[WikiEN-l] Spoiler Boilerplates

Fri Jun 23 23:57:28 UTC 2006

On 6/23/06, Zero <megamanzero521 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Zero <megamanzero521 at Yahoo.com> wrote:
>   >Hi, I'm George, and I'm a Wikipedia Editor, and a  I'm a Wikipedia reader, too.
> >The dichotomy of "editors" not being "users" is false.  We're a subset
> >of readership.  We should not use our judgement to assume what r>eaders
> >want arbitrarily, but using common sense is different.  Spoiler
> >warnings are common in other online forums, and have been for a long
> >time, and they're there for a reason.  They're there because some
> >people object to spoilers.  Sometimes a majority of readers object to
> >spoilers.
>
>   Indeed. However, I do recall the premise that wikipedia isn't a forum.
> That's a strawman argument. It isn't possible for wikipedia to spoil an
> reader because that is the point of wikipedia (to provide elaborate
> summeries). An encyclopedia is an device through which to provide
> knowledge and in this area, I paticularly, believe we excell.

It is perfectly possible to spoil a reader.  Lots of people are
interested in a movie without wanting to see the plot twist, or a
book, etc.  Voluminous ancedotal evidence from Usenet responses on SF
topics is that if you post a spoiler without a warning, huge
quantities of people who were interested enough to be looking at
discussions and reviews, but hadn't gotten around to seeing/reading
the material yet, object.

WP can and should provide plot summaries and related spoiler type
content.  Doing it with the sorts of warning flags that people expect
in other electronic media is just being fair and consistent, though.

>   Readers object to spoilers..? What does that have to do with us..? Are they
> paying us..?

Well... either WP exists for the readers, in which case their opinions
on spoilers matter, or it exists for the editors, in which case the
opinions of editors here that we like spoilers matter, or it exists
for you, in which case your opinion that spoilers are for wimps should
overrule the other two categories.

I know WP isn't about voting per se, but I think you're outconsensused.  8-)

-- 
-george william herbert
gherbert at retro.com / george.herbert at gmail.com