brenda - I'm getting only error messages.

In either of those (and despite the gfc's challenge wording, I think we're looking for most recent spoiler policy discussions that led to the policy in place today, if anyone wants to claim the gfc at this point, I don't know...) are summertime casting news items addressed?

I ask, because I think that's the point here. People who don't want to know casting news items during the TV season, do seek them out in the off-season. So if gfc is going to be invoked, there needs to be a conversation that led to them being covered under the spoiler policy. Casting news is mentioned in the FAQ as written, but not specifically this kind (season regulars announced off-season). That's all that's at dispute. While nobody wanted to try to get character X's appearance mid-season exempt from spoiler rules (which we all agree apply), it seems historically there it was accepted that summertime casting news was okay (at least some times).

They're mentioned, but not really to any resolution (except in the negative sense, that they didn't end up in the definition. And there's reference to another discussion that I haven't been able to track down since I can no longer get into those threads.

What might also be helpful (and I haven't come across yet) is whatever discussion resulted in the establishment of the Spoilers Lite threads.

What is clear is that outside of the stated spoiler policy where the broadcast only rule appears, we have precedent for dealing with this stuff in two ways. One is making an exception to the rule (Buffy's return, ASH's limited schedule), the other is designating an alternate place for discussion (Spoiled on Spike, Torez spoiler). I heartily wish we'd moved on one or the other of these options at the beginning of the summer - but I think most of us on both sides didn't think of them as options for some reason.

Note that I'm searching for these from an informational standpoint, not trying to shut anything down.

Brenda, are you doing your research here?

Nope, I was briefly able to get into the WX archives this afternoon.

If your download speed is good, everything should be there.

I don't see the Roll Your Own or Bureaucracy threads from WX. Am I missing them?

D'oh. Good point. I guess they're still open, so unarchived.

Don't mind me.

Bureaucracy and RYO are both on second threads though, so if we ever get the chance we should move the originals over.

brenda, thank you. And it would have been much easier if we'd just put our foot down, one way or another.

I heartily wish we'd moved on one or the other of these options at the beginning of the summer - but I think most of us on both sides didn't think of them as options for some reason

IIRC, the problem was that until "Chosen" aired, people were viewing it as a plot spoiler because the casting change implied that the character in question could not die in the finale. Which, given how flexible "death" is in the Buffyverse and in this instance, is a laugh, but that IS how people were talking about it.

By the time that was no longer an issue, everyone was used to treating the casting news as a spoiler. I agree we probably should have had this discussion in June, when passions on both sides were lower.