Should threads in the recommendation forum contain spoiler warnings?

[4691mls]

I didn't want to further derail clopin2814's thread about The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The topic of spoilers pops up from time to time within such threads and I thought maybe it could use a separate discussion.

Someone in that thread asked for spoiler tags because they hadn't read the book yet. Someone else thought that since it's an old classic, spoiler warnings shouldn't be necessary.

I haven't read "Hunchback" and probably won't so I don't personally care about that specific thread - I just looked at it out of curiosity. However, I do think either "spoilers" in the title or spoiler tags within the thread would be useful. Otherwise, how would I know if it's going to be a detailed discussion of plot points, or just a more general recommendation for or against the book?

There are plenty of older books I haven't read. Maybe if someone on Mobileread wrote that they really enjoyed a particular book and gave some reasons why, but without any major spoilers, it would make me want to read the book (or not, if I didn't share the poster's taste.)

I'm curious how other people feel about this topic.

[j.p.s]

I would appreciate spoiler warnings in either the title or behind spoiler buttons, or both.

[John F]

If it is a recommendation thread, then I would appreciate spoiler tags. If it is a discusssion thread, I assume there are spoiler posts.

[koboy]

yes threads in the recommendation forum should contain spoiler warnings.

best wishes koboy

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by John F

If it is a recommendation thread, then I would appreciate spoiler tags. If it is a discusssion thread, I assume there are spoiler posts.

How do you know which kind of thread it's going to be?

[DiapDealer]

I can't get behind a blanket "no spoilers" in the recommendation forum. People could never agree on what actually constitutes a "spoiler in the first place. Some people really, really, really, REALLY nitpick over things that I would never bat an eye over.

Common sense should prevail. If you're particularly sensitive to spoilers, don't read every word of a thread about a book you may want to read. Carefully skim.

On the other side of the coin ... placing questionably spoilery stuff in spoiler tags is not too difficult, either. If there's a big twist, or a particularly relevant red herring; maybe don't telegraph it.

The bottom line is that the world's messy. Nobody's ever been promised a spoiler-free reading career. Ever. And expecting people to tag every potential spoiler (or even know what everybody else in the world would even consider a "spoiler") in books written since time began isn't very realistic.

People talk about books in the rec forum. Stuff happens. I, for one, would never want to see the Recommendations Forum turn into a graveyard of countless "I liked it, you should read it" posts for fear someone might take offense.

[John F]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

How do you know which kind of thread it's going to be?

You could put it in the title, or the post, or if you don't see any spoiler tags, assume it is a recommendation.

Or one of those pretty thread flags could be created/added by the mods.

[gmw]

Seems to me that most of the older classics have been played around with for so long that there's not much left to spoil for most of them. Even the Muppets did Quasimodo. I knew most of the story of Moby Dick decades before I read it. I read the first couple of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series which are (at least in part) collections of spoilery-jokes about classics. Come to that, I've read several books like those where knowledge of classics is assumed, and for the most part I get by even if I haven't read the particular classic because of what I've absorbed over the years. I've also read book reviews of modern books that compare stories to classics so that knowledge of a classic becomes a spoiler to the new stuff.

In summary: I think it's polite to be careful with newer or more obscure works and hide the spoilers. But with well-known classics I think the ship has long since sailed.

[John F]

I hate to admit it, but the vast majority I know about, I don't know the details.

Spoiler, some classics I've read with what I can remember about them, which isn't much. I don't remember much detail about any of them.

Spoiler:

A Tale of Two Cities - Has to do with the french revolution, there was a cranky woman named LeFarge.
Crime and Punishment - The protagonist commits murder and feels guilty about it.
Romeo and Juliet - Star crossed lovers, they both die in the end?
The Brothers Karamazov - About some brothers.
Great Expectations - This one I probably remember a lot about, but would need to have my memory jogged for a lot of it.
The Count of Monte Cristo - Man wrongly imprisoned and his revenge.
Jane Austen (I didn't read Northranger Abbey) - Gossip and chick lit.
The Lord of the Rings - Ah, this one I know very well, but my memory has probably been skewed by the movie.

For most of the classics I should of heard of, I probably know something about the main plot, but not much on the details. I'm more likely to get what I "know" about the classic from a movie, or a quick reference from another book.

Spoilers for classics I haven't read, major plot (from what I've heard) spoilers.

Spoiler:

Hunchback of Notre dame - There's Quasimodo, Esmeralda, and a mean priest (mean as in nasty, not average). The priest might have some magical powers.
Les miserables - Jean val Jean, escaped convict being pursued by a mean policeman. A Lot of singing.
Tess of the Dubervilles - some woman in a miserable setting
Little Women - title is self explanatory
Don Quioxte - A senile old man who tilts at wind mills.
I can't recall the name of it, but a classic with a name of a woman, that is about that woman (now I remember, Jane Ear).

And then there are classics I know nothing about, like Daniel Deronda and East Lynne.

So, I would like to read some of these classics again (OK, not Romeo and Juliet), and read some I haven't read (Jane Eyre, it just that it is soooo looong I keep putting it off), so please use some friggin spoiler tags with classics.

[gmw]

I can just imagine you sitting down to read The Raven and saying: "ah, so that's what that episode of The Simpsons was about".

Or maybe with Wuthering Heights with the exclamation: "Dave Allen did that so much better!"

[issybird]

Originally Posted by John F

So, I would like to read some of these classics again (OK, not Romeo and Juliet), and read some I haven't read (Jane Eyre, it just that it is soooo looong I keep putting it off), so please use some friggin spoiler tags with classics.

In the context of other 19th century novels, such as those of Dickens, Trollope, George Eliot, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Balzac and so on, Jane Eyre is a quick read. It was a selection in the old MRBC, IIRC, so you could always post in the discussion thread once you’ve read it. As for your other point, given that you don’t even hang on to major plot points of books you’ve read, I can’t see that it would be difficult to forget anything you inadvertently run across before you stop reading a comment about a book you haven’t read and plan to read - especially if you’re not going to pick it up tomorrow, say, or at least this week.

[4691mls]

Not a classic, but something more recent - in some thread a few years ago - I don't even remember what the original topic of the thread was, but it was NOT a discussion of a specific book - a poster stated they stopped reading the ____ mystery series after character X did something to character Y. It was a series I hadn't read but might have. I DO still remember which series it was and what the poster said happened and thus have not read the series.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by John F

You could put it in the title, or the post, or if you don't see any spoiler tags, assume it is a recommendation.

Or one of those pretty thread flags could be created/added by the mods.

Yes, it would be nice to be able to tell from the thread title if it's a recommendation "hey, I just read ____, it was really well written and I highly recommend it" (or "it was poorly written and a huge waste of time") or if it's going to be a detailed discussion of the plot.

[John F]

Originally Posted by gmw

I can just imagine you sitting down to read The Raven and saying: "ah, so that's what that episode of The Simpsons was about".

Or maybe with Wuthering Heights with the exclamation: "Dave Allen did that so much better!"

As far as the Raven, "Nevermore" right. My English teacher did an excellent voice.

And for Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff right (but not the cat). I definitely saw the version with Binoche and Fiennes. And probably an older version.

[John F]

Originally Posted by issybird

In the context of other 19th century novels, such as those of Dickens, Trollope, George Eliot, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Balzac and so on, Jane Eyre is a quick read.

And as far as length, I've read and enjoyed A Tale of Two Cities and the EPUB page count (818) is less than the Jane Eyre (1071). And Great Expectations comes in at 1048.

... It was a selection in the old MRBC, IIRC, so you could always post in the discussion thread once you’ve read it.

As for your other point, given that you don’t even hang on to major plot points of books you’ve read, I can’t see that it would be difficult to forget anything you inadvertently run across before you stop reading a comment about a book you haven’t read and plan to read - especially if you’re not going to pick it up tomorrow, say, or at least this week.

And vice versa? If everyone knows the classics, and there is no need to do spoilers, surely they have been discussed to death and any new discussions will add nothing new other then how people "feel".