# Spoilers and The Game of Thrones **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 27, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220 "2012-05-27T03:03:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/62 "2012-05-30T00:51:55Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Just because you didn’t notice doesn’t mean it was held back, they didn’t change the cell from one episode to the next. The detail about the slope of the floor and what it meant for Tyrion was not revealed until the next episode. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/63 "2012-05-30T01:02:24Z")
But I’m willing to be proven wrong. If the slanted floor actually was revealed in the show when Tyrion was first put in the sky cell and I somehow missed it, then I would have thanked whoever pointed it out. But at the time, the only people who mentioned it were the ones who said something to the effect of, “Hey, isn’t the floor slanted like it says in the book?” That’s what I object to. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/64 "2012-05-30T01:11:00Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > But overall, what I don’t understand is why people like you feel so obligated to judge how someone like me _should_ enjoy these things. There’s now a thread for those who feel the same way I do. And there’s a thread for those who don’t. It doesn’t bother me that there are people who are content to enjoy the show in a different manner than I do. Why can’t you be content with my choice? I just want to emphasize this. This is exactly what I think as an outsider. This is the reason I see those complaining as being so unreasonable. How does having a thread that you don’t want to participate in hurt you? ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/65 "2012-05-30T02:07:19Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Not to be all dickish and stuff but I heard that someone in GoT dies. I’m pretty sure that one of the dragons grows up to be Smaug. ---
**Author:** ![coolbyrne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc79bd/32.png) [@coolbyrne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coolbyrne)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/66 "2012-05-30T02:31:37Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > They’re not written by the show creators to give you hints that they find acceptable where the story is going - they’re written by a marketing team who can reveal the entire episode if they think it’ll get viewers. If I know I’m going to watch the episode next week, why do I need to be teased into it? I don’t want to see the shit that some marketing asshat thought would shock the most viewers and get them to tune in, I want the story as presented by the storyteller. So it’s courteous to box those things so that people who avoid them (and I know lots of people who do, not just me) can keep avoiding them. Please tell me what preview of Game of Thrones revealed the entire episode. Please tell me when ANY show has revealed the entire episode of their show. What is the logic in revealing the entire episode in a preview? To get viewers? How does a marketing asshat think they’re going to get viewers for next week’s ratings (that’s how cable shows get money and pay these asshats) by revealing the entire episode in a preview? This is what I mean about this particular show. It is so precious that a preview that cannot possibly reveal the entire episode gets labelled as a spoiler. The hyperbole surrounding this show is quite interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/67 "2012-05-30T02:42:56Z")
> [@coolbyrne](#): > > Please tell me what preview of Game of Thrones revealed the entire episode. Please tell me when ANY show has revealed the entire episode of their show. What is the logic in revealing the entire episode in a preview? To get viewers? . FWIW, the trailer of _Soylent Green_ famously gave away the film’s entire twist. Twice. Also one of the main twists of the _Sixth Sense_ - that the kid sees dead people - was spoiled a thousand times before the movie even premiered. So that happens. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/68 "2012-05-30T02:56:34Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > I found out that Sookie was a fairy a season before the show said so, big fucking whoop. Snooki is a fairy? While I can’t say I’m _totally_ surprised, I wish you wouldn’t spoil _Jersey Shore_ like that. I can’t walk into a grocery store without it being spoiled for me, but this was supposed to be a safe place. ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/69 "2012-05-30T03:01:40Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Also one of the main twists of the _Sixth Sense_ - that the kid sees dead people - was spoiled a thousand times before the movie even premiered. > > So that happens. That was the premise of the movie, not a twist. The twist is that M. Night Shyamalan sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/70 "2012-05-30T03:06:00Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > But I’m willing to be proven wrong. If the slanted floor actually was revealed in the show when Tyrion was first put in the sky cell and I somehow missed it, then I would have thanked whoever pointed it out. But at the time, the only people who mentioned it were the ones who said something to the effect of, “Hey, isn’t the floor slanted like it says in the book?” That’s what I object to. > [@BigT](#): > > I just want to emphasize this. This is exactly what I think as an outsider. This is the reason I see those complaining as being so unreasonable. How does having a thread that you don’t want to participate in hurt you? The point is that no matter which thread you participate in, someone is always going to yell at you for saying, “it’s a spoiler!!!”. You can never tell what’s a spoiler and what isn’t. People are way, waaaaay too anal about it. It’s like walking on egg shells. And it’s not just in GoTs, either. (Which I really don’t give a shit about). EVERYTHING is a spoiler now. What next, spoiling _non-fiction_? I’m currently reading _Helter Skelter_, and Charles Manson totally gets his ass thrown in the slammer ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/71 "2012-05-30T03:09:08Z")
> [@Palooka](#): > > That was the premise of the movie, not a twist. There’s more to plot twists than just last second WOW reveals before the credits roll, you know. This one is not brought up until halfway into the movie, there’s nothing whatsoever to suggest anything supernatural about the flick prior to that moment, and if it hadn’t been for the trailer it would have been a pretty neat shocker/puzzler scene. Does he really ? Is he even crazier than we thought ? But it never, ever was, not to anybody with a pulse. Kid sees dead people. Yeah, we know, get on with it ! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/72 "2012-05-30T03:26:29Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > But the threads in question here are specifically about a TV show which is just now airing for the first time. There are lots of people who are only experiencing the story at the pace that the new medium is taking them. > > Why are you all so fucking butthurt if we have a place to discuss the show? > I will point out that the current method has been very successful. Before we split it up this way, the discussion was an absolute trainwreck - and almost entirely due to the assholes who had the attitude of “I’ll decide what you should know and what you shouldn’t, and if you aren’t happy with that, well fuck you, you little snowflake”. > > There’s nothing on these boards that gets people to so consistently act like petulant children than the issue of spoilers. . 1. There was a poll. Almost everyone here has read the books (at least up to book two, anyway). **You lost dude**. By a huge margin. You said 90% hadn’t read the books, while here, it’s about 80% that have read at least some. Thus, there aren’t “lots”. Maybe you don’t read much, but the rest of us do. You want ignorance, we want to _fight ignorance_. [Game of Throne Viewers: How Many of the Books Have You Read? - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=647157) 2. I have heard you screaming the loudest about this, so whose the butthurt one? 3. No, it hasn’t. You saying it has been doesn’t make it so. Yes, there was some trainwreck last season, like there often is during **THE FIRST SEASON.** And, you are the one saying “I’ll decide what you should\* post\* and what you shouldn’t, and if you aren’t happy with that, well fuck you, you little snowflake”. You fight\* for\* ignorance. 4. Yep, there is a great deal of dudes acting like \*petulant children. \* ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/73 "2012-05-30T03:32:18Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > The simplest implementation by far is just to say - in certain threads, we’ll discuss the TV show with no outside knowledge at all. No judgement calls on what is or isn’t a spoiler, no guesses as to what the show will reveal, just… discuss the TV show as its own work. It’s the easiest way to handle things. > > We found a good solution at the end of last year and I wanted to avoid the massive clusterfuck when we started over again this year. . Simpler yet- we are here to fight ignorance and promote knowledge. Post anything you like. That’s the American way, that’s the SDMD way. Censorship is wrong. Umm, no, your solution was to promote ignorance, (likely due as you are apparently illiterate) and promote censorship. It didn’t work, as they had to appoint a special Mod just for one special thread, and this thread and the closed thread in ATMB has made it clear that the membership doesn’t really like it. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/74 "2012-05-30T03:37:03Z")
Do I really have to explain why the idea that not wanting to see spoilers is “promoting ignorance” is fucking retarded? Really, you’re going to try to wrap yourself up in appeals to fighting ignorance? Were you out there when Empire Strikes Back premiered going through the entry lines screaming VADER IS LUKE’S FATHER!!! and when anyone said you were a dick for doing that, said “oh, you just want to wallow in your ignorance! Well I’m above that!”? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/75 "2012-05-30T03:43:31Z")
> [@coolbyrne](#): > > Please tell me what preview of Game of Thrones revealed the entire episode. Please tell me when ANY show has revealed the entire episode of their show. What is the logic in revealing the entire episode in a preview? To get viewers? How does a marketing asshat think they’re going to get viewers for next week’s ratings (that’s how cable shows get money and pay these asshats) by revealing the entire episode in a preview? If by “revealing the entire show” you mean “no preview is 45 minutes, thereby exposing the entire plot of the entire episode”, right. But they often reveal the major twists, the major plot points, and just generally act as spoilers. If you read interviews with the writers behind shows, they generally HATE those previews - they take great care to try to reveal the story in an interesting way, and the marketing guys take it and blow it for everyone. > [@](#): > > This is what I mean about this particular show. It is so precious that a preview that cannot possibly reveal the entire episode gets labelled as a spoiler. The hyperbole surrounding this show is quite interesting. Wanting to avoid previews isn’t anything GOT-specific. I generally avoid previews for all shows I’m watching and wish people would box that shit so I could keep avoiding it. The only GOT-specific issues are due to the books. > [@Guinastasia](#): > > The point is that no matter which thread you participate in, someone is always going to yell at you for saying, “it’s a spoiler!!!”. You can never tell what’s a spoiler and what isn’t. People are way, waaaaay too anal about it. It’s like walking on egg shells. Which is why having judgement calls and borderline shit leads to exactly this sort of fighting. Which is the whole point of the “nothing outside the show” threads - if there’s no judgement, you can’t fuck up the judgement call. No one can disagree. There’s the show, and that’s it. And it has worked, quite well - I can only remember one spoiler being revealed in the threads, it was fixed quickly by a moderator without any fus, and things moved on. Otherwise the threads have run smoothly. That’s the weirdest thing about you guys - not only are you determined to make sure that people who don’t spoiler shave nowhere to discuss the show (instead you say just avoid discussing the show entirely), but you ignore the fact that the solution we’ve had going has proven to be successful and create a better outcome for everyone than your stance. > [@DrDeth](#): > > 1. There was a poll. Almost everyone here has read the books (at least up to book two, anyway). **You lost dude**. By a huge margin. You said 90% hadn’t read the books, while here, it’s about 80% that have read at least some. Thus, there aren’t “lots”. Maybe you don’t read much, but the rest of us do. You want ignorance, we want to _fight ignorance_. > [Game of Throne Viewers: How Many of the Books Have You Read? - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=647157) I was definitely wrong about my estimate about how many people had read the books. I’m not wrong about there being a lot of people who haven’t. > [@](#): > > 1. I have heard you screaming the loudest about this, so whose the butthurt one? I set out to do the work to try to shape the rules and discussion in a way that promoted the best outcome. That’s a strange definition of “butthurt”, especially since the threads have been an unambiguous success. > [@](#): > > 1. No, it hasn’t. You saying it has been doesn’t make it so. Yes, there was some trainwreck last season, like there often is during **THE FIRST SEASON.** And, you are the one saying “I’ll decide what you should\* post\* and what you shouldn’t, and if you aren’t happy with that, well fuck you, you little snowflake”. You fight\* for\* ignorance. I don’t even feel like I need to address the second part, since it’s so ridiculous. As to the first - the first half of the first season featured the threads utterly swamped with bickering over the nature of spoilers, what constituted them, people like you telling people who didn’t want to read them what they thought of them, etc. Seriously, read random threads from the first half of the first season last year and compare to the episode threads this year - night and day. > [@](#): > > 1. Yep, there is a great deal of dudes acting like \*petulant children. \* Pretty much all from your side. I’ve stayed reasoned and reasonable and quite frankly it’s easier because I’m on the side of not being a dick. You guys are the ones who want to say “you guys shouldn’t have a place to discuss the show without spoilers. You should instead never discuss the show with anyone, or if you try, I’m going to give you your medicine” (either dropping spoilers, or throwing tantrums and wrecking the discussion otherwise) Again, the key point in all of this is that the anti-spoiler crowd isn’t trying to keep you guys from discussing the show on the level you want to discuss it on. But the reverse is not true - it bothers you that we can discuss the show on our terms too, and you want to silence us even if it doesn’t benefit you. Just trying to hurt us, us delicate little snowflakes who have sensibilities so offensive to the core of your being, is worth it in itself. And then you wrap yourself up in lofty ideals of dispelling ignorance and such. Yes, the sort of ignorance the boards were designed to fight was definitely beign ignorant of plot of a work of art you’re trying to enjoy before you actually enjoy it. Ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/76 "2012-05-30T03:45:17Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Do I really have to explain why the idea that not wanting to see spoilers is “promoting ignorance” is fucking retarded? Really, you’re going to try to wrap yourself up in appeals to fighting ignorance? You will not or can not just read the damn books, and because of _you_, we have to have censorship here on the SDMB. Why are _you_ so special that we have to have a special rule just because you are one of a small minority here that can’t or won’t just read the damn books already. Besides- they are many times better than the show, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/77 "2012-05-30T03:47:45Z")
Because I’ve been banging the board administration and moderation. All of them. And I’m damn good at it, that banging. I can have any custom rules I want made. You’re lucky I’ve been a benevolent overlord by restricting myself to GOT threads so far. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/78 "2012-05-30T03:49:38Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Because I’ve been banging the board administration and moderation. All of them. And I’m damn good at it, that banging. I can have any custom rules I want made, so you better be careful. I’ve been a benevolent overlord by restricting myself to GOT threads so far. Well, you’re fucking _something_, that’s for sure… Just pick up a damn book once in while and read it. I know it’s difficult and all, with all those words, but most of us prefer it. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/79 "2012-05-30T03:52:17Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > 1. There was a poll. Almost everyone here has read the books (at least up to book two, anyway). **You lost dude**. By a huge margin. You said 90% hadn’t read the books, while here, it’s about 80% that have read at least some. Thus, there aren’t “lots”. Maybe you don’t read much, but the rest of us do. You want ignorance, we want to _fight ignorance_. I don’t have a dog in this fight, since GoT, books or TV, looks like unmitigated crap, but you are bragging on the literacy of SDMB members by pointing to the number of them who have read at least some of a fantasy series? Isn’t that like using sales of Harlequin romances to show how the American public likes fine literature? And how does reading (an apparent) shit sandwich like _Game of Thrones_ fight ignorance?\* - - I am currently reading some HP Lovecraft. At least I’m not suggesting it reflects well on me. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/80 "2012-05-30T03:54:11Z")
Oooh, we’ve switched from “not wanting to know the plot twist of a show right before you see it is ignorance, so to defend that is promoting ignorance” to just “PICK UP A BOOK YOU RETARD, PEOPLE WHO WATCH TV ARE DUMB” Keep it coming. I like seeing how you think you have the high ground here. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220/81 "2012-05-30T05:01:42Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Do I really have to explain why the idea that not wanting to see spoilers is “promoting ignorance” is fucking retarded? Really, you’re going to try to wrap yourself up in appeals to fighting ignorance? Were you out there when Empire Strikes Back premiered going through the entry lines screaming VADER IS LUKE’S FATHER!!! and when anyone said you were a dick for doing that, said “oh, you just want to wallow in your ignorance! Well I’m above that!”? DUDE NOT COOL! YOU SPOILED IT FOR ME!:mad: I’ve only seen the first movie. Now that the series is ruined for me you might as well tell me how it ends. Do Luke and Leia get together in the end? I have no problem with a spoiler thread and a no spoiler thread for a specific series. It does annoy me a bit when people demand spoiler boxes in other Cafe threads that specifically require discussing or providing examples of what happens in a variety of works. If we did that, half the threads would be nothing but spoiler boxes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spoilers-and-the-game-of-thrones/623220.md?page=5)