Proposal for a Semi-Permanent Spoiler Board

[Kurkistan]

Hey guys,

It's occurred to me that it might be a good idea to retain this child-board until the entire 6-month "embargo period"--during which we normally spoil posts concerning new books--is over.

Having "mixed types" of threads all on the same board is just begging for trouble, really.

Even thread titles can be spoiler-y, creating the chance of spoiling someone in a quarter-second glance as well as leading to exceptionally vague titles in an effort to avoid such an occurence ("Theory about Harmony," anyone?). "Mixing types" also leads to a surplus of "SPOILERS" embedded in other threads as well as a real risk of people spoiling TES on the main Elantris boards by accident, which could shut down even Elantris-centric discussion for awhile out of fear.

I would suggest that such a spoiler-sub-board arrangement actually be used for all new releases in the foreseeable future as well. It just makes everything cleaner, and we can merge the threads back in at the end of the embargo with no harm done.

EDIT: Actually, ironically enough, this would probably be better off on the main Elantris boards than here. Would someone with Harmony-like powers mind moving it?

Edited October 20, 2012 by Kurkistan

[Asperity]

I think another thing to add would be for people to not include spoilers, or allusions, to a specific spoiler in the thread title since that shows up on the forum front page whenever a thread is updated.

[Kurkistan]

I think another thing to add would be for people to not include spoilers, or allusions, to a specific spoiler in the thread title since that shows up on the forum front page whenever a thread is updated.

Or some forum-magic might be useful to hide those thread titles...

[Riddlesinthedark]

I think another thing to add would be for people to not include spoilers, or allusions, to a specific spoiler in the thread title since that shows up on the forum front page whenever a thread is updated.

Or some forum-magic might be useful to hide those thread titles...

It would be less work for the moderating team to just have a dedicated spoiler board, with maybe a stickied directory. You're always going to have new people, especially when a big new book comes out (i.e. SA2).

This way we could just report the rare, occasional spoiler thread.

[Kurkistan]

It would be less work for the moderating team to just have a dedicated spoiler board, with maybe a stickied directory. You're always going to have new people, especially when a big new book comes out (i.e. SA2).

This way we could just report the rare, occasional spoiler thread.

That's kind of what I was getting at. A dedicated spoiler board for each new book that is easy to merge back into the main section and hides thread titles (in one way or another) from the rest of the world.

[Riddlesinthedark]

That's kind of what I was getting at. A dedicated spoiler board for each new book that is easy to merge back into the main section and hides thread titles (in one way or another) from the rest of the world.

Well, I think its a swell idea. But I dont pay for the server space here, so.

[Kurkistan]

Well, I think its a swell idea. But I dont pay for the server space here, so.

I'm no expert, but I don't think such a partition should be at all expensive in terms of server load or memory.

EDIT: Thanks for the support, also.

Edited October 17, 2012 by Kurkistan

[Argent]

The idea for such a is pretty nice, but I think 6 months is way too much. Especially for a book the size of TES. Perhaps a month?

[Kurkistan]

The idea for such a is pretty nice, but I think 6 months is way too much. Especially for a book the size of TES. Perhaps a month?

Fair enough. Six months is just the general rule, though.

[Tulir]

I like the idea, and this will help with people who do what I did when TES and tAoL came out, which was just not visit the Elantris and Mistborn boards until I got the book for fear of spoilers. This could be very useful. And I do agree, 6 full months might be a little long for TES

[Rubix]

Hey guys, we're talking it out, and we're definitely considering it (I totally support it, though not for six months, perhaps three or four, long enough for people to pick up the book). We'll let you know what we decide.

[Kurkistan]

Hey guys, we're talking it out, and we're definitely considering it (I totally support it, though not for six months, perhaps three or four, long enough for people to pick up the book). We'll let you know what we decide.

Thanks.

BTW, I added a "less than 6 months" choice to the poll, although I doubt it'll have much impact at this point.

Edited October 20, 2012 by Kurkistan

[Chaos]

I thought merging the ARC discussion of Alloy of Law to the main Mistborn board and marking spoiler topics afterwards worked perfectly fine..... I need more persuasion on this, to say the least.

I don't know. Maybe. I'm initially opposed, but it seems you guys would rather do this, which is fine. We want to make new guys happy. So, sell me on it

Or some forum-magic might be useful to hide those thread titles...

I did some research, I believe now the TES board won't appear in the "Latest Posts" thing on the forum home page. (Which, probably is the biggest benefit to segregating things initially)

EDIT: I just checked, it does work. Sorry for not having enabled initially, that's completely stupid of me.

I'm no expert, but I don't think such a partition should be at all expensive in terms of server load or memory.

I'm confused here; are you and Voldy talking about a completely separate forum, like, an entirely new subdomain? Obviously, additional subforums (like this TES board) is unrelated to server load or memory. Even a separate forum system is negligible on server resources. For example, there are like four forums installed on 17S, actually. It is traffic that costs system resources. A separate forum (as in, a separate system from 17S) for spoiler stuff would be annoying, though, because we'd need separate logins and it would be unpleasant to remerge them.

Okay, I guess I am warming up to this idea of having a subforum for the latest book. I think it is more my natural bias against subforums in general that is perhaps clouding my judgment I need to think about if I actually have some real coherent reasons against this. Doubtless Josh will successfully persuade me

Six months is way, way too long for any book, though.

[Kurkistan]

I thought merging the ARC discussion of Alloy of Law to the main Mistborn board and marking spoiler topics afterwards worked perfectly fine..... I need more persuasion on this, to say the least.

I don't know. Maybe. I'm initially opposed, but it seems you guys would rather do this, which is fine. We want to make new guys happy. So, sell me on it

*Puts on salesman hat*

Yes, spoiling worked fine, but it wasn't optimal. Thread titles were cagey, to say the least, and people were always risking inadvertent spoilers whenever they'd only read the main trilogy.

If you'd prefer, you could conceptualize it as setting aside a separate section for pure Elantris posts, but done in reverse so that people aren't spoiled on the way there. So this sub-board becomes the "people who've read both" board while the Elantris section is for people to paddle about in the shallow end .

I'm confused here; are you and Voldy talking about a completely separate forum, like, an entirely new subdomain? Obviously, additional subforums (like this TES board) is unrelated to server load or memory. Even a separate forum system is negligible on server resources. For example, there are like four forums installed on 17S, actually. It is traffic that costs system resources. A separate forum (as in, a separate system from 17S) for spoiler stuff would be annoying, though, because we'd need separate logins and it would be unpleasant to remerge them.

No, just a sub-board like TES is right now. Sorry if we used real terminology in an inappropriate and/or confusing manner.

Okay, I guess I am warming up to this idea of having a subforum for the latest book. I think it is more my natural bias against subforums in general that is perhaps clouding my judgment I need to think about if I actually have some real coherent reasons against this. Doubtless Josh will successfully persuade me

Six months is way, way too long for any book, though.

I'm beginning to feel a bit persecuted about the six-months thing at this point. It's your guys' number!

Edited October 20, 2012 by Kurkistan

[Chaos]

*Puts on salesman hat*

Yes, spoiling worked fine, but it wasn't optimal. Thread titles were cagey, to say the least, and people were always risking inadvertent spoilers whenever they'd only read the main trilogy.

If you'd prefer, you could conceptualize it as setting aside a separate section for pure Elantris posts, but done in reverse so that people aren't spoiled on the way there. So this sub-board becomes the "people who've read both" board while the Elantris section is for people to paddle about in the shallow end .

Yeah, okay, you have a point there.

No, just a sub-board like TES is right now. Sorry if we used real terminology in an inappropriate and/or confusing manner.

Nah, it is super confusing distinguishing between "forum" (individual boards) and the forums, the set of all of those boards. I just got confused with the discussion of server stuff

I'm beginning to feel a bit persecuted about the six-months thing at this point. It's your guys' number!

... Okay, point

Still, I think that is different from this case. That rule assumes that spoiler topics aren't segregated. See, there may exist topics in the main parent board (in this case, the Elantris board) that may have relevant answers that are supplied in the newer book. For example, say pre-Alloy, there may be discussions on the Lord Ruler's "Feruchemy trick", but would you really want to wait six months to even say the word Compounding (which is technically an Alloy spoiler) and give the "Feruchemy trick" its proper name?

There exist things that can add to discussion on the parent board, and those don't need to wait six months. They still warrant a spoiler tag, but you can still address older topics with the new information. So I guess in this new paradigm, I imagine it would be like, some amount of month(s) of spoiler segregation, and then the rest of the six months still need spoiler tags. Maybe I'm dumb and that's too complex, but I think even after, say, a month after release date, we are past the realm of people who have read the book--going off the assumption that 17S members are more dedicated fans and are more likely to grab the book quickly.

[Kurkistan]

There exist things that can add to discussion on the parent board, and those don't need to wait six months. They still warrant a spoiler tag, but you can still address older topics with the new information. So I guess in this new paradigm, I imagine it would be like, some amount of month(s) of spoiler segregation, and then the rest of the six months still need spoiler tags. Maybe I'm dumb and that's too complex, but I think even after, say, a month after release date, we are past the realm of people who have read the book--going off the assumption that 17S members are more dedicated fans and are more likely to grab the book quickly.

Yes, that is annoying. My little point on Feruchemical Health belongs in the Mistborn boards, surely, but I'm keeping it out in order to avoid spoiling people into, at the very least, knowing the importance of the Cognitive Realm in TES. Ugh. Have fun figuring it all out!

One point that's worth keeping in mind is the sheer number of lurkers we have (hi lurkers!). Someone might pick up Elantris, toddle on over here to try and clear up something, and then be whammied by TES stuff barely a month after release.

Side Note: How long until TES is fair game in Cosmere Theories?

Edited October 20, 2012 by Kurkistan

[Chaos]

Side Note: How long until TES is fair game in Cosmere Theories?

November 1st.