Beware of posting spoilers on the US forums, too!
by Elizabeth Harper 
Jul 17th 2007 at 10:41AM
We would like to remind our forum goers of our strong stance against trolling by way of posting spoilers for movies, tv shows, and books. We take these attempts to cause others grief and produce general unrest on these forums very seriously, and we take a harsh stance against any outright or veiled attempts to spoil the enjoyment of others. Posting spoilers can result in a lengthy suspension, up to and most likely a permanent removal of all posting privileges from these forums.
I'm quite glad to see they're taking a strong stance on the subject, since nothing's worse than having a book or movie's ending spoiled for you. However, I still think the best case is going to be to avoid this, and all other internet forums until after you finish reading that last Harry Potter book. After all, CMs are only human, and there are a lot of spoilsports out there.
[via World of Warcraft Warcry]
Filed under: Odds and ends, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Angael Jul 17th 2007 11:00AM
This makes no sense whatsoever. How are they going to enforce this? Its off topic, non wow related. I think there are much worst trolls on the forums than ones whom reveal spoilers in the misc forums. Isn't there a better place to discuss this? Maybe
http://boards.harrypotter.warnerbros.com/web/index.jspa
?? The WoW forums aren't exactly ideal.
James Jul 17th 2007 11:07AM
@1
Good to see you've put no thought into your post whatsoever. The people doing this don't post in the miscellaneous forums. They post in ALL of the forums, and they'll title their post something like:
"Ideas for the next expansion"
You click on the link, and lo and behold, there is the ending to Harry Potter, or the ending to what the hell ever they feel like spoiling for other people. Frankly, there is no worse troll than this. What, did you seriously think that these people limit themselves to one particular area of the WoW forums? You're getting my vote for most ignorant forum post of the day.
Erica Olson Jul 17th 2007 11:08AM
And why would anyone be posting "spoilers" for books, movies and tv shows on this forum anyway. This is supposed to be a WoW forum.
I'd kick them for posting non-Wow related material.
Paw Jul 17th 2007 11:13AM
I'm not sure why someone would write so extensively on the official WoW forums about a subject other than WoW that spoiler warnings would ever need to be an issue. If you really want to talk about the latest Harry POtter book, there has got to be a forum out there for it.
Oh, and the Fonze makes the jump over the shark. Sorry if I spoiled that for you.
(did I just age myself?)
James Jul 17th 2007 11:13AM
Oh, and as to "enforcing" the rules on no spoilers in the forums, the Blizzard forum moderators are using a revolutionary new tool on the forums to stop this sort of thing from happening. They read the post. I know, its insane. Reading?!? I didn't believe it at first either, but the way it works is a person posts the spoilers, and, the way the WoW forums are set up, the person's character profile is right there off to the side of the post. This allows moderators to say, yep, that character matches this account, so we'll ban the account. Its just crazy what can be done with technology and sarcasm these days.
Dracula Jones Jul 17th 2007 11:16AM
@4, see post 2. This applies to you, as well.
Brian Karasek Jul 17th 2007 11:26AM
Being a prick on the forums is usually bannable under any circumstances. This is just one more iteration thereof.
Galipan Jul 17th 2007 11:20AM
I think Blizz is a little late on this. In the "Once my Astral Recall Crit" thread, some jack@$$ decide to screw us all over, by spoiling the good time and posting the end to Harry Potter. It's outrageous how many people just feel the pathalogical need for attention. I mean, they posted the end of Harry Potter on such a fun thread, that really spoiled it for me, because I was lolling IRL. Bastards.
James Jul 17th 2007 11:29AM
@7
Are you sure they spoiled it? I'm too lazy to go check that thread, and honestly, is someone really going to know the ending to the thing when it doesn't come out til the 21st, and it has heaps of security to keep the ending secret? I doubt JK Rowling, her editors, or any of her close friends are going to be writing in to the WoWInsider forums to spoil the ending to Harry Potter. Aside from them, I'm reasonably sure no one really knows the ending at this point, even if they insist they do.
Dracula Jones, thanks for pointing out everything to #4. The coffee is wearing off, and I'm getting to tired to bother with more responses.
Shadowisp Jul 17th 2007 11:34AM
Well I dont mean to spoil the ending, nearly every book ends with a "Full Stop", rare exceptions are either a "Question Mark" or and "Exclamation Point".
:P
Sylythn Jul 17th 2007 11:39AM
Some of the best ones though end with an "Ellipsis".
Usandar Jul 17th 2007 11:44AM
*ahem* "Flame on!"
James Jul 17th 2007 12:08PM
I stand corrected. Not enough security, apparently. Two news articles off of Drudgereport are saying the whole book has been leaked online, and scans of the epilogue are also running about. Here's one article on the problem:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1275602,00.html
Soooo, time to turn off General, Trade, LocalDefense, Yell, and GuildRecruitment in WoW. Good times.
Expect random forum posts on WoW to now actually contain the truth, rather than random guesses about the ending.
Fryn Jul 17th 2007 12:23PM
Yes, some sneaky tech librarian somewhere took pics with his/her phone.
Technical librarians (glue pots and all) FTW.
Technical librarians who can somehow afford phones with high-res cameras FTL.
Bob Jul 17th 2007 12:26PM
Ron dies.
Lupin dies.
Percy dies (this death occurs before the wedding, inevitably throwing events into chaos).
Voldemort dies.
Snape dies.
Details aren’t needed. Just say BELLATRIX KILLS RON!
catch the irony in this one?
Pat Jul 17th 2007 1:07PM
@6 @9
You miss the point I was trying to make oh so briefly. There are people who get their jollies from posting spoilers, just as there are people who get their jollies from being self-righteous, know-it-all pricks on the forums. The question that will never be able to be answered is "why are they like that"? There are places to discuss such things if such things are what you want to discuss. Why people bring it to a completely irrelevant forum is beyond comprehension, other that to surmise that they just want attention, and likely have no real clue about what it is they are spewing. They just want, like the know-it-all-know-nothings, to be noticed.
It is highly probable that some or all of the book has been leaked. To whom and how much is anyone's guess, and the publishers certainly aren;t going to admit anything. However, given the nature of people to twist any story they've been told just a little bit (because of what they think they remember,or because they want to be seen as THE resident expert of all things), by the time it reaches your ears, or eyes as the case may be, it is equally as likely that Harry Potter saved the Rebellion from the Empire by destroying the Death Star, as it is for any other plot ending that might come across the WoW forums (of all places), including the correct one.
Theserene Jul 17th 2007 1:28PM
*yawn* It's just a damn book.
James Jul 17th 2007 1:45PM
@17
Hey, cool guy, I know you sound bad ass being all who cares about a book. Tell you what, what are something things you enjoy? Would you like those things ruined? Nice to see that you're concerned enough to read the post, and then make a comment. If it really was no big deal, why are you even here?
@16
Ah, I see what you're trying to say. And, I agree, it has to be attention. The internet has given these folks a whole new outlet for being jerks.
Mitchel Jul 17th 2007 2:09PM
Honestly, it wouldn't be such a big problem if people didn't flip out when it happened. Trolls can only troll when you give them some material to work with.
Angael Jul 17th 2007 2:28PM
@5
Oh really? Hmm... and how exactly is that working out. I bet I can spot a troll in 80% of misc threats. Are they banned? No Clue? Could you prove it if they were? Cause I can prove that their threads aren't deleted. And if a few are, certainly not fast enough. Do you really think a few mods will read every single topic over and over again because of a new post.