This might be over the top but I thought I’d mention it here as it has started to crop up in one or two threads.
As folks might be aware, the football/‘soccer’ World Cup kicked off on Friday morning and will last until June 30th. As with, I think, the end of one reality teevee show (something about it being shown in Australia and the US at different times comes to mind), there is an issue of people on the board watching the games as per their time zone – (for example; Aussies and Asians aren’t far from real time, for Euro’s it’s the morning the same day and for N. and S. America it’s the middle of the night before…or summin’). I think what I’m saying is that some people in the America’s might not get a chance to see it until 16-18 hours after a match has finished (depending on work, teevee schedules,…).
To cut to the chase, it might be helpful if there was, for want of a better phrase, ‘official encouragement’ to use <spoiler> in thread titles so those who’ve been wearing ear plugs, avoiding teevee and radio, not going to the shop, etc, etc. won’t spend the entire tournament banging their heads against monitors when they open up MPSIMS to read ‘Congratulations to Ireland !!!’ or similar.
Just a thought, no idea what i mean by ‘official encouragement’ though
I know the feeling. I noticed a few days ago that the Monte Carlo Grand Prix was being broadcast on ABC, and was starting in a bit. To kill the time, I hopped on to the internet, and while checking my email, noticed a headline on my Yahoo page announcing that Coulthard won. Although I was happy about that, it kinda killed any desire to watch the race.
Good idea–“official encouragement” might be a sticky at the top of all forums, and in BRIGHT RED CAPS for the benefit of our more tactful-hint-challenged Dopers…
That issue could arise for any kind of popular sporting event (e.g. NBA or NFL playoffs), and even for other things like popular movies: how many Lord of the Ring threads have we had in comparison to World Soccer Cup threads?
I would be reluctant to make a precedent in this case.
The thing is that in the cases of movies, people are already familiar with the protocol of not announcing spoilers in thread titles. And with playoff games in the US, they are not broadcast later in different time zones. With the World Cup, taking place in Japan and Korea, the US and European broadcasts occur later in the day, and people fastidiously avoid finding out the result until they watch the game themselves.
So, if a well-meaning Australian doper were to start a thread congratulating England for beating the pants off of Argentina (hypothetical example), it would actually piss off many English dopers who hadn’t yet seen the game. Since the time delayed broadcasts may not be on everyone’s mind, I think a reminder might be appropriate, and wouldn’t set a huge precedent.
I figure that even if it is a World Series, there’s not enough demand for prime time broadcasts of it in most of the world that they would bother. I suppose it’s possible, but people in other countries probably aren’t too concerned over which US city wins. In the World Cup, it’s their country’s team playing, so there’s a lot more demand.
I’m just guessing here, though. I suppose US sports championships could be broadcast later in other places, but I’ve never heard any indication that anyone cares about the results being spoiled. With the World Cup, the most concerned parties will be watching the game much later than it occurs.
Of course, I really don’t care one way or the other about soccer in general, so it won’t affect me.
Arnold - I’m not sure your judgement’s been quite the same since that threesome with Laverne And Shirley but you have such a firm but polite tone it’s a pleasure to accept your view.
All right London_Calling here’s what we’ll do. The spoiler was in MPSIMS I suppose, right? We’ll have a sticky thread in MPSIMS asking people not to post spoilers in thread titles about World Cup games. But if I get dragged to The BBQ Pit for refusing to do the same thing for Scooby Doo lovers when the movie comes out this summer, I’ll be hiring someone to go throw a cream pie in your face (and waterj2 too for good measure.)
See? This is what I meant. Now everyone is going to want one.
Kat, you mean a permanent sticky in each forum asking people not to post spoilers? I don’t think the issue is important enough to take up permanent real estate in each forum list. The World Cup sticky will be gone shortly.
Well, I actually meant that as a suggestion to fend off other people asking for their own personalized request–put up a temporary sticky post in MPSIMS reminding people to use spoiler warnings in general for all those, rather then specifically the World Cup.
Thanks Arnold – if it helps any I’m going to try and characterise why this particular event might be little different.
Around lunchtime today (GMT) a thread appeared in MPSIMS that completely gave away the surprising position at half time in the match between the USA and Portugal (just enthusiasm/excitement by someone who hadn’t spotted the sticky). Folks in the US might not be able to watch that game for a few more hours yet so seeing that thread title might have spoiled things for them – I mention that again because it’s an actual example from just today.
The World Cup differs from a national sporting event because everyone watches those national games in real time and everyone knows that. It also differs from film/book spoilers because people, IMHO, instinctively understand that we don’t all see, for example, films at the same time.
For whatever reason, the World Cup seems to fall between those two stools - folks think of this event in the same way they think of a national sporting event and so don’t think a film type spoiler would be necessary – maybe it’s excitement, maybe it’s that we normally do all watch these sporting events in real time. Whatever it is, it happens. It even happens when the bloody sticky’s been put up already !!
Anyway, that might offer Arnold something to work with when facing the wrath of the Scooby Doo posse.
Golly gee you must be right, since your last post actually made sense to me!
But thank you for your reasoned disseration as to why your case is different. I reserve the right to link to it in the future in case any disagreements on this particular subject arise.
If anyone starts a “USA, USA, USA” chant in here, they deserve to be fed to British soccer fans (and WTF are Merkins doing playing football without padding and helmets anyway?).
