Spoilers in Books: A Discussion.

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

  1. trampledamage

    trampledamage Clone Admiral

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    Exactly this, thank you.

    JWolf - I did see your notification and I'm not changing the post. The problem with "being on your toes regarding spoilers" is that if you go around pointing out that something is a spoiler that makes it more of a spoiler than it was by itself because you've drawn attention to the fact that this information is important to the plot.

    What you know is important as someone who's read the book is not going to be obvious to someone who hasn't read the book.


    And if you have any concerns about the decisions of the moderators, send us a PM.
     
  2. JWolf

    JWolf Commodore Commodore

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    You don't have to have read the book. If you've been keeping up, you'll know that something changed just by reading that one line. That is a spoiler and if you have finished the book before Fall #1, you'll know that change happened in either Fall #1 or Fall #2. You won't know how or why, but you'll know it did happen.

    That would be akin to
    Telling everyone that Dax is now in a different body than Jadzia without telling how and why
     
    Last edited: Sep 25, 2013
  3. trampledamage

    trampledamage Clone Admiral

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    No it's not akin to that. That's a lot more detail. And you are now revealing more about the discussion than I wanted. Please leave it, or take it to PM.
     
  4. ronny

    ronny Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Even if the the subject says no spoilers, if a thread is about a book I don't want a spoiler on I don't read it on the assumption someone may cross a line or give me more info than I want.

    I'm not normally one to blame the victim but if someone is complaining about a spoiler post I ask myself a lot, "why are you reading a thread about a book you haven't read yet if you care that much about not reading spoilers?"
     
  5. Shane Houston

    Shane Houston Commander Red Shirt

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    Right. That would be like Scotty trying to drink real Scotch thinking he won't get a buzz. :)
     
  6. JWolf

    JWolf Commodore Commodore

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    If the thread is not labeled as (Spoiler!) and there are open spoilers for the book(s) in the topic, someone who hasn't read the book could be spoiled. Also, I don't want to see open spoilers for other book(s) not specifically in the thread regardless of (Spoilers!) or not.
     
  7. DonIago

    DonIago Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Then maybe you should limit your thread-viewing to threads that specify NO SPOILERS.
     
  8. JWolf

    JWolf Commodore Commodore

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    I know there can be spoilers for the book(s) listed in the topic if the topic says there can be spoilers. But to then have a different book or books spoiled isn't right. People go into that thread knowing what to expect. They don't go in expecting a different book or books to be openly spoiled.
     
  9. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    And there are guidelines in place for that. Which most people follow very well.

    The only other way to improve things would be for every entry made by members to be approved by a Mod before it is published in public. And that would require a rostered staff of paid employees, 24 hours a day, would it not?

    Am I correct in remembering that you devour each book, in eBook form, the moment they are published, and the chance of you, personally, getting spoiled is practically zero?
     
  10. Deano2099

    Deano2099 Commander Red Shirt

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    But it won't be fixed if the spoiler is for something more than X months old, unless it's obvious trolling right (ie. spoiling in a 'should I buy this book?' thread)/.

    Haha, really?

    Okay then [1] http://www.trekbbs.com/forumdisplay.php?f=43
     
  11. DonIago

    DonIago Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I don't see what that's supposed to illustrate...
     
  12. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    All I got was a link back to the forum's main page.
     
  13. Paris

    Paris Commodore Commodore

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    Ditto
     
  14. Shane Houston

    Shane Houston Commander Red Shirt

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    That's where you were supposed to go when you click the link, to show how claims of the forums decline due to spoiler issues is not true.
     
  15. DonIago

    DonIago Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Except that the argument that was being made is that the forum -has- declined.
     
  16. Deano2099

    Deano2099 Commander Red Shirt

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    You wanted a citation. This forum is where I got the data from. The archives go back that far. All the evidence is here.

    If you're asking me to provide the statistical analysis and select pieces of evidence for you, then you probably need to go and read some more about what "Citation needed" means.

    Or y'know, actually say that's what you want instead of using some smug Wikipedia reference that you don't actually understand.
     
  17. DonIago

    DonIago Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I see.
     
  18. Kertrats47

    Kertrats47 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Kind of like posting a picture of Congress when asked for information regarding how congressmen voted last year and why. Not really the needed, or relevant, information.
     
  19. Elias Vaughn

    Elias Vaughn Captain Captain

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    This thread is so long that soon we're going to have people in other threads insisting we put any references to this thread under a spoiler tag.
     
  20. trampledamage

    trampledamage Clone Admiral

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    As others have pointed out, there's nothing wrong with expecting a requested citation to be slightly more specific and there's never any reason to be insulting in your reply.