the complicated ethics of spoilers & twitter [note: this post is spoiler-free]

For as many television fans as there are in the world, there are almost as many spoiler policies.  Everyone chooses how spoiled they want to be–and for what shows.  Me?  I love spoilers.  I’ll read anything you give me, for any show, even if it’s unconfirmed.  And then I’ll talk about it.

In the last several months, however, talking about spoilers has become an increasingly challenging part of fandom, as many of our conversations have moved to Twitter.  In most message boards and on LiveJournal, there are options to “hide” spoilers, either within a spoiler bar, in text that must be highlighted to read, or after a cut or jump.  DarkUFO, the largest community for Lost spoilers, posts every spoiler individually, so that readers can choose what to read–and what to comment on.

Twitter, of course, has none of those features.  If Twitter had been around during the season three “snake in the mailbox”/LostFan108 fiasco, you could have seen “OMG THE LOST FINALE IS A FLASHFORWARD AND JACK WANTS KATE TO GO BACK!” sandwiched between two completely innocuous tweets.

Obviously, spoiler-free fans (or even just moderately spoiled fans) want to be protected from tweets like that; and most spoiled fans want to respect that.  (I know I do.)

But where do we draw the line?

I asked fellow tweeters today what they think the spoiler policy is.  And I think you’ll agree that it would be extremely limiting to meet everyone’s preferences.  @Rumpio went so far as to ask that he stay totally unspoiled until airtime–in the UK. @Loster21 suggests a “24-hour-after west-coast-airing-rule, being cryptic til then, or posting a link with a spoiler warning.”  And then there’s @piratesswoop, who says it’s all fair game as soon as the episode airs.

I’m definitely with @piratesswoop, because I think part of the beauty of Twitter is so the fandom can freak out in unison.  Once Lost is back, all it’s going to take is me saying “OMGGGGG JAAAAATE!!!!!!! ” while I’m watching the premiere and anyone not spoiled will be spoiled that there’s a big Jate moment coming up.  (Note: I don’t know that there will be any Jate in the premiere at all–I’m saying this purely hypothetically.)

But I reserve my right to squee, particularly about Jate, on Twitter.

Here are the spoiler ethics I propose.

1. No major plot points should be revealed on Twitter before its U.S. East Coast airdate. Period.
2. Casting information is fair game, as long as it does not involve plot points. (“Holy moley, Josh Groban on Glee!!!” is okay; “Josh Groban’s gonna sex up Rachel Berry? Isn’t he a little old for her?” is not.)  (Note: there have been no indications of a Rachel/Josh hookup, but please credit me on any resulting fan fiction.)
3. Anything in an official press release is fair game.  This includes guest star information, vague synopses, and episode titles.  The way I see it, this information is going to pop up on your digital cable, it’s going to pop up on the Hulu description, it’s going to be all over the promos, and it’s going to be printed in your TV Guide.  Twitter is the least of your concerns as far as staying away from that information.
4. Ausiello and Kristin are in the spoiler business.  Their stuff should be discussed cryptically or not at all.  Links with spoiler warnings are preferred.
5. As soon as it has aired on the East Coast–or wherever its origin is (cough Doctor Who cough)–have at it.

Ideally, Twitter would come up with a solution for this.  I can see one of two features:

• A feature where, say, @Loster21 could “hide” my tweets if she knows I’m in EST sitting down to watch Lost.  It would collapse my tweets so she can see that I’ve tweeted, but it wouldn’t reveal what I said.  (This feature would also be beneficial when it seems a big group of people is in the middle of a freakout–hide ‘em and rejoin them later, without having to unfollow and refollow, which can get awkward.)
• A spoiler warning feature, where the spoiling tweeter can make her tweets appear in background-colored font–or collapsed with a spoiler warning.

Until there are features that protect both the spoiler-free and the spoiled, we’re going to have to coexist.  I totally understand why people are spoiler-free (and a lot of the time, I wish I was one of you), but I also understand the need to talk about current news on Twitter.  

If you have any suggestions for more ethical ethics, please share!