Seasonal reminder about racing spoilers

Lumen

It's the start of a new season, so probably a good time to revisit the guidelines on discussing race results (thanks Raam for the suggestion).

From the Charter:

uberwolf wrote:

Racing threads
- Please do not insert race results / incidents in thread titles - do insert spoiler in your thread title if you intend to discuss a live race.
- If posting in general race threads, use spoiler tags.
- If you do this, the mods will presume it was a deliberate attempt to spoil someone elses enjoyment, and will ban you for the duration of a grand tour.

I'll follow that up with the following suggestions (open to discussion):

- Threads about specific stages ("Paris-Nice 2010 Stage 3") can be expected to contain race results and related discussion without spoiler tags. If you haven't seen the stage, don't open the thread. Forcing people to use spoiler tags on a stage-specific thread seems cumbersome and unnecessary.

- General threads about stage races (e.g. "Paris-Nice 2010") should not be spoiled, as people may be discussing previous days stages. Obviously there must be a time limit on this, or every post will need spoiler tags (more below).

- Don't post anything which hints at a recent race result in a non-stage specific thread. For instance: re-opening the Jens Voight thread with a link to Paris-Nice stage results, or creating a thread named "Vuelta stage win reported on RTE *Spoilers ahead*" which hints that an Irish rider has won.

Bear in mind that spoiler tags are not foolproof. I don't think they work on many mobile phone browsers.

Basically, just engage your brain before commenting on race results, no matter how much you wish to share your excitement with the world.

Regarding embargoes, I suggest that midnight is a memorable cut-off for the necessary use of spoiler tags. If you haven't seen a stage by midnight, just stay away from the internet.

Discuss...

Raam

I agree with all of it.

ednwireland

the thread preview doesnt show spoiler tags btw (dont know hoe you get round that

dont have eurosport so dont care really

although stage threads not full of tags would be good

mloc123

Am I the only one that thought:



On reading the title?

Chips Lovell

As someone who invariably ends up watching highlights and does gripe about spoilers, I think they're all very sensible suggestions which should cater for everyone. Perhaps altering the charter a little to mention that stage specific threads are allowed to be spoiler free? Should threads on one day races work the same as individual stages?

Beasty

Yea - that thread about Niceonetom winning the Orwell race was about as bad as it gets. Spoilers all the way next time:D

Beasty

If someone puts spoilers in the first few lines of a new thread, as soon as my mouse hovers over the tread I can see exactly what is written (it happened with the Paris Nice thread "Roche is in the break" was in spoilers, but could be seen from the main forum)

Hence we perhaps need to avoid starting new threads with spoilers

Chips Lovell

Now if there were only some way of filtering out race results from Twitter, I'd be a happy man.

petethedrummer

Stop using twitter.

Chips Lovell

petethedrummer wrote: »

Stop using twitter.

I kind of use it for work and other stuff too. I guess I could try steering clear from it in the afternoons, but I always forget and then bam, I'm presented with a race result.

petethedrummer

el tonto wrote: »

I kind of use it for work and other stuff too.

Ah yes, I forgot about your job.

Chips Lovell

petethedrummer wrote: »

Ah yes, I forgot about your job.

The gas thing is the majority of my followers are work related but most of my posts on Twitter are related to cycling or random ephemera.

sy

Great work Lumen. Also might be idea to merge appropriate threads on races eg the present Paris Nice threads. Roll on the classics.

uberwolf

ugh.

Tour of Romandie thread is a pain in the hole to read.

/Here is where I suggest work for the moderators.

How's about a general thread for a race - if you click you're going to read about the race.
If it's a stage race, then a new thread is created for each stage - with a spoiler title but not in posts, and at midnight (or thereafter!!!) it is merged back into the uber thread, and whomever wants can start a new thread for the following stage.

This protects someone who wants to read the analysis of the previous day, and also allows other openly discuss and react to the action of the day.

thoughts?

Idleater

uberwolf wrote: »

thoughts?

Said above, but spoilers in the initial sentences appear in the mouse over.

uberwolf

afaik, that happens whether or not the text is contained within a spoiler.

Idleater

uberwolf wrote: »

afaik, that happens whether or not the text is contained within a spoiler.

indeed,

My point should possibly have been made clearer: in addition or as an alternative to your suggestion, the first post in any thread dealing with races should only contain something like "Tour de Romandie: April 28, Stage 1: Porrentruy - Fleurier". That way, the thread preview never has to deal with open spoilers.

blorg

nereid wrote: »

Said above, but spoilers in the initial sentences appear in the mouse over.

Ahem, spoiler! I had been avoiding hovering my mouse over that thread!!

Lumen

nereid wrote: »

the first post in any thread dealing with races should only contain something like "Tour de Romandie: April 28, Stage 1: Porrentruy - Fleurier".

Or a random passage from a religious text.

uberwolf

thread unstuck. It's in the charter.

Lumen

uberwolf wrote: »

thread unstuck. It's in the charter.

I'm sticking it again. Don't want to take any risks today that some idiot blunders into the forum and spoils today's critical stage.

Chips Lovell

Bump, given recent queries

C3PO

Remind me ...... how do I reveal stuff that has been "spoilered"?

Chips Lovell

You just have to highlight the text.

C3PO

Cheers!

serendip

RPL1 wrote: »

Remind me ...... how do I reveal stuff that has been "spoilered"?

If you use "Select All", all of the spoilers are revealed.

Chips Lovell

Bump again, given the World Championships are on tonight/tomorrow morning.

If talking about the race until midnight tomorrow use spoiler tags.