Spoilers Statute of Limitations SSoL)

Galgano

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2015
364
133
This is a shower musing. Yup, I was showering & musing, good ol' S & uh...um...yeah...anyway:

Spoilers: some people avoid them like the plague, others actively seek them out, and still others lie somewhere in between. Where you are in that spectrum is a small topic for another debate. This thread, however, came about because of a conversation I had with a friend a while back. It came up in conversation that he doesn't like spoilers and people who spoil something for him...well...spoil his mood (see what I did there? Huh? Huh? Ehh moving on). He is, however, reasonable when it comes to spoilers. If the spoilers pertain to something that recently came out, he thinks people should avoid talking about a spoilery topic in a place where someone could potentially be spoiled and it's their fault for spoiling it. If it is from something over a month or two old, then anything that gets spoiled for him is his fault; he had ample time to view the medium the spoiler came from.

This got me to thinking: how far down the rabbit hole do spoilers go? I figure that quoting a line from a book or movie is a gray area. If it's a line that includes something that could easily be traced to a particular thing, then it's probably encroaching on spoiler-territory. But if I were to shout out something like "It chafes my nipples'" or "Ah! My nipples!" how would someone be able to know if what I said was a spoiler or an in-joke. Now, if a movie came out recently that a person was talking about being interested in seeing, then it could be assumed that that quote was likely from that movie, but how spoilery would such a line really be? If someone were to break down into a giggle fest after saying such a thing one could assume it came from a particularly funny scene and maybe even a memorable scene, but would it be considered a spoiler? The only thing I could think where "Ah! My nipples!" would be a spoiler would be in a porno, and not a very good one at that if such a line causes someone to start laughing.

Anyway what are y'all's thoughts?

tl;dr
Am I verbose enough? I'm trying to get better at writing and using the flower language.
 

Tinman

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2015
777
233
Spoilers reveal a part of the story, or all of a joke, ruining the moment of initial discovery. A line like "Ah! My nipples!" without context would probably just make them look out for it and maybe create some excessive hype for the scene.

As for what the statute of limitations on spoilers is, I'd say within 2-6 months of release (depending on medium) clear spoiler warnings are needed alongside spoiler-free titles. After 2 years spoiler warnings are no longer necessary but titles should remain spoiler free. After 6 years there's no need to hide anything as people will either already know about it or just not care enough about whatever it is to be upset. There is a clear exception to all of this obviously if someone is or is about to start watching/reading whatever for the first time and you know it. If you know someone is watching Star Wars for the first time it'd be kind of rude to let them know Vader is Luke's father no matter how well known that twist is.
 

RanmaChan

Well-Known Member
Mar 17, 2017
949
295
The Frozen North, Canada
Actually I just watched a really interesting video about this a week or two ago by Super Eyepatch Wolf. He came to the conclusion that spoilers don't hurt your enjoyment of something, and can even sometimes enhance it. If you want to give it a watch, here you go:

On a personal level, I can't stand spoilers. Just the way I am.
 
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Galgano

Well-Known Member
Aug 28, 2015
364
133
@Tinman haha, I enjoy watching reaction videos of people (mostly kids given how more likely they haven't seen it) finding out about Vader on YouTube (not people who get spoiled on YouTube, I'm talking about people who get their reactions filmed and the reaction posted on YouTube). Other reactions to major events in other things is also fun to watch.
 

Tinman

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2015
777
233
Actually I just watched a really interesting video about this a week or two ago by Super Eyepatch Wolf. He came to the conclusion that spoilers don't hurt your enjoyment of something, and can even sometimes enhance it. If you want to give it a watch, here you go:

On a personal level, I can't stand spoilers. Just the way I am.

With all due respect to Super Eyepatch Wolf and 1 lone teach at the University of California, that's ridiculous. First off, we are capable of experiencing a movie both spoiled and unspoiled. That movie is Fight Club, because once spoiled it becomes a very different film. Equally enjoyable? Sure, I've certainly seen it multiple times without a significant decrease in enjoyment. But that doesn't make up for the fact that experiencing that twist unspoiled is a powerful moment and one of the best uses of the unreliable narrator trope ever. Second, spoilers can certainly ruin a good moment. So many comedies advertise with trailers of their best jokes, especially serialized comedies with a weekly release, and without the buildup to that joke it's a lot less funny. At this point not only is the joke itself less funny because it was spoiled, the film/show as a whole is less funny because nothing else in it lives up to that one ruined moment. Third, spoilers don't just affect the plot (nor is the plot a small factor in any story, but that's a rant for another day) as everything about that moment is spoiled. Lastly, even if a movie or TV series can be just as enjoyable spoiled the same isn't true of books. The time and focus people have to invest in a book to enjoy the story are far greater than any other media. Example in spoiler.

If someone starts reading the first Harry Potter Book, without watching the movies, and you tell them Dumbledore dies at the end of book 6 you've just affected how they'll view several books. Rough estimate, that's about 5000 pages of book and ~50 hours of reading depending on your speed.
 
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