I found the online reading group, you were about to read a book I was interested in, so I joined. It’s a very long book (800 pages/small print) and so the book had broken up into sections, so much to be read each week, which seems sensible enough.
I read the first week’s section (Chapters 1-5) and then the discussion started. Everyone else wrote about the first week’s section - except you. Your post was entitled “The Characters Thus Far” or something like that. And the first paragraph was about the characters thus far. The second was a long examination of a character I hadn’t read of. Now, admittedly when I read, I skim from time to time, but there’s no way I could possibly have overlooked that much. I flip forward and find that you’ve written a dissertation on a character who is not even introduced until chapter 20 fucking 6 (on the schedule five weeks later). How she is a “character thus far” is beyond me. But now, I know not only too much about her, but too much about the other characters and their interactions with her. Thanks a lot. I wrote you and asked about this and got the reply “Oh, she’s toward the beginning, you’ll get to her soon enough, I think.”
A week passes and this time, everyone manages to limit themselves to the chapters assigned. But you can’t let that go on, because on week 3, you need to tell another plot point. I’m guessing you feel it’s exciting. This time, I write to the entire group and ask whether spoilers are allowed. (I’m new, I’m trying to be polite). You answered saying that people didn’t spoil the book. Apparently, you were unable to see where you’d done exactly that, being blind to your own faults is common, so I thought I’d let that be enough. And it was. For a few weeks.
And then monday. I did the reading. I opened your post. The first paragraph was interesting. The first sentence of the second paragraph was a major spoiler. The second sentence was the words “This happens in chapter __” Two weeks beyond where we were reading. (I stopped reading the post right then) You knew that you were spoiling the book. You knew that that spot hadn’t been reached on the schedule yet. This was not a simple “I’d thought we’d gotten to that point already” mistake. This was deliberate. This was rude. This was intentional. All you had to do was type “Spoiler” That’s it. That’s all. Or you could have waited and posted that particular essay once we’d reached that point of the book. But no, why do that when you can reveal the plot of the book? That way you get to be the one to tell. That’s probably the most exciting thing of your week-isn’t it?
So, yeah, I blew up at you publically. It pissed me off, and IMHO rightfully so. From previous behavior, I knew that privately requesting it would be meaningless to you - you’re way more concerned with what others think of your behavior than you are of your actual behavior and so that’s the only way to get a point across to you. I called your behavior incredibly rude. I asked to please, please use spoiler space when you’re about to reveal a further plot point. I hardly used strong language. I didn’t even use any profanity. And now, you have the fucking gall to whine to me that I made you uncomfortable and have “ruined” the group as I have now scared them out of posting anything.
WELL THAT WAS THE POINT, IDIOT. I want you to to feel uncomfortable. I want you to think before posting. I want you to quit spoiling the damn book. I realize you think it’s an incredible burden to limit yourself to the first 40 chapters - but I know you’re capable of exactly that, as you did a beautiful job of that when we were at chapter 15. As for the group, they really didn’t have reason to worry, as they weren’t fucking spoiling things. And still aren’t. And they’re posting just as much as before. It was just you.
So, stop it. Not being the one to inform everyone what happens next will not make you any less special. That’s simply not possible.
