Thread name spoiled todays strip for me

[Arlanthe]

I was kind of disappointed when the "Last Post" section of this forum today blared the events in the strip, thus, quite directly, spoiling it for me.

I was checking my threads before I hit the comic, and on the front page I accidentally read what happened, due to a direct headline :(

I don't want to break the rules for vigilantism and all, so I'm just making a thread asking a mod to change the names of threads please, or enforce *spoiler* tag rules.

Disappointedly,

Arlanthe

[nizwiz]

Yeah, the same happened to me. But, I think in future I'll just always check the strips before I'll check out the forum. No need to edit thread titles, in my opinion. Actually, I rather like them descriptive. Think of every second thread title being "Spoiler"! Then you'd have to check every second thread just to know wether you're interested in it at all.

[Narthon the Bold]

Why would you check threads before reading the new strip? I don't get it.

[BisectedBrioche]

Why would you check threads before reading the new strip? I don't get it.

The same reason you dip your finger in mysterious beakers before checking the pH.

[Sneak]

If I understand correctly, he wasn't. In fact, he wasn't even on the OOTS section of the forums. He was just on the forum page in which it lists all of the different boards. You know how it says the last post on each board and what thread it was in? He saw the name from that.

[Varg]

Why would you check threads before reading the new strip? I don't get it.

Indeed. Strip first. All else second.

[nizwiz]

Why would you check threads before reading the new strip? I don't get it.

I used to have only the link to the OOTS forum in my favourites and used that to both get to the forum and to check whether the strip has updated (by looking at the navigation bar to the left). Not a good idea, really, so I'll change that.

[DeathQuaker]

Why would you check threads before reading the new strip? I don't get it.

Maybe he was checking private messages. Maybe he was involved in a discussion on another subforum that he actually wanted to read replies to before he got to the comic. Maybe he just felt like doing it that way. It doesn't matter. Just because he doesn't read the Web site in the same order you do doesn't invalidate his point.

Fact is, spoilers should be kept out of subject lines. Period.

[Alex Kidd]

The same reason you dip your finger in mysterious beakers before checking the pH.

......huffing ether?

[Zictor]

I used to have only the link to the OOTS forum in my favourites and used that to both get to the forum and to check whether the strip has updated (by looking at the navigation bar to the left). Not a good idea, really, so I'll change that.

Well, I bookmarked the actual page of the strip. Nothing comes before the strip. I felt the whole emotion and suspense of not really knowing if Roy would escape

[Threeshades]

i have the strips archive bookmarked, so if there is a new strip i can see it and view it befor checking the forums. if i was away for a longer i can see how many strips i missed and read them without accidentally seeing the most current one.

My plan is without flaws.

Yes, i'm mighty.

[SaiKar]

Aren't the spoiler tags for talking about predictions for the future rather than actual spoilers? That confuses me to no end, but that's what everyone seems to use them for, so...

There's at least 6 threads on the first page as I write this that would spoil the comic by either directly saying or implying that Roy is dead. They all seem to be on slightly different subjects. Naming all of them SPOILER would be kinda silly.

[cavalier973]

I was kind of disappointed when the "Last Post" section of this forum today blared the events in the strip, thus, quite directly, spoiling it for me.

I was checking my threads before I hit the comic, and on the front page I accidentally read what happened, due to a direct headline :(

I don't want to break the rules for vigilantism and all, so I'm just making a thread asking a mod to change the names of threads please, or enforce *spoiler* tag rules.

Disappointedly,

Arlanthe

That's why I always make it a practice to read the comic first, then the forum

[Gaelbert]

Yeah, the same happened to me. But, I think in future I'll just always check the strips before I'll check out the forum. No need to edit thread titles, in my opinion. Actually, I rather like them descriptive. Think of every second thread title being "Spoiler"! Then you'd have to check every second thread just to know wether you're interested in it at all.

QFT. I didn't know that the strip had come out, so I decided to waste a little bit of time on the forum. Oh, well.:smallfrown:

[Nogard]

There's at least 6 threads on the first page as I write this that would spoil the comic by either directly saying or implying that Roy is dead. They all seem to be on slightly different subjects. Naming all of them SPOILER would be kinda silly.

Roy is Dead? Oh man i read this thread before I read the strip and you just spoiled it for me! :smalltongue:

[Spiky]

Maybe he was checking private messages. Maybe he was involved in a discussion on another subforum that he actually wanted to read replies to before he got to the comic. Maybe he just felt like doing it that way. It doesn't matter. Just because he doesn't read the Web site in the same order you do doesn't invalidate his point.

Fact is, spoilers should be kept out of subject lines. Period.
Interestingly, none of this quote answers the question:

Why on earth would you come to the forum before the comic?

And spoilers are for future discussion in this forum, mainly for Rich since he doesn't want to read our speculation. Asking that nobody makes a thread title about the current comic is ludicrous. How many thousand members are there? This is standard internet forum behavior, check the news first.

Besides, unless you missed the last two weeks, you already knew this was a likely event.

[Rai Thunder]

*Auto-generated 'I agree, comic comes before everything but noodles!' response*

[Finwe]

Talking about the day's comic is NOT a spoiler, and as such, does not need a spoiler tag. It's unfortunate that the comic was spoiled for you, but it's unreasonable to expect people to put a spoiler tag on every single discussion they have.

[Demented]

It's ironic that spoilers on the forum go directly opposite of spoilers everywhere else. But that's how it is.

'Course, it doesn't matter much if you live in a sea of constant doubt, where threads titling this or that mean nothing in the face of personal scrutiny. Put short.... "Dead? Yeah right, I've gotta see this for myself, liar!"

[tomaO2]

spoil·er http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/edu/ref/ahd/t/pron.jpg (http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/pronounce;_ylt=Akd4.b9v4mlDW7sN.0cjKZCugMMF?id=S06 57200&path=prons/S0657200.wav) (spoihttp://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/edu/ref/ahd/s/prime.giflhttp://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/edu/ref/ahd/s/schwa.gifr) KEY (http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/pronunciation_key;_ylt=Ag1zxAb6NHP.f39fjx.VcgSugMM F)

NOUN:


One who seizes spoils or booty.
Something that causes spoilage.

<LI type=a>A long, narrow hinged plate on the upper surface of an airplane wing that reduces lift and increases drag when raised.
An air deflector mounted usually at the rear of an automobile to reduce lift at high speeds.
A candidate for office whose chances of winning are slight but who may get enough votes to prevent one of the leading candidates from winning.
A post to a newsgroup that divulges information intended to be a surprise, such as a plot twist in a movie. IF the person has not read the comic page yet then saying "Roy is dead" here is indeed a spoiler. Sure, ideally you should read the comic first but that's like saying you should have watched Star Wars before someone explained that Vader is Luke's father. Some people haven't read the stuff yet so it would be in the caracter of this forum to do something to protect people from this happening again.

Actually, it makes sense to me to make a rule stopping this from continuing. Posting what HAS happened is seriously more of a spoiler then posting what you THINK will happen.

I mean if we had said "Will Roy be Killed by Xykon?" this would be a spoiler because it would make the actual event less of a surprise because you had considered the possibility but saying "Roy is dead" is NOT?

I can get a spoiler tag IMPOSED BY A MOD for saying something like Beckler will kill Elan and Haley will be so impressed that she will end up marrying Beckler. If I don't make a spoiler tag you can bet it will be shoved down my throat. It's not a spoiler though it's just speculation. BAD speculation. This will NEVER HAPPEN but I'd still be forced to get a spoiler for saying this stuff.

I think the whole thing is idiotic but at this point it's really hypocritical to have this level of protectism against predictions and not also crack down on thread titles too that meet the actual definition of spoiler.

[Finwe]

Firstly, that definition of spoiler is NOT the one used to delineate which threads should use spoiler tags. Second of all, the comic forum is for the discussion of the comics. YOU SHOULDN'T BE READING THEM UNLESS YOU'VE READ THE COMICS, or if you are willing to except the possibility of things that have happened in the comic being revealed. The point of spoiler threads is to make it so that you don't have to read speculation if you don't want to. Third of all, if someone visits a star wars forum and someone says Vader is Luke's father, no one is going to complain, because people who go to star wars forums have already seen star wars. Fourth of all, if you need to put a spoiler tag on things that have already occurred in the comic, what defines how far back you can go before not needing a spoiler? Should people put spoiler tags on threads discussing the Linear guild as antagonists, just in case someone hasn't read comic 56 yet?

[mockingbyrd7]

The same reason you dip your finger in mysterious beakers before checking the pH.

My Chaotic Good ranger did that exact thing a while ago! Needless to say, hilarity ensued. :smallamused:

(He was an archery spec'ed ranger too... twas a shame that he had his index finger on his main hand seared right off... poor lad never used a bow again. :smallfrown: )

[mockingbyrd7]

spoil·er http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/edu/ref/ahd/t/pron.jpg (http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/pronounce;_ylt=Akd4.b9v4mlDW7sN.0cjKZCugMMF?id=S06 57200&path=prons/S0657200.wav) (spoihttp://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/edu/ref/ahd/s/prime.giflhttp://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/edu/ref/ahd/s/schwa.gifr) KEY (http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/pronunciation_key;_ylt=Ag1zxAb6NHP.f39fjx.VcgSugMM F)

NOUN:


One who seizes spoils or booty.
Something that causes spoilage.

<LI type=a>A long, narrow hinged plate on the upper surface of an airplane wing that reduces lift and increases drag when raised.
An air deflector mounted usually at the rear of an automobile to reduce lift at high speeds.
A candidate for office whose chances of winning are slight but who may get enough votes to prevent one of the leading candidates from winning.
A post to a newsgroup that divulges information intended to be a surprise, such as a plot twist in a movie. IF the person has not read the comic page yet then saying "Roy is dead" here is indeed a spoiler. Sure, ideally you should read the comic first but that's like saying you should have watched Star Wars before someone explained that Vader is Luke's father. Some people haven't read the stuff yet so it would be in the caracter of this forum to do something to protect people from this happening again.

Actually, it makes sense to me to make a rule stopping this from continuing. Posting what HAS happened is seriously more of a spoiler then posting what you THINK will happen.

I mean if we had said "Will Roy be Killed by Xykon?" this would be a spoiler because it would make the actual event less of a surprise because you had considered the possibility but saying "Roy is dead" is NOT?

I can get a spoiler tag IMPOSED BY A MOD for saying something like Beckler will kill Elan and Haley will be so impressed that she will end up marrying Beckler. If I don't make a spoiler tag you can bet it will be shoved down my throat. It's not a spoiler though it's just speculation. BAD speculation. This will NEVER HAPPEN but I'd still be forced to get a spoiler for saying this stuff.

I think the whole thing is idiotic but at this point it's really hypocritical to have this level of protectism against predictions and not also crack down on thread titles too that meet the actual definition of spoiler.


Firstly, that definition of spoiler is NOT the one used to delineate which threads should use spoiler tags. Second of all, the comic forum is for the discussion of the comics. YOU SHOULDN'T BE READING THEM UNLESS YOU'VE READ THE COMICS, or if you are willing to except the possibility of things that have happened in the comic being revealed. The point of spoiler threads is to make it so that you don't have to read speculation if you don't want to. Third of all, if someone visits a star wars forum and someone says Vader is Luke's father, no one is going to complain, because people who go to star wars forums have already seen star wars. Fourth of all, if you need to put a spoiler tag on things that have already occurred in the comic, what defines how far back you can go before not needing a spoiler? Should people put spoiler tags on threads discussing the Linear guild as antagonists, just in case someone hasn't read comic 56 yet?

Back on topic: Both of you make very good points. Are you, by any chance, lawyers? :smalltongue:

Finwe, I agree that these people shouldn't have even glanced at the forums in the first place, and I like your analogies with Star Wars, and with the Linear Guild. HOWEVER, I agree with tomaO2 that the spoiler code is sort of... "off."

[teratorn]

Firstly, that definition of spoiler is NOT the one used to delineate which threads should use spoiler tags. Second of all, the comic forum is for the discussion of the comics. YOU SHOULDN'T BE READING THEM UNLESS YOU'VE READ THE COMICS,
[snip]
Should people put spoiler tags on threads discussing the Linear guild as antagonists, just in case someone hasn't read comic 56 yet?

Non-sequitur, this strip was here a few hours before usual time. It's then perfectly normal for someone not to refresh or to go directly to the forums. And this strip in particular was spoiled by knowing Roy's death. I was lucky, I came into the forums then saw the thread for a new strip and went into the sidebar before noting the already ongoing threads about Roy's death. By the way, spoiler tags are needed when discussing OOTS books like Origins, so it's not just for the GIANT's benefit.

I think that any subject that gives away the strip before standard GIANT's midnight time should be sanctioned by the mods with a warning. I agree with you that after that time people should know better.

[Invariel]

I have to agree entirely with Arlanthe; even though the most recent comic is no longer "in the future", people should still have to wait a reasonable amount of time (six hours? one day?) before posting non-spoiler threads about the current comic.

Let's say that just as I am writing this post (before any new comic has come out,) Rich decides to update and add another page to the story we've all come to know and love.

By the time I click the 'Submit Reply' button, the comic has gone up, the server has been hit by hundreds of requests from fans like myself waiting for said latest page, and someone is able to read the comic (twice!) and start a thread about [insert interesting item in comic that I can't possibly know because I haven't read it yet]. Suddenly, before I've had the reasonable chance to read the comic (and it's that same concept of 'reasonable chance' that makes "Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's Father" not a spoiler in 2007), the comic that is new and canon has been spoiled for me.

I don't disagree in the slightest with the thrust of this post, and I hope that there is a slight update to the forum rules in that regard.

Edit: For the record, the comic was updated while I was writing this post. Fortunately, I saw no spoilery topic.