Dragaera

Spoiler spacing

Fri Mar 26 10:16:40 PST 2004


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Howard Brazee [mailto:howard at brazee.net]
> Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 9:04 AM
> To: dragaera at dragaera.info
> Subject: RE: Spoiler spacing
> 
> 
> James Burbidge wrote:
> 
> >> Is that standard for all news groups?   If so, it is too generous
> >> for this particular list server, which has a more narrow population.
> >>
> >>
> >
> > It varies.
> >
> > On rasfw, it's considered good form to spoiler just about any detail
> > which would ruin enjoyment of any book, including ones several decades
> > old, since the readership of the group is very widely varied indeed.
> > However, this frequently done via rot13 rather than spoiler space.
> 
> Varying standards make sense to me.  If the readership is wide and should
> not be expected to read everything on-topic, then the spoiler warnings
> should be liberal.
> 
> In this list server though, I wouldn't be surprised if some of us waited
> until Brust's books made it to paperback.   Certainly any Vlad 
> books should
> be assumed to be read within a month of that.  I would say any other
> Dragaeran books would be close behind.
> 
> If you want to make a case for any Brust books, I'll agree with you.
> Stories that are harder to find are a different story - and any literary
> references from elsewhere should be protected - even if they are over a
> century old.
> 

People discover books. A youth can start reading a book hundreds of years
old and gaffaw at a brand new (for them) punchline.

Spoiler space is a courtesy to fellow readers, and should be observed
by all mailing-lists of good character.

W

"The great thing about standards is that there are so many of them."