On Tue, Mar 11, 2003 at 10:56:15AM -0500, John Klein <zarkon at illrepute.org> wrote: > On Tue, 11 Mar 2003, Davis, Iain E. wrote: > @> I think both Orca and Issola need spoiler space. The surprises would be > @> utterly spoiled without it. > @> Admittedly, I've been wondering if it is simply courteous to attempt to > @> flag/spoiler space for all books. That way utterly new[1] people don't > @> lose out. :). > This policy has much to recommend it. I tend to prefer to err on the side > of too much spoiler space rather than too little; my fingers aren't going > to be damaged by hitting return a bunch of times, whereas someone's > enjoyment of a book could be seriously ruined by spoilers. So what's the > objection to having the space? If there are people out there who are just > too lazy to scroll down to where the text starts, I have absolutely no > sympathy for them. This argument has been hashed out here before, but it boils down to the fact that, if spoiler protection never expires, than every single message to a mailing list such as this one will require spoiler protection. *Every single one*. At that point, it makes more sense to just declare the whole list a spoiler zone, explicitly note this in the opening message, and let people make the decision however they like. It's courteous to allow people a few weeks to acquire a new book and finish reading it right after it comes out, because not everyone can get it instantly, but at some point the burden switches to the reader. -- Matthew Hunter (matthew at infodancer.org) Public Key: http://matthew.infodancer.org/public_key.txt Homepage: http://matthew.infodancer.org/index.jsp Politics: http://www.triggerfinger.org/index.jsp