Know a Spoiler? Don't Spoil it for the Rest of Us

The ubiquitous nature of the Internet has made it almost impossible not to know the ending before you want to. Spoilers seem to be everywhere, especially about hot books, television shows, and movies. Harry Potter is the most obvious current example of how spoilers abound.

For years, J.K. Rowling has begged fans not to post spoilers to ruin the enjoyment of the book for others. The official Harry Potter Web site, www.the-leaky-cauldron.org, has a policy endorsed by Rowling not to post spoilers. So when 1,200 copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows were erroneously mailed out early, Rowling predictably expressed anger at the pre-release and at reviews in papers such as the New York Times that give away details. Her press release, posted on The Leaky Cauldron, concludes "I am incredibly grateful to all those newspapers, booksellers and others who have chosen not to attempt to spoil Harry's last adventure for fans."

Spoiler Context

A spoiler is defined as a comment that discloses plot details of a book, play, video game, or film. Television series such as Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Heroes, and 24 all have cult followings where fans and critics alike post about what they think will happen, why, and where they got their information. Harry Potter fan(atic)s have been especially active in their predictions.

Sometimes it is hard to avoid finding out the ending even before the release date or initial airing, let alone after the fact. Many Internet sites post details about plot summaries, Wikipedia includes a notation "Wikipedia contains spoilers" before some entries, and book and movie reviews frequently give away key plot details. The most recent example is the July 19 New York Times review by Michiko Kakutani that provides details about what happens.

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