Help:Spoilers

Spoilers
As an encyclopedic website, it is our mandate to gather and maintain information about our topic in exhaustive detail. For that reason, this wiki contains information that may very well spoil something you haven't experienced yet, if you're not careful.

Beyond a certain point, you read our articles at your own risk, but we do try to alleviate the burden, somewhat.

Our Spoiler Policy
Simply, our policy on spoilers is this: Err on the side of caution, and don't be a jerk.

Be aware that public talk-pages, forums, chat, message walls, and especially the articles themselves are public. If you are discussing a recent release - whether it be a comic book, video game, TV episode, or movie - best practice is to assume that not everyone has got around to it as fast as you did, and may not want to know any details that would spoil a surprise or mystery. Therefore, you should speak carefully and be respectful. If you can't talk around the spoiler without going into detail or dropping too obvious a hint, then offer instead to discuss the topic in a more private venue. (The Chat feature does include a private messaging option, for example).

Safeguards
That said, we have a few safeguards against spoilers to help you avoid spoiling things for others, or to avoid having things spoiled by others.


 * The Spoiler Template appears automatically at the top of comic pages that have been out within the last several months - it is a generous amount of time, given that most comics come out monthly. If the template appears, be forewarned that the page very likely contains information that will spoil it for you, if you haven't read it yet. After the spoiler warning's grace period is up, the notification will disappear, and you should be wary that if you haven't read it after that period, you visit these pages at your own risk.


 * The NoDeathSpoils template prevents the Deceased Characters category from being added to the character's page for a preset grace period (depending on the medium). This is to spare anybody who happens to be reading through the Recent Wiki Activity listings the annoyance of having a death spoiled for them without even looking at the page. Once the grace period is up, and the wiki's cache has been refreshed, the category will be added automatically.


 * The Spoiler Post template will at least spare anyone reading a forum, talk page, or message wall post from seeing a spoiler - but it does not help if you're reading recent wiki activity - so be careful.