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

[Steve Bennett]

On 5/20/07, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
> Do spoiler warnings in Wikipedia actually serve the public at all?

Very poor form of me to reply twice to the same message, but I'd like
to relate an experience I had this morning. I was led to this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_hardest_logic_puzzle_ever

I am extremely grateful for the spoiler warning. I was able to read
the intro, which describes the problem. Then I saw the spoiler
warning, and thought for a couple of seconds, and decided I didn't
want the answer yet. Whereupon I was late for work due to spending an
hour discussing the problem with my girlfriend.

Seriously, spoiler warnings are very appropriate in some places. Just
because some people over-use them, or because we can come up with
ridiculous scenarios (Shakespeare being the classic strawman), doesn't
mean they don't have a purpose, or should be abolished.

Does anyone really think we should scrap the spoiler warning on that
article? And if so, how are we better serving our readers, or
improving our encyclopaedia?

Steve