PbP games - pre-emotive spoilers or no?

[miinstrel]

Found myself pondering this earlier today... when you play games on these forums do you like when DMs pre-post spoilers info? Or do you prefer to have to “ask the right question” first to get the opportunity?

Do pre-spoilers unintentionally railroad players or discourage them making exploratory decisions?

Example:

You enter the room and see rubble on your left. A few skeletal fingers stick out, buried within. An ornamental dagger lies near them obviously coated in blood.
the pommel jewel is broken and the blade is full, obvi not meant for combat use.
The decorative style indicates this was made by the orcs... what’s it doing in this elf city?

Just curious what peoples’ thoughts on the subject are. Maybe things on either side I haven’t considered.

[2D8HP]

I like it because otherwise PM space depletes fast.

[Darth Ultron]

I don't like them at all.

Even if it was assumed that the players could be trusted to only look if they really did make the roll, there is still another bit:

Why type something that might not get used? Why have the DM type a paragraph and put DC spoilers on it...if there is a chance the players will never read it.

Really, it's just better to ''give'' the information away for ''free'' and just forget the rolls....it also speeds up the game.

Though, over all, I much prefer that the Players (not the characters) figure out things. So for example the player will learn about 'orc weapons' then when their character finds a weapon they the player can figure out what it is ''for real''.

[Cespenar]

If you trust the players enough, and don't want to go through back and forth PMing and/or posting, and the checks in question are mostly passive noticing stuff/information-related checks, sure. It hastens some basic processes, and the DM can write it much faster because he writes on the same train of thought with the actual post.

[Obscuraphile]

Maybe this is a hold over from my days of RL games but I hate them because it feels like it's just begging everybody to bandwagon.

It became a joke at my tables that somebody would say I want to investigate X and when I said okay roll for it everybody else would say can I roll too!?

[Nifft]

Makes it much nicer for spectators who are reading along.

Requires honest players with reasonable self-restraint.

[Extra Anchovies]

The GM should be rolling any relevant knowledge or perception checks so the game can move forward with minimal unnecessary pauses.