About spoilers after the show is broadcast?

[StrugglingAlbion]

Not a TAAT, but inspired by a current thread in which the OP was called a "dick" and a "massive cunt" for posting a thread revealing the winner of last nights Apprentice final. I have been meaning to start this thread for ages so here is an opportunity.

I think the acceptability of this is a rather divisive issue, and perhaps I'll be flamed, but my view is that, once the show in question has been broadcast, it becomes ok to discuss the result online. Therefore, spoilers are acceptable.

In fact it is only a spoiler to a person who has for whatever reason happened to have not watched the show. It's not really a spoiler in the true sense of the word i.e. a reveal of what is going to happen in an upcoming show. Proper spoiler threads should carry a warning.

If you don't want to see spoilers I think it is entirely your responsibility to avoid social media or threads on here or wherever that could contain spoilers. It is surely foreseeable that a thread today about the Apprentice might reveal last nights winner?

That being said, I probably would have or a spoiler warning had it been my thread, to avoid the overreaction wrath of many posters. But that would have been my call and I don't believe I would have been wrong not to do so.

The winners were pictured in today's papers, and this thread wasn't started until mid-afternoon today, so the winners were hardly secret.

Once it's been aired it becomes common knowledge & there is no "etiquette" required when discussing it as far as I'm concerned.....

I disagree.

I have been part of various fandom groups and it is common courtesy and expected etiquette that if something has been newly released/aired then any discussion should be highlighted as to contain spoilers to the newly released/aired content.

Nobody is saying you can't discuss the information, just that you should make it clear that the thread/discussion contains the information before someone reads it.

It's basically the difference between titling a thread "OMG I can't believe X won Y programme!" And "What did you think of the Y programme final/winner?" One gives away the information immediately and the reader has no chance to avoid the spoiler whereas the other one gives someone the option to not open the thread if they don't want to know the information.

Obviously nobody expects people to never discuss things but in most online fandom communities for TV shows/movies it is usually common practice to give people 24/48hrs to catch up after the release before the spoilers are considered common knowledge to be discussed freely and without warning.

It's not even a spoiler.

I was there for a total of 4 mins without a warning in the title.

I have been part of various fandom groups and it is common courtesy and expected etiquette that if something has been newly released/aired then any discussion should be highlighted as to contain spoilers to the newly released/aired content.

But unless you stay in that sterile environment it's unrealistic to expect those of us that were fans enough to make the effort to watch it at or close to the broadcast time not talk about it.

To quote Pope John-Paul II - "Suck it up Buttercup"

Event TV (sporting events, finals of tv competitions etc) is not quite the same as normal programming.

It may be polite and fair not to post unsignposted spoilers for the latest episode of GoT or whatever, but the winner of the FA cup or the GBBO is completely different.

If you don’t want to know who won the apprentice before you get round to watching it, then you’re going to have to impose your own media blackout.

But still the whole live tv event thing means that you should expect the winner to be common knowledge immediately after it’s aired.

Except that 'live' is not 'live' in all parts of the world. Due to timezones, some people will see shows at different times.

Back in the very dark early days of the internet, I was involved in fandom groups. Episode Title_Spoilers was the basic etiquette when posting anything about any part of the show. If you wanted to read it, you could, if not, it was easy to avoid. This was back in the days when Australia generally got to see shows sometimes six (or more!) months later than they aired in the US, and everyone managed to politely avoid spoilers for those that didn't want to see them, or to participate in discussions if you didn't mind seeing them. Internet etiquette was very much in place, and no one wanted to ruin it for anyone else, or thought that they were the centre of the universe so anything they had seen must have been seen by everyone else on the planet. Manners actually matter, and it's entirely possible to have great discussions and debates about television shows and movies without ruining it for everyone else who hasn't seen it yet.

PiffleandWiffle

I don't expect you not to talk about, but it would be nice if you posted "OMFG starwars" and not just OMFG, then launch in to spoilers on the first page.

and it has nothing to do with being a bigger fan, just that you had an opportunity to see it first.

And if we are posting "quotes"
“Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.”

― Abraham Lincoln