# Boxed Spoilers Spoiled? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [February 10, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxed-spoilers-spoiled/437068 "2008-02-10T20:23:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mongo\_Ponton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Mongo\_Ponton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mongo_Ponton)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxed-spoilers-spoiled/437068/1 "2008-02-10T20:23:54Z")
I don’t want to ruin TokyoPlayer’s thread about a drunk, so I’ll ask in a new post. Usually I will mouse over a thread title for a little more info before clicking in on it. Usually you get an extra half a sentence and some extra clue as to the direction the thread is going to take. When I moused over the thread title in question it appeared to be a joke of some sort and I figured what the hell. When I opened the thread the part I saw outside was in Spoiler boxes. Not that some great joke was ruined but doesn’t this seem to defeat the idea of boxing spoilers. Should I write to Ann Landers about this? ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxed-spoilers-spoiled/437068/2 "2008-02-10T20:58:02Z")
This is one of the problems with vBulletin (the software that runs the message board). Dopers who are aware of this will generally make sure that any spoiler content in their post is beyond the range of the mouse-over text, but sometimes we either forget or aren’t aware. Questions like this are probably more suited for the “About This Message Board” forum. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxed-spoilers-spoiled/437068/3 "2008-02-10T20:59:46Z")
[QUOTE=Mongo Ponton] I don’t want to ruin TokyoPlayer’s thread about a drunk, so I’ll ask in a new post. Usually I will mouse over a thread title for a little more info before clicking in on it. Usually you get an extra half a sentence and some extra clue as to the direction the thread is going to take. When I moused over the thread title in question it appeared to be a joke of some sort and I figured what the hell. When I opened the thread the part I saw outside was in Spoiler boxes. Not that some great joke was ruined but doesn’t this seem to defeat the idea of boxing spoilers. Should I write to Ann Landers about this? [/QUOTE] I don’t think that Ann Landers should care, but thanks for doing a sort of public-service announcement about this pressing issue. Smart spoiler-boxers already know to either put in some dummy text before an early spoiler box, or to make a short first post and then reply to it with all the juicy spoilers. With your help, we _can_ wipe out spoilage in our lifetime 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mongo\_Ponton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Mongo\_Ponton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mongo_Ponton)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxed-spoilers-spoiled/437068/4 "2008-02-10T23:03:26Z")
So I’m the last to know…again! As you were. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Dirx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b77776/32.png) [@Sir\_Dirx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Dirx)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxed-spoilers-spoiled/437068/5 "2008-02-11T04:01:53Z")
Don’t know if it’s changed since I last posted this info, but I don’t think text in quote boxes shows up on mouseover. So putting a spoiler box inside quote tags should work also. (My computer spontaneously gave up the ability to view mouse-over text on the board and for images, so I can’t check if this still works or not) ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxed-spoilers-spoiled/437068/6 "2008-02-11T12:56:20Z")
… and, if you find a situation where someone has inadvertently put spoilers too close to the top of the OP, so that mouse-over reads them, please hit the REPORT button (the little ! in the red triangle in the upper right corner of each post) and a mod will be happy to fix it. ---
**Author:** ![Ubertwizzler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ubertwizzler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ubertwizzler)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxed-spoilers-spoiled/437068/7 "2008-02-11T21:33:32Z")
One other quirk I’ve noticed is that quotes _are not_ included in the mouse over. Not that it matters that much, but sometimes it makes the mouse over text inscrutable. ---
**Author:** ![Ubertwizzler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ubertwizzler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ubertwizzler)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxed-spoilers-spoiled/437068/8 "2008-02-11T21:35:11Z")
Oops. Didn’t see Sir Dirx’s similar comment. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxed-spoilers-spoiled/437068/9 "2008-02-11T23:08:21Z")
Boxed Spoiler: > [@](#): > > Not spoiled, > Works fine. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxed-spoilers-spoiled/437068/10 "2008-02-12T15:29:29Z")
[QUOTE=Mongo Ponton] So I’m the last to know…again! As you were. [/QUOTE] No. This is new to me. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxed-spoilers-spoiled/437068/11 "2008-02-13T08:33:42Z")
Another way of doing it is to put in a dummy first post. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boxed-spoilers-spoiled/437068/12 "2008-02-13T12:19:46Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Another way of doing it is to put in a dummy first post. [/QUOTE] Already suggested in post #3 above. 😉