Discussion of rules in Game of Thrones threads

Wait. There’s no thread for boxed spoilers?

Oop. Nevermind. The guy who answered the “what’s the red woman’s name” question in the holy unspoiled thread edited his response so as not to say anything not specifically revealed in the episode. So people still don’t know that this character has a name. A freaking name. But I’m certain that if someone does reveal her name, heads will roll in that thread.

It’s beyond ridiculous.

Which of the twelve current Game of Thrones threads is this about, again?

Yes, I agree. Mods, this is just plain silly. I don’t agree a OP can put special rules on his thread under pain of banning.

And what gave you that impression?

BAN HIM, my henchman!

Moderator’s Amendment:

Spoiler policy for this thread:

  1. Anything that has not yet been AIRED ON TV is not acceptable in this thread. (This includes webzines, DVD extra content, magazines, speculation based on unaired content and so on.)
  2. Any discussion, comparison or really anything related to the books the show is based on needs to go to the Closed Spoilers thread. (See below)
  3. We follow the US airing schedule. There is no “grace period” for letting the rest of the world catch up. (Like us Europeans, people who DVR the show, stream it later, etc, etc)

This is in order to allow people who want to ask specific questions and receive specific answers regarding backstory or things they missed, be able to use this thread as a resource. For those who wants limited spoilers - for instance people who have read the books up unto a point but don’t want spoilers for the rest of the books - this is the place to be. Please report information which should not be in the open by using the Report Post tool.

If you want to ask questions regarding backstory, discuss how the series reflect the books, speculate in the future based on unaired information or otherwise engage in a discussion in an enviroment in which posters are to use their best judgement to decide what is or is not a spoiler, please follow this thread:
Game of Thrones Season 2 - CLOSED SPOILERS Discussion Thread

For those who want to discuss in a COMPLETELY open-spoilers enviroment in which the books, the series, webzines and in short all the information available anywhere is valid and open for discussion, please follow this thread:
Game of Thrones Season 2 - OPEN SPOILERS Discussion Thread

Meta-discussion of the spoiler policy itself should happen in a separate ATMB thread if really necessary, though I invite people to PM me instead.

With regards,
Gukumatz
Game Room & IMHO Moderator
Consulting Game of Thrones Moderator

Mostly the fact that you undersigned SenorBeef’s post with your moderator hat on and stickied it. It certainly seems that SenorBeef, acting as a representative of the “no non-HBO screened content” contingent, is setting rules for the discussion. Add in the appointment of a special mod post to screen what is and what isn’t spoilers and it leads to a reasonable conclusion that the apparatus of the board’s authority structure is in force.

I realize the situation is a bit more nuanced than that, and you’re not SenorBeef’s puppet. In fact I think you’ve been doing a good job in a unique situation.

I have a problem with the whole situation. There were no “spoiler/speculation free” threads for the Harry Potter film series. There were no such threads for the Lord of the Rings films. In no prior case I’m aware of was a subset of the community who didn’t wish to be spoiled allowed to limit the speech the rest of the community. The onus has always been on people who want to limit the information they’re exposed to, not on the people creating information. Is it fair and honest to shift that burden? What of the site’s interests of fostering an open community of posters is advanced by doing so?

It hasn’t been done before, and I’m unclear on why it’s being done now. It’s very artificial and jarring in a forum which otherwise values relatively unimpeded communication. Religion is a huge part of people’s lives, but we don’t protect it from the badchad and Der Trihs of the board. Hell we’ve even entertained pedophiles and racists for significant periods of time. If mommy and daddy mod expect us to play nice with the Cesario’s of the world, what makes them step in to stop someone saying “don’t get attached to Ned Stark”?

Enjoy,
Steven

Are you seriously suggesting that this is the first time the board has had threads in which spoilers weren’t allowed? It happens all the time. If people wanted to create spoiler-free threads about the Harry Potter movies, they are free to do so, and that would’ve been enforced too. We have discussions about movies that are upcoming and just coming out that are spoiler free, or with boxed spoilers, too.

It seems like you object to the concept of a spoiler free discussion. Why? It caters to the majority of people, spoilers ruin the experience for many people, and you’re free to talk openly in the spoilered threads. What is it about you guys that makes the very existance of discussions without spoilers infuriate you?

The threads last year were intended to be spoiler free, but you got a lot of “oh, man, I’m going to love that character, he’s so cool” “don’t get too attached to him wink” “hey, this is a no spoiler thread” “what? I didn’t say anything, that’s not a spoiler, and go fuck yourself anyway for wanting to tell me what I can say anyway you delicate little snowflake” and then 30 of the next 50 posts were dedicated to that trainwreck, until we got to another one. It was a mess.

But after we split off the threads last year between non-spoiler and spoiler discussions, things calmed down significantly, the episodic thread discussions were much better and much less of a train wreck, and the spoiler threads allowed people to speak freely. Everyone was happy.

The only thing that’s different this year is that from the start we’re trying to make it clear that it needs to be like that again, and not have to spend the first half of the season making trainwrecks until it shakes out.

This is afaik the first time it seems to be enforced by Mod.

Nor does it cater to the “majority”. The majority of SDMB posters who are watching the series have already read the books.

That’s all nice. But you see “don’t get too attached to him wink” is NOT a spoiler, as it can & should be applied to any and all characters in Martin’s book series.

And, so now we have another rule “don’t post in SenorBeef’s special thread unless you’re absotivfucking positive it can’t be considered a spoiler by SenorBeef”.

Just assume people here are literate, and let them post what they want, unless they are “being a jerk”. The books have been out for 20 years now(except for the last one). Posters have had plenty of chances to read them.

Ps- The ship sinks. It’s his sled. He IS his father.

When someone tells you that he doesn’t want to be spoiled and then offers a detailed definition of a spoiler, and you choose to disregard it, it seems to me you’re being a jerk.

I really don’t get what the problem is here. There is now a thread for everyone’s tastes and there’s all this complaining going on. Really, what would make you happy?

No, there’s not. Look, I don’t post spoilers, unless they are on the line of “The ship sinks”. But “don’t get too attached to him wink" is a fucking SPOILER?!? In a thread about a GRR Martin product? I mean, that’s just crazy. That line can be appended to every single Martin character, including those who as of the newest book are alive and kicking. It’s about as spoilerific as “There’s a sword used in the next episode”.

So, now I can’t post in the spoiler-free thread, as something that I’d find completely innocuous and not even close to a spoiler not gets me zapped by a Mod.

So, no, there’s not something for everyone”. Anyone who is at all literate has to now stay out of a entire thread unless they accidentally post something that Senor Beef considers a spoiler. And, since “don’t get too attached to him wink” is considered a spoiler by him, just about anything other than “Nice show” is a “spoiler”.
What would make me Happy? No Moderator enforcement of one posters personal rules.

How is “don’t get attached to him wink” not a spoiler? You’re saying “I’m using my future knowledge to tell you something bad is going to happen to that character.”, implying death but not necesarily.

Would “this character dies in about 2 weeks” be a spoiler? What about “I wouldn’t get too attached to that character, they might not be around for long…”?

But “don’t get too attached to him wink" is a fucking SPOILER?!? In a thread about a GRR Martin product? I mean, that’s just crazy. That line can be appended to every single Martin character, including those who as of the newest book are alive and kicking. It’s about as spoilerific as “There’s a sword used in the next episode”.

Of course it’s a spoiler. It’s saying “I’m going to give you a piece of my inside knowledge about the character you’re talking about”, who cares if it’s a GRR Martin product? There was some specific reason that someone chose to post that, and that reason is a spoiler.

Their intent is to say “don’t get attached to this character because something bad will happen to them, most likely death” and I have no idea how anyone could reasonably not think that was a spoiler. I don’t want to know what happens ahead of time, and saying (the most obvious interpretation) HINT HINT THIS CHARACTER WILL DIE is obviously along those lines.

You see, this is exactly why what YOU consider spoilers is not what should be enforced. Or for what matter what I think are spoilers. Look, GRRM has a particular writing style, and part of his style is that no character is safe or sacred. So, “don’t get too attached to him wink" can be just a comment on GRRM’s overall style as a writer. It can be and should be appended to every single character in his books and this TV series.

So to me, “don’t get too attached to him wink" is a general comment as to GRRM’s writing style, and is no more a spoiler than the Warnings at the start of each episode by HBO “Nudity, adult situations, violence, etc etc” .

You obviously think different. Which is why this is a VERY bad idea.

But I’m referring to a specific case. Don’t get attached to THAT character. Not “no one is safe in this world, so don’t get too attached” as a general rule. I mean specifically someone saying “I really like character X” and someone else saying “Oh don’t get too attached to character X”.

Most people would consider that a spoiler. I suspect a poll would bear that out.

And again, no one ever said I was the arbiter of spoilers. In fact, I’ve specifically stated the entire time that arguing over what constitutes a spoiler is part of the reason the threads turn into arguments, and the solution to this is to NOT POST SPOILERS AT ALL. NO OUTSIDE CONTENT. That rule takes care of everything. No judgement required. If it’s information that wasn’t from the TV show, don’t discuss it in the thread that’s only about the TV show.

To reiterate Acenray’s question, what do you what? It’s not that you want your own place to discuss the show with no rules - you’ve got that. No, you won’t be happy until we don’t have a place to discuss the show with our rules. Your goal here isn’t to do anything to help yourself or make anything better - you just want to tear down what we have because you feel like wanting to avoid spoilers is some weakness of character or something, and you’re here to give us our medicine.

And you see, that’s the point. I don’t consider “don’t get too attached to him wink" to be a spoiler, that it is just a comment on GRRM’s overall style as a writer. So, the whole “NOT POST SPOILERS AT ALL” still devolves upon a matter of opinion of what is a ‘spoiler”. And in this case, you seem to be making yourself the arbiter.

To answer what I want : “What would make me Happy? No Moderator enforcement of one poster’s personal rules.” In other words, for us to muddle along as we have since the dawn of the Hampsters without special rules for special threads for special posters.
Now sure, some posters have been slammed to “being a jerk” when they continually post obvious spoilers in threads where “no unboxed spoilers’ is a reasonable REQUEST by the OP. And that’s fine. But for someone to slip up or post something like “In GRRM’s world, never get too attached to any character” to be a violation of the rules? No way, dude. No way.

If you think I just want to tear down- show me where I have posted spoilers. Go ahead.

*You’re *saying “My way or the Highway”. You’re the one asking for special treatment. It’s never been done before, and it should not be done this time. This show is no more special that the Simpsons.

Pretty much everything you’re saying is factually incorrect.

A rule that says to post no outside knowledge would indeed preclude statements that were based on outside knowledge, like warning someone not to become attached to a specific character. And again, I re-iterate specific, which you ignored - we’re not talking about a person giving a general warning, but a specific warning about a specific character. They can’t give that warning without foreknowledge, and sharing that foreknowledge is a spoiler.

You say “It’s never been done before”, but it has - last year’s threads, in mid season, were broken off into spoiler free and open spoiler threads. And the quality of those threads became instantly better. The first half of the season, those threads were a hateful trainwreck. The second half of the season, things went pretty smoothly and we mostly discussed the show without issue.

I’m not asking for anything special - I’m just trying to get the ball rolling so we pick up where we left off, instead of having to go through the trainwreck stage for half the season again. It’s not somehow about me and my preferences alone - there is a large contingent of people on this board who want to be able to discuss the show without worrying about spoilers.

You don’t need to post spoilers to try to tear this down. Your entire behavior in this thread is exactly that. You either want the non-spoiler thread not to exist, or you want it to have spoilers in it, which is effectively the same thing. You are advocating not to have a place for you to go to discuss as you’d like, but you are advocating that we can’t have that place because you don’t like the idea of us having our discussion.

I thought I did such a poll last year, but I now think it was for True Blood. So here’s your poll now.