February 5, 2014

Some advice about the Olympics and possible spoilers

As everyone here is probably aware, the Winter Olympics start this week. And once again NBC is going to be showing many events on tape-delay during primetime. That means that many DU members will probably not see the events when they are actually happening, and will instead see them for the first time during primetime -- hours after they have actually happened. This of course raises the possibility of "spoilers" -- when you learn the outcome of the event before you actually watch it.

With this in mind, here are a few thoughts...

[font size="3" font face="arial, helvetica"]Advice for people posting about the Olympics on DU[/font]

• Thread titles: If you want to post about the Olympics it is common courtesy to refrain from posting spoilers in the subject line of a discussion thread. Posting spoilers in the subject line of a thread is considered rude by many people and may put your thread at risk of being hidden by a Jury.


• Repeatedly posting spoilers on purpose: During the last Olympics, one person loudly and proudly proclaimed that he was deliberately posting spoilers for every event (for what he believed was a perfectly good reason). Even if you think you have a perfectly good reason for maliciously disrupting DU in this manner, don't do it.

[font size="3" font face="arial, helvetica"]Advice for people reading DU during the Olympics[/font]

• If you feel strongly that you do not want to accidentally encounter Olympics spoilers, you should not be on Democratic Underground or any other social media during the Olympics. That is just a fact.


• You should assume that any discussion thread about the Olympics will include spoilers even if there is no "spoiler alert" warning in the title.

[font size="3" font face="arial, helvetica"]And on a related note...[/font]

There are a number of DUers who have already indicated that they intend to boycott the Olympics this year to protest the horrific treatment of LGBT people in Russia, and the laws passed by the Russian government which serve to legitimize anti-gay hate. If you decide to watch the Olympics, and discuss the Olympics here on Democratic Underground, you should not be surprised if some DU members question the appropriateness of your decision to watch. I fully expect this discussion to occur here on DU, and I hope that members who choose to engage in a discussion on this topic will make an effort to remain respectful.