doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
I hope you can see, if you read this from a perspective other than your own, how this entire post comes across as disingenuous, like you're performing a test rather than making a sincere request?Alright, let me try a different approach.
Since common knowledge does not equal universal knowledge, and since I can’t unread words of yours that I might unwittingly read, would you kindly, pretty please, use spoiler tags on these boards when you mention things that you would consider to be spoilers if they were not common knowledge as you define it?
This is only a personal request, of course. But, if it matters to you, I would take it as an indication of respect for my autonomy. You don’t have to understand why.
Certainly what I ask is an inconvenience, but it would mean a lot to me. Will you do me this favor?
What I won't do, is spoiler tag every comment I make that contains any information about a property that can't be gleaned from the title, genre, and IMDB blurb. If there is a specific request in a thread to avoid spoilers, I will abide by it, just like I avoid talking about the particulars of The Mandolorian when hanging out with my best friend, even though he has access via a mutual friend and is a big SW nerd who has published things that used to be EU canon and it's wild to me that he hasn't watched all of it, because there is a specific request there.
Not at all like cases.If you were in a group about players considering playing a campaign hardback for the first time, would you consider it out of line to ask people who have read the book already to use spoiler tags to discuss things that might spoil the surprises in the book?
Or does your desire to discuss adventures trump the desire of people to play in them without having things spoiled?
But I also don't consider it out of line to ask people to not throw out spoilers. If I missed a request for no spoilers in the OP, I apologize and will allow that Garth should have seen that and not mentioned any important plot elements.
What is unreasonable, is the attitude that people should walk through life under the assumption that "no spoilers" is the default mode of behavior, and can only be deviated from when explicit permission is granted. The opposite is, quite rightly, the norm. People talk about stuff, and only avoid topics that are obscene or similarly innapropriate for public discussion where others can easily hear, only going beyond that restriction to avoid otherwise normal topics, when someone makes an explicit request.
A reminder, again, that I did not spoil anything about Wheel of Time, in this thread. (well, nothing legit. I and several others spoiled who trailer characters are, and the fact Rand gets a sword that is significant enough to care what it looks like)
Basically, spoiling after a request not to is a jerk move. Talking freely about a property when no such request has been made is not. It is unfathomably backward that this should be controversial.