[WikiEN-l] Spoiler Boilerplates

[Steve Bennett]

On 6/23/06, Zero <megamanzero521 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> How on earth can a encyclopedia spoil a reader by being an encyclopedia...? Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a forum for netquitette relations. I humbly beg the community to clarify upon this matter and reconsider carefully the precense of this useless template upon wikipedia.

This is a perennial argument. Yes, we are an encyclopaedia. No, I
don't feel that that goal is impaired by us warning the user "You may
not want to read the following paragraph". For the same reason,
warnings when users will encounter graphic violent or pornographic
images seems appropriate.

Quite personally, I do avoid reading articles about certain books and
TV shows, because I know the spoiler warnings aren't well implemented.
Therefore, my experience as a reader is diminished, and Wikipedia's
goal is hampered to a small extent.

But hey, others disagree, and it's not ruining my life either.

Steve