Specific TV Forums

K4t

I orignally posted this in R&R as a rant but Dr. Bollocko informed me that it would just cause hassle by bad-mouthing other forums' charters which was fair enough. Basically, I propose that spoilers should not be necessary in the specific tv forums.

Baically, I'm fed up with people scorning and giving out to me for talking about latter seasons of the Wire in the same named forum. In general threads about the Wire I might make a reference to season 5 and then some other poster will take my head off for mentioning it without spoilers. It should be up to the other poster to watch the seasons. Why bother coming onto a a forum specifically dedicated to the Wire if you haven't seen all of the seasons and don't want to know what happens in them? It just doesn't make sense to be honest.

I propose that spoilers should not be necessary in specific tv forums where the series is finished and no longer in production. I think this is an entirely fair and sensible suggestion.

Ponster

A pity Dr. Bollocko didn't tell you to perhaps modify you're original post/rant before posting it in feedback.

Is it that hard to use spoilers, though? Many people may be just getting into a series, and they might like to see what others think, or whatever. It's not really that big of a deal to use spoilers, in my opinion.

Handsome Bob

I understand the OP's point. Some people (not all) I think just go out of their way to be difficult. I mean I have lost count of the amount of times people have come into a thread that clearly states ****SPOILER***** in the title only to blow a gasket when they get spoiled. I mean why enter a thread that states spoilers for an episode that they haven't even seen? What is the point? Even if people did use spoiler tags all the OP would be greeted with is big walls of grey that they wouldn't highlight for fear of being spoiled. Yet they still enter the thread. Madness.

AlmightyCushion

If it says spoilers in the title then people shouldn't bitch when they read a spoiler. It's a discussion about a certain episode then people shouldn't bitch if someone spoils something in that episode. Simple as.

WhiteWashMan

K4t wrote: »

I orignally posted this in R&R as a rant but Dr. Bollocko informed me that it would just cause hassle by bad-mouthing other forums' charters which was fair enough. Basically, I propose that spoilers should not be necessary in the specific tv forums.

Baically, I'm fed up with people scorning and giving out to me for talking about latter seasons of the Wire in the same named forum. In general threads about the Wire I might make a reference to season 5 and then some other poster will take my head off for mentioning it without spoilers. It should be up to the other poster to watch the seasons. Why bother coming onto a a forum specifically dedicated to the Wire if you haven't seen all of the seasons and don't want to know what happens in them? It just doesn't make sense to be honest.

I propose that spoilers should not be necessary in specific tv forums where the series is finished and no longer in production. I think this is an entirely fair and sensible suggestion.

Its up to the mods as to whether spoilers should be used or not, and generally, that will be based on what the majority of the users want.

So, if most people want *spoilers* in a forum where you have to use them, then you use them whether you think its right or not.

Sparky

When I was modding the 24 forum if the thread title had spoilers within it, it was early warning to expect spoilers. However in a general thread about anything with the programme, it was a rule that the spoiler tag was to be used if the poster in any way considered that it was a spoiler.

For the record I am on the begining of season 5 of the wire. Don't expect everyone to be up to date!
If I see a thread with Season 5 ending [spoilers] - I'm not going to venture into the thread. (Unless I have to as admin)

Just live with it

TheManWho

in respect to spoilers, is it acceptabe to just change the font colour to match the backround like the following

-Insert spoiler here

javaboy

TheManWho wrote: »

in respect to spoilers, is it acceptabe to just change the font colour to match the backround like the following

-Insert spoiler here

No because not everybody uses the same colour scheme to browse as you. Some people see posts with a black background for instance so the white font sticks out even more.

Ron DMC

You're better off using [ SPOILER ]Insert spoiler here[ /SPOILER ]

In my opinion spoilers are only necessary in the following situations:

• In an episode thread if upcoming promos or newer episodes are to be mentioned.
• In a thread about a series in the main Television forum when plotpoints from new episodes are mentioned. (Especially if the episode hasn't aired in all places)
• In a thread discussing a certain season of a show, if newer seasons are referenced.
• If a comparison to another show is made that gives away any major plot.
• Conjecture, rumour etc.

Even in forums of shows that are dead and gone, it's not a good idea to start mentioning spoilers from Season 4 of DS9 in a thread about S1E04.

Also, if a thread title clearly has SPOILER mentioned, tags should only be used for spoilers of future episodes, not for anything from the episode being discussed or anything up to then.

orestes

I can see the OPs point. I'm currently working my way through BSG, so I avoid that forum like the plague. Fair enough, while the series is ongoing and in production and all that spoilers should be used, but within a reasonable time-frame people should know that spoilers are gonna be involved in conversation between people who have watched the series as it happened. Yes, posting spoiler tags or SPOILERS in the thread title is handy, but after say 6 months should they really be necessary? If you are that worried about getting the plot spoiled, don't go into a forum/thread where it might happen. I'd hardly click on a thread titled "And the last cylon is..."

GAAman

orestes wrote: »

I can see the OPs point. I'm currently working my way through BSG, so I avoid that forum like the plague. Fair enough, while the series is ongoing and in production and all that spoilers should be used, but within a reasonable time-frame people should know that spoilers are gonna be involved in conversation between people who have watched the series as it happened. Yes, posting spoiler tags or SPOILERS in the thread title is handy, but after say 6 months should they really be necessary? If you are that worried about getting the plot spoiled, don't go into a forum/thread where it might happen. I'd hardly click on a thread titled "And the last cylon is..."

But who are you (not you personally orestes ) to say when a sufficient time frame has elapsed? To give you an example i just started watching a tv series called the new statesman with rik mayall, now according to IMDB it started in 87 and ended in 94 ( i know this is an extreme example bear with me) but because it is on uktv gold a would reckon a fair few boardsies have seen it.

So say there is a thread on it and like threads with a new show it starts of with initial reactions and thoughts, but goes into spoiler stuff, me reading the thread from the start and suddenly because someone else has watched an episode i have not they decide to spoil it for me?

The only thing i could say is to have threads or maybe a sub section of tv where spoilers are not used so there wont be any accidental ruining of shows for users ( say fora A spoilers are used and fora B is for everyone who has seen the shows at hand and can talk freely about them, just a thought

Riskymove

I can see both sides to a point but surely if there is a thread about for example, Season 5 of the Wire, then what do people expect?

just stay out of the fecking thread if you don't want to knwo about it

matrim

Ron DMC wrote: »

You're better off using [ SPOILER ]Insert spoiler here[ /SPOILER ]

In my opinion spoilers are only necessary in the following situations:

• In an episode thread if upcoming promos or newer episodes are to be mentioned.
• In a thread about a series in the main Television forum when plotpoints from new episodes are mentioned. (Especially if the episode hasn't aired in all places)
• In a thread discussing a certain season of a show, if newer seasons are referenced.
• If a comparison to another show is made that gives away any major plot.
• Conjecture, rumour etc.

Even in forums of shows that are dead and gone, it's not a good idea to start mentioning spoilers from Season 4 of DS9 in a thread about S1E04.

Also, if a thread title clearly has SPOILER mentioned, tags should only be used for spoilers of future episodes, not for anything from the episode being discussed or anything up to then.

I agree with most of what you said except

In an episode thread if upcoming promos or newer episodes are to be mentioned.

I think that these shouldn't be mentioned at all in episode threads. If you want to discuss a promo \ newer episode you should start a new thread.
The only future discussions in a episode thread should be theories \ guesses about what is going to happen by people who haven't seen them.

Ron DMC

matrim wrote: »

I agree with most of what you said except



I think that these shouldn't be mentioned at all in episode threads. If you want to discuss a promo \ newer episode you should start a new thread.
The only future discussions in a episode thread should be theories \ guesses about what is going to happen by people who haven't seen them.

Ok cool, that's even better. I was just thinking along the lines of people putting in little snippets, like:
Poster 1: I think character A is going to blah blah blah
Poster 2: I agree but in the next episode

this and that happens

which might make you change your mind.

I don't like when it happens either, but if people are going to insist on mentioning newer episodes, then they should at least throw spoiler tags around it.

CuLT

SomethingAwful has a much more matured TV forum than Boards.ie, and judging loosely from Boards.ie's expansion pattern in other areas (Soccer, for example) is probably a good indicator of where the TV forum will be in a number of years.

As such, their TV forum charter might be worth a read.

PS: potentially some weird ads on that link if you don't have an account on SA.

Ponster

CuLT wrote: »

s such, their TV forum charter might be worth a read.

They seem to have a simple rule; If it's already appeared on TV (rte/bbc/sky in our case) then no spoiler tags are needed no matter how new/old the program actually is. Once it has been broadcast though it's up to the forum member to control what threads they open and post they read.

Ron DMC

Ponster wrote: »

They seem to have a simple rule; If it's already appeared on TV (rte/bbc/sky in our case) then no spoiler tags are needed no matter how new/old the program actually is. Once it has been broadcast though it's up to the forum member to control what threads they open and post they read.

Tbh honest I don't think we should take their charter and just run with it.

Television over here is quite different in that shows aren't just aired on the one channel. We have people watching shows on a US timetable (or in the days following the airing), as well as people who will watch the show on Satellite or Cable channels from the UK etc, and even people who'll watch shows on Terrestrial stations in RoI.
Hence threads like in the LOST forum with titles Saying ***US/UK/RoI SPOILERS*** or just ***UK/RoI SPOILERS***

However, that said, I do agree with a lot of what was said in this post in CuLT's link:

Spoiler Tag Rules (merged from another sticky)

The end of the television season rapidly approaching, it's time to clarify some things about spoilers. For the most part you've all been really good about using spoilers, but there are some areas that could use some improvement.

Let's establish what a spoiler is: information about what is going to happen in a show that has yet to air in the the country of origin. This is usually the United States North America and more specifically the Eastern time zone. Sorry people who don't live in God's one true time zone, you might not want to read a thread until you've watched the entire show.

Then we get into the into sometimes murky area of speculation. If you're speculating about a show and you're using information from a spoiler, then it's a spoiler. Otherwise, just musing about how you dream of Jack Bauer coming into your room at night and kissing you doesn't need to be spoilered.

Now for some special cases. Lost and 24 fans consider the next episode teasers to give away too much, so please spoiler them. The writers and producers of Lost have talked a lot to the press, but don't assume that every one has read them and knows that certain vague events are supposed to happen.

As far as joke spoilers go, they're really not very funny and there have been a couple mad moderator posts about them. When you see so many fake ones, it's pretty easy to stumble upon a real one.

If you see any spoilers, feel free to use the report button. If you quote someone with an unspoilered spoiler, add the tags or remove it.
waffle iron ****ed around with this message at Jan 28, 2006 around

Joke spoilers are very annoying.

Ponster

Ron DMC wrote: »

Hence threads like in the LOST forum with titles Saying ***US/UK/RoI SPOILERS*** or just ***UK/RoI SPOILERS***

Of course. That should never change. I was talking about rte/bbc/sky and not viewing via "cousins".

CuLT

Ponster wrote: »

Of course. That should never change. I was talking about rte/bbc/sky and not viewing via "cousins".

I love the "cousins sending me the tapes" convention that's employed in our TV forums It's part of the forum's character, which is obviously one of the better reasons to not just take the SA charter and run, but I do think SA charters are great reference cases for Boards.ie, if nothing else. Food for thought.

By the way, I'm posting all this as CuLT (as opposed to Ross) to reinforce that this is my own opinion as a former moderator and relatively experienced user, as opposed to an even implied interdiction just because I happen to work here

Rovi

There has to be some sort of 'stature of limitations' on the discussion of plot points of TV series and movies, otherwise we'd have ridiculous situations like posters having to spoiler out stuff like the fact that Rosebud was a sled.

I'd be of the opinion that once a movie has finished a run on general release or a TV series has been broadcast on local terrestrial stations, all bets are off and no spoiler tags should be required.

Ron DMC

Rovi wrote: »

There has to be some sort of 'stature of limitations' on the discussion of plot points of TV series and movies, otherwise we'd have ridiculous situations like posters having to spoiler out stuff like the fact that Rosebud was a sled.

I'd be of the opinion that once a movie has finished a run on general release or a TV series has been broadcast on local terrestrial stations, all bets are off and no spoiler tags should be required.

Yes in the main television forum if it's a general discussion about the film or show, but certainly not in the Show forums.
e.g. If someone is posting in a thread in the Dexter forum about season one which they are watching on DVD, I wouldn't be happy at all if someone came in and started waffling about what happens in the finale of season 3.

EDIT: Dexter wasn't a good example as the show is still running.

How about the Joss Whedon forum, and someone discussing Angel Season One?

dr.bollocko

I cannot believe that you arent allowed to talk about episodes of the wire in the wire forum's OT thread. That's hilarious.
ly dumb.

javaboy

dr.bollocko wrote: »

I cannot believe that you arent allowed to talk about episodes of the wire in the wire forum's OT thread. That's hilarious.
ly dumb.

But then you would be on topic which is off topic in the off topic forum!

dr.bollocko

javaboy wrote: »

But then you would be on topic which is off topic in the off topic forum!

What if you were to relate something in real life to an incident in the wire? Would that be allowed or is it too on topic?

Ron DMC

dr.bollocko wrote: »

What if you were to relate something in real life to an incident in the wire? Would that be allowed or is it too on topic?

Unless you're a drug dealer or a police officer I don't see a lot of crossover with the events on the show and real life.

sceptre

dr.bollocko wrote: »

What if you were to relate something in real life to an incident in the wire? Would that be allowed or is it too on topic?

It's people like you that are the reason that moderators have to have vague rules and exercise discretion:p

(OK, Dr B is a mod and a good and experienced one so I'm being facetious but either way, I assume the mod would use reasonable discretion based on the brand and percentage of cop-on he/she reckons is best)