SPOILERS

[The Captain]

How long must things be guarded as spoilers?

Is it a week after an episode airs? A month? That years award season? Or are some things forever protected by spoiler warnings in case someone doesn't stumble upon it for decades? For instance, is it still spoiler worthy to reveal what happened at the climax of Empire Strikes Back? What About Episode VII? Or how The Sopranos ended? Or if Snape was good or bad?

I'm curious as to what you all feel is the appropriate amount of time to protect things by spoilers. Does the medium matter in it at all?

Take care all.

[Loony BoB]

I tend to think that if it becomes so massive to the point that it's a meme, it's understandable if spoilers happen. However, I'll point out that when Sarah played FFVII we managed to get her all the way through disk one to the point of her seeing the obvious event and being in utter disbelief. Tears were shed. It was all very emotional. So there is still a lot to be said for not spoiling things too bluntly all over the place.

How you gauge a massive spoiler becoming a meme? Urgh, I don't even know. Very subjective but that's life sometimes.

[The Captain]

What's funny too is that we've become such a massive spoiler and instant gratification culture, that if someone is out of the loop long enough, everyone else gets fed up by them too.

How about sport events? I'd say those have a half-life of about a day. If someone misses the big game live but has it recorded, I think it's only about a day before the world moves on to talking about it. Imagine how frustrating it would be to be hanging with a group of friends, talking about soccer and one friend says, "Wait! I haven't seen the matches from the end of last season! Don't tell me who won the league yet."

Take care all.

[Loony BoB]

Oh man, sporting spoilers are so tricky. I like to record and watch games later on sometimes, and if I hear the score then it ruins the entire experience for me. But again, it's something that can on occasion happen. This is why I very much prefer to watch games live. I generally consider it down to me to avoid media where I might get a game spoiled, and up to my friends to not be dicks about it. Even if they do spoil it for me (very rarely if ever happens) then it's usually an innocent mistake because they assumed I'd watched it.

Half day sounds about right. The general nice thing to do is ask people if they saw the game before you talk about it.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I think it all depends on context. No matter how old something is, I don't think it's ok to just jump into unrelated comment threads or conversations to announce some big spoiler from something. I think it's only polite to ask if someone has seen or played something too before discussing spoilers, or ask if they care about spoilers. I talk spoilers every once in a while from stuff I'm reading with my boss because he doesn't care about being spoiled or thinks he won't ever get to whatever I'm reading anyways.

That being said, I don't think anyone should be upset going into the ffvii subforum and being spoiled on something when they haven't played the game unless making their own thread mentioning they haven't played before and asking for help. People should also avoid stuff like the game of thrones thread after a new episode if they haven't seen it.

I will say the one kind of spoiler I hate more than anything though is when people hint at something without outright saying it and thinking it's ok. Things like, "you like Stephen now, but just wait until what he does the next episode." Or "don't worry, that character will get what's coming to them" or "I'm excited to see how show watchers will respond to the Yellow Birthday Party". I like not anticipating anything and being able to be surprised.

[Del Murder]

On the internet, just make the rules clear for the discussion. I'm fine with any kind of spoiler rules as long as they are clear. Simply avoid any discussions that don't suit your spoiler tastes. If no rules are set, then I think anything that is public (on the topic) is free game. The only no-no is to randomly spoil some other thing that has nothing to do with the thing you are discussing. Just use your best judgment.

I guess the rules would be different for social media but I don't ever use it, so

Offline, a simple 'have you seen/played X?' before getting into it is both polite and sufficient.

[Lone Wolf Leonhart]

I suppose it's best to take it on a case by case basis in the context of where you're talking.

The original Star Wars trilogy is so entrenched in the cultural zeitgeist that people who haven't even seen it are aware of the basic plot points and the "I am your father" line.

Harry Potter is such a huge phenomenon that the people who care about Snape's true nature would have been invested in it and found out about it already. If for whatever reason you found someone who just now got into Harry Potter, they're going to have a hard time avoiding those landmines anyway.

If I'm watching a new episode of The Walking Dead, I won't have a conversation about it on my Facebook wall. I'll reserve it to private messages and in The Lounge thread. But i'll say this: If we're on season 8 of a show, I think the first 7 seasons are fair game for spoilers. For the people who just started watching it, see the Harry Potter example.

As a general rule, when something new comes out be aware of your surroundings when discussing it. I'll leave it to other people to decide when the cut off point for new is.

If i'm a little late to watch something, like i'm at work when it airs on television, i'll avoid social media until I watch it. Some people say that's not fair, but if you like talking about shows with your friends, it might just be the nature of your feed. I've found that people are a little more courteous about posting movie spoilers in their feed, because it takes more effort to go see those as opposed to a show lined up on the DVR.