Spoilers and You!

You might have noticed.. we don't have a policy anywhere on the forums about spoilers. Or, you might not have noticed, because honestly - it slipped my mind until around two minutes ago. I've spent so long under the NDA that it has just become second nature not to talk about anything related to the plot with anyone other than other Alpha testers.

However - that is all very soon to change. People are going to have the whole game just sitting there, waiting for them to be explored. And of course, that exploration leads to revelations and discussions - that's what we're here for - but not everyone is going to get there at the same rate. This of course presents some problems, especially if someone up and posts a major plot twist in an unrelated thread, and someone who hasn't gotten that far yet sees it.

So i'm asking - what do people here feel is the best way to handle this? Should there be a grace period (or an indefinite period?) where people are required to mark threads as having *Spoilers* ..? Should there be spoiler tags in text? (I think we can add these, i'm not sure. I'm used to modding phpBBs, not vBs.) Or should we all just put our hands in the air, presumably to wave them about... as though we just didn't care?

Suggestions and input welcomed, of course.

Threads with blatent spoilers in the titles should be renamed. Using a...

"*SPOILER ALERT*
blah blah
*END OF SPOILER*"

...works to some amount if it's in an unrelated thread, but I'd prefer to keep all spoiler threads somewhat together so you don't accidently read one while trying to figure out one of Ensign's equations.

Maybe a new forum could be created to discuss story/spoilers? At least for the short run, if nothing else.

i think that to fix it you could maybe just add a forum bout it. but yeah, if you just notify that its like a plot twist and give the people a warning before they just go reading it and figure something out that they havent got to yet. i think that would be great. but heres another idea, make the forum and have like dif sections, one for presearing stuff, one for ascalon, ect. so that way, once you pass presearing, you know its safe to read and discuss about that area.

edit- he beat me to it kinda same idea but kinda dif

I would say to open up a new section in the forums discussing things later on in the game that would give away spoilers, sort of like a place where people can discuss missions and such that take place at high levels.


edit: wow! 3 posts at the same time.

What about, quests? Most side quests have very detailed comments on the story. It might be a bit hefty depending on how you treat this.

Just have a seperate dedicated forum title "Spoilers" with a warning as part of the description.

Something I ask for on an anime forum I moderate at is for the poster to change the text to minimal size, so it isn't accidentally read by someone skimming topics/posts. It's worked well in combination with the use of ***SPOILER*** tags 'n such. It can be a pain though to read, as you must either copy and paste or "quote" the msg to see what it says. It does reduce the amount of complaints due to unmarked spoilers, though. Just my two cents.

Rosebud was his sled.

Doh!

J/k. I agree. I would like to be surprised by the storyline missions.

+1 for adding a forum for spoliers.

[/SPOILER]I suppose it can't be helped. Hopefully those doing the spoiling can let others know about it. A new board dedicated to containing such spoiling would be nice, and might help condense it a little. Other than that, add it to the rules. Those of us who don't want to have our experience spoiled can only hope it doesn't happen [/SPOILER]

Making it it's own forum would greatly reduce the "spoiler" aspect, but as there is you can spoil how the game progresses just by looking at the Quests... figuring out a storyline by the available Quests isn't all that hard... but I guess if you looking you want to spoil it anyway . The real problem I see in the forums will be any video or images that show it. It may be hard to figure out a way to put in stings that discuss a point of the story line.

My suggestion it to add a spoiler section for Discussion and one for images. Just have a general description for the title; you know if you've been there or not. You can view or opt not to. If there are guidelines set up for "spoilers" it would definitely help in this area.

As seen above, if possible, make a [Spoiler][/Spoiler] tag for the forum. Preferbly make the whole text within the tag just display a link, and if clicked it will reveal the text.

That is a good idea, a seperate forum for them.

Much ado about nothing. If you come to a forum, you can expect to have the game spoiled for you in some manner because you're only reading about what others are actually doing instead of doing it yourself. If there was a movie that someone hadn't seen yet, why would they go to a forum that discusses it? If they did, then they should expect to have it spoiled.

That rules or a policy should be drawn up forcing people to designate what could be considered a spoiler is rather absurd. First, it's all subjective. I care less about the story so if someone told me that Gwen is really a Charr, I wouldn't consider that a spoiler. On the other hand, if someone mentioned where to find a secret quest in pre-searing Ascalon, I'd consider that quest spoiled. Heck, dye mixing charts could be considered spoilers. Second, how would any of this be enforced. Would someone's post be deleted based on such a subjective definition of a spoiler or are the mod's that eager to micromanage and become spoiler police adding tags where they find it necessary?

It's all a huge headache that could easily be avoided with a disclaimer: "By entering this forum, you will encounter spoilers. Proceed at your own risk." That much should be assumed anyway but put it down in writing and you have your bases covered.

I'm with Brungo on this one!

Simply because its very hard to let EVERYONE know that they should type *spoiler warning* if its a spoiler...

and Admins will no doubt get angry at people who dont know this rule.

Making a seperate forum for Spoilers means that anyone entering it already knows its spoiler related

I would also suggest putting something on the title of General like *please dont post spoilers*

One forum I went to said 'talk about anything to do with xxxx' so I talked about how another game relates to that game...

I got a rude messag from admin telling me not to talk about that... so 'everything' doesnt mean 'everything'..

this needs to be clear to save aggro and admin work.



The Snowman

If it's an unmarked spoiler, the moderators should edit it to be marked. It is, afterall, their job.

Are spoilers in this definition plot based? Is it a spoiler to refer to
*****Spoiler****

















"pre-searing?" That is a rather integral part of plot, yet it and the academy and such are important to be able to help people with - they'll ask about vaults, craftable items and such, where skills are found ("I can't find Zealot's Fire anywhere, and I don't want to go into the academy without it! Where's Zealot's Fire?") and such. Should we then in an answer put spoiler alerts? I think it'd be hard to have a forum for spoilers, as it may have to engulf most of the questions and answers threads...

No it isn't and nor should it be. It's tedious, unnecessary and a much too subjective task. People should assume that a forum has spoilers and try to avoid those that bother them. Spoilers aren't going to make anyone leave this forum nor should they require the mods to become spoiler police.

A separate forum is equally useless. How many Q&A posts are made in Riverside Inn? How many build questions are made in Q&A? TONS! There is no need to segregate the forums even further and the spoiler issue is a short-lived one at best -- definitely not worthy of its own forum.

I say leave it up to the individual to police their own content regarding spoilers. If someone wants to banner their post with a warning, go ahead.....someone will probably appreciate it. We definitely don't need more rules though or excuses for over-zealous mods to censor posts.

Perhaps another solution is to simply have some spoiler free forums: Spoiler free advice forums and question forums, in which there are no spoily bits, just vague answers like "You'd need to be further along" or "don't forget that you can capture skills, you just need to find a boss using the right one" and such. It's otherwise far to easy to spoil. Those who really want non spoily advice then have somewhere to go, and can limit their searches to that area.

I mean, I just answered a post asking where you get steel - that's spoily by definition, right? How you you answer that in a helpful manner without mentioning the option to craft it later? If it were asked in a non-spoily forum we'd know to limit the answer incredibly, with a vague statement about how maaterials salvaged generally bear a connection to the object, and that higher level drops and better salvage kits tend to produce more rare crafting materials.

Moderators are here to moderate things, make things run smoothly on the user level, delete posts/threads if necessary, edit to correct, warn or take out content which should not be in the said post, move posts to correct forums if in the incorrect one, lock repeat topics and post links to the original and generally be helpful.

A mod's job is quite extensive.

But if there is a rule posted that states :Spoilers must be advertised with

"****SPOILER****"

then they can just boot you for not following. Mods don't have that much time to go round correcting everything, some responsibility falls on the individual. The growing trend of having no personal responsibility is irksome, with frivolous lawsuits and payouts to individuals who can't seem to grasp that they have a role in their accidents (like that stupid McDonalds case with the coffee...). If asked to post "****SPOILER****" it WILL be your responsibility, but I am glad it is being discussed first. I think I prefer the idea of an area of the forums that is spoiler-free for those who wish it rather than starting an area for spoilers and trying to move everything. A spoiler free area obviates any need for the majority of users to need to suddenly watch their posts, and requires only maintaining one area free of spoilers.

*dramatic clap* Now that is a right pretty creed you've got there......and very all-inclusive. I had no idea that the next time I get a hangnail, I can go to my local forum moderator and ask for a resolution under the banner of being "generally helpful".

Did you quote that moderator job description from somewhere or is that your personal definition of their duties? Much like my political position concerning government, I believe the following about moderator duties: less is more. The less that mods have to worry about, the more they can do their true job effectively. Adding Spoiler Alert duty to their list of chores is wrought with problems -- specifically: tedium, subjectivity, enforcement and the relative insignificance of spoilers.

Well so is having more and more laws......look at the nightmare that is our tax code. The best policy is the combination of the two.....have no new law and making the forum reader personally responsible for what they read knowing that spoilers can and do exist. I don't go to forums of movies that I haven't seen and cry foul if someone gives away the ending. I should have known better.

Everyone knows that spoilers exist on forums, it isn't the moderators job or anyone else's job to filter out what you consider to be a spoiler. I'm starting to repeat myself here and so is everyone else so I'd like to see Spooky give a decision on this soon.