GoT- one more time- with feeling

About This Message Board
1

OK, this time we are more or less acting on Mod instructions to open a thread in ATMB.

Let’s start out by agreeing that deliberately posting a major spoiler in** any** CS thread is being a Jerk. (Outside those labels as SPOILERS!, etc).

Next we have the OP’s guidelines as to how he wants his thread to go. Well there a long tradition of threads here at the SDMB not going where the Op wants, sure- but deliberately crapping on the OP’s guidelines just to poke the bear is being rude.

However, The Game of Thrones thread have again been derailed and this time, it’s the fault of the Unsullied (the term “IlLiterati” seems to raise too many hackles).

Look, the HBO show now has had Five seasons plus the HBO website plus DVD extras.

Many, many times in the last few “NO Spoilers Show Discussion” someone has posted a factoid, which is countered by one of the Unsullied instantly pouncing (plus no doubt hammering the “report this post” button like a rat needing a nicotine fix) with some comment like “is that in the show?” or “the RULES say no book mentions”. And, they have been often wrong- since that Unsullied poster simply didnt remember that the factiod was in the show or show material.

In at least one case it was pointed out that the material was from the HBO site, in another the conversation went more like this;
Poster : Factoid.
Unsullied: That’s book spoilers, that is against THE RULES!!!:mad::mad::mad::mad:
(plus no doubt hammering the “report this post” button like a rat needing a nicotine fix)
Poster: Umm, no, here’s the exact lines from the show: “…”
UnSullied: (no response):o

In another some poster mentioned a two word 'name" from the books- and I dont think that phrase was ever in the show material. Massive derailment ensued. But unless you have read the books (in which case you know what it means) the phrase is meaningless to the Unsullied. It didnt spoil anything.
IvoryTowerDenizen’s post to: * If you are concerned about a post, report it and do not berate the poster in this thread.* is a great idea- but too late. In fact that same thing had been posted before, but the Unsullied have ignored it, getting their happiness from picking a nit and berating a poster about it- even tho they were often wrong.

And his post is also a little confusing in that:
*"The “show discussion” thread should NOT include any reference, comparison, information or in anyway bring up the books. At all.

There are other threads for discussing the books and book related items.

We have been moving book related posts to the other threads since the posts have appeared to be innocent mistakes but everyone PLEASE follow the rules and leave the books out of it. If you are concerned about a post, report it and do not berate the poster in this thread. Small, gentle reminders about the rules will be tolerated from one poster to another, but rudeness and giving other posters a hard time will not.

However if it appears posters are abusing the goodwill of the Cafe Society mods and posting book info to push the line, warnings will be issued for failing to follow moderator instructions.*"

Whereas here in ATMB it had been made clear there were no special rules just for GoT threads anymore. And the only "instructions’ had come from SenorBeef, who is not a Moderator AFAIK.

However, the point is really moot. The idea of keeping "book spoilers’ out of the threads is impossible. Not only has the show material deviated so far from the book that no book spoilers are possible (As clairobscur said)-
BUT-
**no one here has memorized every word from the Show material to the point where they can say that the factoid is book only, not show materiel. **

*Trying to enforce “no book material” is like being King Canute with the tide- you’ll only get your feet wet. *

All you are going to do is encourage the Unsullied to berate what they THINK (mostly wrongly) are book mentions, and make more work for you by hammering the “report this post” button like a rat needing a nicotine fix.

Now, as Idle Thoughts has agreed- I have been careful not to post anything outside the show material. But it’s very easy to make a mistake and be wrong-* either way*.

Why not try this:
No special rules just for GoT threads anymore.

The blurb for the GOT “NO Spoilers Show Discussion” should contain the following:

No Spoilers. This is a hard and fast SDMB rule for all CS threads, unless otherwise specified. If you are concerned about a possible spoiler, report it and do not berate the poster in this thread.

Please do not mention book material. This is a request by the OP. Please do not respond to what you think are book mentions by hijacking the thread with discussion of what the “rules” are. Please do not report them. Small, gentle reminders about this will be tolerated.

2

And even though Senorbeef ignored the Mods instructions to take such to ATMB, I won’t, and I’ll post my reply here:
"Today, 04:37 PM
**SenorBeef **

*Oh, and I’m not a moderator, but as the OP of the thread, I still intend for the show discussion only rule to apply here, and to apply into next season too. Not everything that happens in the books and the show happen in the same order - a plot development from book 5 could easily make it into season 6. Or background knowledge from the books may not apply to the show, making explanations for a certain character motivation false or confusing. Or spoiling can happen the other way - some people are actually reading the books after the show, and off-hand discussion of scenes and plot points that are in the books but not to show would actually spoil their enjoyment of reaching those points in the books.

But perhaps most importantly, a hard rule prevents the need to argue over people’s subjective notion of what a spoiler is and what isn’t. To prevent the sort of squabbling we’ve seen come back in this thread, that the moderators had to step in for. Show discussion only is the clearest rule that prevents these threads from turning into trainwrecks when people obey it*."

My reply:

Yes, but* you* dont get to make the rules. The staff does.

And if you guys stopped hijacking the thread everytime the "B-word’ is mentioned and instead did as IvoryTowerDenizen asked "* If you are concerned about a post, report it and do not berate the poster in this thread.* " then there wouldn’t be any “trainwrecks”.

The issue of trainwrecks is 100% caused by you not letting the Mods do their jobs.

3

Mods, I salute you. I don’t want to be you, but I salute you.

4

Indeed.

Why DrDeth… whyyyy?

5

I’m not a Cafe Society mod so don’t think this holds. But, given the amount of powder you people burn about this the easiest solution is “No more Game of Thrones Threads at all”.

Bang, insoluble problem solved.

But that’s just my Great Debate modding instincts coming out.

6

Or, even easier, prohibit DrDeth from posting in any of them.

7

“Unsullied” is, of course, a value-neutral descriptor.

8

I think you meant “you person.”

9

I vote for banning you from this topic. Seriously, don’t you have anything better to do?

10

I’m growing to hate this show more and more. And I haven’t seen it for over 2 years.

11

Not my term, a term used throughout the internet. I think they even used it once to refer to themselves.

12

Ok. Fine with me.

13

Then just stop reading/posing in the threads.

14

I’ve said it once before (in the last topic about this) and I’ll say it again:

It’s really very simple: Just keep book talk out of the “show only” thread.

You may not agree with or like that policy, but the OP and most of the regular posters of that thread like it to be that way.
This includes any and all discussion about this policy as well. If you or anyone else has a problem with any posts in there–instead of commenting in that thread–either PM a mod with your concerns, report the post, or make a thread here, as you did. Or any combination of those three things.
And again, if anyone can’t understand the logic behind this policy, I will put it like I did last time: Imagine you watched a movie that is based on a book, but you haven’t read the book. You want to talk about the movie and what happened in it.
Well, it can be a little frustrating, then, if people keep replying with things like “well, in the book, THIS happened” or “It was different in the book, see it was like…” and then you get tangents and side conversations and all that stuff about the book while the OP is going “Hey, guys? I’ve never read the book, I really just wanted to talk about the movie…anyone else just want to talk about the movie and what happened in it?”
It’s not going to be put in the official rules specifically stating “No book talk in the show only” thread of course, but the general rule here is “Don’t be a jerk”. If the OP asks (especially in the title or first post) to please not discuss anything bookwise, then please respect that or you may get notes/warnings otherwise if you persist on it.

That being said, notes and warnings will not be given out very often about it…at least, I hope not. Most people who have posted in the show about book stuff probably don’t know about the rule or may post without knowing they’ve done anything wrong. It happens…and if it does, just report the post and a CS mod will move it to the “book discussion” thread. Try to resist the urge to tell them about the rule or get on their case about it.

15

So simple…yet effective.

16

For those about to deal with Casterly Rock, we salute you.

Seriously, at some point this whole thing should become moot. Does anyone really think Martin is going to get The Winds of Winter out before Season 6?

17

QFT.

18

Thanks to DrDeth my slight desire to try GoT the Series (I like Peter Dinklage) has vanished. Anything that could cause such rancor in a single poster, and these countless stupid threads, has sucked out the possibility that I might enjoy it. (The books were never a go because George RR Martin.)

I guess I’m different from DrDeth. Y’see, I partook of The Hitchhiker’s Guide from the radio series through the movie. Before I saw the movie every joke and plot twist had been spoiled in audio, book, and video form, yet I still saw it to see how the cast and director handled it. Each form was a freestanding work of art. Maybe things are different with GoT than I expect–I expect tits, leaden exposition, and twists that can be seen from outer space, because George RR Martin. But now I shall never know, alas!

If you will excuse me, I have a copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell I will start reading at lunch tomorrow, while I look for a way to view it online. While reading the thread about it.

19

But you see- what is “book talk”? Most of the “You’re not following the rules that’s a book spoiler!!!” complaints I saw posted were in actuality- not from the book, just that the complainer didn’t remember or know that factoid was in the show.

As I said: *Look, the HBO show now has had Five seasons plus the HBO website plus DVD extras.

Many, many times in the last few “NO Spoilers Show Discussion” someone has posted a factoid, which is countered by one of the Unsullied instantly pouncing (plus no doubt hammering the “report this post” button like a rat needing a nicotine fix) with some comment like “is that in the show?” or “the RULES say no book mentions”. And, they have been often wrong- since that Unsullied poster simply didnt remember that the factiod was in the show or show material. *
How many “book mention” reports have you gotten from the GoT thread?

You admitted you dont know much about the show, which is fair. But you have chosen a policy which means you will be ceaselessly bombarded with complaints where it’s doubtful if the complaint is valid. How will you know?

Why are you making extra work for yourself?

And, it’s not about GoT. Hell, until this season, after what I thought was a compromise from Idle Thoughts about special rules for GoT threads, I didn’t post in SenorBeefs special precious threads. It’s about one poster demanding and getting special rules just for himself that is the issue.

No one else gets special rules for their threads.

20

beefsession.