# Do we want comic book discussion in the weekly Walking Dead tv show threads? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 12, 2014, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-want-comic-book-discussion-in-the-weekly-walking-dead-tv-show-threads/704421 "2014-11-12T05:24:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-want-comic-book-discussion-in-the-weekly-walking-dead-tv-show-threads/704421/41 "2014-11-15T13:29:06Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > The threads have been running along fine with a “comics discussion is okay, but box any spoilers” policy for years. I wouldn’t say it’s been running fine all these years, go back to the earlier seasons, start at season 1 and start working though all the episodes from there and see when the first time someone asked people not to discuss the comics. This isn’t something that started this year. > [@EllisDee](#): > > I think the only problem is that you and Push You Down both misunderstood the spoiler policy in TWD threads. Outside of the two of you, there is no problem. And you’ve both now conceded that you thought the policy was different than it actually is, so it’s reasonable to conclude that the problem will go away. What, exactly, is the ‘spoiler policy’, I must have missed it? Could you quote it where it was written previously or did you just make it up now? Was it agreed upon by anyone other than people who want to ruin the show for people that don’t read the comics? Because my policy is that there’s no talk of comics in the threads and if you want to discuss the comics then start a different thread, I honestly don’t understand why that’s do difficult. As I’ve said before, you may want to think everyone will box spoilers, but they won’t. People will react to box spoilers in a way that will ruin it for others, I understand Tapatalk doesn’t box spoilers so it gets ruined for people using that and then there’s people that don’t understand how to use spoilers by not giving you some idea as to what’s in them so everyone has to click on them anyways to find out what’s in them. See…you had to click on this, didn’t you. > [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > That’s just nonsensical. > > The comic books exist (TWD). The books exist (GoT/SOIAF). The book and hit Broadway musical exist (Les Mis). It simply doesn’t make sense to talk about the television shows while at the same time denying the existence of the source material. And it’s also completely unnecessary. There’s a very simple rule that will cover all of this: DON’T POST SPOILERS! Les Mes is very, very different and you really can’t compare it. I mean, you go and see the musical and that’s it, you’re done. It’s not like you go and see the first part this week and you have to see three more parts over the next month and in the mean time it might get ruined for you by someone who saw the movie. It’s like coming home from a movie and having someone tell you about the book. OTOH, what we’re talking about is telling someone you’re going to see a movie and having someone tell you about the book (before you go see it). And I’ll roll my eyes and anyone who says that movie might be different than the book, that’s not the point, that’s a jerk thing to do and I don’t know why you’d defend it. > [@](#): > > It’s not a spoiler to say “that scene was different in the comic”, or “that character died/didn’t die/did something differently in the comic”. It may be a spoiler to say “based on the comic, this character will probably die next week”. I say ‘may be’ because we have seen that the TV show does not necessarily follow the comic in all cases, so we can’t predict with certainty what will happen next, just because it happened that way in the comic. That said, I think the vast majority of us would agree that posting about “future events” based on knowledge of the comic is something that shouldn’t be done. It may or may not actually be a ‘spoiler’, but it’s certainly far more than mere ‘speculation’. > > **It’s simple: don’t post information about events that haven’t occurred yet on the TV show, based on your knowledge of the events in the comic**. I’ll take it a step further, instead of defending why you should be allowed to…just go take it somewhere else, if you must talk about the comics, just go start a season long thread to run parallel to the show where you can discuss them. Here’s the thing, most of us haven’t read the comics and don’t want to hear about them. Period, end of story. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-want-comic-book-discussion-in-the-weekly-walking-dead-tv-show-threads/704421/42 "2014-11-15T14:35:01Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > What, exactly, is the ‘spoiler policy’, I must have missed it? It’s the standard Cafe Society spoiler policy, no doubt stickied at the top of the forum. There is no special rule for Walking Dead threads. > [@](#): > > I wouldn’t say it’s been running fine all these years, I didn’t say that. I said they’ve been running fine for years. If there were major issues in season 1 threads, we’ve moved beyond them. > [@](#): > > I’ll take it a step further, instead of defending why you should be allowed to…just go take it somewhere else, if you must talk about the comics, just go start a season long thread to run parallel to the show where you can discuss them. How about the standard episode threads continue on as they have been for years, and you create a separate season long “comics don’t exist” thread to run parallel where you can pretend the comics don’t exist. > [@](#): > > Here’s the thing, most of us haven’t read the comics and don’t want to hear about them. Period, end of story. That’s not established. Most people who have spoken up say they enjoy having the context of the comics in the threads, though there’s pretty universal agreement that nobody wants spoilers. Your desire to keep the comics out of the threads entirely appears to be in the minority. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2014, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-want-comic-book-discussion-in-the-weekly-walking-dead-tv-show-threads/704421/43 "2014-11-15T15:35:11Z")
> [@wedgehed](#): > > I’m all for comics discussion as long as it doesn’t jump ahead of the TV show. This. And generalize for any info that jumps ahead of the show, no matter the source. ETA: I never read the comics and don’t care to, but find the comparisons interesting and add flavor to the discussions, so quite “Period. End of story” for me at least. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-want-comic-book-discussion-in-the-weekly-walking-dead-tv-show-threads/704421/44 "2014-11-16T00:51:46Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > \ Your desire to keep the comics out of the threads entirely appears to be in the minority. Not according to the voting in the poll at this point - the most popular opinion is that we would like no discussion of the comics in the tv show threads. An interesting result from the poll, however, is how close it is between the first three options - there really isn’t a clear winner, since the most popular and the least popular (of the top three options) are only five votes apart. I agree that everyone agrees on no spoilers in the threads, regardless of source. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-want-comic-book-discussion-in-the-weekly-walking-dead-tv-show-threads/704421/45 "2014-11-16T02:27:14Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I agree that everyone agrees on no spoilers in the threads, regardless of source. You are cherry picking. The second and third options outnumber the first two to one. They disagree about what kind of spoilers. As Winston Churchill said, “We know what you are, Madame, we are merely haggling over the price.” ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-want-comic-book-discussion-in-the-weekly-walking-dead-tv-show-threads/704421/46 "2014-11-16T03:53:36Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Additionally, a “comics don’t exist” rule simply cannot work for TWD threads because of the existence of Talking Dead. The comics are discussed on that show all the time. Unless we’re also going to enact a “Talking Dead doesn’t exist” rule, which I think would be silly. That’s a good point, and I hadn’t thought of it when I voted. I normally like to keep the source book/comic of a show separate from its TV side, but on a second thought, I think that’s not a big deal here. When the comics come up, I don’t feel that a huge line has been crossed and my enjoyment RUINED!!!111!!!eleventy! Normally they provide clarification or more information, which is fine. However, I am a big fan of Talking Dead as well as WD, so I hear about the comics anyway. I’d say that as long as no one spoils any huge plot twists, comic discussion is fine. ---
**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:** [November 16, 2014, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-want-comic-book-discussion-in-the-weekly-walking-dead-tv-show-threads/704421/47 "2014-11-16T04:02:59Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Not according to the voting in the poll at this point - the most popular opinion is that we would like no discussion of the comics in the tv show threads. That seems like a misinterpretation of that data. The second and third choices, which both involve some comic book discussion, handily out score the “no comic book discussion” choice. The logical compromise would be spoilered discussions. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-want-comic-book-discussion-in-the-weekly-walking-dead-tv-show-threads/704421/48 "2014-11-16T12:08:08Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Not according to the voting in the poll at this point - the most popular opinion is that we would like no discussion of the comics in the tv show threads. As mentioned in [post 22](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17895109&postcount=22), I don’t think the poll is going to offer any useful data due to flaws in the construction of the poll. Specifically, the way it works now, which most people seem to like, isn’t an option. So anyone who likes how the threads work now is forced to vote for something they don’t like. Winning “least bad alternative” is not exactly a glowing endorsement. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-want-comic-book-discussion-in-the-weekly-walking-dead-tv-show-threads/704421/49 "2014-11-16T21:15:35Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > That seems like a misinterpretation of that data. The second and third choices, which both involve some comic book discussion, handily out score the “no comic book discussion” choice. > … I wouldn’t accuse Cat Whisperer of having deliberately set out to “lie with statistics,” but the construction of this poll _does_ handily illustrate one way of doing so. Another example might be a poll asking a random sample of registered US voters who they would prefer among these potential 2016 Presidential candidates: [ul] [li]Jeb Bush[/li][li]Hillary Clinton[/li][li]Joe Biden[/li][li]Elizabeth Warren[/li][/ul] If a truly random sample has been chosen, it’s likely that roughly half the respondents would vote for any Republican over any Democrat and vice versa. Thus if the results are: [ul] [li]Jeb Bush…41%[/li][li]Hillary Clinton…29%[/li][li]Joe Biden…17%[/li][li]Elizabeth Warren…13%[/li][/ul] …Then it looks like Jeb Bush in a landslide! But of course the actual election would have only _one_ Democratic candidate, and so this poll is misleading. A more reasonable way of looking at these results would be “41% for a Republican and 59% for a Democrat”—which is a very different sort of result than calling it for the Republican in ‘a landslide.’ Splitting the “some discussion of the comics” options while leaving the “no comics” option un-split, lets the claim “the no-comics option was chosen by the majority” look reasonable–when in actuality it’s _not_ an accurate way of looking at the results. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-want-comic-book-discussion-in-the-weekly-walking-dead-tv-show-threads/704421/50 "2014-11-16T21:58:13Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > I wouldn’t accuse Cat Whisperer of having deliberately set out to “lie with statistics,” “There are lies, there are damned lies, and there are statistics.” -Mark Twain ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-want-comic-book-discussion-in-the-weekly-walking-dead-tv-show-threads/704421/51 "2014-11-16T22:05:46Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > “There are lies, there are damned lies, and there are statistics.” > -Mark Twain Or Disraeli. (Has that ever been really settled? To answer my own question: if this Wikipedia article is correct, apparently it has not-- [Lies, damned lies, and statistics - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies,_damned_lies,_and_statistics) ) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-want-comic-book-discussion-in-the-weekly-walking-dead-tv-show-threads/704421/52 "2014-11-16T22:12:47Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Or Disraeli. (Has that ever been really settled? To answer my own question: if this Wikipedia article is correct, apparently it has not-- [Lies, damned lies, and statistics - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies,_damned_lies,_and_statistics) ) I had believed it to be Albert the Alligator, or perhaps Pogo himself. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2014, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-want-comic-book-discussion-in-the-weekly-walking-dead-tv-show-threads/704421/53 "2014-11-17T00:01:17Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I had believed it to be Albert the Alligator, or perhaps Pogo himself. Kelly did have a gift for stating pithy truths. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-want-comic-book-discussion-in-the-weekly-walking-dead-tv-show-threads/704421.md?page=2)