Spoiler Etiquette

With GOT in it's final season and Endgame coming to the big screen last April 24, talk about spoilers have been all over social media. Statements like, "If you spoil Endgame, you will be unfriended," and the like have been posted. For Endgame, I've been able to dodge all possible spoilers. I've even refrained from watching the trailer for Endgame since I wanted to go in perfectly blind. And I just have to say, it does increase one's enjoyment of the scene.

However, not everyone online is sensitive to these kinds of things and end up posting about certain things that would potentially decrease other viewer's enjoyment. Most are harmless but imagine scrolling on Facebook to see your friends vacation pictures and you happen to stumble upon a spoiler for a movie you were going to watch that night. That's not a good day for you now is it. So I wanted to make a compilation of the rules of spoilers for different things like books, movies, TV series and games.

First of all, what would be considered a spoiler? For this segment I'll be using things that would normally be considered spoilers during the time they first came out. Meaning the examples I'll be using have their spoiler flags expired and can be talked about openly in social media and pop culture.

A direct spoiler is one where you directly give away a major plot twist or plot point. Example:
"Darth Vader is Luke's father!" or, "I knew Ross and Rachel would end up together!"

Most people know to avoid direct spoilers but don't know how to avoid indirect spoilers. Indirect spoilers are more subtle in that they provide a reaction to a plot twist which one couldn't possibly have otherwise. What do I mean? Would you really post, "She's your lobster" if they didn't end up together after the season finale? Or would you ever post, "All this time? Always." if you hadn't seen the last Harry Potter movie? Or even something as vague as, "I'm still shaking after that episode," after watching the Red Wedding? It's these subtle spoilers that irk many spoiler sensitive people like myself.

If you really want to post some reaction on social media, make it as vague as possible and AT ALL COSTS, avoid using ANY CHARACTER NAMES or pictures. Acceptable reactions are things like, "I highly recommend Age of Ultron," or "The Hobbit movies are a must watch." Subtle spoilers include things like, "Deym, Neville Longbottom! You made me a fan!" or "We'll miss you, Ned Stark."

I'm also writing this because just 24 hours after GOT S8E3 showed, someone posted that the 24 hour window had lapsed and that he was free to post a very spoiler filled post for everyone to see. I don't know where this 24-hour rule came from but I would heavily disagree that 24 hours was all it needed to release this kind of spoiler to the world.

Books

Book spoilers don't expire quickly. Regularly, they wouldn't expire at all or would only expire after a lifetime - No one gets mad when you say what happened at the end of Romeo and Juliet, for example. However, as books become movies and TV series, things cease to be spoilers only after the TV or movie spoiler has expired. Notice that when the Red Wedding aired, even if thousands of people have read the books and knew exactly what was going to happen in the series, practically everyone kept their mouths shut? That's because it's recognized that book spoilers last a very long time due to people being able to pick them up at any time they're being sold.

TV

TV spoilers are more intricate. Minor events, plot twists, cliffhangers and major plot twists all differ in times when you're allowed to talk about them openly. These even change during a regular season and the final season. Here's a summary:

Type of Spoiler                                                           Spoiler Window
Minor events and plot twists                                       1 week
Cliffhangers (especially season enders)                      2 months
Death of a major character                                          Half year
Season Finale/Climax                                                 1 year

Yes, TV spoiler windows can last up to a year. This is mainly because people watch TV shows differently. Climaxes usually come at the end of the season and as such people who choose to binge watch their TV series will start watching the season at a later date and as such they will get to the last episode much longer. Binge watching a series is a legitimate way of enjoying a show so while some people think a 24 hour window has lapsed, we must learn to respect some other people's choice to start watching series at a later date.

Movies

Movie spoilers are usually safe to talk about after the movie has ceased to show in the cinemas, Meaning, if a person really wanted to watch a certain movie, they've probably already seen it before it disappeared from the cinemas. If they haven't, they probably don't care as much. Though a safe time to talk about spoilers for movies would be a month after its DVD release. After this point in time, if people hadn't seen the movie, they probably either haven't heard of it or don't care for it.

Video Games

Games have a different rule set from the rest as I think that games can generally be picked up at any point in time and because of this, their plots shouldn't be spoiled ever, especially if you want the studio that produced them to succeed. Here's a rough guide though (and yes these can be considered spoilers.)

Type of Spoiler                                                           Spoiler Window
Game Mechanics (like Link jumping)                        1 week from release date
Visual Wonders (Skyrim environments; Pokemon)    1-2 months
Minor Bosses                                                               6 months
Final Boss and Plot twists                                           1 year

This next section will tackle common reasons people put up things that could be considered spoilers:

"It was in the trailers!"

- This is not a reason to post this. Some people purposely choose not to see any trailer as it does increase the enjoyment of the movie/episode. Entering the movie house or a game completely blind allows the viewer/gamer to be genuinely surprised by anything and everything it throws at you.

"It was in the books!"

- This is just wrong. Not everyone who watches a movie or follows a TV series has read the books. And please keep your, "Not a true fan" nonsense to yourself.

"It's your fault for not seeing it earlier!"

- People have lives. Real lives. So while half the fandom is able to watch the Game of Thrones episodes in the morning, the other half has to wait for the episode to air at night. Also, while some people are able to watch movies on opening night, certain events might prevent people from watching it earlier - even up to 2 weeks later.

"I thought you already reached that part."

True story. Someone spoiled The Deathly Hallows book for me because she saw I was reading the book and saw I was almost finished with it and so assumed I had read a major plot twist. Quick advice, ask where the other person is in the book.

"I barely said anything."

Think about your post. Some people will say they only mentioned a character's name and maybe a few heart emojis. This signals to everyone that something significant might happen to this character. Avoid this at all costs. Did you expect something to happen to that character? If not, don't rob that experience from anyone else.

Whatever the case, spoiling things online is tricky. Make sure to add the spoiler tag if you do expose a spoiler but if you want my honest opinion. If you need to react to something you just saw, go to your real 3D friends and don't post your feelings online for your online friends to see. Yeah, 3D friends are the best. Go to them and talk to them... in person.