With all the hype around Endgame and Game of Thrones lately I think it is time we have a serious chat about spoilers.
I know as book bloggers we are super sensitive to spoilers and 99.99% of us would never purposely spoil anything, but there are a lot of other people out there who take pleasure in it. I know I am preaching to the choir here, but please please please don’t post spoilers without spoiler warnings!!
I saw a GOT spoiler this morning spoiling last night’s episode. It hasn’t even been 24 hours and the episode was spoiled. And it wasn’t even by an internet troll. It was by AOL.
On their home page they have an auto-play video that usually has some current pop culture related content. I don’t usually pay attention to it but I happened to glance at it and BAM there it was. The video bar said it was 30 seconds in and I saw maybe 5 seconds but it was enough to spoil the episode. The title of their video was “Take a look at how the internet is reacting to last night’s battle episode of ‘Game of Thrones'” (and of course the title was below the video) In the video they showed a clip of the show and then showed people’s reaction tweets. I saw accidentally saw one of the clips and I am pissed.
I was complaining about it to Phil and he told me that someone posted an Endgame spoiler in a YouTube comment because they didn’t like someone else’s comment. What kind of people do that? There is absolutely no reason to blatantly spoil it for everyone else. If you want to talk about it or post about it, then that is fine, but give some warning! Let people decide if they want to know what happens or not!!
I’m part of a facebook group that if you post anything marvel spoiler-ish for 3 weeks after a new movie comes out then you are banned from the group. I love this policy, but it raises the question: At what point can you assume the majority of the people have seen something? This applies more for people who want to make memes and gifs and jokes about something, and not necessarily people who want to spoil it for everyone else. Endgame is full of gems that will make great memes. The content would be soft spoilers, nothing too detrimental. Its the kind of content I would love to see, but not till I have seen the movie. Three weeks is a good amount of time for my FB group because we are all nerds and most of us went and saw Endgame this weekend. Even the stragglers will probably have seen it by next weekend. But, how long should you wait before turning a new movie into a meme? (also side note: I love the meme “spoilers without context” that don’t actually spoil anything, but don’t make any sense until you have seen the movie!)
Its kind of the same thing with books. We all do tags and its not uncommon to see questions asking who is your favorite couple or whose death hit you the hardest. These are technically spoilers, but at some point we just assume that everyone knows. Ron and Hermione end up together. If you would have told me this before I read it I would have been pissed, but I don’t even feel bad saying it here, and I have mentioned it before countless times on my blog. When does it become ok to say these things?
I realize that sometimes spoilers are accidental, especially among friends. I almost spoiled GOT for Phil when I was complaining about the spoiler. I realized too late that I didn’t actually know if he had seen the episode yet! I just assumed he had because he is a huge GOTs fan. Thank GOD he had seen it. But it just shows that it happens.
There are times where spoiling things is ok. For example, I have no desire to ever see The Strangers, but my friends were all talking about it because they thought it was awesome. They wanted to go in depth and talk about the movie, but were willing to refrain because I had never seen it. I told them to go ahead. I was curious to know what happened anyway, but knew I would never watch it. They gave me a summary that included spoilers and it was all good.
Also, like I mentioned before, it is ok to post spoilers, just make sure that people know the spoiler is coming and give them ways to avoid it. A video that auto-plays is unavoidable. Don’t do that! You can post, just be super careful and courteous!!
What is the worst thing you have ever had spoiled (don’t tell me the actual spoiler, just the show/episode/movie/book title)? What do you think about spoilers? Do you agree that people that purposefully spoil huge plot points are the scum of the internet? Let’s discuss!
Perfectly Tolerable 
Tumblr has full on gifs of Endgame scenes that were obviously filmed in the theater.I try to always be careful and clearly mark spoilers but sadly I’ve come to think if I want to remain unspoiled I need to just stay off the Internet. The last thing I was spoiled for was the Last Jedi but the person tried to take it back when they realized they had 😉 At least they tried I suppose!
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People video taping in the theater is a whole different level of spoilers! Also I am pretty sure that is illegal? Or at least against the rules of the theater haha. And that sucks about the Last Jedi, but yes at least they tried to take it back 😀 accidents happen.
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Honestly, the fact is you can’t control the internet and can’t tell people not to talk about stuff. Especially with GOT, since the east coast saw it at 6 p.m. west coast time, people immediately went on Twitter to talk about it, even though a lot of west coast folks didn’t see it until 9. My thought is if spoilers really bother you, stay off the internet until you’ve seen it yourself😁
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I stayed off of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! Haha I thought I would be safe checking my emails tho 😂😂 I know you can’t control people, and I get that! And talking about it is completely fine! I wanted to talk about Endgame immediately after I saw it! It just really bugs me when people purposefully spoil things for other people!
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I’ve never thought about how long is long enough to assume everyone knows what happened on a show, but three weeks sounds reasonable. It’s a great question. I think if you truly want to avoid spoilers, you need to just stay away from the Internet until you watch. But I also think spoiler warnings should be a requirement for all posts. Great post!
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I hadn’t really thought of it before I saw the rule on the FB group and I thought it was really smart 😀 And I agree that spoiler warnings should be a requirement! Its great if you want to talk about it in depth, but just give everyone a heads up so they can decide if they want to read it!
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AHh there’s the thing- people aren’t courteous! It’s one of my biggest pet peeves- just think of someone else for a second! I agree- spoilers are fine as long as you have a choice whether to see them or not.
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Exactly!! It is one of my pet peeves too! Especially for stuff like this! It isn’t hard to give a warning!
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Right?!?!
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My endgame was spoiled…On twitter and instagram people have ethics to give the waring but on fb you just don’t know when a spolier would pop out from no where 😡
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Oh no 😦 I am so sorry! I hate that people do that! I would be so mad! I hope you still enjoy the movie tho!
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I’ll watch the movie for sure…But It really made me angry at that time…
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seriously I hate to be spoiled ..and I never even try to spoil things for any one..
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Me too! Its common courtesy not to purposefully spoil things!
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Best spoiler I have ever heard: A coworker was telling me that he was reading Harry Potter when his wife walks by and asks if Dumbledor had died. He gasped, “WHAT”??? OOOPS!!! The next day, again she walks by while he was reading and asks “Did Snape kill Dumbledor yet???” He lost it!! He hadnt read it yet, so it was a double whammy!! Still makes me laugh though!
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Oh man! I would be so mad haha but at least it was his wife 😂
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Spoilers suck. And “when is okay” is all super flexible. For instance, I hope to see Endgame maybe this coming weekend, but I have a friend who will be traveling internationally for a month. So unless she can find a movie theater playing an English dub of it, she won’t be able to see the movie until she gets back, and you can bet the “no spoilers” ban will have been lifted by then.
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Yea, it is super tough to know when its ok to talk about it
I hope your friend is able to find a showing of it! (if she wants to haha)
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Ahh I so agree with you here!! I wish people would stop being that person! And I do think people purposefully spoil things- I saw a spoiler for book 3 of GOT when I was watching season 1, which I was following when it aired (it was what prompted me to read all the books asap). I’ve also already seen soft spoilers for Endgame- which is annoying cos I do actually want to see it!! It’s so not cool though. And I think time does play a part for when you can say spoilers, but also the type of thing being discussed, like who ends up together. I still feel awkward saying if someone died sometimes, even if the book’s been out years. Anyway great discussion!
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Haha I feel awkward saying who died too! I almost used one of the Death’s in HP as my example but I couldn’t bring myself to do it 😂😂 I’m sorry someone spoiled GOT for you! That sucks
I would never purposefully spoil things so its baffling to me that people do it! I hope you love Endgame when you see it ❤
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Ugh spoilers! I’m a moderator of a huge fantasy forum and we have t ok review flagged comments for removal, etc. Right after Endgame came out people were posting spoilers and other people flagged the comments. Luckily I missed it but one of the other mods totally got spoiled. 😦
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Oh man, I never even thought about all the mods who are saving everyone else from spoilers. 😦 They deserve a lot more credit! If they are willing to see spoilers to save other people that is awesome of them ❤ Tho it still sucks that they have to have it spoiled too 😦
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I try really hard NOT to spoil anyone but sometime I have no idea if I’ve hit a spoiler. One time on twitter I was tagged in a conversation where three bloggers were discussing supposed mild spoilers that I had in my review. I. Had. NO. Idea! I was really shocked and couldn’t see it even after reading the review again. >.< So I always wonder if others think I spoil them. Interesting question though when is it okay to assume everyone knows?! So true. ❤️
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I try hard too, but I am sure that I have accidentally spoiled things. And honestly I am ok if people try to avoid spoilers but accidentally give it away. It happens! Its hard to because “mild spoilers” can mean different things to different people!! You can’t please everyone! But I have a problem when people purposefully spoil things! That is just wrong!
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