http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Crying_Game&oldid=288389
Created by The Cunctator during the first debate on spoilers, back in 2001, when people kept citing [[The Crying Game]] as an article that should have a spoiler warning despite the article not existing at the time.
(He did similar entries for The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, and Psycho, all equally funny. Fight Club is actually probably my favorite of them, though it takes some digging to find, as it's in the history of an abandoned redirect at present.)
Don't you miss the good old days when our articles got straight to the point?
In similar retro fashion, we have the long-departed [[User:CGS]] realizing this: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php? title=Wikipedia_talk:Warn_readers_about_spoilers&diff=1075454&oldid=1075 451
Isn't it great when people are prescient?
And for those who are particularly interested in wiki-history, the major justification for spoiler warnings in the first place was that people wouldn't know that Wikipedia was an encyclopedia and so would be surprised by the spoilers. Which is probably a moot issue by now.
You can also find out such great information as that the spoiler warning's first supporter, [[User:Koyaanis Qatsi]], felt that they were overused back in 2003. That Larry Sanger liked spoiler warnings back in the day. And that [[User:Eclecticology]]'s position on spoilers has not changed in five years: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/ index.php? title=Wikipedia_talk:Warn_readers_about_spoilers&diff=66407&oldid=66398 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php? title=Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/Policies/ Wikipedia:Spoiler_warning&diff=prev&oldid=131147552
Best, Phil Sandifer sandifer@english.ufl.edu
You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here.
On 5/19/07, Philip Sandifer sandifer@english.ufl.edu wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Crying_Game&oldid=288389
Created by The Cunctator during the first debate on spoilers, back in 2001, when people kept citing [[The Crying Game]] as an article that should have a spoiler warning despite the article not existing at the time.
Nice stuff. And obviously long before WP:POINT :). Even Jimbo comments that he laughed out loud when he saw the Cunctator's "disruption" (my term).
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Santa_Claus_in_Northern_American_c... http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Santa_Claus_in_Northern_American_c...
2 November 2002, Modemac inserting and then 5 December 2002, Eloquence "removing silly spoiler warning". Shouldn't that be reverted with the insightful "calling it silly is not grounds for removal"?
Anthony
On 5/19/07, Philip Sandifer sandifer@english.ufl.edu wrote:
That Larry Sanger liked spoiler warnings back in the day.
Oh yeah, something else, which I actually think is still a useful point today. Sanger suggests the following text for the spoiler template: "The following, like all Wikipedia plot summaries, may give away plot surprises."
I actually think that's a lot better tag than the current one of "Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow."
If the tag is going to be kept, and is going to be applied very broadly, that's a much more sane text. If there's one thing I hate more than anything else about the tag, it's that it usually says something so incredibly obvious - that a ==Plot== section is going to contain plot details.
Anthony
Anthony wrote:
On 5/19/07, Philip Sandifer sandifer@english.ufl.edu wrote:
Oh yeah, something else, which I actually think is still a useful point today. Sanger suggests the following text for the spoiler template: "The following, like all Wikipedia plot summaries, may give away plot surprises."
How about something like. "The following may contain spoilers. But in all honesty, if you didn't want to read them you wouldn't be reading a plot summary, would you?"
On 5/19/07, Anthony wikimail@inbox.org wrote:
Oh yeah, something else, which I actually think is still a useful point today. Sanger suggests the following text for the spoiler template: "The following, like all Wikipedia plot summaries, may give away plot surprises."
I actually think that's a lot better tag than the current one of "Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow."
It's so ... corporate-speak, meaningless, soulless. I hate that wording.
-Matt
On 20/05/07, Matthew Brown morven@gmail.com wrote:
On 5/19/07, Anthony wikimail@inbox.org wrote:
Oh yeah, something else, which I actually think is still a useful point today. Sanger suggests the following text for the spoiler template: "The following, like all Wikipedia plot summaries, may give away plot surprises." I actually think that's a lot better tag than the current one of "Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow."
It's so ... corporate-speak, meaningless, soulless. I hate that wording.
Doc changed it to a blank, which I quite liked, but someone changed it back.
- d.
On 5/20/07, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
Doc changed it to a blank, which I quite liked, but someone changed it back.
Heh!
Seriously, though, the suckiness of the current spoiler warning means that it doesn't even do the job its backers claim it does; it's way too subtle.
Personally, my eyes would be way beyond it without even noticing it.
-Matt
David Gerard wrote:
On 20/05/07, Matthew Brown morven@gmail.com wrote:
Doc changed it to a blank, which I quite liked, but someone changed it back.
I'd change it to 24pt white text on a red background if that wouldn't be a gross violation of [[WP:POINT]].
On 5/20/07, Chris Howie cdhowie@nerdshack.com wrote:
David Gerard wrote:
On 20/05/07, Matthew Brown morven@gmail.com wrote:
Doc changed it to a blank, which I quite liked, but someone changed it back.
I'd change it to 24pt white text on a red background if that wouldn't be a gross violation of [[WP:POINT]].
At least such a version would actually be a useful warning, unlike the current version.
-Matt
Philip Sandifer wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Crying_Game&oldid=288389
Created by The Cunctator during the first debate on spoilers, back in 2001, when people kept citing [[The Crying Game]] as an article that should have a spoiler warning despite the article not existing at the time.
(He did similar entries for The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, and Psycho, all equally funny. Fight Club is actually probably my favorite of them, though it takes some digging to find, as it's in the history of an abandoned redirect at present.)
Don't you miss the good old days when our articles got straight to the point?
In similar retro fashion, we have the long-departed [[User:CGS]] realizing this: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php? title=Wikipedia_talk:Warn_readers_about_spoilers&diff=1075454&oldid=1075 451
Isn't it great when people are prescient?
And for those who are particularly interested in wiki-history, the major justification for spoiler warnings in the first place was that people wouldn't know that Wikipedia was an encyclopedia and so would be surprised by the spoilers. Which is probably a moot issue by now.
You can also find out such great information as that the spoiler warning's first supporter, [[User:Koyaanis Qatsi]], felt that they were overused back in 2003. That Larry Sanger liked spoiler warnings back in the day.
The mindset of some people is such that telling them that Sanger supported them could result in more opposition to the warnings. ;-)
And that [[User:Eclecticology]]'s position on spoilers has not changed in five years: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk:Warn_readers_about_... http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/Pol...
I guess I do need to apologize for my inconsistency in the spelling of "market(t)ing" :-[
Wow!! I hadn't imagined that this subject would inspire such a wave of nostalgia.
Ec
On 5/19/07, Philip Sandifer sandifer@english.ufl.edu wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Crying_Game&oldid=288389
Created by The Cunctator during the first debate on spoilers, back in 2001, when people kept citing [[The Crying Game]] as an article that should have a spoiler warning despite the article not existing at the time.
(He did similar entries for The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, and Psycho, all equally funny. Fight Club is actually probably my favorite of them, though it takes some digging to find, as it's in the history of an abandoned redirect at present.)
Don't you miss the good old days when our articles got straight to the point?
Gosh, I had forgotten about that.
Nice to see it's still around in BJAODN.
Psycho http://nostalgia.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho: He's mother. The Crying Game http://nostalgia.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crying_Game: She's a he. Fight Club http://nostalgia.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight_Club: He's beating himself up. The Sixth Sense http://nostalgia.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Sense: He's been dead the whole time.
On 5/23/07, The Cunctator cunctator@gmail.com wrote:
On 5/19/07, Philip Sandifer sandifer@english.ufl.edu wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Crying_Game&oldid=288389
Created by The Cunctator during the first debate on spoilers, back in 2001, when people kept citing [[The Crying Game]] as an article that should have a spoiler warning despite the article not existing at the time.
(He did similar entries for The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, and Psycho, all equally funny. Fight Club is actually probably my favorite of them, though it takes some digging to find, as it's in the history of an abandoned redirect at present.)
Don't you miss the good old days when our articles got straight to the point?
Gosh, I had forgotten about that.
Nice to see it's still around in BJAODN.
Psycho http://nostalgia.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho: He's mother. The Crying Game http://nostalgia.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crying_Game: She's a he. Fight Club http://nostalgia.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight_Club: He's beating himself up. The Sixth Sense http://nostalgia.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sixth_Sense: He's been dead the whole time.
You do realize you just spoiled all those movies for me, right?
But seriously, let's try to keep actual spoilers out of this discussion. ~~~~