There is a scene in an episode of The Simpsons where they are showing a flashback of Marge and Homer coming out of the film Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Homer says, as only he can ‘Wow who would have believed that Darth Vader was really Luke’s father!?’ or words to that effect (cool I found the video).

The problem here wasn’t that Homer was:

• excited about the film
• enjoyed the film
• could not believe such a great twist
• wanted to talk to someone about the amazing twist.

No, the problem was that he happened to be standing in front of the line of eager film goers waiting to see the film, the majority of, one would imagine seeing the film for the first time.

So the other day I had my own ‘Simpsons Empire Strike Back’ moment, I wasn’t however out and about, it was on Twitter and after being on there for over a year and a half it was actually the very first time. The fact that it hadn’t happened before is I suspect a minor miracle in the Twitter universe.  But it really pissed me off.

As you may have gathered, I love movies and television, more importantly I love stories, I just happen to prefer the filmed or comic book medium but if it is a good story I’ll go anywhere for it.  Often it’s the experience of the story, which is why I can say that a book series such as Twilight had my attention, the writing was not good but the story had me and I just wanted to know what happened, I wanted to experience it.

So when someone ruins a story by blurting out the pay off, they’ve robbed me of an experience, an experience I like to savor much like a rich cup of coffee.  Actually that’s a good metaphor.

Being told that a cup of coffee is great is not so nearly as satisfying as actually drinking the coffee.

Now it’s the internet, I’m not so naive to expect there to be no spoilers, collaboration is all about sharing and when talking about movies or books often one is completely unable to avoid spoilers.  What Homer Simpson should have done though when leaving the movie is wait until he was in the car before announcing plot details.

When I complained about spoilers on Twitter, the reaction my tweet got was interesting, ranging from mocking to actual discussion regarding how best to handle spoilers especially in a real time environment like Twitter.  The latter comments inspired this post.

So I can’t say what the rules are for dealing in potential spoilers online, the internet has yet to announce me the lord and master of all things online and so my oppressive rule is still some time off.  But I do personally have a code regarding spoilers.

In here, if there are going to be spoilers I’ll let you know.  I won’t tolerate spoilers in the comments if the spoiler warning wasn’t mentioned within the post and I sure as shit don’t post spoilers on other people’s blogs if they haven’t opened it up for them.

If a movie has left the cinema and is now on DVD I generally relax my spoiler concerns a little unless I know that the spoiler is the pay off in the film, an example would be The Sixth Sense (which in my opinion is old enough now to get a spoiler pass) and the twist in that film.

If I know someone hasn’t seen the show or movie and are going to see it then I’m not an asshole and ruin it for them, because you are being dick by doing so.

If a scene is in the trailer then it is not a spoiler.  Although some film companies seem to think it a good idea to have spoilers in the trailers (Terminator: Salvation for example).

I personally watch a lot of imported shows which are yet to actually show here on Australian television so I do tend to try and be a bit more careful with those as I have two or three local readers.

Specifically on Twitter, if you spoil a show or movie then I will unfollow you.  It’s the brilliance of the system in that I don’t have to follow you and you most certainly are welcome not to follow me.  If someone has just watched a show that has a cool twist and I want to talk specifics then I will direct message them.  If there is a sporting event or a show like MasterChef that I can’t watch but will later I will turn Twitter off.

Twitter is amazing for real time reactions from people and to illustrate the point I would show people the ‘Star Trek’ search which would show people’s immediate reactions to the film and not once did I read what I personally would consider a spoiler so it is possible.

I might also mention that the person who did drop the spoiler on Twitter did DM me after the event to warn that I should avoid his tweets as he would be writing spoilers.

So what are your spoiler guidelines?

What do you think is fair game and have you ever had anything really spoilt for you?