>And this is going into the realm of insanity. Sure, not everyone >can or will get the books immediately in hardcover. But it's >often a year or more before the book is available in paperback. >So we should spoiler-protect books for a year or more after their >release? Or even longer, to accomodate people who just >don't want to get the book right away even in paperback? >What about foreign language readers? People who can't find the >early books? Oh, come now! You write as though putting spoiler space in is some major sort of burden. I think that waiting for the paperbacks to come out is an entirely reasonable compromise, nor do I think we need to invoke fears of some kind of slippery slope. Unless we actually hear a clamoring from people demanding we wait for foreign releases, etc, I think that we can dismiss those concerns from consideration. We have, on the other hand, heard from people who can't buy books until they reach paperback -- a population that I would suspect has quite a few members -- and I would consider their interests to be legitimate and worthy of address. >IMHO, the whole list is a spoiler zone. If you don't want to be >spoiled... don't read the list. As has been pointed out, the topics on the list deal with much more than the latest books. As such, only a fraction of the dialog covers things that relate to spoilers, much less spoilers for the books that are only out in hardback. As such, the suggestion that the entire list is a spoiler zone is, I think, an exaggeration. I think that there is room here for people who want to discuss the series who, never the less, aren't able to run out and grab new hardback editions the moment they reach the shelves, and I think that moderate use of spoilers (since no one is suggesting spoiler protection for all the books) is merely a matter of simple courtesy and consideration, nor do I think that it is, in any way, an onerous courtesy. _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail