[WikiEN-l] Template:spoiler

[Anthony DiPierro]

On 5/16/06, Peter Mackay <peter.mackay at bigpond.com> wrote:
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: wikien-l-bounces at Wikipedia.org
> > [mailto:wikien-l-bounces at Wikipedia.org] On Behalf Of Anthony DiPierro
> >
> > It's also common sense that an encyclopedia article on
> > [[Fahrenheit 451]] is going to contain, you know, details on
> > the plot of Fahrenheit 451.
> >
> > So can we please please get rid of [[template:spoiler]] while
> > we're at it?
> >
> > Hell, I'm going to start a new thread on this, cause I'm
> > serious.  I hate that template.
>
> Does it really hurt?

It's annoying, about on the level of those ads some websites place in
the middle of their news articles.  I wish there was at least a way to
turn them off, but then again I usually don't log in so that wouldn't
help me all that much.

> Believe it or not, there are some folk around who don't
> know if Hamlet becomes King of Denmark or if Romeo gets the girl, and maybe
> they want to know a bit about the historical and publishing background
> before they read a novel or see a play. Maybe they get to the article
> through Google and they are really looking for information on Ray Bradbury
> or Julie Christie ***sigh*** ond don't care to have plot details revealed.
>
> Our readers don't always come to our articles by typing in the title.
>
Well, using [[Hamlet]] as an example, if they read through the article
and stop when it gets to the sections that have the titles "Main
characters" or "Plot Summary", then they'd accomplish that perfectly
well *without* a warning.  I mean, the section is called "Plot
Summary".  Isn't that warning enough?

Seriously, look at that article.  It reads (in pseudo-wikitext):

==Plot summary==
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Go figure, plot details follow a headline which says "Plot summary".

Anthony