Quote:
Originally Posted by sun surfer
I think one flaw with the study is that it doesn't take into account the interest in the story or the expected surprise of a reveal.
If I were a participant, and reading short stories I care nothing about, I might say that I liked the "spoiled" stories better as well. However, that doesn't really correlate into real world situations with entertainment we specifically choose to consume and care more about. I think that all the study really shows is that many people don't mind, and maybe even enjoy, spoilers on things they don't care very much about.
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That is a very good point.
I'm very strongly anti-spoilers for first reads of things I have a high interest in - I do NOT want to know in advance, before first read, what happens in the next book of a favourite series (beyond the blurb or either very vague or very minor things; or, say, knowing that my favourite side character makes an appearance, without knowing what they actually do, is a positive spoiler, while knowing in advance that a favourite side character isn't going to appear is likely to diminish my excitement when reading).
However, with things I only have a passing interest in - shows I've half given up on, series where I'm not sure I want to read more, books that are somewhat dull so I go onto Goodreads and read reviews in the hopes of finding out whether something exciting is going to happen at all or should I just DNF it - spoilers are something I don't much care about. If I have any interest at all, I'd still rather not know spoilers of the "main character A turns out to be evil / unexpectedly kills main character B" sort, but medium things, even knowing the ending.. yeah, whatever.
Chances are that if I was given a bunch of random short stories I wasn't exactly actively interested in, I'd appreciate spoilers, too, and thus give the impression of "people want spoilers" when in real life, for "things that matter", I really do not wish to be spoiled.