spoilerspoilerspoilerspoilerspoilerspoilerspoilerspoilerspoilerspoilerspoilerspoilerspoilerspaaaaaaaace
I’ll second Lem from The Shield. That was fucking BRUTAL, and is a major turning point in the show.
Hey, not to get all Harford on you guys, but do you think you could put the SPOILER buffer at the beginning of the posts, ala the Game of Thrones spoiler thread?
Isn’t there some kind of statute of limitations on spoiling ten, fifteen, twenty year old shows? Yeah, I know Netflix and the like make it possible to catch up on older shows you might have missed, but we’re really supposed to tiptoe around Wallace and Buffy’s mom because some people have decided they want to watch the shows now? It’s already bordering on ridiculous with the random typing we have to do in the GoT thread, I don’t want to see that extend to every thread where something someone may not have seen gets discussed. We shouldn’t be responsible for every possible viewing schedule.
Given the concentration there is likely to be on newer shows, and the fact that in these list threads people tend to answer really short answers, I don’t think it’s too much to ask. If you accidentally stumble across the fact that Lem dies in a discussion about The Shield, so be it. But if you’re posting a thread specifically about character deaths, and somebody just says “Lem in The Shield”, and it shows up casually surfing new posts, that is avoidable with a small amount of effort by the original poster. So I don’t see what’s wrong with politely asking they make it.
Not at all. Unfortunately I can’t copy/paste the bit from Larry Gelbart’s book that is on the Snopes page but I do recommend you read it. A character had never been killed off of a half hour show before, they even reference shows where actors had died where they told the audience that the character had moved away or gone on vacation. They shot it fairly secretly without the approval of the studio, and they actually had a legitimate point they were trying to make by killing him off. It was a show that went some DARK places and there was a constant cloud of death but they actually found a way to impact an audience who had been dulled by the deaths of weekly guest stars.
I just think too much of the onus has shifted to people in the know adding 50 characters to the start of their posts or hiding everything behind spoiler tags and not enough on the person wanting to be unspoiled avoiding places where they might be spoiled.
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It’s a result of how the boards function, not some increased hypersensitivity to spoilers. Not all message boards show the first line of a post the way these do. If you enter into a thread (unless it’s labeled spoiler-free), you should not whine about being spoiled. But, again, if you can be spoiled casually surfing the boards, then asking people to be mindful of that seems perfectly reasonable.
Jordan’s brother, Ben, on Scrubs. Not because we were so invested in his character (although he was a fun one), but because of the effect it had on Dr. Cox.
The thing is, this thread is all about stuff that would be spoilery. I watch an awful lot of TV, both current and classic, but I have some holes in my viewing. Should I not come in and contribute to the thread simply because I haven’t seen The Shield yet and don’t want to be spoiled? And is it really that hard to spoiler text this stuff? It’s one click, you’re hardly being inconvenienced by it.
Okay. Never mind, then.
I think it’s just a matter of courtesy. When you know a character is going to die it can really impact your interpretation/initial viewing. If you think a particular death was particularly sad, wouldn’t you want to do what you could to make sure that other people get to experience it the same way you did?
That said, it’s annoying that previews show for people who didn’t click on anything.
As for TV deaths. I think Phil Hartman’s actual death combined with NewsRadio’s Bill McNeal makes it much tougher. But I think there should probably be a special category for characters who died because the actor actually died. Kind of a different scenario.
AThe X-Files: Clyde Bruckman’s Final Repose
Futurama: Jurassic Bark
While not at all even minor characters, those episodes killed me.
George’s fiancé on Seinfeld. Poor Lilly…
Holy shit yes. That literally devastated me when I first watched it. And I can’t stand dogs.
I don’t think that’s the point of contention: it’s that the spoilers don’t get hidden from the forum listings, so the first post will always show all the text, even if, within the actual thread, the spoiler tag is in effect.
In other words, to avoid spoiling things for anyone just browsing the forums, you not only have to do the one-click spoiler tag, you also have to begin your posts with several lines’ worth of “SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER” to push the spoilery content far enough down into the text that it is out of sight.
Which is a 2-step process that can be kind of a pain.
And as spoiler-phobic as I tend to be (I’ve virtually given up watching movie trailers online), it really is asking a ridiculous amount of vigilance these days. Between my family and friends, most everyone’s seen The Wire… but a few haven’t. My wife and I have seen Orphan Black, but the rest of the family hasn’t caught up to it yet… My wife’s read the GOT books, but I haven’t… and don’t even get me started on movies. Each passing year it gets harder and harder to have general conversations about stuff like this, and I’m tired of warning people to cover their ears, literally or figuratively.
That one really got to me. As you can tell I’m a dog guy.
While Buffy’s death at the end of season 5.Once I thought about I knew it wasn’t permanent since there was going to be a season 6, but I did had to hold back tears when it first happen.
Cool, another thread about spoiler etiquette.
But Rum Ham didn’t die. In fact, it was saved and brought aboard the Guido pleasure cruise.*
*where it was no doubt devoured by Frank and Fat Mac.