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User Manual



Spoilers
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A spoiler is, in brief, information about something (e.g. an episode, book, movie) that someone hasn't seen/read. Many people don't like to read spoilers, so when posting spoilers or discussing spoilerish information, steps be taken to help those people avoid them. Read on for the details...

What Constitutes a Spoiler?
Using Spoiler Tags
Spoiler Tag Descriptions
Color Tags and Spoiler Tags Don't Mix
Reading Spoilers Hidden with Spoiler Tags
Why Not Spoiler Space?
Spoiler Rules and Questions/Answers

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What Constitutes a Spoiler?

Well, a spoiler is any information about an episode that you haven't seen; it "spoils" the episode. Simple, right? Sort of — difficulty arises because there are people here from all over the world, and they haven't all seen the same episodes. For these forums, we have defined spoilers as information about episodes that have not aired in the US or on satellite TV in the UK. Thus, since both Buffy and Angel have finished in the US and on UK satellite, no discussion of either Buffy and Angel requires spoiler tags or needs to be treated as spoilers. Our apologies to the few of you who are unlucky enough to be quite far behind, but we have to draw the line somewhere. It becomes complicated, messy, and too difficult to enforce if we require spoiler tags for the previous seasons.

If there were to be a reprise of other show in some form in the future (e.g. a spinoff, movie, or TV movie), most details about it would be considered spoilers and would require spoiler tags (except for very basic information such as the stars and the basic premise).

It is courteous to use spoiler tags in certain other situations. For example, if you are posting about a movie (especially one that recently opened or has not opened yet) or recent/upcoming episodes of a TV show, you should use spoiler tags around any spoilery information you reveal (especially critical plot points, twists, revelations, etc.), for the benefit of those who have not yet seen the movie/episode.

If you fail to use spoiler tags where needed, or use them incorrectly, a moderator who spots your offending post may either edit the tags in or delete your post, at their discretion. If YOU spot the problem, or someone points it out to you, edit your post promptly to add the tags or correct the problem.

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Using Spoiler Tags

There are two ways to use the spoiler tags. The preferred method is this:

[spoiler=STATE HERE WHAT YOU ARE SPOILING, INCLUDING THE MOST RECENT EPISODE DISCUSSED WITHIN] Type your spoilers here. [/spoiler]
You must type it exactly like that for it to work. The result will be:

[Begin Spoiler for Spoiler description which you typed after the equal sign - Highlight to view]
Whatever you typed between the tags shows here.
[End Spoiler]
A more real life example:

[spoiler=Anya info, up to Storyteller] Anya is a girl and I can't type real spoilers here because it's only an example. [/spoiler]
Resulting in:

[Begin Spoiler for Anya info, up to Storyteller - Highlight to view]
Anya is a girl and I can't type real spoilers here because it's only an example.
[End Spoiler]
The other method of using the spoiler tag is as follows:

State here, above the tags, what the spoiler is for, such as "The following contains information up to Checkpoint."

[spoiler] Type your spoilers here. [/spoiler]
You must type it exactly like that for it to work. The result will be:

[Begin Spoiler - Highlight to view]
Whatever you typed between the tags shows here.
[End Spoiler]

The whole point of spoiler tags is that no one can read your spoilers on accident. One must use their cursor to highlight the text, as it is written in the same color as the background color behind it.

When using the spoiler tag (or any markup, really) you really should tick the "I want to preview my post" box before you hit Continue (you can also change your profile to have it checked by default — go to "Edit Profile" and then "Display Preferences"). Many mistakes can be and are made, and you can easily avoid it by previewing before you post. If it doesn't look right, scroll down and edit. Continue until you get it right.

Acceptable variations:

[spoilers=description] text [/spoilers]
[sp=description] text [/sp]

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Spoiler Tag Descriptions

When we refer to the "description," we mean the text after the equal sign (i.e. [spoiler=DESCRIPTION]). It's important that you understand the purpose, which is to indicate what exactly is being spoiled within, so that people can decide whether or not it's safe/desirable to read. The most important thing is to state what it is that you're discussing (e.g. the movie title, or for a TV show, the show's title and the date/title/number of the episode(s) discussed).

Aside from the title/date specification, you may also provide some indication of the topic within. For example, you might indicate that you're talking about the overall story arc, or a specific character. It can also be helpful to indicate the "size" of your spoiler. For example, if you're only saying that you don't like Sarah Michelle Gellar's hair in her newest film, you could say [spoiler=Scooby Doo 12, small tidbit regarding Sarah's hair]. Or if you've found out that Sydney and her dad are going to sleep together on Alias, you could say [spoiler=October 24th Alias -- huge spoiler -- beware].

When talking about a TV show, remember to specify in your description if you're talking about future spoilers — things that haven't aired yet in America. If America has seen up to episode 12, and you know what happens in episode 14, your tag should say [spoiler=C.S.I. future info - ep. 14]. If you know something that's going to happen, but you're not sure in which episode, just say [spoiler=C.S.I. future info].

Be careful that your description isn't a spoiler itself. For example, using the Sydney and SpyDaddy example above, don't say [spoiler=Sydney and her dad will sleep together], or anything remotely similar. That would be stupid. Be careful also that the text outside your tags doesn't hint at or give away what's inside the tags. If you're not sure, just put it inside the tags. (Also be sure that your post subject doesn't give away a spoiler!)

Please make sure it's clear what your spoilers are regarding, and don't mislead people. Do not say that your spoilers are for a one thing, and then sneak in a totally different spoiler within the same tag. (For example, if your spoiler tag is labeled only "next week's Alias," do not also reveal the plot twist of Jennifer Garner's newest movie.) Either label the spoiler tag for both things, or better yet, use separate paragraphs and separate spoiler tags for each topic, so people can choose which (if any) to read.

Always remember the purpose of the tag description (to help people decide whether it's safe to highlight). If you keep that in mind, you'll avoid making useless descriptions like "spoilers" or "my thoughts." Please read this post for examples of good and bad tag descriptions.

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Color Tags and Spoiler Tags Don't Mix

You should never use color tags inside spoiler tags. This is pretty much common sense, if you stop to think about it. The spoiler tags make the text within them light gray — the same color as the background, so the text is invisible. But color tags will make the text a different color, and therefore visible. Hence, color tags defeat the whole purpose of spoiler tags and are a no-no.

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Reading Spoilers Hidden with Spoiler Tags

To highlight the hidden text in spoilers, simply click your left mouse button just before the area you want to highlight. While holding the button down, pull your mouse across the text until you've highlighted what you want to read. Or, you can use your keyboard to highlight the whole page - hit the 'Ctrl' key and then the 'A' key (while still holding down the Ctrl key), then let go of both. The whole page will be highlighted. To undo it, just click your mouse anywhere the page.

Since the text color of the spoilers is so light, if you are on a Mac, you may wish to change your highlight color to a dark color for easier legibility. Go to 'Control Panels' (drop down menu if you click and hold over the apple icon on the top left of every Mac screen). Click open 'Control Panels' and look for 'Appearances.' This should open a box where you can choose a new highlight color.

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Why Not Spoiler Space?

Some forums will allow you to simply put some space above your spoilers. This method is unacceptable here, due mostly to popular demand of our members. For one thing, on a large monitor/high resolution, it would take a huge amount of space to make a difference. Another difference is that spoilers can still be run across on accident when using space*; however, when using tags, no one can accidentally read spoilers - you did your job, and they can't blame you if they highlighted and read them. Also, perhaps most of your post isn't a spoiler. Perhaps you're just having a deep conversation on, say, religious symbols on Buffy. Everything's going along fine, but you wish to use something that happened in the most recent episode as an example. By putting spoiler tags around only that part, readers who haven't seen that episode can still revel in your genius and join in the conversation, simply skipping over the spoiler.

* Examples of how one can come across spoilers on accident: 1) The obvious way: If the subject doesn't indicate there are spoilers. Depending on the amount of space used and the size of one's monitor, it's all too easy to see too much before realizing there was a spoiler warning. 2) The not-so-obvious: Some readers cruise the board using the "Previous" or "Next" buttons. For example, JohnDoe finds the oldest unread thread, and when he's done reading that thread, he clicks the "Previous" button. (Repeat as necessary.) However, one's eyes have a tendency to first look at eye level -- meaning roughly the middle of the page. So before one can lift them up to the subject or take heed of any spoiler space, they've already seen what may be too much.

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Rules and Questions/Answers
  • Post Subjects: If your post contains spoilers, it should say so in the subject of your thread. Moreover, it should say so specifically. If the spoiler is for a specific episode, it should be something like: "Big Bad Evil (Bargaining spoiler)." If it's for the future in general, or you don't know which future episode it's for, go with: "Big Bad Evil (future S7 spoilers). Abbreviating the seasons or the episodes is fine (such as BvsD for Buffy vs. Dracula), but for unaired episodes, it's best to use the whole thing or close to it, as many people won't know what it stands for.

  • Make sure that the subject itself is not a spoiler!! If you find out that Harmony is going to kill Buffy (I made that up as an example, of course), you would say something like: "Harmony info (future S7 spoilers)." You would not say, "How Harmony kills Buffy." This is very inconsiderate, and will piss people off.

  • What sorts of things are NOT spoilers? As the reader — let's not exaggerate what is and isn't a spoiler (in the subject, tag descriptions, or untagged areas of posts). My example above, "Harmony info (future S7 spoilers)," is not a spoiler. It does not give anything away. It could mean that Harmony will appear again, but it doesn't give any clue as to what she does. Moreover, it doesn't necessarily even mean that she reappears. It could mean that something is revealed about her, or that the poster read an interview with Mercedes McNab in which she discussed her future on Buffy, or what have you. We don't want to be so restrictive so as to cause a board full of vague, generic "S7 Spoilers" subjects. It's fine for there to be enough info so that someone can decide whether the thread interests them, so long as it doesn't actually give anything of any substance away. And we also don't see a problem with using names of new characters, as long as nothing is revealed. If a new character is introduced named Billy Bob, not everyone knows who or what Billy Bob is, but just saying, "Billy Bob spoilers" does not indicate anything. For all they know, Billy Bob could be Willow's cousin, the Big Bad, or Anya's pet dog. Similarly, vague references to current regulars are fine — for example, "I liked Spike in that first scene" is NOT considered a spoiler. Spike is a regular character, expected to appear in every episode, so there's no news there.

  • Also, note that under our policies, the season-to-season contract status of current regulars does NOT need to be treated as spoilers. If it comes out that James Marsters won't be renewing his contract for Season 8, you can post that without tags. Things like that are considered "News" rather than "Spoilers." Same goes for other news about the show, such as whether it will be renewed, if there's going to be some big change (for example, if Joss were going to change direction and turn it into a half-hour sitcom), etc.

  • Why use spoiler tags? (This expands on Why Not Spoiler Space? above.) Surely some of you wonder why it's not enough to warn of spoilers in your subject. 1) It's a backup method. If you forget to put it in your subject, but you do tags, it's not a huge deal. (Indeed, we actually don't enforce the subject rule very strictly, because tags are so effective.) 2) If it's a reply to a post that wasn't originally a spoiler. This especially applies to people viewing in flat mode. They're reading a spoiler-free thread, they're scrolling down, they're happy. In the middle, though, someone might have brought up a spoiler. Even if they announce it in their subject, the message itself is only about half an inch below the subject. It's natural for one's eyes to already have seen at least some words from the text before one realizes that the subject says Spoiler. Moreover, when one is toodling along, scrolling down the thread, one is quite likely to skip over the subject entirely (since it's a reply, most people don't feel the need to read the subject twenty times), and they will not be pleased to find themselves reading spoilers that they didn't want to know. If it's in tags, this problem is avoided. 3) Some of us cruise the board using the "Previous" or "Next" buttons. For example, many of us find the oldest unread thread, and go through the whole board. When we're done with one thread, we click "Previous." Eventually we've worked our way to the top without ever having wasted time (and bandwidth) going back to the post list to choose the next message. However, one's eyes have a tendency to want to first look at eye level — meaning roughly the middle of the page. So before one can lift them up to the subject, they've already seen what may be too much. It's not good.

  • Speculation: Please note that speculation (your own personal thoughts on what may happen in the future) are not spoilers in and of themselves, and do not have to be treated as such. However, if you do mention any spoilers when discussing your speculation, then there should be spoiler warnings and tags where appropriate. For example, if your speculation is heavily based on a recent episode, you'll need to make sure the discussion of said recent episode is treated as a spoiler.

  • Rumor: Also note that there is actually a difference between a spoiler (confirmed revelation about an upcoming episode — either has happened already or is verified by a reputable source) and a rumor (predictions about future episodes leaked or made up by unknown or unreliable sources). Both should be treated as spoilers, because 1) The rumor may be true and 2) many anti-spoiler people are also anti-rumor. However, you should state whether this is an actual spoiler (and name your source) or whether it's just a rumor.

  • "Someone posted a spoiler without warning or tags. What do I do?" Tell them. Nicely. If we notice, we will edit for them. But we may not notice, so if you do, just let them know what they should have done (and refer them to these rules). You can reply to it or private message them. Maybe they didn't read the rules, or maybe they just weren't thinking. If you let them know, they can edit it and learn from their mistake. If no one tells them, they'll keep doing it. (You should probably also alert a moderator to the problem.)

  • "Someone scolded me about not marking my spoilers. What do I do?" First, edit it immediately! Then, thank them. Okay, you don't have to thank them if you don't want to, but please do not get defensive or angry. Hell, we're the ones who told them to tell you. They're only trying to help.

  • "Why did you require spoiler tags in the episode review threads?"

    1. Lots of people like to see the ratings people are giving the episode, but don't want to be spoiled.
    2. To avoid confusion, Part 1. Some people have a hard enough time remembering the tags as it is. Give them a thread where they don't have to use tags, and you're just asking for trouble. (KISS — Keep It Simple, Stupid.)
    3. To avoid confusion, Part 2. If people get in the mindset that they can forget about spoiler tags, they're likely to forget to tag future spoilers.
    4. The search feature. Say I search for "monkey," and someone used the word monkey in their review. Say they also changed their reply subject so it no longer indicates that it's an episode review (subjects seen on the replies of recent review threads: "Pfft", "Music," "I just can't take them seriously," "One line to sum it up," "Ahhh," etc.) So in my search results, I click on "Pfft" expecting to see monkeys, and instead finding spoilers in my face for an episode I haven't seen.
    5. Sometimes a few people veer off on a discussion of a specific topic, creating a long branch of the thread that no longer belongs in the review thread. In this case, we need to move that branch out, so that it becomes a separate thread in the WD. And we're not going to sit there adding tags into 20 or 30 posts!
    6. It won't kill you.

  • To get some perspective, we went looking around at some other Buffy boards to feel out their spoiler policies. Guess what? A lot of them will simply delete posts that have unmarked spoilers. While we will not do this as a first resort, we may decide to do this if we notice (or someone points out to us and we verify) that any particular user is repeatedly making this mistake. Some boards ban members who make just two mistakes! We'll allow you more mistakes than that, but it won't be indefinite — to allow a member to repeatedly expose others to spoilers would be unfair to the community.

  • These are our policies. If you don't like them, you should find somewhere else to post on-topic. If you choose to post here anyway, don't whine about the policies and don't fail to follow them. (See basic rule #13.

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