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Herongale (![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} herongale) wrote in ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/community.gif){kind=small} fandom_wank,@ 2004-04-15 11:28:00 |
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| Entry tags: | spoilers- noooo! you bitch! you bitch!!!, usenet wank |
The Humblest Man on the Net
One of my favourite usenet posters is John S Novak III, and his main realm of operations is in the Robert Jordan newsgroup. Although the group has been on the slow decline for a couple of years now, he is but one of a group of dedicated posters who have been around since the early 1990s.
It's a very acrimonious place. Recently, one of the older posters (Maggie) asked a question about the West Wing: specifically, when did it start to suck. Richard G. Rius gives her a fairly reasonable answer, pointing to the final episode of last season ("Commencement") and explaining a little bit about why things have been less interesting since.
Maggie's response (a few posts down)? Spoliers. SUCK. You. Mouthbreathing. Fuckwit. [SIC]
Several people come to her defense, because hell, she's a "name" on the group. However, Novak is also a "name" and he calls her on her bullshit, in several deliciously acerbic posts.
Examples:
This is actually bullshit. Spoiler protection, I'm sorry to say, is
not the norm. You can only expect spoiler protection in a few pretty
narrow circumstances.
You can expect it in an on-topic newsgroup, if the prevailing norms so
dictate, because it's a good way to enlarge the readership. But even
then, the protection only holds for a short period of time. You can
expect it, in common conversation, for a pretty short period after
something (a TV episode or a movie, say) airs, but not much farther.
Past that point, insisting or expecting spoiler protection makes *you*
the arrogant asshole, since the assumption is that everyone has to
watch out for your virgin ears. Just not going to happen.
Or, to be brief: Frodo lives. Caesar dies. Christ does both.
Get over it.
And, excerpted from a direct reply to Maggie Herself:
If you actually think people are going to go to that much effort to
protect you from common knowledge, you are going to lead an angry,
bitter little life, spent with many interludes of shrieking.
Full thread can be found here
