At this point, the comics have almost no bearing on the events in the show. Discussing anything from the comics that might or might not be related to an event from the show amounts to nothing more than guesswork. Bring’em on.
I don’t think the poll as crafted is going to give us useful information, since the way the threads have been going for years isn’t a choice. Specifically:
Discussion of the comics is okay, but box any spoilers.
If that were a choice, I bet it would be the overwhelming winner. As it stands, our only poll options are No discussion, everything in spoiler boxes, open spoilers, and other. None of those reflect the current policy, and none of them are particularly good.
The least bad of those choices would be to box everything, which would have made previous episode threads worse by cluttering it up with a lot of needless spoiler boxes.
Like I said in the other thread---- I’m not digging through YEARS of threads to find examples. :rolleyes:
Does it need to ever have happened? If it were to happen I think it’s a dick move and I’d like to not see it happen.
Also–think about it both ways–tv show fan who wants to go and then read the comic but the comic is casually spoiled in a thread for the TV show.
How about we not be spoiler dicks?
As a non-reader of the comics, I find the discussions of how past events relate to the comics to be interesting (e.g. Was Eugene a liar in the comics? Was it as obvious as in the show?). Spoilers for future events, no matter how clever or cryptic you think you’re being should be verboten or at least in clearly marked spoiler boxes.
This hasn’t been much of an issue in the past. Comics fans were, I thnk, a little too giddy when Michonne and the Govenor first showed up. I think it was clear from comments that the Governor was going to be evil before it was really revealed on the show, but this wasn’t that big a deal.
The one time the clever/cryptic spoilers actually lessened my enjoyment of the show was the goddamn barn. (Ooh, I bet they’re gonna find the farm; look out for the barn! They’ve been there for weeks; how have they not looked in the barn?) To the point where it was a surprise to absolutely no one when it turned out they were keeping walkers in the barn.
So, to sum up, my vote is open comic book discussion is fine. Spoilers, no matter how cryptically stated, belong in spoiler boxes.
For some reason, I thought that we had settled this years ago, too, with the consensus being no discussion of the comics. I must have gotten it confused with the “Game of Thrones.”
I agree that no spoilers period would probably handle the issues we have between the comic books and the tv show. If it hasn’t been broadcast (in TWD or in The Talking Dead), then don’t bring it into the tv show discussion threads.
Ellis Dee, I agree that your option is a good one, and should have been included. I’m not sure what to do about that, though. This thread has only been open a day; should we shut it down and re-open a thread with more options? Anyone have any more options they’d like to see?
I voted open, with the caveat that comics book stuff needs to be prefaced as such, and that there’s no whining from the comics fans that the show isn’t being faithful to the comics.
F’rex: “In the comics, they handled character X in plot thread Y in manner Z, as opposed to the show, which handled the same character as such…”
The following discussion (if any) of the various merit/demerits of such handling/divergence is fine, even intersting to me.
I don’t know if another poll is necessary, it seems like there’s a general consensus in this thread as summed up by Nuveena and others.
But if you’re going to open another poll, make sure the options distinguish between discussion of the comics for things that already happened in the show versus things that might or might not happen in the future.
As far as the show goes, I don’t mind discussion of comics as long as they don’t come close to any kind of spoiler. The problem is that I don’t trust everyone to agree with me on what is and isn’t a spoiler, and some don’t give much thought to what can be inferred from seemingly innocent revelations about source material or episodes they’ve seen but you haven’t.
But I don’t like reading about past events in the comics, either. For example, in the thread that spawns this one, someone mentioned that a character, who is dead on the show, also died in the comics, but under different circumstances. I may well read the comics at some point, but doing so would be a lot less fun if I already knew all the differences between the comics and show - the parts I haven’t already seen on the show and won’t be expecting will be the best bits.
ETA: I haven’t voted yet, because although I would prefer a “comics don’t exist” rule, I’m not sure what’s more unreasonable: that I can’t read about the show here without spoiling the comics, or that people who have actually read the comics wouldn’t be able to discuss the source material. I’d certainly be rolling my eyes if we couldn’t talk about the original stories in a Sherlock thread, and I often hope to be filled in on some of the source material in threads on Marvel- or DC-related media.
The threads have been running along fine with a “comics discussion is okay, but box any spoilers” policy for years. You’re advocating a change to that policy, citing a hypothetical issue. I’m saying that the hypothetical you’re presenting is a non-issue because it’s never happened. Or at least, it hasn’t happened in several years, and is therefore no longer an issue.
The onus then moves to you to prove the merit of your hypothetical.
Yes, it needs to have happened. As I said above:
I think it would be a bad idea to radically change the rules for how we have been posting in the threads for years on the off chance that something that’s never happened yet might happen in the future.
There is no evidence that the issue that spawned this poll was us being spoiler dicks.
I don’t think another poll is needed. I don’t think this poll was needed, either.
The Walking Dead threads have been running along fine. The only time spoilers become an issue is when people conflate the TWD spoiler policy (standard Cafe Society rules) with the special rules we have for Game of Thrones threads.
Without that conflation, there never would have been an issue in the current TWD thread in the first place.
In your opinion, of course. I think it has become enough of a problem in the TWD threads to be addressed at this point. Looking back at a few old TWD weekly threads, I was reminded of what a pain in the ass it is when the threads turn into spoiler box after spoiler box because people just won’t leave the comics alone (to the point where I exasperatedly leave the thread, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that). These threads aren’t about the comics; I haven’t read the comics, I don’t care about the comics, and I can live without ever hearing about the comics - their existence changes nothing about the tv show for me.
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.
You two and Hentor (who generally doesn’t complain about it, but voices support when you two bring it up) would like to see a “comics don’t exist” rule. Everyone else who has spoken up is quite happy with the longstanding policy we’ve been using.
“It” hasn’t become a problem. You and Push You Down have made it a problem, based on a faulty understanding of the policy of the threads.
For an example, link to me a single instance in the current thread where the longstanding policy was violated. By contrast, I can link several posts in that thread where you and Push You Down have complained about a policy that doesn’t exist, causing the problem that led to this poll thread.
Which ones? I’ve been scrolling through Ellis Dee’s links and don’t really see that happening. What I am noticing is that people used to be better about boxing stuff from the previews and The Talking Dead and that seems to have been relaxed this year. I’m fine with that especially considering that they’re leaving important info out of the episode and then talking about it on TTD. I watch on Amazon Instant Video (no cable) so I don’t see that stuff anyway.
Fine Ellis Dee… open spoilers for all media involving the Walking Dead. Does that actively make you happy? Does that ADD to your enjoyment of the threads? Does it enrich your viewing experience.
Good. I’m so happy for you.
As far as I’m aware, nobody wants “open spoilers for all media.” I certainly don’t. I simply want the threads to continue on as they have been, with no radical change to the posting culture. That culture can be described as:
Open discussion of the comics, but box any spoilers
What would ADD to my enjoyment of the threads would be for people to stop derailing discussion by trying to impose Game of Thrones thread rules on TWD threads.
Just to be clear, I think that things have been working fine. I had problems with comic content back when Michonne and the Governor were introduced, but at present, the threads seem to work like the Talking Dead, which is fine with me.
My real preference for a standard would be to say that discussion of the comics is fine for historical stuff, but that there’s no need to bring anything up that remotely pertains to any future developments. In other words, if you have something that you think might need to be in spoiler tags, just don’t bother saying it.
I like this very much. I’ve asked about comics too, but always in the context of “**was **this different in the comics?” rather than request information that skips ahead of the current plot on the show. I think it’s fair to do that because it’s unlikely that they’re going to use something skipped/changed later on in the show so it’s not spoilery.
Quoted for truth.
The comics do exist, it’s silly to say otherwise. How the comics compare and contrast to the TV show is interesting, and adds, rather than subtracts, to discussions of the show. But spoiling future shows is a dick move.
The same for GoT.
If there was a thread about WD or GoT, not tied to the weekly show, and titled clearly, it would be fair game for no end of book (comic or otherwise) spoilers out in the open as the OP sees fit.
Yeah, that would be fine for me.
I’ve been mulling this over the past day, trying to see it from the other side. I wouldn’t object to using spoiler boxes for anything to do with plot. As in, if you’re describing something that happens in the comics, it gets boxed. That would put something like “Yes Eugene exists, and yes his lie is more believable” in a spoiler box since it describes something that happened. (Eugene’s lie.)
Anything comparing or contrasting the comics would be boxed. eg: Daryl doesn’t exist in the comics.
But the context of the show being based on comics would be allowed and not need to be boxed. For example, something like “Michonne’s pets are so stupid. They make no sense at all, and clearly only exist to look cool in the comics” would be unboxed.
Talking Dead would be unboxed, including stuff they say about the comics, even though this violates the standard a couple paragraphs up. When TTD says it, it’s no longer comics, now it’s aired. Example would be Abraham’s backstory for killing the guys in the grocery store. Our only clue is TTD, and that clue was clearly defined as “in the comics it was this way; the show could be different.”
The only downside is that such a ruleset is a little more involved than I like to see in a spoiler policy. Something more simple, with a hint of Hentor’s suggestion, might be better:
Comics can be discussed, but box any spoilers. Box any comparison/contrast to the comic books. And finally, if it needs a box, do you really need to say it?
Actually, fine tuning that last one can shorten it further, I think:
Box any comparison/contrast to the comic books. If it needs a box, ask yourself if it needs to be said.