Spoiler (media)

A spoiler is an element of a disseminated summary or description of any piece of fiction that reveals any plot elements. Typically, the details of the conclusion of the plot, including the climax and ending, are especially regarded as spoiler material. It can also be used to refer to any piece of information regarding any part of a given media that a potential consumer was not intended to know beforehand.
History.
One of the first print uses of the term was in the April 1971 issue of "National Lampoon", in which an article by Doug Kenney entitled "Spoilers" revealed the endings of famous films and movies. Kenney wrote: "Spoilers! What are they? Simply the trick ending to every mystery novel and movie you’re ever liable to see. Saves time and money!"
The term spoiler was introduced in the early days of the Internet, and came to prominence in newsgroup conversations. It is still common in internet articles and social media discussions. Early rules of netiquette insisted that spoilers could and should be normally avoided, but if the posting of "spoiling" information was unavoidable, it be preceded by a warning such as "SPOILER ALERT", or the spoiler itself has to be masked so that it can not be visible to any but those keen for details and not fazed at the thought of such potentially plot-revealing information.
Sometimes, these warnings are omitted, accidentally or deliberately, and some unwitting readers have had literature, films, television programmes and other works that they were looking forward to experiencing "spoiled".
There is a common demand, especially among internet users, to have protection against accidentally seeing material considered to include "spoiler" information, even in the internet version of settings where such material has conventionally and historically appeared, such as discussion groups or literary reviews. As a result of this level of objection to spoilers, trolls may post them purely for their own pleasure, finding amusement in believing they are completely ruining a narrative experience for others. On reputable websites, these can be reported to moderators and such posts taken down, the posters blacklisted, but only after the fact.
Website policies and features.
Wikipedia discloses spoilers in its articles without giving advance warning, although it previously did give such warning before 2006. Mathew Prichard, the grandson of Agatha Christie, criticized Wikipedia for giving away spoilers in the play "The Mousetrap". Andrew Jarecki, the producer of the documentary "Catfish", argued that Wikipedia should have spoiler alerts. The ending had been posted on Wikipedia before its theatrical release because the film had been shown at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Jay Walsh, a Wikimedia Foundation spokesperson, said that Wikipedia is intended to be an exhaustive knowledge source, so it would have spoilers.
Some internet forums and reference sites, such as TV Tropes and the IMDb FAQ section, have optional spoiler tags covering major plot details. The information underneath may be revealed by highlighting the text or, in the case of IMDb, rolling over the spoiler tag.
There are some applications that prevent users from reading spoilers, such as TVShow Time's Google Chrome extension, which, once set up, blocks posts on social media about episodes that the user has not seen.
On Usenet, the common method for obscuring spoiler information is to precede it with many blank lines known as 'spoiler space' – traditionally enough to push the information in question on to the next screen of a 25-line terminal. A simple cipher called ROT13 is also used in newsgroups to obscure spoilers, but is rarely used for this purpose elsewhere.
Most discussion websites provide a means of tagging certain threads as containing spoilers for those who wish to discuss a fictional work in depth, including the outcomes of events and the handling of the narrative resolution. Some have felt compelled to avoid participating on public websites altogether, set up "closed" websites to exclude those who are sensitive about spoilers, or decided they had to unilaterally blog at the expense of public exchange.
Psychological effect.
In 2011, Nicholas Christenfeld and Jonathan Leavitt of UC San Diego did a psychological experiment testing whether spoilers diminish enjoyment of fiction. They gave subjects short stories with twist endings to read, giving some of the subjects information about the twist in advance. For nearly every story, subjects who had the story "spoiled" enjoyed the story more than the subjects who didn't know the ending in advance.
The spoiling of James Holzhauer's loss on "Jeopardy!", which was reported upon by both print and Internet sources hours before it aired on most of the show's stations, had a somewhat unexpectedly positive impact on that episode's ratings. Instead of ruining the outcome, the spoilers had teased just enough to encourage viewers to tune in to see how the previously dominant Holzhauer was beaten. "Jeopardy!" does not contractually require its audience members to remain silent in regard to spoilers; members have generally followed the honor system in not leaking spoilers before episodes air.
Reactions.
Writers and directors.
The end credits to Henri-Georges Clouzot's 1955 film "Les Diaboliques" includes a card with an early anti-spoiler message from the director:<ref name="gferraratcm">