Indistinguishable: question (spoiler)

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Who was Geordi pining over, at the beginning of the novel, before he

Spoiler: what?

bumped into Leah?

I can't even remember the name, but I remember that it seemed vaguely familiar.

 

[DimesDan]

Re: Indistinguishable: Who was Geordi pining over, near the beginning?

I know I don't have problems with spoilers in the actual review thread but this was the last book out so couldn't you have asked there and the title, is you know, a spoiler in itself!!!!

Could one of the ever friendly mods move this into the review thread or the like?

 

[bok2384]

Re: Indistinguishable: Who was Geordi pining over, near the beginning?

I can't remember the name either, but I think it was the woman he became involved with in the previous novel, Paths of Disharmony.

 

[Christopher]

Re: Indistinguishable: Who was Geordi pining over, near the beginning?

I can't remember the name either, but I think it was the woman he became involved with in the previous novel, Paths of Disharmony.

Yes, and her name was Tamala Harstad. She was a lieutenant and a member of Crusher's medical staff, a doctor, I believe.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Re: Indistinguishable: Who was Geordi pining over, near the beginning?

Funny, and I just read Paths a few weeks ago.

And I would hardly call a lovelorn Geordi, particularly only pages out of the prologue, a spoiler, nor a question about a character who is only referenced a "review."

 

[DimesDan]

Re: Indistinguishable: Who was Geordi pining over, near the beginning?

Funny, and I just read Paths a few weeks ago.

And I would hardly call a lovelorn Geordi, particularly only pages out of the prologue, a spoiler, nor a question about a character who is only referenced a "review."

And why should you, you created this thread, you asked the vague but equally spoilerish question in the thread title. You must have known though that it if someone did read this thread it would be spoilerish because you had the forethought to post part of your question in spoiler code.

I know you're new here, but it's not just Americans and those from North America who post here, it's a global board and IFM is not technically* out here in England for nearly a whole calender month.

Sure you can ask your question, sure you can create it in a separate thread from the main discussion or create a whole new thread and ask that simple question if that makes you feel special. And I have no problem with that, I have no problem with spoilers being discussed in a review thread which has only began being put under spoiler tags since one of the authors asked for it to be done and left soon after. What I have a problem with, what a fair few other people have a problem though are spoilers in a thread title.

I was completely unaware of what you feel referred to in the title of this thread. So, to me, that is a spoiler and if it were a book from a few months to a few decades ago, sure, put it in the thread title, but it's neither of those, it was the last book released and in some cases, not been released yet and thus, show some respect to those who haven't read it yet.

*When I say technically, I mean that's when both Amazon.co.uk says and my local bookshop, but last weekend I was able to get a copy when in London.

 

[Corran Horn]

Re: Indistinguishable: Who was Geordi pining over, near the beginning?

He seemed to be hitting it off with an Engineer from the Aventine as well but I guess from the perspective of IFM that happened over a year ago.

 

[Christopher]

Re: Indistinguishable: Who was Geordi pining over, near the beginning?

He seemed to be hitting it off with an Engineer from the Aventine as well but I guess from the perspective of IFM that happened over a year ago.

Closer to two years. Destiny was February '81, IFM is January-March '83.

 

[zarkon]

Re: Indistinguishable: Who was Geordi pining over, near the beginning?

The romantic misadventures of Geordi La Forge.

 

[Ronald Held]

Re: Indistinguishable: Who was Geordi pining over, near the beginning?

Maybe his relationship with Leah will last much longer?

 

[SicOne]

Re: Indistinguishable: Who was Geordi pining over, near the beginning?

Wait, wasn't she married? I thought that TNG episode they parted ways on showed that she was married, but she and Geordi were just friends?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Re: Indistinguishable: Who was Geordi pining over, near the beginning?

He was pining for the fjords.

 

[Rosalind]

since the question is already answered, I'll leave the thread as it is. but the title has now been fixed.


hbquikcomjamesl, Dimesdan had a legitimate concern over the spoiler in the title. For people who haven't read the book, it is a spoiler. Next time, please consider other people who post in the forum before putting any story element in the title, whether you think it's a spoiler or not.

 

[SicOne]

I am only fifty pages into IFM. Do they explain what happened with Brahms' husband?

 

[Christopher]

I am only fifty pages into IFM. Do they explain what happened with Brahms' husband?

That was established in The Genesis Wave, Book One.

 

[SicOne]

I am only fifty pages into IFM. Do they explain what happened with Brahms' husband?

That was established in The Genesis Wave, Book One.

Don't have that one, but I took a little stroll through Memory Beta while I waited and found the answer.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

hbquikcomjamesl, Dimesdan had a legitimate concern over the spoiler in the title. For people who haven't read the book, it is a spoiler. Next time, please consider other people who post in the forum before putting any story element in the title, whether you think it's a spoiler or not.

I strongly disagree with both assertions (i.e., that the title was a spoiler, AND that the concern was legitimate).

It is an established characteristic of Geordi that his love life is only slightly better than my own. It should come as neither a surprise, nor a spoiler, for him to be found pining after somebody. It is more-or-less his natural state.

And in this case, he is pining after a character who doesn't even appear in the book, except by reference as the one he's pining over, and so I would classify the reference to his pining over Tamala Harstad as "throwaway," rather than as a plot point. And so even if Geordi weren't perpetually lovelorn, this would not be a spoiler, simply by virtue of its insignificance to the plot.

And as to my being "new here," I was hear a year and six days before Dimesdan showed up. And if he doesn't expect Geordi to be lovelorn at almost any given moment, then he is the one who's evidently "new here."

 

[JD]

I haven't read either book being discussed, and while it doesn't bother me, I would consider the topic a spoiler. When it comes to new books, it's best to consider pretty much anything thing more detailed than a basic description to be a spoiler. You have to understand, alot of people want to be able to go into a book/movie/tv show with as little specific knowledge as possible, so it's best to treat pretty much anything that isn't in the blurbs as a spoiler. This is actually coming from someone who has gotten in trouble for this same thing in the past.

 

[Rosalind]

how long you have been around isn't the issue here.

The people who visit this forum range from those who don't care about spoilers (e.g. me), to those who don't want to know any details about a book until they've read it themselves (e.g. Dimesdan). While I don't agree that any and all details about a book should be spoiler tagged, I also come to think that when a book is new (it's been out for less than a month, it's not out in most non-US places unless you're willing to pay for the extra to cover airfright cost), those of us who are eager to discuss a book should think about the people who haven't read it or haven't even got a copy yet, and keep all details of a book behind spoiler tags or a thread clearly marked as spoiler.

Now, we've wondered very far away from the topic here, so let's get back on it.

 

[Deano2099]

Oh wow, when I saw this yesterday I assumed the title had already been changed... I mean I'm a huge spoiler nazi but really?

It's hardly a plot detail, it's less of a spoiler than the ship on the cover. If they'd used Geordi looking pensive on the cover I guess that would be a spoiler too?

On the other hand I'm fine with a general rule not to reveal spoilers in a thread title, fair enough for the mod to change it if so. But the reaction to the original poster seemed entirely over the top, especially given this rule isn't actually spelled out in any sticky or introductory rules thread, so how was he to know? He was being polite, he didn't post any spoilers knowingly, as he didn't consider it a spoiler.

I'm not convinced anyone else actually felt spoiled by it either. Dimesdan is the only one saying he thought it was, but given he opened and read the thread to complain about it, rather than just PMing a mod, it strikes me as a little disingenuous.

Again, if that's the rule, maybe make a rule or spoiler rules thread and sticky it? Or if someone does do that, maybe gently correct them and explain rather than belittling them and being passive-aggressive. By all means we should cater to the small group of highly spoiler-sensitive people that read the books as soon as they come out, but should we also not equally make an effort to cater to new people that don't necessarily know all the rules we've concocted?