without marking it as a "spoiler."

By your use of "links" are you suggesting that I post the information as an HTML document somewhere else and link to it? That's not really an option for many people here. Or, are you focusing more specifically on graphics that can be stored on image sites? I realize that "hiding" a graphic inside a spoiler tag does no such thing, but hiding text can make sense in many cases.

[Aoie_Emesai]

edited for Nosanninwa

This new policy *might* be getting me *a* infractions >.<

I do hope users label their information in spoilers properly now.

[NoSanninWa]

Originally Posted by NightWish

Yes, it is easy to do, but that does not mean it is the right thing to do We have considered this suggestion before (the last time you made it ) but decided not to adopt it as yet. We would prefer people used thumbnails or links in preference to "hiding" content under any sort of tag, unless the content is actually a spoiler, in which case the semantics of "spoiler" are correct and desirable.

I certainly agree that thumbnails are preferable to hiding large images, but what about the case when someone is posting 50+ thumbnails in a single post of an image thread? (That's not remotely hypothetical.) All of a sudden I want to see thumbnails behind hide tags to keep them from taking over the page.

Of course, I agree that instituting a hide tag would encourage people to use it instead of thumbnails for the reason that they figure we must mean it to be used that way if we bothered to create a whole tag for it. And I can't believe we're discussing this, instead of actually talking about the effect of a spoiler policy. It is unfortunate that this is relevant.

Originally Posted by Aoie_Emesai

This new policy is gonna be getting me a few infractions >.<

I do hope users label their information in spoilers properly now.

Example please! What in particular will catch you? The need for a title?

[KholdStare]

All I'm hoping is for this rule to punish posts starting now, because I might have broken the rule in earlier posts that I probably won't refer to ever again. One issue that may come up is there will be more usage of spoiler tags, which could or could not be a good thing, depending on the thread.

[White Manju Bun]

Originally Posted by SeedFreedom

Talking about future events aren't always off topic. There are conversations about what diverged from the source and how this will affect future events. Or talk about pacing about future events that were shuffled around.

Good point, this is currently happening in a thread. My own personal opinion is manga readers may talk about what changed in the anime because its the anime they are currently watching. Of course I agree with SejiSensei in that if it gets horribly off-topic then take it to the manga thread but Im usually pretty interested in what studios change so talking manga/anime differences dont bother me as long as any manga talk is relevant to that particular episode, is tagged properly and isnt a unwanted spoiler.

Im hoping with this people will start tagging properly and not just writing stuff like "manga" or "stuff from manga" get alittle more specific so members will known whether or not they want to click it or not.