3.2: Spoiler Policy (rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan)
Description
This article is from the Robert Jordan FAQ, by John S. Novak, III jsn@concentric.net with numerous contributions by others.
3.2: Spoiler Policy (rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan)
NOTE: This section is left in so that people can see what the policy
was last year, and what it will likely resemble for Book Ten.
However, it is NOT CURRENTLY IN FORCE.
When a new book comes out, some people obtain and read it before
other people do. People who have read parts of the book want to
talk about them, but people who haven't gotten that far don't want
you to spoil the surprises for them.
After long discussion prior to the release of _Winter's Heart_,
there was consensus for the following policy:
1) Try to enforce spoiler protection for _Winter's Heart_ for two
or three weeks after the release of the book. Trying to enforce
anything for any longer than that simply turns out to be unfeasible,
and very annoying.
2) Therefore, in the subject header, make people aware of the
content by adding either the prefix tag WH: to the subject, or the
word "Spoilers!" to the subject. Preferably both.
Additionally, do not use a title that is, itself, a spoiler. For
instance, if it turns out that Tam al'Thor killed Asmodean, then a
subject of:
WH: Tam killed Asmodean!! (Spoilers)
Doesn't really help up.
3) Finally, once you've done that, then in the body of the
message, insert either a page break or a screen of whitespace
before your actual spoilers. While not all newsreaders accept
page breaks, neither are all terminal sizes limited to 24 lines.
It is the opinion of this FAQ writer that newsreaders that do not
accept page breaks are broken by implementation. It is also the
opinion of this FAQ writer that anyone who braves a post marked
"Spoilers!" in the header gets exactly what he or she deserves,
whether through a broken newsreader failing to implement a page break,
or through a post with insufficient whitespace for his screen
settings.
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