Please, try to hide spoilers about things that are likely to be unknown
JuliusBorisov
Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,754
During recent months we had several times when forumites, even unintentionally from their part, gave spoilers about the content of games, movies and books in places without any warnings. And I don't talk about only the IE games. These spoilers severely ruined the experience for those people who still hadn't discovered the appropriate things themselves.
It's hard to describe one's feeling when he or she is looking forward to a game, a movie, a book, and then suddenly reads the key detail on the forum because no warnings came.
When you post something on the forum, check to things:
1) whether the thread title, or even the sub-forum title has a "Spoilers!" warning in it
2) whether the thing you're going to post about is a key spoiler about anything
For example, https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/25272/baldurs-gate-meme-thread-ii-enhanced-edition-careful-everyone-spoilers#latest has a "Spoilers!" warning in the title, but this warning comes only for things related to BG, - so if you want to post a spoiler about anything not BG-related, put a spoiler tag into your post.
Another example. https://forums.beamdog.com/categories/general has a "Spoilers!" warning in the name of the subforum. So if you're a new player, don't read the discussions there, or create a discussion of your own there, with a note of not getting a spoiler, or read things there very cautiously.
Posting in any discussion in the off-topic section of the forum about other games/movies/TV-shows should fall under the same rules. Don't forget that not everyone, even if they're interested in the same game/movie or book, knows as much as you.
Don't forget that one of the Forum rules is "Don't spoil the fun".
There are measures everyone can take to avoid spoiling things for those who haven't experienced the game (and the same can be said about other things) yet. If you're going to ruin the plot, announce it beforehand.
One of the great things about any release is that it's exposing a lot of new people to what the release has to offer. That great thing is ruined, and not in a small way, when elements of the plot and character stories are announced or bandied about with no care for who's listening. So the short version is, if you're going to discuss the plot or anything else that might "spoil the fun" for somebody, wrap the content in spoiler tags. Spoiler tags look like this (without a space between [ and spoiler):
[ spoiler]This is a spoiler[/ spoiler]
[ spoiler=you can announce things that are put into a spoiler] This is a spoiler[/ spoiler]
Example:
It's hard to describe one's feeling when he or she is looking forward to a game, a movie, a book, and then suddenly reads the key detail on the forum because no warnings came.
When you post something on the forum, check to things:
1) whether the thread title, or even the sub-forum title has a "Spoilers!" warning in it
2) whether the thing you're going to post about is a key spoiler about anything
For example, https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/25272/baldurs-gate-meme-thread-ii-enhanced-edition-careful-everyone-spoilers#latest has a "Spoilers!" warning in the title, but this warning comes only for things related to BG, - so if you want to post a spoiler about anything not BG-related, put a spoiler tag into your post.
Another example. https://forums.beamdog.com/categories/general has a "Spoilers!" warning in the name of the subforum. So if you're a new player, don't read the discussions there, or create a discussion of your own there, with a note of not getting a spoiler, or read things there very cautiously.
Posting in any discussion in the off-topic section of the forum about other games/movies/TV-shows should fall under the same rules. Don't forget that not everyone, even if they're interested in the same game/movie or book, knows as much as you.
Don't forget that one of the Forum rules is "Don't spoil the fun".
There are measures everyone can take to avoid spoiling things for those who haven't experienced the game (and the same can be said about other things) yet. If you're going to ruin the plot, announce it beforehand.
One of the great things about any release is that it's exposing a lot of new people to what the release has to offer. That great thing is ruined, and not in a small way, when elements of the plot and character stories are announced or bandied about with no care for who's listening. So the short version is, if you're going to discuss the plot or anything else that might "spoil the fun" for somebody, wrap the content in spoiler tags. Spoiler tags look like this (without a space between [ and spoiler):
[ spoiler]This is a spoiler[/ spoiler]
[ spoiler=you can announce things that are put into a spoiler] This is a spoiler[/ spoiler]
Example:
This is how it looks like.
This is a spoiler
11
Comments
[spoiler=How long does it take?]It's been half an hour since I could feel my finger, but the string still looks white![/spoiler]
(arguably this may be due to my advanced age)
You know the rules and so do I.
A full commitment is what I am thinking of,
You would not get this from any other guy.
I just want to tell you what I am feeling,
Got to make you understand:
I am never going to give you up,
I am never going to let you down,
I am never going to run around and desert you.
I am never going to make you cry,
I am never going to say goodbye,
I am never going to tell a lie and hurt you.[/spoiler]
Growing up, way before Wikipedia, I had this autistic friend that would gladly tell me the full plot (let alone scene-by-scene narrative) of any given SciFi/Fantasy movie,book,game, etc. Maybe that's where I got the habit?
Also, as an aside, if I was a person wanting to experience Baldur's Gate for the first time, I'd hope I'd have the common sense to not, I dunno, visit the Baldur's Gate BBS.....
Ugh, spoiler...
I'll give an example:
[spoiler=Ending of Baldur's Gate]Sarevok dies at the end.[/spoiler]
That tells the reader not only that you're about to post a spoiler, but also what kind of spoiler you're posting, which helps the reader decide whether or not they want to read it.
But reading that forum rule, both in the firs post of the topic and in the second, seems to me that the rule is explicitly referred to the games related to this boards.
"most of the people who are active on these forums have played the game at least once. That being said, this is not the case for everyone. There are measures everyone can take to avoid spoiling things for those who haven't experienced the game yet"
"One of the great things about this game's release is that it's exposing a lot of new players to what the game has to offer. That great thing is ruined, and not in a small way, when elements of the game's plot and character stories are announced or bandied about with no care for who's listening. So the short version is, if you're going to discuss the game's plot or anything else that might "spoil the fun" for somebody"
" if you're going to discuss content from the game that pertains to the game's story or plot, please use spoiler tags"
"This is a kindness to those users who haven't played the game before"
And nothing about spoiling other things, not referred to IE games.
But as you are a moderator I ask you if you opened this topic as a member of the forum * and what you say has to be intended as a personal opinion, or if you do it as a moderator and what you say is compelling for the forum members. I ask it because it seem to me quite unusual to change the Forum rules in an off topic discussion and not in the proper place, the Forum rules topic.
Sorry if I ask only now, at the moment this discussion was opened I was not member of this boards.
I want also to make clear that I don't like to spoil anybody's fun, on whatever matter and in whatever way, here and elsewhere, because is not polite and because my personal purpose is to make this wonderful world a little better place, not a little worst place, every day of my life. So, as my personal opinion, I agree with your personal (or official) opinion in spoiling people's fun.
*Also the moderators can have their personal opinions and imo they are fully entitled to express them in the boards they moderate. A good friend of mine, moderator on another board, used the formula
- mod on- and - mod off- to make clear when what he told was the official request of a moderator or just his personal opinion.
Edit: I went to this topic following a link, is in general discussion and not in off topic, my mistake, but no big difference I guess....
I'll be happy if people share my thoughts.
The site rule about not spoiling the fun is specific to Beamdog's games, in that this is a community tailored to people who are playing those games, and we want to create an environment where new and old players can discuss the games without new players feeling excluded.
The site rule about being respectful of others isn't specific to Beamdog's games, and covers any interactions with other members of the site. In other words, it's not against the rules to talk about the ending of the latest Star Wars movie without using spoiler tags, but using spoiler tags is a respectful way to talk about that movie in the company of people who might not have seen it. If you forget to use spoiler tags, or choose not to use them, that's fine, but if someone chimes in and says that you ruined the movie for them and asks you to wrap your discussion in spoiler tags, you'll then be expected to do so.
Also I can't divide myself in categories, is enough hard to remain ourselves in a world that want to categorize us in many ways, a worker, a consumer, a moderator, a number.....
So seldom a person.
I REALLY appreciate your answer, not the answer of a moderator, but the one of a person who serve as moderator, and imho do it really well.