Jeff Raymond wrote:
I think, however, this is one of those times where we need to be cognizant of our audience and how we're used. I don't think we should be completely ignorant of the fact that we're a quick reference tool, and that the typical way some people use Wikipedia lends itself to bizarre links and occasional missteps.
Yes, it's kind of dumb to put a spoiler in [[The Christmas Carol]], which most English-reading audiences would know the ending of. But is it equally as dumb for [[The Book Thief]]?
I agree we should pay attention to that possibility, but I think a lot of it could be done in a subtler way. In articles on specific works, simply collecting the spoilerish content under a heading such as Plot Summary ought to provide sufficient warning that plot information will be given away in that section. Other than that, just being a bit careful about gratuitously spoiling endings could remove a lot of the trouble---if a work relies heavily on a twist ending, then maybe mention that it relies heavily on a twist ending in the intro, but don't mention what the twist *is* until the Plot Summary section.
-Mark