Spoilers in Books: A Discussion.

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Brefugee, Aug 19, 2013.

  1. trampledamage

    trampledamage Clone Admiral

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    You still can. Nothing about the current spoiler handling rules says you can't raise an issue with a moderator and ask them to fix it.

    If anyone sees what they think is a spoiler in a thread that isn't set up for spoilers or anything that they have a problem with, hit the little triangle next to the post to notify the moderators on it.

    We may not agree with your assessment, and we'll make our own decision about what to do but we will look into it.
     
  2. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    Huh? We can't do that any more? :confused:
     
  3. trampledamage

    trampledamage Clone Admiral

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    Yes, you absolutely can!
     
  4. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    :vulcan: :cool:
     
  5. JWolf

    JWolf Commodore Commodore

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    The problem comes from those that say they don't want to use spoilers and obviously won't whenever they think they can get away with it. It's attitudes like this that have driven some away and made the activity here less then it was. There used to be more regulars and now there are less regulars. (IMHO) I think this is because of some of the people who are being rude and one way to be rude is not to use spoiler codes when appropriate regardless of the thread topic or age of the books.

    For example, the new book threads have (in the past) had spoiler codes used even though the thread said (Spoilers!). That was polite and it worked and people could read the threads and chime in as they read the book. Now we have some saying to just post the spoilers because it's allowed. That's rude and that's the sort of attitude that will and has driven some away.
     
  6. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    Then you immediately report that behaviour. The Mods will act.

    Is our TrekLit board really all that less-popular? And can we blame it on spoilers only?

    Surely, with no more 24th century Trek in production, people slipping away from reading and wanting to discuss those books online, is a natural phenomenon. TNG had the enormous following, but the viability of most factual tie-in books fell when TNG left the air, plus there was the rise of online wiki repositories.

    If people stop reading Trek books, they'll stop discussing them online.

    Other once-popular boards, such as PsiPhi and the Star Trek Message Board, went unmoderated for huge amounts of time. Those places went to hell and were abandoned by most regulars.

    I've not seen evidence that anarchy has broken out here.

    But it's not allowed. So report them. If you're referring to really old titles, most people who haven't read them yet are going to be forgiving that they've got so much catching up to do. Are they really likely leave a board just because people don't use spoiler code on very old titles. (Unless it's when someone asks if an older book is worth reading, and someone deliberately spoils it for them in their response.)

    Even casual browsers can accidentally spoilerize themselves by reading only the cover blurbs of the last decade of 24th century books because they've had an ongoing storyline.
     
  7. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    You make it sound like people are posting spoilers for everything everywhere.
    People are following the rules that have been set up here. Just because you don't like those rules doesn't mean you can exaggerate everything to ridiculous extremes.
     
  8. JeBuS

    JeBuS Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    So you're still trying to make the argument that a thread marked as spoilers for a book is not enough of a spoiler warning?
     
  9. Captain Clark Terrell

    Captain Clark Terrell Commodore Commodore

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    You've no way of proving this argument. Repeating it over and over again isn't going to make it more valid. The moderators have already decided on a rule they think is appropriate. If you're concerned that a particular post may be violating this rule, you can flag the post for a mod to read. That's it. Your insistence that everyone go out of their way to accommodate you is far more inappropriate than any accidental misuse of the spoiler tags.

    --Sran
     
  10. Elias Vaughn

    Elias Vaughn Captain Captain

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    Perhaps we could have threads for each new book marked 'no spoilers'; 'spoilers'; 'no seriously, spoiler alert'; 'super secret spoiler warning'; and 'spoi - wait for it - lers!'. Then there's something for everyone!
     
  11. Captain Clark Terrell

    Captain Clark Terrell Commodore Commodore

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    ^I'm starting to believe you actually are Elias Vaughn. Your sense of humor reminds me of him.

    --Sran
     
  12. JWolf

    JWolf Commodore Commodore

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    I did report a spoiler the other day. It's still there. It's in a thread where it doesn't belong out in the open and yet nothing has been done about it. This is why we need people to be on their toes regarding spoilers. If it's going to take this long to fix (if it even gets fixed) then the spoiler will stay out in the open for too long.
     
  13. DonIago

    DonIago Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Have you tried contacting a Mod directly?
     
  14. Brefugee

    Brefugee No longer living the Irish dream. Premium Member

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    [​IMG]
     
  15. jaime

    jaime Vice Admiral Admiral

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    New to forum, don't have a clue how bbc code works, and have always been cheap with code. Also I am usually posting from my kindle, which is not always typing friendly...consequently I have put spoilers in the lit forum, only in threads marked spoilers. Now you can either chase away a new voice on the forum, leading to the death which is apparently being caused by these alleged crimes against humanity, or assume that spoilers being written in the thread title is enough, and people shouldn't have to learn a language to communicate on the forum (aside from obviously, English for an English forum)
     
  16. jaime

    jaime Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Sigh..spot the kindle spell check undermining my post.
     
  17. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    So try again. And PM someone!

    Of course, it could be that the Mods didn't consider it a spoiler. ;)

    Volunteer your services as a Mod. ;)

    To add a spoiler warning, you don't need code, just click on the icon:
    [​IMG]

    and follow the instruction.

    Or do the coding icons not show up on your device?

    There is no need to worry about spoilers for the particular book under discussion that is the subject of a thread marked "spoilers". Just refrain from spoiling other books in that thread.
     
  18. DonIago

    DonIago Vice Admiral Admiral

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    ^I'll just add that you need to be in "Advanced" mode with the full text editor to see that icon; you won't see it in the Quick Reply box at the bottom of the thread.
     
  19. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    Thanks. I very rarely click "Quick reply", 'cos I always end up getting stumped for the code I need. Then finding it leads to a "not quick" reply! ;)
     
  20. Captain Clark Terrell

    Captain Clark Terrell Commodore Commodore

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    Have you considered the possibility that the mods have reviewed the post in question and not deemed it a violation of board rules? And as others have suggested, why not try speaking with the mods directly via PM?

    No, it's not. What we need is for everyone to follow the rules the mods have established. If you've concerns that a rule has been broken, the correct course of action is to speak with the mods themselves to get clarification about the issue in question.

    Once again, who says it needs fixing at all? And I don't think ripping the mods in public like this is a good idea.

    --Sran