On May 19, 2007, at 7:44 PM, Steve Summit wrote:
Conjecture isn't necessarily fallacious. We
are all, most of us,
readers as well as editors. The people who like spoiler warnings
and argue for their retention are all, presumably, people who
appreciate spoiler warnings in the text they read. The set of
people who appreciate them (and would mourn their passing) is
clearly not empty.
I would have thought this, except everybody's arguments for spoiler
warnings have been remarkably phrased in terms of hypothetical
readers. Nobody has said "Actually, I would be surprised to find a
spoiler in a section on the plot" or "Actually, this spoiler in this
article ruined Buffy's finale for me." I do find this telling.