This isn’t vitriolic enough for the pit, but why do people post spoilers before a show has been aired? I just noticed that Pepperlandgirl posted a spoiler thread for the Buffy season finale. OK, no big deal, I don’t have to read the thread. But the show is going to be on * tomorrow * night! Why bother posting spoilers?
More annoying was the person who posted an entire synopsis of the penultimate episode in a discussion of the two week ago episode. Admittedly, the font was selected to make it hard to read, but I don’t want my spoilers hard to read – I want them not to be there. Even if you hide your spoilers, there’s no guarantee that someone else won’t comment on them or even quote them.
So what’s the big deal with posting spoilers before a show runs? Is it a feeling of power sort of thing? Demonstrating that you have the ability to read fan newsgroups?
In my view this has the same level of immorality as copying copyrighted works and distributing them on Napster. You’re essentially depriving the author of the ability to tell the story the way they want to tell it, and you are potentially depriving fans of the show of the fun of watching the show and being surprised, rather than saying “Oh yeah, that happened just the way that the people on the Internet said it would.”.
I can only speak for my interest in Survivor, but for that show, the producer’s have gone to great lengths to distract, mislead, confound, and otherwise bamboozle people who are trying to figure out who’s going and who will win. It’s almost like spoiler-monging is half the fun.
In part it is a power thing, IMHO. In part, it is because some of us just can not wait, and want to throw our theories and second guesses out there before the show. It’s a game. Then, after the show, we can gather around and say “see, I told you such and such would happen!” or “boy, I sure didn’t see that coming”. As stated in the thread in question, I read spoilers. Why? Because I can not always watch the show, because I am electronically challenged and can not pre program my VCR, because I am impatient. To me, it is the same thing as reading part two of a literary work, but, knowing part three has not been written yet, wildly speculating and searching for glimpses.
Of those who read spoiler boards, all the posters I know of still watch the show. Nakedness just doesn’t have the same appeal when read.
Because it pertains to an on-going discussion over Spike, redemption, souls, gray areas, remorse, love, hate, etc. I didn’t post spoilers for the entire season finale. As a matter of fact, I posted one single line of spoilers, in the spoiler tag, because when I read it, I immediately thought of our discussions here.
Why didn’t I just bump the pertinent thread instead of starting one? Because I’m lazy, and I don’t know how the SDMB is working for you, but for me, searches take a very, very long time. I figured who ever opened the thread and read it would know what I was talking about anyway.
Also, I’m avoiding serious spoilers, but for those of us who have no lives except to worry about what’s going to happen next on Buffy, spoilers are very exciting things. I absolutely could not make it until tomorrow without knowing what is going to happen to Spike. shrugs I’m pathetic, I admit it.
What Lyllyan said. They’re called spoilers because they contain information about stuff that hasn’t aired yet.
Some people love them. Some people live for them. Some people’s lives revolve around them.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. As long as they’re clearly labelled, so that the spoiler virgins among us can watch our shows in pristine ignorance, it’s totally cool.
I too, think it’s no big deal if someone post spoilers. As long as they are clearly marked, it hurts no-one. Now if someone wants to be a jerk, and comment on the spoilers in a way that ruins it for everyone–that’s unacceptable.
But like others have said, there are lots of fans that want…need to know what’s about to happen in their favorite show. And there are other casual watchers who really don’t care if they’re surprised when they watch the show or not. Some people ever read spoilers to decide whether to watch a certain episode or not!
So I don’t really see it as a “power” thing…I see it as a fan thing. And definitely not something to take very seriously. And the argument that it’s akin to ‘Napster’ is ridiculous…
