Talk:Campers & Complications/@comment-96.247.3.232-20130215003009

I felt like today would be a good time for an FFT on spoilers since its been a continuing hot topic as of late. This is a polarizing topic but I want to take a bit of the middle ground here in order to try and explain why the spoilers are causing tension, why its a problem, and what can be done to circumvent these issues.

Let me begin by saying that there are two types of spoilers: Word-of-mouth and Media. Since the media clips are what anger people the most let’s focus on that for now. We’ll come back to word-of-mouth later.

I’m against posting media from the episodes before they premiere, as are most others, for several reasons. Let’s begin with the legality of it. I’ve mentioned this before, but posting clips of the episodes is illegal. There’s no exceptions to that statement. By taking a video, either partial or whole, of the episode on-demand and then posting it online for others to view is redistribution which is violating the terms of service you signed with your cable company. If you read the document further, you’ll find that this action is punishable by law. You don’t own the rights to the episode, Disney does, and until that episode formally premieres, and the rights are altered, it has no legal reason to be online.

Many people counter this argument saying that its Disney’s fault the spoilers exist and they should be simply remove the show from DCOD. While that’s a novel idea, that’s not going to happen anytime soon because on-demand service is a great way for cable networks to charge extra money to their subscribers for an extra service. That being said, that’s exactly what it is: apaid service for people to view shows early. Those rights those people pay for don’t extend and allow them to post their early access videos for those who aren’t paying for the service.

DCOD is much like a movie that premieres in select theaters. People will obviously talk about what happens in the film to their friends and that’s fine.However, the line is crossed when a person brings a camera into the theater and films the movie so that they can put it online for people to watch before it hits theaters nationally. I hope everyone can realize the illegality in that situation because this is no different. Its the exact same situation but with a movie instead of a TV show.

I think the bigger issue at hand here is more than just legality though. what it really boils down to is respect. The cast and crew of this show work really hard at what they do (its their craft for crying out loud). They have all slowly made their options on this issue known and all have unanimously said to kindly stop with the episode leaks online.

I think it should say something to the fandom when the people that create this show are telling you to stop something. They say this for a purpose though. A show’s story, when done correctly, is very impact-full when you first see it. That moment is something that can never be replicated, and the shows cast and crew want the fandom to experience that moment together. That can’t be done when people are disjointedly releasing clips of the episode online. The “feels” are just too staggered that way.

Don’t get me wrong, the people that are watching the spoilers will still watch the episode when it airs so its not really a numbers issue, but that impact is lost to the fans. Let me explain with an example. Pretend your sibling has just told you the they are planning on coming out to your parents at the end of the week. That’s a big deal for them, and something that they’ve been working up the courage to do for a long time. Its their thing to share with your parents, but if you go and take it upon yourself to talk to your parents ahead of time in hopes of “preparing” them for the discussion with your sibling later in the week. then the moment is ruined for your brother/sister. Sure, the job still gets done at the end of the day,  but you’ve now altered a moment for your sibling that that you can never undo. It’ll never have the true, intended impact that it would have had if you had just let let them present it in the way they intended to. This is what the media leaks do, they take a moment and lessen the impact.

Let’s talk word-of-mouth or text spoilers which include the sharing of links to videos other people have posted. The big argument that usually comes up in this debate is typically about rights. People love stating that they have a rightto spoil stuff and people who didn’t want spoilers should just ignore them, and they do…kind of. To explain this point, you have to understand how Tumblr is set up. Your blog is your personal space to post what you want, when you want, and how you want. The same thing goes for your dashboard, that’s made based on who you follow so its personally tailored to your likes and interests. The tags, however, are community spaces, viewed by everyone. Its Tumblr’s primary search engine so it needs to be accessible to everyone. Unlike your blog and dashboard, the tags are up for discretion rules. If you post something and the majority of the tag doesn’t approve of it, then you’re gonna have a bad time. The tag is owned by all of us and like in a democracy, you need to respect the voices of others.

There’s no perfect way to handle spoilers and with DCOD it definitely makes things more difficult, but the cast and crew have asked you to help them out and put the early leaked episodes to a stop. Either you respect them and the work that they put into making this show by honoring a request that is being made to you directly by them, or you don’t. That decision is yours, and I respect that. Just realize that the people who work so hard making this program, the ones that allow you to feel things emotions about a TV and its characters, are disappointed in you.