Spoilers

[merlinofchaos]

I just want to say...I don't care so much about spoilers.

That's all. I think some people get a little too worked up about spoilers. It's not like knowing that Dick has blue eyes is really going to detract from your enjoyment of the book.

Mostly, spoilers matter in suspense. Heroes turned out to be easy to spoil because they spent almost the entire season making you wonder and created a lot of suspense. So I found myself caring about spoilers there.

In fairly epic fantasy, I find it hard to care much about spoilers.

I don't particularly care about Harry Potter spoilers. If you're purposefully out to spoil people I think that's pretty asinine, but don't let the OH MY GOD YOU SAID SOMETHING ABOUT SO AND SO BREATHING ON PAGE 360 THAT MEANS S/HE CAN'T BE DEAD YET AAAAAAAAAH people get to you.

Comments

[rani23.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'll admit I'm the weenie that posted about being annoyed about spoilers. In my defense; however, the reason why I posted is that someone on my friendslist decided to discuss "their impressions of the ending" of the book without an LJ-cut and that bugged me because -- well -- it pretty much gave away the ending if you had any sort of brain and could put two and two together.

Here's my thing -- I think a number of people like going into things with a blank slate and want to experience a book or a movie without the opinions or commentary of others to color their views. Or at least, I do. I'm ALL for discussion and exploration of movies, books, tv shows, etc -- I just want my first impressions and thoughts to be my own.

AND, lastly, I know you may not think that knowing that Dick has blue eyes is really going to detract from my enjoyment of the book -- but -- isn't that my call? Isn't it my enjoyment, as in.. you know, mine? :) I made the "eye color" comment as flip remark but it was mostly to point out that what YOU think is a spoiler may not be what I or anyone else thinks is a spoiler.

So, that's my bottomline -- it's not the person who has knowledge who determines what is and isn't a spoiler, it's the person who hasn't got that info.

[merlinofchaos]

You're one of about a thousand, I'm not singling anyone out, because it'd be too hard to pick one person.

I have seen SO MUCH whining about spoilers over the last couple of days that it's a little irksome. It's one of those things that shuts down conversations. There comes a point where you're saying YOUR enjoyment is so important people can't talk about the topic AT ALL. (Ok, not that I care there, I don't actually want to get into Harry Potter conversation, either.)

Is that really a fair exchange? Is it really right to tell people not to talk about the book at all? Yes, lj-cuts are polite and appreciated (I love lj-cuts. People should use them more. There a TON of crap on LJ that I'd rather were behind a cut. Not just cause they're spoilers).

I suspect that the people who decided to step away from LJ for a couple of days to avoid spoilers were probably the smartest ones.

To be fair, I've also gotten kind of sensitive to spoiler talk ever since someone we know started griping about being spoiled for the LotR movies, and tried to shut down conversation about them. But even so, I'll be glad when a few days have passed and most of the people who care about spoilers will have finished the book.

[rani23.livejournal.com]

I think it's really right to ask people not to talk about the book/movie/tv-series/etc. in front of you. The people can then turn around and ask you to go away and I think that's fair. :)

The internet and in particular, things like your friends page, makes it difficult to go "I'm not listening..." and stick your fingers in your ears and leave the room.

However, the person who asked you to shut down the conversation about the LoTR movies was wrong -- they should have left the room.

Really, I think it all comes down to manners and being polite. The person who was rudely asking you to shut down a conversation should have behaved better.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

someone we know started griping about being spoiled for the LotR movies,

I... They... What? They what?
This reminds me of the person who got pissed off because I spoiled the ending of 'La Bamba' for them.

[dharshai.livejournal.com]

I'm right there with you. Spoilers (read: all) actively ruin the entire experience for me. To me it's all about the exploration of the world and how you find out about the twists and turns that make the first experience the most worthwhile. By taking away that oppurtunity to explore the context of the plot or setting or whatever, you've effectively taken away my chance to immerse myself in the moment. That's what movies and books are for me.

Farther down you talk about being asked to leave when people wish to discuss something and you don't want to know (as an option). Most of my friends would find it rude to exclude someone from a conversation. But personally, it wouldn't bother me. If I'm the one causing the road block to a discussion, then I'll usually bow out. In the end, I hope that I'm adult about it and I try not to impose my strict "NO SPOILER" policy on people. That doesn't mean that other people aren't freaking obnoxious about the entire thing and shouldn't be taken out and shot. I'm all for shooting namby-pambys.

[potato-pope.livejournal.com]

But... 360 is the page where Hermione is eaten by rats.

[callicrates.livejournal.com]

We do not, however, know whether the rats were breathing at the time. It all works out.

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Thank you, thank you, thank you. The anti-spoiler nuts really need to take a nice long deep breath and get over themselves sometimes, they really do.