D&D General Unprofessional spoilers: it's not like it was hard to figure out but still...

[Azzy]

It's been forty years. We all know Strahd is John Travolta playing Dracula, ok? There's even a boardgame.
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The original Ravenloft module was published in 1983. Spoiler bans don't last 40+ years.

Right, and then there's the fact that TSR made him a mascot of sorts for the line when the setting came out in 1990. Never mind the novel I, Strahd that was released in '93.

 

[Reef]

And this isn't a case of "past its spoiler date". He was clearly a vampire right on the cover of the original adventure. He couldn't be anymore obviously a vampire if he wore a t-shirt that said "I'm a vampire! Ask me how!"

(Which annoyed the heck out of 12 year old me, who desperately wanted to pull a vampire surprise on my friends. Going so far as trying to convince them he was just an elf under dramatic lightning...heh)

 

[Seramus]

Never mind the novel I, Strahd that was released in '93.

I always remember from the novel that Strahd keeps a coffin in the mountains within misting distance of his castle. It sticks in my mind whenever Curse of Strahd talks about him retreating to the coffin in his basement.

"Oh, but he has another one!"

 

[Mecheon]

Also not helping things is the Strahd minifig from Lego

Who uses the same skin tone as just about every other Lego vampire

 

[Charlaquin]

And this isn't a case of "past its spoiler date". He was clearly a vampire right on the cover of the original adventure. He couldn't be anymore obviously a vampire if he wore a t-shirt that said "I'm a vampire! Ask me how!"

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

I’m not mad about it. But I don’t think the time a piece of fiction has existed is a good determining factor for when conversation about it should casually discuss it without concern for spoiling it. Most people haven’t had the opportunity to experience most fiction for the entire length of that fiction’s existence. (Presumably, for instance, most people did not catch the Iliad during its initial run.)

I think social saturation is a much more relevant metric (for which time is certainly a factor). At a certain point, some works become a part of the social fabric that the mere concept of a surprise twist cannot apply. The Iliad is probably that. There is probably no one who could possibly read that work for a first time without already knowing how it ends.

Star Wars is not that.

Frankly, I don't understand why we place so much importance on whether or not a narrative is spoiled. For most of human history we were fine with narratives that we knew top to bottom, things like myth and folktales. That's why they're often called "cycles", because we knew how they were gonna begin and how they were going to end. The explosion of mass media in the 20st century has made us into consumers who conspicuously refuse to reheat leftovers in their media diet.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Just a heads up folks: The final season of Stranger Things contains spoilers for Ravenloft.

 

[Charlaquin]

Frankly, I don't understand why we place so much importance on whether or not a narrative is spoiled. For most of human history we were fine with narratives that we knew top to bottom, things like myth and folktales. That's why they're often called "cycles", because we knew how they were gonna begin and how they were going to end.

This pattern of behavior benefits the producers of that media, because it makes people feel pressured to consume new media as quickly as possible, for fear of having it spoiled if they wait too long. It’s another form of FOMO, and corporate media actively encourages it.

The explosion of mass media in the 20st century has made us into consumers who conspicuously refuse to reheat leftovers in their media diet.

I disagree with this though. People are more than willing to consume media they’re already familiar with; re-watching beloved movies or TV series, re-reading favorite books, re-playing classic video games, etc. are all extremely popular pastime activities. Rather, people want their first time consuming a given piece of media to be “pure,” to know as little as possible about it going in, to preserve any possible surprises. And in their defense, you only get to experience something for the first time once, so there is something potentially lost if what might have been a surprise is told to you outside the context of its reveal within the media itself. But, I do think modern society is too obsessed with the idea of preserving this “unspoiled” first-time experience. Consuming media for the first time with foreknowledge gained from an outside source is also a unique experience that can’t be reproduced, and it isn’t necessarily a better or worse unique experience than consuming it for the first time without that foreknowledge.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Rather, people want their first time consuming a given piece of media to be “pure,” to know as little as possible about it going in, to preserve any possible surprises. And in their defense, you only get to experience something for the first time once, so there is something potentially lost if what might have been a surprise is told to you outside the context of its reveal within the media itself.

 

[Seramus]

Consuming media for the first time with foreknowledge gained from an outside source is also a unique experience that can’t be reproduced, and it isn’t necessarily a better or worse unique experience than consuming it for the first time without that foreknowledge.

Just to expand, there's a fascinating read on it over here!

The Effect of Spoiler Types on Enjoyment
Sussana Oad, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville