# Creating Spoilers **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 28, 2014, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-spoilers/679931 "2014-01-28T07:21:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-spoilers/679931/1 "2014-01-28T07:21:48Z")
I recently created a thread and used spoiler tags in that thread. But I first searched high and low trying to find out how one used spoiler tags and couldn’t find a thing. I tried creating a TEST thread in the forum “About this Message Board” but for some reason (possibly because I am not terribly bright), it didn’t work for me. But then I got it to work just by accident. I expected to find the answer in the FAQ tag above but … no such luck! If possible, could you please put instructions how to use spoiler tags in a more prominent position? Maybe in the FAQ tag above? Please excuse me if that info currently does exist there and I just missed it. Thank you very much. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-spoilers/679931/2 "2014-01-28T07:24:58Z")
The [BB Code List](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/misc.php?do=bbcode) linked at the bottom of the page lists several useful commands, including spoiler tags. Took me a long time to notice it, though… ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-spoilers/679931/3 "2014-01-28T08:00:50Z")
I never could remember how on earth to format the spoiler tags either. Simple way. Click the Quote button. Change the word QUOTE to SPOILER that way you don’t have to worry about / or \ or the other formatting bs. That’s saved me quite a bit of grief and indigestion. Works flawlessly every time. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-spoilers/679931/4 "2014-01-28T09:40:43Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I never could remember how on earth to format the spoiler tags either. > > Simple way. Click the Quote button. Change the word QUOTE to SPOILER that way you don’t have to worry about / or \ or the other formatting bs. That’s saved me quite a bit of grief and indigestion. Works flawlessly every time. How Lovely! Thank you both ever so! ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-spoilers/679931/5 "2014-01-28T09:41:55Z")
How Lovely! Thank you both ever so! Aha! That seems to work now! See? I told you that I wasn’t terribly bright! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-spoilers/679931/6 "2014-01-28T09:52:57Z")
FYI, I made a couple of posts above trying to use aceplace57’s tip but I screwed it up because I changed: > [@Why do mountain goats climb mountains?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-mountain-goats-climb-mountains/679937/1): > > Thank you both! to: ]SPOILER=Lazlo;17053112]Thank you both!]/SPOILER] Unfortunately, that didn’t work. I had to change it instead to: ]SPOILER]Thank you both!]/SPOILER] In other words, I had to remove the portion of the code that read "=Lazlo;17053112]’ before it would work. But it’s a very nice technique and probably worth a mention somewhere prominent. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-spoilers/679931/7 "2014-01-28T13:15:34Z")
> [@Lazlo Hapsburg](#): > > FYI, > > I made a couple of posts above trying to use aceplace57’s tip but I screwed it up because I changed: > > to: > > ]SPOILER=Lazlo;17053112]Thank you both!]/SPOILER] Don’t click the “quote” button below someone’s post. Click the quote button above your text box. It looks like a cartoon text balloon. You can highlight the words you want to be in the spoiler/quote box and then click it for even faster results. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-spoilers/679931/8 "2014-01-28T13:53:07Z")
> [@Lazlo Hapsburg](#): > > How Lovely! Thank you both ever so! > > Aha! That seems to work now! > > See? I told you that I wasn’t terribly bright! > > 😉 One helpful trick when trying figure out how someone did most formatting (strike through, italics etc) is to actually quote the person’s post, by clicking the “quote” button. The formatting tags will be revealed and you can see how they did it (usually). Then just cancel the post. [del]for example[/del] ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-spoilers/679931/9 "2014-01-28T14:08:50Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > One helpful trick when trying figure out how someone did most formatting (strike through, italics etc) is to actually quote the person’s post, by clicking the “quote” button. The formatting tags will be revealed and you can see how they did it (usually). Then just cancel the post. > > [del]for example[/del] [del]either that, or hire a Computer Science major to assist you with posting.[/del] ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-spoilers/679931/10 "2014-01-28T14:13:53Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > [del]either that, or hire a Computer Science major to assist you with posting.[/del] [del]otter, don’t be ridiculous[/del] ---
**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:** [January 28, 2014, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-spoilers/679931/11 "2014-01-28T18:00:19Z")
It’s also mentioned in the FAQ: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7697117#post7697117](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7697117#post7697117) … ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-spoilers/679931/12 "2014-01-28T18:45:33Z")
It also helps if you’re of the _runoff_ or _troff_ generation, when ALL text formatting was done with plain-text commands interspersed with the text. The exact commands and their format all differed, but back in the day we all got accustomed to using plain-text commands. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/creating-spoilers/679931/13 "2014-01-28T19:03:56Z")
The Find/Replace Add on is very useful here. [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/find-and-replace-for-firefox/](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/find-and-replace-for-firefox/) Makes changing tags very quick.