Oh for pete's sake

[sholio]

*SCREAM*

So some anonymous person just posted in my last episode discussion thread what I have no doubt is the casting spoiler that I've been scrupulously avoiding.

Gee, thank you so much, anonymous person!

I screened it so others don't run across it too (since I know of at least two people who read my journal and discussions who are also avoiding Season 5 spoilers) but GOD! Okay, yes, I know it's just fandom and not worth getting that upset about, but it'd be different if I didn't ask people in pretty much every discussion I have in here that I do not want to receive spoilers. Spoil me by accident, fine; it happens. Spoil me in my own journal despite the fact that if you'd bothered to read THE POST YOU'RE REPLYING TO you'd know I don't want it? I'm sorry, that's pretty damned rude.

EDIT: Um. A couple hours later, and I'm pretty much over it -- because, honestly, as far as bad things to happen to me, this is kinda far down there below ... pretty much anything. Heh. I feel a little ... well, a LOT silly now about throwing a bitchfit over it. Thanks for the notes of support, though.

(But just for the record, I'd still appreciate it if people avoid discussing spoilers here 'till the season's over!)

Comments

[blade-girl.livejournal.com]

Well, if it was anonymous, the asswipe probably spoiled you specifically on purpose.

Don't ya just looooove the internet sometimes?

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

I ... I'm not sure; that was actually my first thought, due to the anonymity and all, but the tone was more someone discussing the show than someone deliberately being an asshat. I think it was just carelessness. I'd hate to stomp on someone who just came over here to discuss the episode and accidentally walked right into one of my hot-button areas. On the other hand, I can't exactly unspoil myself, either.

[blade-girl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, maybe it wasn't deliberate. Still, I think you'd be within your rights to respond along the lines of, "I hope you realize that you have just spoiled me, something I have even stated that I was trying to avoid. Thanks a lot."

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Um, I kinda did. Only ... not that polite.

[lavvyan.livejournal.com]

Dude, not all anonymous commenters are evil.

Or so people tell me. *coughs*

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Very true. And people get logged out by accident even when they don't mean to be.

[winter-elf.livejournal.com]

that's pretty shitty, especially anonymous! Sounds like they were doing it on purpose. *hugs* sorry you had to be spoiled.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

I've heard of such things happening, though not in this fandom (that I know of). I wouldn't put it past someone to do such a thing, but in this case, I didn't really get that impression from the tone. (But, still! If you're gonna spoil me, at least sign your name! :D )

[trystings.livejournal.com]

Oh, that sucks. Sorry to hear that. I've been avoiding SciFi trailers like the plague to avoid the spoilers, but then today I wandered over to Joe M. blog for maybe the 2nd time ever, trying to find out when he said that "Dave was John's younger brother" (seriously, wtf, so clearly the other way around) and bumped into a crapload of S5 spoilers. I had no idea Joe M.'s blog was so spoilery, especially since everybody was so upset over that Kindered pic. :(

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Yeahhhhh ... Mallozzi's blog is really bad that way. I'm really sorry you found out the hard way! I have to make myself not read it while the new season is actively in production, because he talks about EVERYTHING.

I'm really only in rabid spoiler-avoidance-mode until this season finishes up; I think I'll probably relax about it a little bit then (especially since some spoilers are inevitable). I mean, in a perfect world, I'd like to be able to watch the new season without knowing anything about it ... but I accept a few spoilers as the price of interacting in fandom. :D (Still doesn't stop me from bitching about getting ones I don't want, though...)

[trystings.livejournal.com]

I'm really sorry you found out the hard way!

Live and learn, lol. And I got so side-tracked by the spoilers, I never did find that remark about Dave and John.

(also, Kindered = Kindred. Typed too fast. Sorry).

[greyias.livejournal.com]

trying to find out when he said that "Dave was John's younger brother" (seriously, wtf, so clearly the other way around) and bumped into a crapload of S5 spoilers

...ooops! Sorry about that, Trystings. (I believe the mention was shortly after "Outcast" aired, I want to say sometime within that next week.) JM's blog is definitely the Pit of Spoils at times, although most of the times I find his spoilers are more of the "appetite whetting" kind than the "here's a plot summary for you" like at Gateworld.

[trystings.livejournal.com]

...ooops! Sorry about that, Trystings.

Eh, don't worry about it - I have no restraint when it comes to promo pics, so I'll spoiler myself anyway. *g*

Will now stumble back to Joe M.'s blog with my eyes closed and feel my way around until I've found it. Thanks for narrowing down the search. :)

[lavvyan.livejournal.com]

It is rude. And seeing as how the commenter was anonymous, maybe it was on purpose, maybe it was just stupid. In any case, it sucks. :/

*hugs*

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Thanks; I appreciate it.

In the grand scheme of things, though, it's really a silly thing to be upset about, and I'm pretty much over it by now. There was a rather intense flare of OMG YOU JERK WHAT DID YOU JUST ....! but once I calmed down and thought about it, on the scale of bad things that could happen to me, this is about a -100, and not really worth my bother to be annoyed at .... XD

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

I do know how you feel. I can't read any of your episode reviews because I just finished watching Midway. Even with the internet I'm still a couple of weeks behind, and you know I don't mind a spoiler or two, I just don't want to know the whole episode. Sympathies.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and one problem with being behind my flist (for me) on certain things is that when I get caught up, I forget where I saw all those reaction posts I wanted to go read! :D (Maybe this means I need better bookmarks.) So, I know where you're coming from there...

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

At least you know if I blab it's by accident and you also know that I will accept the polite reprimand gracefully. (I hope :))

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, of course! People I know aren't going to get stomped on for making an honest mistake. (At least ... I hope not. But if I accidentally stomp, I'll apologize afterwards!)

[naye]

*hugs*

I know it's not that serious, and I'm impressed by your getting over it, but that still SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS so bad I'm getting furious over here. It's just - how can that be somebody's idea of fun? It's not as random as posting general spam or such - someone had to KNOW that you were avoiding spoilers, and then went through the trouble of locating one and posting it in your journal and AGH.

I'm so, so sorry that people suck. But you, at least, are awesome. ♥

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Thanks. ♥

I got pretty upset at first, but the more I thought about it, the more out-of-proportion my reaction seemed. I mean, fandom's tons of fun, but I do think it's important to keep it in perspective compared to things that matter a whole lot more ...

[naye]

It's true, but - time and effort goes into fandom, and into things like posting about not wanting spoilers, and no matter what it is, it still sucks that people find it amusing to ruin something that time and effort went into.

I'm mostly upset because it happened to you, and you always look out for others and warn about spoilers and such (even when they're outside of your LJ, and even when it's not even spoilers, but just something not everyone might want to read). It's the kind of care and courtesy that doesn't deserve the kind of response you got, and I'd feel the same if someone had stepped in your newly planted garden or torn down a sign you made or anything else that might not be hugely meaningful or permanently damaging, but still shouldn't happen. And wouldn't, if some people didn't suck.

Though as a general rule, taking fandom for what it is instead of something hugely dramatic and dead serious is way healthy, and I wish more people had your admirable ability to put it in perspective. ♥

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Dawwwwwwww~! Thank you! That really does make me happy, and I don't mind meeting an occasional jerk online (or maybe just someone who made an accidental mistake, who knows), because there are a LOT of people in fandom who are really fantastic to know ... like you!

I just want everyone's experience in fandom to be as happy as possible. Because damn it, it *should* be -- that's the whole *point*! This is a bit a lot of a digression, but I think that's what really bothers me the most about things like mysogyny and racism in the shows we watch, and in fandom's response to them. You know, for me as an individual, watching and enjoying TV shows, it doesn't affect me much -- at least until it gets to a certain point (*cough* SPN *cough*), and it's especially easy to ignore if it's sufficiently balanced out by massive amounts of squee (*cough* SGA *cough*). It's not much effort for me, as an individual, to tune it out and focus on the aspects of the show that I *do* like. But if someone comes to fandom for the same happy experience I'm getting and then they can't get it, because they identify with the female characters and they're personally hurt and affronted by the female characters not getting storylines, or because the characters of color never get cast as scientists and military leaders but instead as barbarians, or because their favorite characters never get written in fanfic ... that makes me sad and angry, because they shouldn't have to feel that way. At the very least, fandom ought to pick up the slack for the places where canon falls down, and it often doesn't ... which, well, is kind of the nature of the beast in some ways, since everyone is off pursuing their own avenues of squee (as they should be), but at the very least everyone ought to be willing to stop for five minutes and say, "I'm sorry! What can I do to help?" But they don't, and that's ... daaargh. I really feel bad about the times in the past that I *haven't* done that, and I'm trying to make more of an effort to do my bit.

... uh. Digression. XD But really, I think that sums up my whole response to fandom, because it's generally a happy experience for me, and I want it to be for other people, so I try to act accordingly. I know that I miss cues a lot, and fail to pick up the slack where I should, but I do try!

[greyias.livejournal.com]

Oh, sure it seems silly when you put it next to real life drama, but still, it's something that you were kind of wanting to avoid. It's all right to get upset at a teensy bit. (This coming from the person who had two private entry rants last Friday because someone came over in the middle of SGA and made me miss the second half of the episode because she wouldn't go home...) Ah, you're a much bigger person than I.

Still, hopefully the spoiler wasn't... too spoiling. Being the spoiler whore that I am, I know some news is a little more revealing than others.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

LOL! Well, I was mad at first but calmed down once I started thinking about it. Besides, I guess there's one less spoiler I need to avoid...

[tipper-green.livejournal.com]

Hee! I'm just happy it wasn't me--I've been known to be an oblivious idiot sometimes. By the by, now that you know (and I'm assuming it's the same single piece of information that I know), it's not all that bad, is it? Eh -- don't answer that. I'll ask you afterwards.

You know, I've sort of figured out that I'm really only unhappy when I'm spoiled about story plots or events. Cast changes don't bother me as much. But I do understand the annoyance. I spent most of Season 3 trying to stay unspoiled, and I really do think it made the show a lot more fun. This season too -- except that I screwed up and looked at an image from the last ep of this season on Gateworld, and something was totally ruined for me by the caption. Very annoyed by that. If there hadn't been a caption, it would have been fine. Darn you Gateworld! LOL!

Anyway, if you can't rant and whine on your LJ, where can you rant and whine? Enjoy it!

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

*grin* Yeah, ranting is cathartic!

I suppose the sort of spoiler I mind most of all is knowing the specifics of an episode ... something vague like "there will be another episode with Todd the Wraith" doesn't bother me nearly as much as "Todd comes back and helps them reprogram the nanites to wipe out the Genii" or something like that.

It's pretty consistent for me that the less spoiled I am, the more I enjoy the show. On the other hand, I accept a certain level of spoiler-ness as the price of interacting in online fandom, and I do get more than enough enjoyment from fandom to make it worth it.

[ayumidah.livejournal.com]

bah that sucks. I try to avoid spoilers too :( It's pretty hit and miss. haha.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Yeah, hit and miss indeed. It's really impossible to be in fandom and not get spoiled at least a LITTLE bit! I just try to stave it off as long as I can.

[ayumidah.livejournal.com]

me too :D and a lot of time when I do get spoiled, it's because I get weak and go into a site where I know there are spoilers... I'm trying to stop doing that though :D The writer's strike messed me up spoiler wise, because I wasn't sure when I'd get new stuff so I got into reading some spoilers... lol now I have to cut that out since the strike's over.

[tabby333.livejournal.com]

I watched "Kindred, Part I" and wondered what it would have been like to watch it without having been spoiled. I'd probably have been as delighted and surprised as I was when "Be All My Sins Remember'd" aired. It felt good to be surprised.

I don't mind spoilers, but they can, indeed, spoil the fun.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Those "reveals" are SO much nicer when you don't know what's coming! I'm into season 5 of NCIS now, and we watched an episode tonight where a main character was in danger of getting killed, and it was really a (pleasantly) startling feeling for me to not know. I'm so used to being spoiled months in advance for all the cast changes on SGA that it's a bit weird, but in a good way, to watch a show where I haven't a clue what's going to happen.