Loony BoB
04-21-2016, 02:13 PM
A new announcement has been posted. This is the official discussion thread for the announcement.
There have been a few queries/complaints recently regarding spoilers so I decided to write up something to work as a general guideline.
General Information
- Spoiler: Any and all content that was NOT announced/shown off by the creating company to the public prior to release.
- Announced information: Any and all content that WAS announced/shown off to the public by the creating company prior to release.
- Creating company: The company and staff credited for the creation of the media. Not to be confused with rumours and/or leaked information.
- Announced information can be in the title of a thread. Spoilers should NEVER be in the title of a thread.
- Marked Spoiler: A spoiler found in the spoiler tags, eg: like this
- Unmarked Spoiler: A spoiler written in plain view without being initially 'hidden' by spoiler tags.
- Thread Title Spoiler Warning: A warning in the title of a thread which states that the thread contains spoilers. When this is done, any spoiler relevant to the thread/forum title's stated media are considered "fair game" to be unmarked.
Guidelines
Because of the different nature of various media, I've broken this down to make it a bit clearer.
Film
- If the film is not yet released, mark spoilers.
- If the film is released and the film's name is in the title of the thread, spoilers should be assumed to be within the content of the thread.
- If the film is released and the film's name is NOT in the title of the thread, mark spoilers.
Book
- If the book is not yet published, mark spoilers.
- If the book is published and the book's name is in the title of the thread, spoilers should be assumed to be within the content of the thread.
- If the book is published and the book's name is NOT in the title of the thread, mark spoilers.
TV Series
- If the episode has not yet aired, mark spoilers.
- If the episode has aired and the TV series' name is in the title of the thread, spoilers should be assumed to be within the content of the thread.
- If the episode has aired and the TV series' name is NOT in the title of the thread, mark spoilers.
Video Games
We have to be more careful with this content as it is the primary content of the website and thus generates more particular threads rather than generic "Game of Thrones" or "Harry Potter" threads.
- If the game has not yet been released, mark spoilers.
- If the game has been released within the last year, mark spoilers.
- If the game has been released for over a year and the game's name is in the title of the thread and/or forum, spoilers should be assumed to be within the content of the thread. However, for the sake of politeness towards people who are new to the game, it is still encouraged to mark notable spoilers where they are not the major topic at hand because dammit, it's just a nice thing to do.
Using Spoiler Tags
Typing something like this...
This is a marked spoiler
Results in this...
This is a marked spoiler
Typing something like this...
This is also a marked spoiler
Results in this...
This is also a marked spoiler
Thread Title Spoiler Warnings
Spoilers can be marked in the title of a thread and that covers an entire thread. HOWEVER, we should be careful with that. Let's use the Game of Thrones example.
Thread Title: Game of Thrones (contains unmarked aired TV spoilers)
This is specific. It contains spoilers that will be unmarked. These spoilers will spoil the Game of Thrones TV episodes which have aired. It will NOT spoil book content, it will NOT spoil unaired content, it will NOT spoil content for whatever other TV shows.
____
Then you could go into an FFXV forum a month after release and see a thread such as this...
Thread Title: What did you think of the game? (SPOILERS!)
This is not specific, but it doesn't need to be. Clearly, the unmarked spoilers will relate to the entirety of the FFXV game.
____
Let's find a bad example.
Thread Title: Your favourite film! SPOILERS!!!
This doesn't clarify which film the unmarked spoilers will be for. Not good enough - they'll have to specify the title of the film. Since this is about an unknown group of films, the spoilers will simply have to be marked in the thread.
One last thing
There are some things which, while technically spoilers, are such common knowledge that they have become somewhat viral in their own right, and may be allowed to be posted unmarked in any threads. Examples: Aeris dies, Mufasa dies, Bruce Willis is dead, the Titanic sinks, Vader is Luke's father, Firefly never gets a second season, etc. Deciding where that line is drawn is down to the moderation team - when in doubt, ask a moderator or simply mark your spoilers anyway just to be on the safe side.
Moved from the Private Feedback Forum (fun fact: all announcements get a thread automatically generated there) because I feel it's worth having people be able to reply to it if they want any clarification etc.
There have been a few queries/complaints recently regarding spoilers so I decided to write up something to work as a general guideline.
General Information
- Spoiler: Any and all content that was NOT announced/shown off by the creating company to the public prior to release.
- Announced information: Any and all content that WAS announced/shown off to the public by the creating company prior to release.
- Creating company: The company and staff credited for the creation of the media. Not to be confused with rumours and/or leaked information.
- Announced information can be in the title of a thread. Spoilers should NEVER be in the title of a thread.
- Marked Spoiler: A spoiler found in the spoiler tags, eg: like this
- Unmarked Spoiler: A spoiler written in plain view without being initially 'hidden' by spoiler tags.
- Thread Title Spoiler Warning: A warning in the title of a thread which states that the thread contains spoilers. When this is done, any spoiler relevant to the thread/forum title's stated media are considered "fair game" to be unmarked.
Guidelines
Because of the different nature of various media, I've broken this down to make it a bit clearer.
Film
- If the film is not yet released, mark spoilers.
- If the film is released and the film's name is in the title of the thread, spoilers should be assumed to be within the content of the thread.
- If the film is released and the film's name is NOT in the title of the thread, mark spoilers.
Book
- If the book is not yet published, mark spoilers.
- If the book is published and the book's name is in the title of the thread, spoilers should be assumed to be within the content of the thread.
- If the book is published and the book's name is NOT in the title of the thread, mark spoilers.
TV Series
- If the episode has not yet aired, mark spoilers.
- If the episode has aired and the TV series' name is in the title of the thread, spoilers should be assumed to be within the content of the thread.
- If the episode has aired and the TV series' name is NOT in the title of the thread, mark spoilers.
Video Games
We have to be more careful with this content as it is the primary content of the website and thus generates more particular threads rather than generic "Game of Thrones" or "Harry Potter" threads.
- If the game has not yet been released, mark spoilers.
- If the game has been released within the last year, mark spoilers.
- If the game has been released for over a year and the game's name is in the title of the thread and/or forum, spoilers should be assumed to be within the content of the thread. However, for the sake of politeness towards people who are new to the game, it is still encouraged to mark notable spoilers where they are not the major topic at hand because dammit, it's just a nice thing to do.
Using Spoiler Tags
Typing something like this...
This is a marked spoiler
Results in this...
This is a marked spoiler
Typing something like this...
This is also a marked spoiler
Results in this...
This is also a marked spoiler
Thread Title Spoiler Warnings
Spoilers can be marked in the title of a thread and that covers an entire thread. HOWEVER, we should be careful with that. Let's use the Game of Thrones example.
Thread Title: Game of Thrones (contains unmarked aired TV spoilers)
This is specific. It contains spoilers that will be unmarked. These spoilers will spoil the Game of Thrones TV episodes which have aired. It will NOT spoil book content, it will NOT spoil unaired content, it will NOT spoil content for whatever other TV shows.
____
Then you could go into an FFXV forum a month after release and see a thread such as this...
Thread Title: What did you think of the game? (SPOILERS!)
This is not specific, but it doesn't need to be. Clearly, the unmarked spoilers will relate to the entirety of the FFXV game.
____
Let's find a bad example.
Thread Title: Your favourite film! SPOILERS!!!
This doesn't clarify which film the unmarked spoilers will be for. Not good enough - they'll have to specify the title of the film. Since this is about an unknown group of films, the spoilers will simply have to be marked in the thread.
One last thing
There are some things which, while technically spoilers, are such common knowledge that they have become somewhat viral in their own right, and may be allowed to be posted unmarked in any threads. Examples: Aeris dies, Mufasa dies, Bruce Willis is dead, the Titanic sinks, Vader is Luke's father, Firefly never gets a second season, etc. Deciding where that line is drawn is down to the moderation team - when in doubt, ask a moderator or simply mark your spoilers anyway just to be on the safe side.
Moved from the Private Feedback Forum (fun fact: all announcements get a thread automatically generated there) because I feel it's worth having people be able to reply to it if they want any clarification etc.