[WikiEN-l] Reflections on the end of the spoiler wars

[John Lee]

On Nov 19, 2007 6:48 PM, <joshua.zelinsky at yale.edu> wrote:

> Quoting Anthony <wikimail at inbox.org>:
>
> > On Nov 19, 2007 5:40 PM, Steve Summit <scs at eskimo.com> wrote:
> >> But we've never heard (that I know of) a complaint
> >> from an end reader saying that the warnings were objectionable,
> >
> > I'm an "end reader", and I've complained about the spoiler tags before.
> >
> > I have in the past edited Wikipedia, but that doesn't make me not a
> reader.
>
> As long as we're playing the anecdote game I've heard complaints from at
> least
> two non-Wikipedian friends about the lack of spoiler warnings. As one put
> it
> "Where'd all the spoiler warnings go?" However, I'm not sure they would
> have
> had this attitude but for the fact that there was what amounts to a
> change;
> that it, they expected to see spoiler tags and be able to use that
> advantage
> because they had seen them before and were not used to now lack of
> them. I have
> no idea how common this is.


I personally have not heard anyone outside Wikipedia complain about the
removal, FWIW. I personally supported the removal, but not necessarily its
implementation on such a wide and automated scale.

I also still don't understand the objections to marking up potentially
spoiler-ish content semantically to allow those who fear spoilers not to see
them.

Johnleemk