No one is saying GoT is literature for the ages, but it is way better than only being able to read the numbers on a TV remote. Same with romances, Lovecraft and even the Hardy boys.
Clearly you feel the same way about fantasy as I feel about horror. Never found any example from the genre that appealed to me in any way.
I never really got that into fantasy literature (although I do love Lewis’s Narnia series) but I found A Song of Ice and Fire (better known as the Game of Thrones books) excellent. If it matters, the series is quite well reviewed, with most critics praising how different they are from most other fantasy books.
Comparing ASOIF to Harlequin romance novels isn’t really accurate or just. They’ve got a bit more intellectual street cred than that.
Maybe I was being hurtful on purpose, or maybe I really, really dislike fantasy, no matter how well-reviewed it is. I’m leaning toward the second and see the first as a sort of bonus. 
However, I don’t begrudge the rest of you liking that book and TV series. My opinion is mine alone and does not reflect the opinions of the Sun Times company, The Chicago Reader, or Cecil Adams, though if he likes it my respect for him will go down a notch. 
And here you have it in one.
Different people get enjoyment from spoilers/discussion in different ways.
This really isn’t rocket science and I’m frankly amazed that we’re in the situation that we are, literally everyone seems absolutely determined that they are right and only their way should be followed. People that demand that all threads should be spoiler-free are being dicks. People that demand that all threads should be open spoilers are being dicks. People that demand that all threads don’t consider previews to be spoilers are being dicks. People that demand that all threads should allow for comparisons between book and film are being dicks.
In short, if you are demanding that all threads follow what YOU want then you are being a dick. And that seems to be quite a lot of you doing that.
Surely the solution is that have the rules specified in the OP, perhaps with some sort of shorthand in the thread title, and after that anyone not following those rules gets a warning? That way people that want discussion including only what has been broadcast in the episode get the thread they want. Those that want open spoilers get their thread. Those that want comparisons with discussions of deep dicking in Kevin Smith films get their thread.
We are all adults right? How come you haven’t managed to sort this out? You guys, frankly, scare me. I swear most of you want to be annoyed so you can slag each other off.
And this is probably the issue with spoilers in a nutshell. That’s not the spoiler for me; it’s the fact that Bruce Willis is already dead. For some people, any indication of what might be a factor in the story-telling is a spoiler. Where others weigh individual portions of the story based on their own measurement of importance. Even the fact that knowing Ned Stark dies didn’t ruin the first book for me because there is so much more going on besides that particular story.
For the record, I don’t care that there are threads for people who don’t want to know a single thing before it happens. My rant was based more on the idea that it makes it hard for some people to join in, for fear of getting slapped down for posting what is an innocuous detail for some, but a spoiler for others. When you can’t even mention previews, it sets the bar pretty high.
Actually, the previews for next week’s episode of GoT did contain a minor spoiler.
In the last episode, it was somewhat ambiguous as to whether or not Sansa went with the Hound. I’ve noticed that a lot of the people who are new to the series think that she did. But in the previews for the next episode, it showed her talking to Littlefinger in King’s Landing.
Holy shit you have just gone completely off the rails.
A thread with a “no spoilers” policy is censorship? SenorBeef is illiterate?
Wow, that’s one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever read on the SDMB (or SDMD, as you like to call it), and I’ve been posting and reading here for a loooong time.
The series beginning with GoT is not bad for modern fantasy–certainly better than most of those endless 3rd rate Tolkien ripoffs. I read the books released to date before the first season on HBO–I read fast. (I got the last volume but it’s sitting there unread; my tastes have moved on. Might send it back & get a paperback edition.)
Not bad stories, with some interesting characters. But these books are not something I’ll read again (although I read books I love multiple times). Especially since the plotting gets sloppier as the volumes get thicker. Some changes made for the show are necessary for reasons of budget & time. But other changes are actually improvements.
I’m spoiler proof but usually prefer the spoiler free threads because I want to discuss this excellent show! I don’t want endless kvetching about how it varies from the books. Nor do I want discussion of events that occur in later books–that we might see in a couple of years. And I find speculation about stuff GRRM might or might not live to write* really* boring…
Also, it’s very rude to spoil the story for people who haven’t read the books. And might not ever read them. Besides, some of those “expert” opinions might turn out wrong–GRRM is apparently using the show as a 2nd chance to fix some stuff. (George, you really should have made an outline!)
Anyone who won’t follow the instructions on the various threads really deserves to be banned…
The separate GOT threads seem to be working. I think the NoSpoilers crowd deserves their own unsullied space.
Just like I think we deserve this space for bitching about them because they be crazy.
I don’t care how reasonable it is, when someone complains about spoilers I’m going to assume they’re a whiny little weenie. GOT has set a new standard of bitching and moaning - it’s pathetic and fascinating all at once.
Wow. The concept of “let’s try hard not to be complete assholes to each other” has gotten REALLY complicated lately.
Want a good laugh? Check out the “Why are the Lannisters villains?” thread in Cafe Society right now. The first sentence of the OP is a giant spoiler-warning complete with all-caps BEWARE, and some doofus comes in complaining that there was a major spoiler later in the OP.
Sure, and then that doofus was corrected sarcastically and mockingly by a bunch of people.
I mouse-over previewed that thread, saw the warning, and decided against clicking it. That’s totally the spoilee’s fault, IMO.
But while the OP has the right to make a new thread and structure it however they like, I have to wonder if that convo wouldn’t have been better for the “Open Spoilers” or “Closed Spoilers” threads that already exist, and people are more familiar with. But I can’t really say, since I haven’t read the thread.
I think defining “complete” and “assholes” is the crux of this conversation.
In fact, I’d say it’s just the sort thing that’s best suited to the experience of watching it on TV. Or in my case, on DVD through the mail, two episodes at a time.
If this was a new thing, I could understand the paranoia over spoilers, but the book’s been out for something like 15 years. Are we going to have all this crap about “spoilers” in between the two Hobbit films, in case someone who supposedly loves it enough to watch it and discuss it can’t be bothered to read the books?
In case this isn’t clear enough, if you actually consider yourself a fan, read the fucking books.
It doesn’t matter how old a story is.
To many people, today is still going to be their first exposure to it, just as today is the day someone, somewhere, will hear of the Bible for the first time. And it’s still going to be a dick thing to go out of your way to tell them that Jesus dies in the end and Judas did it.
They have no fewer rights to discovery and marvel than you do. If when The Hobbit comes out people here want to open a specific No Tolkien Spoilers Movie Only The Hobbit thread, the fuck does it matter to you ? And why should you look down on them ? There’s really no self-worth or pride whatsoever to be derived from “I read that book and you have not” outside of cuntish high school hipster cliques.
As someone who has read all five books (and read the first in 1996 when it came out), I adore reading the unspoiled threads. It’s great to watch people experience this story for the first time, and I love the speculation as to where it will go next. I have no desire to see people spoiled.
That having been said, if you ignore spoiler warnings in the first sentence of a post and then bitch about getting spoiled, you’re a dumbfuck.
Man, Kobal, that Bible analogy is terrible! 
But I think you hit on something here:
I’m increasingly getting the feeling that at least some of the objection to a “no book knowledge” thread is about some misguided and ludicrous sense of elitism. It seems that some people have a desire to display their superior GoT knowledge, and they view a venue with many GoT-noobs as a perfect place to do this. The fact that this knowledge they’re so proud of is barred from that irresistible venue is just a total affront to them.
And you know what? I actually do wish that it were possible to have a reasonable level of book knowledge in those threads. But I realize that my definition of reasonable differs from the next guy’s, and his differs from the next. The only unambiguous way to handle it, in light of all the trainwrecking squabbles that mired the early threads, is to draw the line where there can be no disagreements as to what constitutes a spoiler.
And another thing I just noticed: The default for any regular thread is that spoilers are boxed. Nobody has a problem with this, but some say that it should be the only way. (One look at the thread for the GoT series premiere should instantly dispel that silly notion.) Many of those people object to the mere existence of a strict no-spoilers thread. But I don’t hear those same people objecting to the various OPEN-spoilers threads. Why is that?
And the strange thing with that is, there’s no possible harm that can come to them from a strict no-spoilers thread. They can choose to read and participate in any of the threads, as long as they follow the guidelines. The same isn’t true for those who wish to remain unspoiled. They have a limited number of threads to read and participate in, and they have to be careful about where they click and what they read. Yet, these people who have less options and more to lose aren’t advocating against the existence of open-spoiler threads. Why is that?