Statute of limitations on SPOILERS...

Skinfull · 18-02-2012 1:17am #1

There has been various spoiler bitching going on in random threads by random posters lately and its kind of annoying. I'm not talking about new releases or anything but people giving out because posters are opening talking about 15+ year old, movie plot points! You're on a movie forum! Watch some gorram movies!! :rolleyes:

Generally if I'm interested in seeing a movie or I'm watching a show but might be a bit behind the broadcast schedule I'll avoid the thread unless I dont care about spoilers.
So what is the acceptable statute of limitations of SPOILERS for TV shows or movies? Less than a week? More than a month? Over a year?

MagicMarker · 18-02-2012 1:19am

Always use spoilers, always! Unless the thread title specifically states that spoilers are going to be in the thread.

Goldstein · 18-02-2012 1:53am

Inserting a spoiler tag in the thread title after an acceptable time has passed seems like the best route. This can depend on the particular movie, it's exposure over the years, time since release, the direction of the discussion to date etc. A point is selected. It doesn't particularly matter when that occurs so long as the usual conventions are followed and no unmasked spoilers are contained before the determined point.

Anyone who enters a thread indicated as containing spoilers forfeits all rights to moan about any self-inflicted spoilage.

Edit: And I don't think anyone would have a toe to stand on if the film in question is a sequel - discussion of its predecessor is fair game imo and spoiler tags or indications in the title seem unnecessary in that instance.

mikemac1 · 18-02-2012 1:57am

There was a post this week about spoiling the ending of Se7en

That came out seventeen years ago

Some posters are expecting a bit much

MagicMarker · 18-02-2012 1:59am

mikemac1 wrote: »

There was a post this week about spoiling the ending of Se7en

That came out seventeen years ago

Some posters are expecting a bit much

It doesn't matter how long ago it came out, it's only polite not to spoil it for people who may not have seen it.

johnny_ultimate · 18-02-2012 2:35am

I can see both sides of the argument.

I can fully see how 'spoilers' can infuriate. I myself accidentally caught wind of a huge major later event when I was in the middle of watching the Shield, and it was on my mind until it actually happened a season or two later. The newer a film is, the more annoying it is too.

But on the other hand, 'what' happens in a film is ultimately far less rewarding than 'how' and 'why' it happens. A healthy cinema discourse is built on the fact that we have to be able to speak freely about these things. Dare I suggest the films where 'what' is the most interesting question (say, an M. Night Shyamalan movie) generally tend to not be very good. Eventually analysis and discussion has to move away from the basic plot into more in-depth examination. People have had a decade and a half to see Se7en - only so long we can reasonably wait before what was once a spoiler becomes widespread knowledge. And an obsession with spoilers is an unhealthy one in that regard. Spoiler tags are merely an invention of message boards, after all, and there's no denying they can disrupt the flow of a discussion.

That's a really academic answer. More practically, it's really up to both the reader and poster to make a judgement call. General threads are and always will be a problem - the reader doesn't come in expecting revelations from a particular movie. But as others have said clicking into a sequel thread for a film you haven't seen and bemoaning spoilers is really sort of your own fault!

(by the way, we should note we mods have to put up with it far more than you guys do :P)

Sad Professor · 18-02-2012 3:12am

I’d rather that we stick to employing a common sense and case-by-case approach to the matter of spoilers rather than adding a bunch of unnecessary rules and conditions to the charter that everyone will ignore anyway. Personally I thought that Se7en was a classic film that everyone had seen by now, but such a stink was kicked up over it that it was easier to just spoiler tag the offending post. The funny thing is that the supposed spoiler that everyone was reporting and complaining about on-thread wasn’t actually a spoiler at all, while another post that contained an actual spoiler was ignored by everyone.

There’s a danger of taking the no spoiler rule too far. An example of this was last year's 127 Hours thread where it was basically impossible to discuss the film without revealing the “twist” that everyone knew about anyway and which was being casually discussed in the newspapers and blogs and just about everywhere online except here.

krudler · 18-02-2012 5:24am

There are some films that the twist has been long spoiled as its so famous, eg the sixth sense, you must have been living under a rock to not have heard of that, I would have said se7en fell under that too but I guess not, hell The Simpsons have "spoiled" many a classic film for me before I saw them and I didnt care, a lot of film twists find their way into popular culture so you cant complain if you havent gotten round to watching a popular film for over a decade.

don ramo · 18-02-2012 6:44am

once a film hits the cinemas expect spoilers, i got this with moneyball a few months back it was in the cinema a week or two, so i just posted about the film not realising there were no **spoiler** tag on the thread,

personally if a film is in cinema i dont go near the thread, it just good practice really, wheather theres tags on it or not, unless youve actually seen the film i think you should just avoid talking about it,

i think tags are used way to much also when there no warning on the tread, which can get infuriateing at times, most spoilers would be general harmless stuff, but youd get the odd big spoiler in there here and there, so you just keep reading the spoilers cause there mostly little things, then bang hugh spoiler film ruined:(

FlashD · 18-02-2012 10:15am

I'm not adding spoilers to anything unless its a new release.

Not my fault if half of you just got out of nappies.

Watch some films!

Skinfull · 18-02-2012 11:22am

Sad Professor wrote: »

...There’s a danger of taking the no spoiler rule too far. An example of this was last year's 127 Hours thread where it was basically impossible to discuss the film without revealing the “twist” that everyone knew about anyway and which was being casually discussed in the newspapers and blogs and just about everywhere online except here.

don ramo wrote: »

once a film hits the cinemas expect spoilers, i got this with moneyball a few months back it was in the cinema a week or two, so i just posted about the film not realising there were no **spoiler** tag on the thread...

127 Hours and Moneyball are two movies that should not have a sniff of a spoiler tag on them because they are depictions of TRUE STORIES. If the movie we are discussing is a biography (Senna) or a huge event (Titanic) or even a story some people will only have heard of in passing (Moneyball) they should not have to worry about spoilers. Maybe putting the word "True Story" or "Actual event" in the title will prevent some people from clicking into the thread because they will know there could be spoilers but it will stop the flow of discussion being hindered.

I think pre & new releases should be protected with tags and I'll give most movies a year or so (not everyone is the cinema whore I am!) but using tags for Seven, Star Wars or any movie over a decade old is ridiculous.

Bottom line is if you haven't seen it, don't click in, if its a random title with many movies being discussed, its a judgement call but go with caution if you are new to movies!

tricky D · 18-02-2012 3:27pm

There are valid reasons for people not to have seen older movies. There's also the younger people who have not had the opportunity to see older movies but can now. Why should the plot be ruined for them? If we are truly film lovers, why would we be blasé when it comes to spoiling the experience for others?

Skerries · 18-02-2012 3:52pm

Kinski · 18-02-2012 4:37pm

My favorite spoiler story is the one about the guy who took a magic marker to a Usual Suspects poster on the Tube in London, and wrote "Kaiser Soze" in big letters and drew an arrow pointing at Kevin Spacey.

SVG · 18-02-2012 4:59pm

Kinski wrote: »

My favorite spoiler story is the one about the guy who took a magic marker to a Usual Suspects poster on the Tube in London, and wrote "Kaiser Soze" in big letters and drew an arrow pointing at Kevin Spacey.

Aren't magic markers those invisible ones? So someone would have needed to go over it with a coloured one to reveal the spoiler. Like pre-internet spoiler tags!

Kinski · 18-02-2012 5:04pm

SVG wrote: »

Aren't magic markers those invisible ones? So someone would have needed to go over it with a coloured one to reveal the spoiler. Like pre-internet spoiler tags!

They can be, but in this case I just meant a felt-tip pen. But now I'm wondering if all film posters have secret invisible messages scrawled on them...

Skerries · 18-02-2012 8:03pm

like in The Da Vinci Code...oh wait spoiler alert

bnt · 19-02-2012 11:35am

Kinski wrote: »

My favorite spoiler story is the one about the guy who took a magic marker to a Usual Suspects poster on the Tube in London, and wrote "Kaiser Soze" in big letters and drew an arrow pointing at Kevin Spacey.

Or, maybe, that's what Keyser Soze wants everyone to think ...

(I don't think Verbal = Keyser for sure.)

One example with which I'm familiar is the way Roger Ebert does reviews; he has no spoilers in his regular reviews, but his "Great Movies" reviews are full of them. It's impossible to do any kind of real analysis of a film without some spoilers.

How about a "Film Analysis" sub-forum? That way, anyone who goes in there knows what to expect.

Kinski · 19-02-2012 12:46pm

bnt wrote: »

I don't think Verbal = Keyser for sure.

Explain! Spoiler tags optional

seraphimvc · 19-02-2012 2:10pm

hard to choose tbh. As a general sense (especially among movie fans), it is best not to spoil anything in the (whole) movie (other than what you can see in the official trailer, some people even avoid the trailer). but not all people are movie enthusiasts and certainly not everyone will rage if you told them the ending of an old film like Sixth sense before they saw it (lol i will fcking kill the person if that happened to me). so it depends really. for me (at this stage being a 20+ young man), you deserve to get spoiled if you havent seen se7en or Sixth sense already lol the person who get spoiled probably dont give a damn because if he did then he would have watched them already.

the best solution? think carefully before you post anything and get used to use spoiler tag. or like me, i love to discuss the ending/big twist by without directly spoiling them to people who havent seen the movie (ie you can understand wtf i am talking about only if you have seen the movie).

in the end of the day, no spoiler is supposedly to be maximized your personal enjoyment towards that movie. if you enjoyed the movie very much, then a little small spoilers(ie movie trailer) should be totally fine. except maybe some huge plot twist like in Sixth Sense of course (if you knew the ending before you seen it, you technically ruin the first viewing experience).

Tipsy McSwagger · 19-02-2012 3:32pm

My favourite spoiler is actually from a play about Anne Frank. When the Nazi's came into the house looking for her someone in the audience stood up and shouted 'she's in the attic'.

bnt · 19-02-2012 7:39pm

Kinski wrote: »

Explain! Spoiler tags optional

OK, you asked for it: this is all IMHO. If we want to have a discussion about this, it might be worth moving to a separate thread.

First of all: the "photofit" of Verbal's face, and its identification by the old man, was not conclusive. It only tells us that Verbal was there on the dock - which isn't in doubt - and that the old man thought he was Söze. But Keyser Söze was a mysterious figure whose face wasn't really known to anyone, so that apparent identification was a red herring, in my opinion.

Ditto for the ending, when Verbal is picked up by "Kobayashi": "Kobayashi" claimed to work for Keyser Söze. But "Kobayashi" and everything he allegedly said was part of Verbal's hastily-improvised story. What do we actually know about him? Nothing at all. All we have is a face.

So, this is what I think: there's another character in the film who seems to be everywhere after the fire, and who works for US Customs at the time of the film - which means he would be well-placed to help smuggle drugs in to the USA. (They search boats arriving from foreign countries: why not the boat carrying $91M of cocaine?) To protect his business, he barges his way in to the police department, because he's heard there was someone there who could possibly identify Keyser Söze.

So, when Verbal was in the office, spinning all those stories based on the stuff in the room, he wasn't simply doing it to throw Kujan off his trail. He was doing it to protect himself, since he was one of the few people who had seen Keyser Söze's face before ... and Keyser Söze was in the room, questioning him, going by the name Dave Kujan.

I have thought about this, you know ... :cool:

flanders1979 · 20-02-2012 4:09pm

The trailers they have these days are the biggest spoilers of all.

Otis Driftwood · 20-02-2012 5:15pm

I think for new release movies its courtesy to use spoiler tags but for movies that have come out a long time ago like Seven,Usual Suspects or Sixth Sense for example,its reasonable to think that any discussion of them will likely contain plot reveals.This is a discussion forum after all so if people are that worried about an ending or twist being spoiled then why read the threads in the first instance.

I make a point of trying to avoid threads or articles relating to new movies that Im dying to see for this very reason.

pickarooney · 20-02-2012 5:25pm

No time limit. You can't just presume everyone has seen every film. The film's release date is irrelevant - just because a film was out before I was born doesn't make it right to give away the plot or ending.

If a thread is about a particular film that's OK; anyone who hasn't seen it yet can just not click into it as someone is bound to post spoilers at some stage. But posting a spoiler for one film in a thread about an unrelated film is a dick move, plain and simple.

Kinski · 20-02-2012 9:46pm

pickarooney wrote: »

No time limit. You can't just presume everyone has seen every film.

True, but some "spoilers" are so famous that it seems pointless masking them. I'm sure even people who haven't seen The Empire Strikes Back or Citizen Kane won't have any future enjoyment ruined by discovering that Darth Vader is actually Luke Skywalker's childhood sleigh (or something).

OldeCinemaSoz · 20-02-2012 9:56pm

Don't spoil anything. That's my motto.

Ciaran500 · 20-02-2012 10:13pm

Kinski wrote: »

Citizen Kane

I don't know any Citizen Kane spoilers...

Kinski · 20-02-2012 10:24pm

Ciaran500 wrote: »

I don't know any Citizen Kane spoilers...

You probably do but just don't know yet. It's been referenced in The Simpons and such like many times; if you sat down and watched the film, you'd probably realise what's coming.

Skinfull · 20-02-2012 11:56pm

Kinski wrote: »

ciaran500 wrote:

I don't know any Citizen Kane spoilers...

You probably do but just don't know yet. It's been referenced in The Simpons and such like many times; if you sat down and watched the film, you'd probably realise what's coming.

Or feel like you'd seen it before. I didn't see the God Father trilogy until about 2009. I've no idea how it slipped by my radar and was always on my "to be watched" pile. So I watched them all in one sitting with this vague hint of familiarity. I could quote some of the scenes, had seen parodies etc. :rolleyes: but I cant call blue murder on that! The movies had passed the statute of limitation for spoiler tags. Maybe popularity of said movie should be incorporated into the equation!

Sad Professor · 21-02-2012 12:28am

Yeah, it's definitely not as simple as "film came out 5/10/20 years ago, therefore spoilers are fair game". But if you are talking about a film like TESB or even something more recent like TDK, films which everyone and their mother has seen - and if they haven't, shame on them - then I think spoiler tags are a waste of time. I would probably still spoiler tag something like The Usual Suspects though, simply because that's a film that hangs almost entirely on a single plot twist and knowing it in advance really would ruin the film.

However, most films are more about the story than the plot so knowing the ending doesn't really matter. I find it bizarre when I hear people say they aren't going to bother watching a film now that they know the ending. Why do we watch certain films over and over again? It certainly isn't for the plot because we already know what's going to happen; it's for the story and the characters.

Statute of limitations on SPOILERS...

What is the acceptable time to pass before openly talking about movie plot points? 47 votes

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