[WikiEN-l] Reflections on the end of the spoiler wars

[Tony Sidaway]

On Nov 19, 2007 6:28 PM, Guy Chapman aka JzG <guy.chapman at spamcop.net> wrote:
> There
> were so many, and in so many patently absurd places, that it does
> look rather as if someone or group of people originally set out to
> do what David and Phil did, only in reverse.
>
> I mean, who in their right mind would include spoiler tags when
> writing an article about a Shakespeare play, the Iliad or Dickens?
> The kinds of editors who write those articles are typically not the
> kind of people who would even think about a spoiler warning, in my
> view.

The old version of the spoiler guideline, before mid-May, was written
and interpreted so as to support this wide proliferation.  There was
even a small flap on the talk pages of various articles about
Shakespeare plays, fairy tales and the like.  Entrenched custom, I
think.