What is a spoiler?

We kinda talked about this at Southpark, but I was wondering, what do you consider a spoiler? Is it something LFL wants to keep secret or something you don't want to know?

The Zam Wesell graphic novel has some info about her I wouldn't have wanted to know before seeing the film, yet it was in a comic so it must not be something LFL wanted to hide.

BTW, this thread is meant to discuss what a spoiler is, not spoiler material.

 

The JC boards go on the rule of thumb that anything officially released by LFL (trailers, action figures, info in the SW.com databank, etc.) is no longer a spoiler....now if someone swipes a pic of a hasbro figure3 weeks before Hasbro.com puts it up, it's a spoiler, but once Hasbro does, then it isn't. Again, this is how this forum(s) is supposed to be ran. People's individual tolerances to spoilers vary greatly of course, but it never ceases to amaze me when people get really upset about seeing any type of Ep2 picture, yet they are here posting all over the place.

 

I know after reading the JC Discussion Forum rules about spoilers, they are pretty fair as to what is considered a spoiler. The problems comes when you get the variety of opinions as to how much "official" info "spoils" your SW experience anyway. For myself, I know a few names and planets; but, I know next to nothing about the general storyline.

And forget all this talk about dividing up into "hard-core" spoiler, spoiler-free, "hard-core" spoiler-free. The one thing that gets overlooked is the fan's responsibility to regulate their own level of information...and not force that on everyone else. Just because you know someone who's cousin caught a glimpse of GL's notes on the set and posted his "findings" over the internet...doesn't mean it's true...or for that matter that everyone wants to hear it.