Jumping ahead to make a suggestion for both the cross posting in Angel and Buffy and the movie thread.

How about no white font? How about, instead, we use spoiler warnings and space? This gives those who haven't seen the shows or movies a chance to skip over, and allows those who want to have an uninhibited conversation to have one. (By the way - I'm not stuck on this idea, it's just an idea)

For example:

Warning: Spoilers below for Buffy 4.1 and Angel 1.1

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Buffy goes to college and her obnoxious roomie loves Celine Dion. Angel moves to L.A. and runs into Cordelia.

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Spoilers above for Buffy 4.1, Angel 1.1

Is that bad? If it's bad for the NAFDA threads (and it might be), is it still bad for the movies/foamies threads? It just seems like we could always follow it and then not be so concerned about release/air dates.

I'd say that the two week deadline will keep all but the diehard moviephiles out of the thread, but that may be part of the point. I'm not a parent, but caregiver duties also keep me from seeing movies in a timely fashion. Then again, I'm not so much the kind of person who sees films for the plot, so the two week thing won't bug me as a general rule, just for certain films.

I can't not read, like that. if there are words, I've read past the spoiler warning before my brain processes that I shouldn't.

Yeah, I prefer whitefont to spoiler space. Even remembering that whitefont doesn't work for all people's browsers.

But then, if I care about a movie, I go see it at matinee on the day it opens. If I don't care, and might go see it later, I don't mind being spoiled except for major terrible things.

If I don't care, and might go see it later, I don't mind being spoiled except for major terrible things.

But that's precisely what people want to be able to do, talk about the major plot spoilers without using white font.

I mean, I guess I sorta understand -- except I don't -- why using white font is such a horrible infringement on some folk. I mean, I'm kinda sympathetic to their frustration, even though I neither share it nor understand it.

At any rate, I do think we need a clear idea of *when* it is okay to spoil away in our discussions. Usually for folks who are worried about a specific film the intense discussion will only last a few days and then they can wander back in. But the bigger issue is will this be a NAFDA thread? Is that fair to unAmericans who want to talk movies? Or do we need, god forbid, *two* Movie threads?

I feel like we're overthinking this. The best rule we could make would be just asking that people be considerate of each other (which Buffistas always do anyhow). I think most of us are pretty good about whitefonting truly spoilery stuff, and I haven't ever seen a problem with spoilage when films came up in Natter or Bitches.

But there's TV spoilage all the time, even just by elliptical comments.

No, I'm probably not going to read the thread unless there's whitefonting, even though I usually see movies I want to pretty early on, and I already discuss movies on WX where things are broken up month-by-month¹, and it all works just fine, since it's easy to avoid the Feb thread until you've seen all the Feb movies out you want to.

¹: NOT a suggestion

I feel like we're just overthinking this to death, and the best rule we could make would be just asking that people be considerate of each other (which Buffistas always do anyhow).

I totally disagree. We just had a 200+ post discussion of whitefonting of posts in threads for which this board was primarily designed. Prior to this discussion, we had people feel pissed that the spoiler policy wasn't discussed enough in advance of it being instituted. Obviously the whole be considerate thing didn't work out in the way we wanted because people were pissed.

I'd say be very clear now about what you want.

I'm probably not going to read the thread unless there's whitefonting,

How long do you think whitefonting would be appropriate for, ita? Forever? Until a film gets to video? Something less? And for major plot points only, or for any comments at all?

Also, we get hundreds (for example, since the last Angel, we've probably had over 700 posts and closer to 1000) but it's still not ENOUGH analysis? Wow. I'm obviously not analytical enough.