Ruining Shows with Spoilers

[Jaden]

Then you've never seen a truly great TV show or read a truly great book.

If the writer is doing his or her job, you will become emotionally invested in what happens and will cry, grow angry, or run through any other emotions that the writer wants you to.

This. Also, I agree that threatening somebody with violence over it is obviously too much, but I certainly understand when people get upset at having things carelessly spoiled. Accidents are one thing, like when you honestly didn't know that somebody wasn't as far into something as you were, but when you just don't care, or you do it to be a jackass, I definitely understand people getting upset over that.

[anakhouri]

I have to agree, less with TV than books for me, but if you are reading something truly great you will be invested, thinking about the story even when you're not reading it, and feel grief when it's over. That's the magic of storytelling.

[kaycivine]

I personally LOVE spoilers. >>

But I'm weird.

Its annoying if my friends like get really bugged out to the point they're screaming or throwing a tantrum about them, however. I mean, like, or dislike spoilers, you CAN be an adult about it.

Its not like I give them away like candy at a doctor's office either, but I have been in conversations where I truly accidentally let a small detail slip and had the person flip at me like I just sacrificed a newborn.

[mikoyan29]

Titanic was ruined for me when someone shouted out, "The boat sinks....". And then I go to see Pearl Harbor and someone shouts out, "It's gonna get bombed...". Sigh.

[HYHYBT]

Titanic was ruined for me when someone shouted out, "The boat sinks....". And then I go to see Pearl Harbor and someone shouts out, "It's gonna get bombed...". Sigh.

Funny thing: my stepmom *hates* movies or TV shows with sad endings. She also knew, of course, that the Titanic sank, and however much of the rest was fiction they were unlikely to change that point. Her friend, knowing why she didn't want to see it, got her to go by saying "don't worry, nobody you care about dies."

[Greenday]

Titanic was ruined for me when someone shouted out, "The boat sinks....". And then I go to see Pearl Harbor and someone shouts out, "It's gonna get bombed...". Sigh.

I knew the ending to Argo. My mom was surprised, even though she was alive for it and I wasn't.

[TheHuckster]

Funny thing: my stepmom *hates* movies or TV shows with sad endings. She also knew, of course, that the Titanic sank, and however much of the rest was fiction they were unlikely to change that point. Her friend, knowing why she didn't want to see it, got her to go by saying "don't worry, nobody you care about dies."

I swear, the way the middle school students in my day took the ending of that movie, you'd think Leonardo Dicaprio the actor perished in the movie.

I suggest your stepmom not watch Atonement. I usually have a stone cold reaction to sad endings, but this was one of the few that got to me.

[bex1218]

I know some people on a page for Doctor Who bitch about them posting stuff that was aired a few years ago. I can understand posting it within the week of airing, but years?

[BlaqueKatt]

Then you've never seen a truly great TV show or read a truly great book.

No Actually I have, I'm just rational enough to realize my fellow humans are more important than a TELEVISION SHOW. Seriously threatening to hurt someone over a TV show(actual humans>fictional humans), maybe we should threaten authors when they kill off beloved characters, oh wait that's crazy.

if I come across a spoiler for something I'm watching/reading, it makes me more excited about it, because I want to see how it gets there and the context in which the spoiler's event occurs!!

^This is exactly how I feel about "spoilers", I was reading a harry potter book and was told "person" dies, I wanted to know how, and what led up to it, knowing they died spoiled nothing.

I have a coworker who actually watches nothing until the end of the season, he DVRs it and watches it in a marathon, he will scream at you if you say ANYTHING even something as innocent as "I love the lipstick shade Julie had on last night". People that get that worked up over fiction may need a little more time in reality. When television=your whole world, we may have a problem.

[Greenday]

I know some people on a page for Doctor Who bitch about them posting stuff that was aired a few years ago. I can understand posting it within the week of airing, but years?

We had someone come into the thread as Season 3 started of TWD and he bitched that we had posted spoilers about stuff from Seasons 1 and 2. That, in my opinion, is not our problem. You can't walk into a thread about a TV show and expect no one to have talked about what has happened already.

But there should be a reasonable expectation that no one will ruin what is going to happen in episodes that haven't aired.

[TheHuckster]

^This is exactly how I feel about "spoilers", I was reading a harry potter book and was told "person" dies, I wanted to know how, and what led up to it, knowing they died spoiled nothing.

That really depends on the story. Many times spoilers spoil actual twist endings, where you spend a period of time believing a story is going to end a certain way, or that a person is going to do a certain thing, and the revealing of new knowledge completely turns the plot upside down. A lot of people love being there for the surprise, and knowing the surprise long before it happens ruins that. You go through an entire episode or movie knowing someone is not who they say they are. Plot twists, when they are done well, are a huge factor in the enjoyment of certain movies and TV shows.

Imagine if someone spoiled Psycho when you first watched it? The whole enjoyment of the ending hinged on the fact that you didn't know who the mother was.

I knew the ending to The Planet of the Apes when I first saw it, since by the time I had seen it, the twist had long since been common knowledge (hell, the ending basically reveals itself on the cover of the DVDs now). I know for a fact I would have enjoyed the movie and the ending far more had I not known what the human was going to discover at the end.

[HYHYBT]

Putting people before TV doesn't excuse someone who deliberately spoils a show for people known not to want to know.

If something has been out for months or years, it's not reasonable to expect no spoilers in general. From specific people who know you are currently reading/watching it or are going to in the very immediate future, that's a different matter. For new stuff... what's reasonable? Within 24 hours of airing, for TV shows, should accommodate most people without being unduly burdensome, but what about books?

[Ginger Tea]

But there should be a reasonable expectation that no one will ruin what is going to happen in episodes that haven't aired.

Except when they have aired where you live but not where someone else does, I imagine that if I were to post about Saturday's Dr Who right after it aired it would piss alot of American viewers off.

With Who it's broadcast within the week, or perhaps same day and time slot but when you have 6pm after we are around ten or eleven by then, with the same day you can easily avoid reading about it for a few hours, unless someone splurts out in the middle of a CS post about coupons "OMG spoiler redacted cos some might not have reached the Smith run yet" but the one I was going with was a big one an episode or two before the christmas special.

Within a week of airing the last angry geek has a video up on his you know who section about the episode, imagine it was a UK TGWTG contributer and America got it way later, he would probably be lynched at magfest even though they have the option to not watch the episode, yet people gladly make videos about stuff that we wont get for 6months yet over here.

[Hyena Dandy]

One of my friends has developed the habit (that we all are appreciative of) of going,

"Oh, I'm about to say a spoiler... do you care?"

or

"Oh, spoiler.. uhm... are you going to bother reading the book/seeing the show?"

I have answered yes and no to both forms of these questions, but the fact that he asks first is good. He used to just spoiler without meaning to (he's a bit socially awkward), so training himself like that was really nice.

I accidentally spoiled the ending of something recently before realizing it was the end. But I think the person I spoiled it for didn't notice, which is why I'm not explaining it.

They're on this forum...


However, I've also had people get upset with me for spoiling Shakespeare plays...

[blas87]

Honestly, I'm more less to be angry at a spoiler person, than one of those nerd raging types like my wussy boy ex bf who let me pick the movies we went to, but then would throw a fit after watching them, like for instance, whichever one of those Titan movies came out last year....can't remember if it was Wrath or Clash that came first. But you get my drift, right?

Put up no argument about us going to the movie, we leave, and I thoroughly enjoyed a two hour break from reality, meanwhile he's angrily nerd raging, arms crossed pouty lipped "It's not the way the legends say it happens!!!!!11"

Same with Avengers. And any other comic book type movie that's came out.

After his worthless ass, I made a new rule that I was only going to see movies/tv shows based off of comics or other stuff only with people that didn't know the real story, or like me, didn't care. I can't stand the nerd raging. It irritates me. Get a fucking life already.