What's a spoiler?

In light of some recent threads, it needs to be said:

No spoilers means *NO* spoilers. There shouldn't be a scale of spoilers from 1 - 10, or whatever. This thread has made clear what's a spoiler or what isn't. And if something is a spoiler, it's a spoiler. Period. Leave out of this forum. Don't even bring it up and hint about, or try and give your opinion of it without giving it away.

We gotta keep this on the first page! Up!

names arent but any events not announced by the official sites are spoilers.

Some names are spoilers. Back in my pre-spoiler free days, I looked at all the domain names registered and they gave away a lot of info not available on the official site. I think only names mentioned on the official site are truly non-spoiler for now.

(Personally, I don't really mind knowing the names, but there are people in this forum who do and we ought to respect their wishes.)

I know I'm probably addressing stuff that was discussed about ages ago, but I just felt that I had to say it.

IronParrot: About what you said about some of the threads in the Spoiler forum actually supposed to be here - actually, the spoiler forum says that spoilers are *allowed*. It doesn't say that there has to be spoilers inside. So the thing is that if some people are worried about whether it's spoiler material or not, they would definitely post it there.

And upon seeing so many threads there, most people would then post more threads there, unfortunately.

My point? Basically, the threads that are there allow mentioning of spoilers in future. So you can't really decide whether it should belong here or there.

DLM: Thanks for the clarification.

Actually what I consider to be a spoiler is anything with a warning saying: SPOILER, and anything that has to be highlighted to be seen.

going up...

http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=161009&page=1

Look what I've just discovered and unearthed from its burial place deep within FanFic. Although I really did not remember most of the spoiler definitions that were agreed upon in pre-TPM days, it's interesting to see the definition they came up with two years ago and compare it to ours. There are quite a few similarities.

Uppers.

This hasn't been upped in nearly a month, so...

anything official is not. but dont go and buy the novel and sundtrack until you have seen it.

Back to the top you go...

Mr. P started a thread in Communications asking about character names in signatures or used as usernames. It brings up an interesting point. Are new character names spoilers, or will we know most names from merchandising or official sources anyway? Aren't we likely to even see the character in the trailer or official photos?

A quote from Mara: "I don't consider character names spoilers, since they will be pasted up on merchandising all over the place come May '02, and almost impossible to avoid. Besides, it would be pretty extreme if we prevented users from registering any handles with character names in them just because there is a small contingent of people here who don't want to be spoiled."

But what about a name that gives away the character, like one in particular whose names starts with "J"? It's crystal clear from the name that there's a link to an OT character. Is that something people shouldn't know, or will we all know about him/her eventually? Do we wait until the name is announced by Lucasfilm?

What about starting a thread called "********'s fight with ********* will rock?" Technically it has been revealed by official sources, although some might not realize it...

Some of you might or might not know who I'm talking about, but I wonder what everyone's opinion is on the topic.

"What about starting a thread called "********'s fight with ********* will rock?" Technically it has been revealed by official sources, although some might not realize it..."

I think a thread about that might be pushing it a bit, at least at the moment. Maybe as we get closer and closer to the film, that won't be seen as too much of a spoiler. Same with character names. Right now some of them will be seen as spoilers to some (me included), but once the action figures are released and SW.com starts talking about the new characters, I think it'll be safe to discuss them.

QUOTE:--------------------------------------
Technically it has been revealed by official sources.
---------------------------------------------

Not good enough. There are still enough spoiler-free fans out there who don't know about this that it has to be considered a spoiler. It's quite possible there will be many things about episode 2 that Lucas will never "officially" reveal in so many words, and I guess we will have to consider these things official when we get to the point where the majority of spoiler-free fans acknowledge them as fact.

I will edit spoilers out of thread titles in either this forum or OT, but I have much less control over what goes on in SA. There is nothing to stop SA threads with spoilers in their titles from coming to the top of the active topics list in plain sight. The only thing I can do is advise caution.

Dark Lady Mara is right on this one. The character in question has not been cast on the official site yet to my knowledge though in the SA forum, it is pretty much accepted that the character is official and who plays said character. The fact that there is no casting for this character yet should make it a spoiler but...those who choose names based on this or similar characters from ep2 need to be told why the name is being banned and in a very cordial way so as to make clear why the name is unacceptable.

my 2¢

It's that time of the week again.

As we get closer to release, I presume the spoiler rules will get more lax will they not?

For example, I bet Lucasfilm will have the new sith apprentice and other people/creatures bios on sw.com.(you know the creatures ARE ALWAYS THE COOLEST TOYS! ahem..). So not only will we know the names of the toys, but my guess is that parts of the movie will be partially known by opening day. Although, the way Ternian, Rawsdower, et al. are describing the ep2 plot, it may not matter if we see all the trailers 100s of times.

Then of course the interviews with everyone involved with the project will end up yielding something here and there.

As an aside, I don't know about you, but I can not wait for the trailer, which I won't discuss here because other threads are handling the topic.

--Joey

The spoiler rules will definitely get more lax as time goes on, since more information will be officially confirmed. At that time there might be some people who find our spoiler rules too liberal for their tastes, and we'll have to discuss this again. But for now, these rules seem all right.

Yeppers.

I believe this belongs at the...


TOP!!

--Mr. P

Top!

--Mr. P

Um, if GL or any offical Star Wars info source talks about 'spoilers' for Episode II or III before the movie comes out, is it then a spoiler? I.e. Lucas gives us insight into Boba Fett or the next Sith Lord publicly.

Here's a spoiler: I just tossed off, and I feel much better. Phheewwww!!

Would it be a spoiler if I said I just tossed off, and I feel much better. Phheewwww!!

"Well, in pre-TPM days, anything released by Lucasfilm was considered okay. Being something of a liberal myself, I think that's reasonable. But we've already have people leave this board because even the non-spoiler section was giving away too many details for their tastes. So I'd say anything directly out of GL or McCallum's mouth, which would probably reach the general public whether they were on this board or not, SHOULD NOT BE A SPOILER. Info coming out of Insider, or any other source people would probably not see if they didn't go out of their way to find details on E2, should be. Of course speculation of all sorts is fine."- DarkLadyMara

DLM, isn't the SW insider sanctioned by Lucasfilm? GL is not going to allow anything in there that would reveal major plot points.

In regards to the "you know who" & "you know what" thread. The speculation made was from Lucasfilm info only. Lucasfilm has said that a particular character was going to be in Episode II since Episode I opened- *OFFICIAL NEWS* We've even seen a select pic of this character- on the official SW site. We know what actor plays him from the official site. Then why is it a spoiler when we see this character in a ship and speculate what the ship is? If the offical site is not spoiler info, then this shouldn't be a problem. It would appear that the rules have changed. If people are going to leave the non-spoiler forums because we are discussing officially released Lucasfilm info. and pictures, then it needs to be either stated by the moderators that Lucasfilm info is taboo in the non-spoiler forums or it is not.

If Lucasfilm info is allowed then the people who want to stay 100% spoiler free need to stay away from any Episode II discussion threads. If Lucasfilm info is not allowed then anybody, like myself who has limited themselves to Lucasfilm info either needs to be extremely careful, or stay off the non-spoiler forum all together. If the latter is chosen, I and many others may leave permanently because we do not pertain to the spoiler forum and can no longer openly discuss Episode II in the non-spoiler forum without fear of tainting virginal discussion threads.

I give this challenge to the moderators: Please talk amongst yourselves, come up with an offical set of guidelines in regards to officially released EP II info from Lucasfilm for the Episode II & III non-spoiler discussion forums and get back to us. We need to know where we stand. Thank you.

I just saw this post by Dark Lady Mara and it is very agreeable- to me at least. I'm copying it here also just to make sure that if anybody comes here looking for it as I did, they won't miss it.

Thank you DarkLadyMara for listening to our pleas.

"In regard to the request for a summary of the current rules for what is and is not a spoiler:

1) Anything from any source dated before May 1999 is not a spoiler.

2) Anything dated after May 1999 that has been deemed official by Lucas, McCallum, the official site, SWI, Episode 2 cast and crew, or other high-ranking Lucasfilm employess is official. Trailers and merchandising, when they come out, will not be considered spoilers.

3) Anything dated after May 99 and *not* confirmed by one of the official sources above IS A SPOILER.

I admit I was growing somewhat more lax in my enforcement of these rules in the time leading up to my hiatus, but I think it's time for a change. I will be enforcing the rules more strictly from now on, and will ask any other admins who visit this forum to do the same.

As always: What's a Spoiler is open, and if you have concerns about spoiler rules, post. We'll listen. "