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A '''[[spoiler (media)|spoiler]]''' is a piece of information in an article about a narrative work (such as a book, feature film, television show or video game) that may reduce one's enjoyment of reading, viewing, or playing the work by revealing certain [[plot (narrative)|plot]] [[event]]s or [[twist ending|twist]]s. If someone hasn't read, watched or played the material to which the warning refers, they might wish to avoid reading the spoiler before fully experiencing the work.
A '''[[spoiler (media)|spoiler]]''' is a piece of information in an article about a narrative work (such as a book, feature film, television show or video game) that may reduce one's enjoyment of reading, viewing, or playing the work by revealing certain [[plot (narrative)|plot]] [[event]]s or [[twist ending|twist]]s. If someone hasn't read, watched or played the material to which the warning refers, they might wish to avoid reading the spoiler before fully experiencing the work.


When discussing creative works, e.g. books, music, computer games, TV series or films, then an encyclopedia's task is to give a summary of the work and its place in the overall field. Thus, it is natural that the action of a book or a film will be described and discussed in full.
Although Wikipedia strives first to inform and so may include spoilers, not all visitors will recognize this function, so some people will appreciate a spoiler notice. An article may contain analyses and background detail not available or at least not obvious in the work described. Where this is the case, some people feel a spoiler notice should be made prominent as a simple courtesy. Some WikiProjects, such as [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Final Fantasy|WikiProject Final Fantasy]], have decided to limit use of this guideline.


Many books or films lose their attraction, however, if too many details or the ending are revealed before they are read or seen. So it became common on the Internet to put before such descriptions a spoiler warning.
It is also recommended that editors avoid placing spoilers in [[Wikipedia:Edit_summaries#Writing_edit_summaries|edit summaries]] or section headers (unless the spoiler warning is before the [[Wikipedia:Table_of_contents#Table_of_contents_.28TOC.29|table of contents]]) and avoid [[Hyperlink|linking]] from another article to a section inside the spoiler area. Information that may be a spoiler for a narrative work may sometimes be relevant in articles about other subjects than the narrative in question, for example in the article about another fictional work, an [[actor]], or an [[author]]; in these cases, spoilers can still be preceded by a spoiler warning.


In encyclopedias, however, this is rare. It is unnecessary to include spoiler warnings; existing ones may be removed. The section which contains a description of the plot should, however, always be clearly denoted, for example by the heading ==Plot summary== or ==Synopsis==.
The question of spoilers should never influence decisions about article content and structure. If moving a spoiler from an article's lead section decreases the quality of the article, the article quality is more important than warning readers about spoilers.
==Suggested templates==
One standard way to warn is to insert {{tl|spoiler}} before the revealing text. On the real article this will appear as this:

{{spoiler}}

If you wish to specify the spoiler's nature (particularly if this isn't clear from the article's / section's title), you may use {{tl|spoiler-about}} before the revealing text. <nowiki>{{spoiler-about|(a particular element)}}</nowiki> appears as:

{{spoiler-about|(a particular element)}}

[Replace '''''(a particular element)''''' with the appropriate phrase.]
This template also can be used to specify that spoilers affect multiple works, as the ''phrase'' can be a list or description of several works that are spoiled by the article involved.

If an article contains spoilers pertaining to both the titular subject '''and''' a subject or subjects other than the one indicated in the title, you may use {{tl|spoiler-other}} before the revealing text. <nowiki>{{spoiler-other|(other subjects)}}</nowiki> expands to:

{{spoiler-other|(other subjects)}}

[The text displayed above as '''''{{PAGENAME}}''''' will be the article's title. Replace '''''(other subjects)''''' with the appropriate phrase.]

Unlike the {{tl|spoiler-about}} template, {{tl|spoiler-other}} emphasizes the distinction between the article's titular subject and the other subject(s) potentially "spoiled," and should be used ''only'' in an applicable situation.

Note that some editors encourage the use of {{tl|spoiler-about}} instead of {{tl|spoiler-other}}, especially if you're unsure of which to use. The former can be applied to any situation that calls for the latter (albeit with less than ideal results), but the reverse is ''not'' true. Therefore, whenever in doubt, it's best to use {{tl|spoiler-about}}.

If an article contains spoilers regarding any other subject not covered by the previous templates, you may use {{tl|spoiler-blank}} before the revealing text. <nowiki>{{spoiler-blank|(subject)}}</nowiki> expands to:

{{spoiler-blank|(subject)}}

[Replace '''''(subject)''''' with the appropriate phrase.]

If only part of the article contains spoilers, and you wish to indicate where these end (so that a reader can skip the spoilers and read the parts below), you can insert {{tl|endspoiler}}. This expands to:

{{endspoiler}}

===Specialized templates===
If these general-purpose [[Wikipedia:Template messages|template]]s are not suitable for the particular article you are working on, feel free to custom-design your own warning template, but please link back to this page.

The following spoiler templates are for specialized uses.

====Secrets of magic tricks====
{{tl|magic-spoiler}}

{{magic-spoiler}}

====Puzzle solutions====
When a puzzle, word problem or similar question is presented, you may wish to insert {{tl|Solution}} before giving the solution. This expands to:{{Solution}}


==Unacceptable alternatives==
==Unacceptable alternatives==
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* Another common method of hiding spoilers from readers is to change the color of the text to match that of the page background, thus rendering the text unreadable until highlighted by the reader in a selection. [[Hidden text|Hiding text]] in this manner is unacceptable here because it requires explanation to readers unfamiliar with the practice, and because it may be incompatible with [[computer accessibility]] devices such as [[screen reader]]s. Also, some web browsers highlight text by inverting the colors of the text and background. In these browsers, for white text on a white background, highlighting produces black text on a black background. Also, it is possible for a user to set their browser to refuse to change text color (just as they can refuse to display images); text-only browsers (such as [[Lynx (web browser)|Lynx]]) may likewise disregard requests to change text color. In addition, it renders the text unprintable.
* Another common method of hiding spoilers from readers is to change the color of the text to match that of the page background, thus rendering the text unreadable until highlighted by the reader in a selection. [[Hidden text|Hiding text]] in this manner is unacceptable here because it requires explanation to readers unfamiliar with the practice, and because it may be incompatible with [[computer accessibility]] devices such as [[screen reader]]s. Also, some web browsers highlight text by inverting the colors of the text and background. In these browsers, for white text on a white background, highlighting produces black text on a black background. Also, it is possible for a user to set their browser to refuse to change text color (just as they can refuse to display images); text-only browsers (such as [[Lynx (web browser)|Lynx]]) may likewise disregard requests to change text color. In addition, it renders the text unprintable.


==Turning spoiler tags off==
Those who wish to not see spoiler warnings could use the following [[Cascading Style Sheets]] rule:
.spoiler { display: none; }
Any web browser which supports CSS (as almost all do) will then hide the spoiler warnings. (You will still see them in the Wikitext when editing.)

There are lots of ways of doing this, especially for users of [[Mozilla Firefox|Firefox]] or [[Opera (Internet suite)|Opera]]. Doing it locally on the computer you are using will work both for anonymous and logged-in users.

An alternative method is available to users with a [[Help:Logging in|Wikipedia user account]]; this will work without changing browser settings:

#Go to your [[Special:Mypage/monobook.css|monobook.css]] page
#:(This is the default skin/style. If you are using another skin, substitute the name of your preferred style for monobook, for example [[Special:Mypage/nostalgia.css|nostalgia.css]].)
#Click on the link to create the page, or click ''edit this page''.
#Enter <code>.spoiler { display: none; }</code>
#Save the page.
#Follow the instructions in [[Wikipedia:Bypass your cache]].
:Spoiler warnings are now hidden as long as you are logged in, no matter what computer you are using. (Applies to CSS compliant browsers.)
[[Category:Wikipedia how-to|{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Wikipedia how-to|{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Wikipedia templates|{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Wikipedia templates|{{PAGENAME}}]]

Revision as of 03:07, 16 May 2007

For software, see Wikipedia:Software (WP:SOFT); for Spoken Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Spoken Wikipedia (WP:WSW). For Wikipedia guidelines regarding non-spoiler warnings, see Wikipedia:No disclaimer templates (WP:NDT).

A spoiler is a piece of information in an article about a narrative work (such as a book, feature film, television show or video game) that may reduce one's enjoyment of reading, viewing, or playing the work by revealing certain plot events or twists. If someone hasn't read, watched or played the material to which the warning refers, they might wish to avoid reading the spoiler before fully experiencing the work.

When discussing creative works, e.g. books, music, computer games, TV series or films, then an encyclopedia's task is to give a summary of the work and its place in the overall field. Thus, it is natural that the action of a book or a film will be described and discussed in full.

Many books or films lose their attraction, however, if too many details or the ending are revealed before they are read or seen. So it became common on the Internet to put before such descriptions a spoiler warning.

In encyclopedias, however, this is rare. It is unnecessary to include spoiler warnings; existing ones may be removed. The section which contains a description of the plot should, however, always be clearly denoted, for example by the heading ==Plot summary== or ==Synopsis==.

Unacceptable alternatives

The following methods should never be used to obscure spoilers:

  • Deleting relevant, neutral and verifiable information about a narrative work from Wikipedia "because it's a spoiler" instead of properly applying spoiler templates.
  • In various Internet discussion forums, a widespread convention is the insertion of blank (or virtually blank) lines before a spoiler (which removes the offending text from the reader's view, until he/she scrolls to the next page). Obviously, this is unacceptable in a general-purpose encyclopedia.
  • On the Usenet computer network, a popular method of concealing spoilers (and sometimes, offensive material) is ROT13 encryption. Again, this is unacceptable in a general-purpose encyclopedia.
  • Another common method of hiding spoilers from readers is to change the color of the text to match that of the page background, thus rendering the text unreadable until highlighted by the reader in a selection. Hiding text in this manner is unacceptable here because it requires explanation to readers unfamiliar with the practice, and because it may be incompatible with computer accessibility devices such as screen readers. Also, some web browsers highlight text by inverting the colors of the text and background. In these browsers, for white text on a white background, highlighting produces black text on a black background. Also, it is possible for a user to set their browser to refuse to change text color (just as they can refuse to display images); text-only browsers (such as Lynx) may likewise disregard requests to change text color. In addition, it renders the text unprintable.
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special%3ADiff%2F131208283