Thoughts about the Spoiler policy on this forum.

[Sky Shadow]

When I first saw Hot Rod and Rodimus Prime in 1986 I did notice that they looked remarkably similar but I never thought that they were the same character another kid at my school told me (at that age I didn't care about spoilers - I asked him to tell me the story of TFTM before I saw it myself in the cinema ). I also didn't know that Galvatron was Megatron... and even reading their tech specs didn't reveal that they're all the same character.

I know I'd already read TFUK #83 where Galvatron says "I am Megatron" when I saw the movie, so I was fairly spoiled on that point. However, despite the fact that I'd seen both Rodimus Prime and Hot Rod on the 1986 catalogue, I still hadn't made the connection that they were the same guy (I thought Roadimus [I even misread his name] was Hot Rod's big brother.) Then, when I'm sitting in the cinema watching the film and Optimus Prime says "one day an Autobot shall rise from our ranks and use the power of the Matrix to light our darkest hour..." and drops the Matrix only to have Hot Rod catch it, at that moment, my Dad leans down from next to me and says "it's him." And of course he was totally right. But yes, I got spoiled by someone else while I was actually watching the movie.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Silly Dad hey?

I think the current spoiler policy works firly well. I just think that that Amon's post perhaps should have been in the movie section. Which has the general spoiler tag there anyway, just to avoid this situation.

[GoktimusPrime]

The only time I had a toy spoil a plot for me was Hangar Duel Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars Episode II - the toy has a detachable arm, which of course lets you know that he gets his arm chopped off! AAAAAAAAAARGH! They really shouldn't release toys with spoiler gimmicks in the first wave (which usually comes out before the movie). (-_-)

[GoktimusPrime]

Here's another question about spoilers: Is there a statute of limitations regarding spoilers?

What I mean is, do we still need to be careful not to post spoilers for really OLD stuff like say Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Generation 2 and Generation 1?

This means that as of 2009
+ G1 will be 16~25 years old
+ G2 will be 14~16 years old
+ Beast Wars will be 9~13 years old
+ Beast Machines will be 7~9 years old
+ Car Robot will be 9 years old (RiD will be 6~8 years old)
+ Dreamwave TFs will be 5~7 years old
+ Armada/Energon/Cybertron will be 3~6 years old
+ IDW's TFs will be up to 4 years old
+ The live action-movie will be 2 years old
+ Transformers Animated will be up to a year old

Now I understand that the Transformers universe is a big universe and not everyone has the time, resources or inclination to access all these various forms of canon at the time that they're released. But suerly that has to be a reasonable time limit before these things can be considered to be off-limits for spoilers - because if not we would then have to forever treat everything as if it's a spoiler, just in case somebody hasn't seen or read it yet... and there will _always_ be someone who hasn't seen or read something yet. (-_-)

For example, if I'm posting something that's from 1989, then does it need to be treated as a spoiler just in case someone hasn't seen it yet?

This question does actually originate from a question raised about one of my signature's "Random TF Facts," which is discussed here.

[Paulbot]

For example, if I'm posting something that's from 1989, then does it need to be treated as a spoiler just in case someone hasn't seen it yet?

This question does actually originate from a question raised about one of my signature's "Random TF Facts," which is discussed here.

Think about context. Someone has a thread explaining how they are watching Victory for the first time. You reply with your signature explaining how a character dies in that series. That is a big spoiler. It's not even really a random fact.

I think telling people how characters die in the fiction in your signature (which appears in every single post you've made) is not on.

If you were comparing character deaths or something in a post or discussion thread someone would have context and could ignore or skip paragraphs.

And yes Victory has not been available for the English speaking majority of members on this board for all that long.

[STL]

I think in those cases its not the fault of a poster if they post spoilers of a series someone hasn't read yet if its not public knowledge or they cant' tell from the context. No one's going to (or should) be picked up on if they didn't know that someone was in the middle of reading/watching a comic/show. For me, a lot of the facts just go right on over my head and I forget them. I'm just not a "know it all" person. It's more the moment that I start following a series then I pay attention.

And in that case, I think its only fair if everyone is aware of that fact then they can help that person by giving a spoiler alert. It's not necessary in all threads but definitely if that person is mentioning in "NewVictorythread01" I'm just starting out and these are my thoughts.

Imposing a time limit doesn't work b/c even if the DVDs are available for a long time, not everyone gets around to watching them or affording the DVDs till some later point. I think by and large, there is no malicious attempt to spoil people here. It's mostly accidental and from my time everyone such as Kup, Paulbot and yourself have been immensely helpful in giving warning notices if you feel ur step into territory that that person might only be discovering.

[GoktimusPrime]

(from the Random TF facts page)

How a character dies isn't a random fact, it is an outright spoiler.

Yes, but it's from 1989. Would it also be considered a spoiler if I say mentioned how Optimus Prime died in Transformers The Movie (1986)? Essentially anything can be considered a spoiler to someone - yes, I agree that some spoilers are bigger than others, but they're all spoilers nonetheless. My current signature could easily be a spoiler for someone who's never read the G1 UK comics and Doctor Who magazines.

Think about context. Someone has a thread explaining how they are watching Victory for the first time. You reply with your signature explaining how a character dies in that series. That is a big spoiler. It's not even really a random fact.

I think telling people how characters die in the fiction in your signature (which appears in every single post you've made) is not on.

If you were comparing character deaths or something in a post or discussion thread someone would have context and could ignore or skip paragraphs.

When I changed my signature I wasn't thinking about SilverDragon's Victory thread tbh. I will try to be more thoughtful in future though if people are flagging that they're going through an old series for the first time.

I honestly did not intend for the spoiler to appear on SD's thread, but you're right - my signature does appear on all of my posts. I changed it ASAP after I realised what had happened and yeah, all I can do is try and prevent that from happening in future. But unless someone publicly flags that they're going through an old series for the first time - and if I happen to read that thread, then it's going to be difficult to prevent people from being exposed to spoilers via random TF facts. The other option is just to abandon the entire thing from my signature. Perhaps I should just make a Random TF Fact thread with a disclaimer that my posts may contain spoilers and that people are reading it at their own risk. *shrug*

And yes Victory has not been available for the English speaking majority of members on this board for all that long.

Okay, and that is why I've stated on the random TF fact thread that I'm giving the G1 Japanese series a one year statute of limitations. As I said on the other thread I think 12 months is a reasonable amount of time for people who really want to watch these series to sit down and watch them.

Imposing a time limit doesn't work b/c even if the DVDs are available for a long time, not everyone gets around to watching them or affording the DVDs till some later point. I think by and large, there is no malicious attempt to spoil people here. It's mostly accidental and from my time everyone such as Kup, Paulbot and yourself have been immensely helpful in giving warning notices if you feel ur step into territory that that person might only be discovering.

TBH I wouldn't think about attaching a spoiler warning or spoiler tagging say Transformers Victory stuff unless it was in a specific thread where a person has stated that they're watching it for the first time. Like with yours and Soundwarp's Journey Through Beast Wars threads - on those threads I was careful to tag spoilers but otherwise on other threads I just don't consider them to be spoiler territory at all considering that the Beast Wars franchise is 9 to 13 years old now.

Signatures may require a different protocol I suppose...

[snazzbot 101]

(from the Random TF facts page)

Yes, but it's from 1989. Would it also be considered a spoiler if I say mentioned how Optimus Prime died in Transformers The Movie (1986)? Essentially anything can be considered a spoiler to someone - yes, I agree that some spoilers are bigger than others, but they're all spoilers nonetheless. My current signature could easily be a spoiler for someone who's never read the G1 UK comics and Doctor Who magazines.


When I changed my signature I wasn't thinking about SilverDragon's Victory thread tbh. I will try to be more thoughtful in future though if people are flagging that they're going through an old series for the first time.

I honestly did not intend for the spoiler to appear on SD's thread, but you're right - my signature does appear on all of my posts. I changed it ASAP after I realised what had happened and yeah, all I can do is try and prevent that from happening in future. But unless someone publicly flags that they're going through an old series for the first time - and if I happen to read that thread, then it's going to be difficult to prevent people from being exposed to spoilers via random TF facts. The other option is just to abandon the entire thing from my signature. Perhaps I should just make a Random TF Fact thread with a disclaimer that my posts may contain spoilers and that people are reading it at their own risk. *shrug*


Okay, and that is why I've stated on the random TF fact thread that I'm giving the G1 Japanese series a one year statute of limitations. As I said on the other thread I think 12 months is a reasonable amount of time for people who really want to watch these series to sit down and watch them.

Gee that's awfully generous of you. What about someone who joins in thirteen months time?

I'm new here and I do enjoy that you have knowledge feel you must share - no matter how it's shoehorned - but you need to be mindful that this is not your own private sandbox.

Others are here and you need to be mindful.

[GoktimusPrime]

Hence the suggestion of abandoning my Random TF Triv thing in my Signature and starting a thread for it where every day I post a random TF fact in that thread. There would be a disclaimer in that thread that information there could be spoilers and that people would read it at their own risk. Hrmmm... *rubs chin*

[Paulbot]

I think Random facts are okay but when you explain in some detail, how a character dies that's not a random fact it is plainly a plot spoiler.

I think there are ways to gives some random trivia without giving away the particular plot details.

For instance the following are facts that don't give away plot details of how character "X" died:
"X was the first Decepticon in fiction to be killed by a 'Heroic' Autobot"
"Five Decepticons, (X,X,X,X,X) have died as a result of being betrayed by a fellow Decepticon"
"Character X was killed because Hasbro had lost the rights to sell the toy and didn't want it promoted in the show anymore"

However I think there's a lot more TF facts out that people don't know that don't give away character deaths or how the story ends.