Spoilers in the OotS forum

[Ancalagon]

The oots-forum seems to be the only place I know where Spoiler-tags are there to prevent the author from getting spoiled (and thus having to fight the feeling to change something, just to prove people wrong ;)).

Usually, the author knows more than the readers, who put those tags to prevent other readers, who are not yet so far as them, to read stuff not yet encountered.

I find that other meaning of the tags funny. ;)

[Tass]

So do I (and I suspect a majority of people here), but that is the way it is.

[Joerg]

To me, it's not very strange. Over in alt.books.pratchett, speculation about future stories was outright forbidden because of the risk of Terry Pratchett reading it. Not so much because he'd change the story if someone would get lucky, but because he feared that this someone would later run around shouting "Terry used my idea!" (or worse).

Of course, it didn't work since abp isn't moderated, and Terry finally left the group.

So, you see, I'm perfectly fine with spoilers here. It's much better than banning the topic.

[The Giant]

This isn't something that's really necessary anymore. You'll note that we don't really enforce this particular rule these days, because the community has gotten so big and so diverse that someone is going to guess everything at sometime, and I couldn't possibly read it all anyway. Also, I've just sort of gotten over it.

It's led to the idea that I'm constantly altering things on a whim and that every part of the story was written to spite someone who guessed otherwise. Which is not true. In fact, I have never altered the plot based on anyone guessing it, no matter what people want to think. What happens is that I feel an urge to change it, and then have to fight that urge. It mildly annoys me for the rest of the day, especially if it's something that's supposed to be a big secret. But the poorly-worded FAQ entry, in an attempt to keep people from claiming that I used their ideas, instead fostered this notion that I cannot bear for anything I write to anything less than 100% unique and unexpected. Which the "spoiler" rule then exasperated.

The only additions to the comic that have ever been in response to reader feedback are 1.) jokes, where I make fun of wildly inaccurate guesses, or 2.) additional expository dialogue, where a character explains why a perfectly reasonable guess just isn't the case in this situation. Although in both cases, it is far more likely that I anticipated a given fan response than actually read it. I've been doing this for a long time now, I know what sort of half-baked theories crop up around here without actually having to see them. Oh, and once, way back during the New Year's Eve scene, I cut a scene short due to vocal reader complaints, and then immediately regretted it and have promised myself not to do it again.

At any rate, there is zero chance of the plot changing based on anything anyone writes here anymore, so if this rule hasn't been officially repealed, we'll do so shortly.

[factotum]

At any rate, there is zero chance of the plot changing based on anything anyone writes here anymore, so if this rule hasn't been officially repealed, we'll do so shortly.

So the invasion of the green-striped purple bunnies is still on the cards, then? :smallwink:

[Claudius Maximus]

Since people keep drawing false conclusions and outdated information from it, any chance we could get an updated FAQ?

[The Giant]

Since people keep drawing false conclusions and outdated information from it, any chance we could get an updated FAQ?

It's been on the list of things to do since 2007. If I ever manage to catch up on the number of comics done per week, I'll get right to it.

[Gd8908]

Well, then... I'll apologize for that idea I posted way back when right before Roy died (which obviously said that he died) and then feeling really smug about it for a good week or so...:smallamused:

[miibtp]

so sad to know that the thing under the unbrella can never be revealed:smallfrown:

[Kurald Galain]

The oots-forum seems to be the only place I know where Spoiler-tags are there to prevent the author from getting spoiled
I don't think it's that uncommon. For instance, the Terry Pratchett newsgroup used to have a similar rule because Terry himself was also reading that.