[WikiEN-l] Have we ever had a reader complaint of a lack of spoiler tags?

[Daniel P. B. Smith]

> From: "David Gerard" <dgerard at gmail.com>
>
> The current stage of the Great Spoiler Shift is a rough guideline on
> [[Wikipedia:Spoiler]] and discussion on the talk page. Phil Sandifer
> has asked one very apposite question: Where is the evidence our
> readers even care? None has been presented
>
> (As one of those whose phone number seems to have become Wikipedia's
> phone number, I get people calling and complaining about their *login
> not working* (wtf) as well as every *other* content issue under the
> sun. I have *never* had a complaint that we spoilt a work of fiction
> for someone. I await a single piece of evidence, not conjecture.)
>
> Do spoiler warnings in Wikipedia actually serve the public at all?
> - d.

I doubt it.

If people actually cared about spoilers they'd demand a much more  
effective mechanism... like a disclosure system that actually _hides_  
the material until you positively affirm that you want to see it.

As it is, I can't vouch for how other people's eyes scan pages, but  
by the time _I_ see the spoiler notice, it's too late to stop myself  
from flicking my eye ahead and glimpsing the forbidden material.

The present system is about as effective as those restroom practical  
jokes--the pictures with a hinged wooden fig leaf that says "do not  
lift," which, when lifted (uh, um, yeah, a _friend_ told me about  
this) sounds a loud buzzer out in the bar.