TL;DR: Avoid @spnaturalconfessions and please help spread the word by signal boosting!
So this lovely exchange happened today, after I got smacked in the face with a gargantuan, full-frontal spoiler with a picture but no cut, warning or anything.
I’m still speechless so I’ll write my thoughts down.
Here’s a larger view of the response:
There’s obviously a lot to unpack here, so bear with me.
I was first active in online fandom when The X-Files was on. The original series. That was in the days when Geocities hosted your site, every fan fic had a three-paragraph disclaimer and social media consisted of mailing lists and the Usenet.
Spoiler warnings were a thing then. English isn’t my first language and there were no online dictionaries but I quickly learned their purpose. I’ve since been active in a number of fandoms, on various platforms, and spoiler warnings have. Always. Existed. They’ve been the cornerstone of fandom courtesy for decades. Yet somehow these people view themselves as excempt.
Some fans don’t mind spoilers, some avoid them, but most people/bloggers I’ve met over the years (spoiler alert: hundreds) like to be aware they’re about to exposed to one.
Personally, I’m a working mother of two children under four. My four hobbies are cosplay, writing, Supernatural and gaming. Between the job, the girls, the house and the husband I get to focus on 1, possibly 2 of those at a time. Currently that’s cosplay and a bit of writing, meaning about 2 weeks pass in between me finding or making time to catch up on SPN. With that background, you can see why I’m the spoiler-avoiding sort.
But let’s start looking at that response in more detail.
continuing to be on tumblr 2 weeks after the episode airs – after the season is already on netflix even – is going to result in spoilers.
Are these people even aware of
… the rest of the world?
… the fact that Netflix isn’t the same in every country?
… the myriad of possible reasons (*) why people may be behind even if they have the latest episodes available? ( * none of which they should be punished for)
As long as I’ve been watching SPN it’s never been on Netflix in my market (Ireland). Unless I want to risk prosecution, malware or credit card fraud from dodgy streaming sites, there’s one source for me to catch the current season on: Channel 4 (UK) lists episode 21 as the latest (aired 24 May). The last episode I got to watch was 19 (but I get it, that’s entirely my fault).
Also, it’s two weeks. Eleven days, in fact, according to the (not spoiler-free!) Wiki, since apparently the season final aired on 19 May on The CW.
That’s these people’s cut-off point? After which it’s your fault if you’re not caught up and catch one of their spoilers on your dash? See, I run 4 blogs on this site, follow just over 200 (one less now, obviously); have admined fandom groups of anywhere between 600 and 1000 members. Let me tell you something:
Spoiler warnings are in place for months. If not by formal, then by self-imposed rule. On personal blogs, in groups and in other communities. And “confessions” blogs are community platforms. Beyond confessions they answer questions or extend them to their follower base, help signal boost fandom events and generally carry integrity within the community. I’ve never seen any “confessions” blog (or any reasonably large blog, for that matter) post a spoiler without a cut (usually preceded by a warning) or tags.
And honestly, I had no clue the season was finished in North America. Why not, you ask?
Hey guys! I wont go into details but this wonderful lady and her writing really mean the world to me. I’m reblogging and asking for a signal boost. What she said and asked originally was perfectly polite and reasonable, and the response wasn’t. What she’s saying now, much more eloquently than I could, is reasonable too. In our Tumblr fandom democracy, a quiet unfollow or block is the easiest way to show that you disagree with the way a blog is run. The goal is NOT an angry mob, just to bring attention to a problem that could have been easily avoided not once but twice.
I’m tagging pretty much anyone I’ve ever talked to. I would REALLY appreciate a reblog but I get it if you don’t want to be involved. @mybrothercomesfirst@rosemoonweaver@justanothersaltandburn@kittenofdoomage@ilostmyshoe-79@golly-god@willowwincest@wetsammywinchester@littlegreenplasticsoldier@audaciousdean@purgatoan@brother-let-me-love-u
I tend to avoid the confession blog anyways. They’re ship biased, rude as hell, arrogant, and are in the business of screaming “no hate confessions” – except for allowing hate towards actors, characters, or ships THEY happen to hate, and ignoring or blocking any confession that MIGHT seem negative toward their otps or personal faves.
Good to know they’re rude about tagging spoilers as well and ethnocentric to boot.
I personally only tag spoilers for 24-48 hours, but I warn that on my blog, and continue to tag the season and episode numbers as much as i can so people have a way to blacklist a spoiler without me using the tag. I’m also a tiny ass blog run by a single dude. These guys have thousands of followers. How gross.
^ What he said.
I’ve always felt confession blogs were an excuse to be wanky without the consequences. Don’t get me wrong, you’re free to have whatever opinions on whatever you want, but some things are better kept to your own blog or in PM (you know, so thousands of strangers don’t fight about it for no reason).
I think I need to reconcider my own spoiler policy. I’ve taken down the spoiler tags for this season, but maybe I should keep them up for 3 weeks rather than 1 or 2.
Idk, I just don’t see what the big deal is about keeping a spoiler tag for a little longer if someone asks. People can always put an episode number on their whitelist if they’ve already seen it. Seems super rude to me.
I’ll be honest, it kinda feels like the cherry on top of the shit sundae. I’ll be better with time, it’s just… not what I was expecting at all. I’ve had a rough… three years or so? I don’t even remember at this point. It’s a long ass story and fiction (particularly spn) has been something I could consistently look forward to.
It feels like losing a friend. Losing a lot of friends, really. I knew at least one of the characters was doomed and I had a feeling another would bite it too, but like… all of them? All of the recurring cast (save for Jody, Donna, and the girls) bites it or gets trapped? That’s what we get? It feels so bad, especially considering the way the season began.
@wanderingcas and I were talking and she thinks the reason Cas’s death, in particular, is so hard to swallow is because we’ve spent so much time in his head. I’ve written probably 50k through his eyes in the past year. I know him. He’s a part of me in some ways, because all writers put parts of their soul into their writing and I definitely put myself into him.
It sucks, you know?
I’ll just let myself feel it I suppose. I need to work on actually letting myself process anger and pain so I guess this is as good an opportunity as any.
I agree with you, the deaths stung even for me – I can’t even imagine if it had been a character I was deeply devoted to. I love Cas and Crowley, and Rowena was growing on me too, but I know some of my friends are as devoted to and invested in them as I am to Sam and Dean and was to Mick (and Ketch before they bastardized him).
I was discussing it with a friend in PM and we realized what made us so mad was the lack of care they gave them. Three characters that really were all fan favorites – I know some folks disliked Cas or Crowley or Rowena, but just as many liked and loved them. And they were all given 5 second deaths before the episode moved on. We weren’t allowed time to grieve. Sure, we have the hiatus, but that’s an after the fact grief. It didn’t do any of them justice.
You’re a good writer. And part of being a good writer is investment in your characters, so I understand where you’re coming from. It’s not being babyish or pathetic at all to want better than he (or they) got.
Processing emotions – especially powerful ones like anger and pain – it’s not easy. But it can be done. Sometimes we just need a little help and support along the way. *hugs*
(And for the topic of the fic – I know i love your stuff. I, for one, am eager to read it no matter what it is – as I know many of your friends are. You bust your ass writing for free, and you’re amazing for that.)
In regards to the point about not having time to grieve, I completely agree. The past four eps of the season have given us so much death and it was just a hell of a lot to digest. The dropped to the ground and then we moved on. Whenever anyone tells me everyone dies on spn and I should just get over it I always point to the early season deaths. Dean and Sam grieved John for half a season basically. Bobby got an entire episode to die. Jo and Ellen died as heroes. Hell, even Charlie (which was a dumb death) was given a hunter’s funeral. Crowely’s death is one I can deal with because he got to give a speach before he died. He went out like he lived and in the end, no one bested him but him. That was fitting. Rowean was a burn corpse. I was screaming “GET AWAY FROM THE RIFT” a second before Cas died. It wasn’t dignified. Cas was a hero, and he deserved to go out like one. (Of course, I know I’m biased. I love Cas. But I still think if even Crowley, who’s constantly switching sides, got a speech, Cas should’ve, too.) The deaths this season have been shock foder and it’s disheartening and enraging.
I knew Ketch was going to die, I was fine with that even if I preferred something else. (side note: they didn’t solve anything this season. Sure, they killed the invading BMoL but the organization still exists and can easily try again. They made a good dent in the hunter population and they still have all that info. That’s why they needed a turncoat.)I suspected Crowely’s time was up but everyone else was a shock.
It’s hard to handle when all my favorites (save Sam and Dean, ofc, ) are dead now. It stings something awful. I gotta deal with that, though. The emotions are there and I guess I just gotta figure out what to do with them. It almost makes me want to step away from the bangs I signed up for and work on a much darker fic for a while. I’ll have to think about it. But thank you (and everyone else) for offering your support. It means the world to me.
Thank you, for the compliments about my writing, btw. It’s cliche to say it’s a labor of love but it’s true. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love the characters and I suppose even if they’re gone now I shouldn’t allow anyone to take that from me. Canon be damned.
16. If you could change anything in the show, what would you change? Just one thing? lol. Obviously, I’d stop the fridging of minor characters for no good reason. Look, I totally get that sometimes characters die and for good reason. Jo and Ellen died a hero’s death worthy of their characters if you ask me. Bobby’s death was impactful (he got a whole damn episode to die). Even Benny’s death, I can forgive, because you could kinda tell that he was feeling lost and alone and his death proved that he’d been good all along (I swear I thought he was going to be Dean’s Ruby). But there are other deaths I can’t forgive or look past (Billie, Charlie, Eileen, Bela, etc etc). I get that characters die and that’s fine, but what bugs me is the way they die. They’re pawns and I hate that. It wouldn’t kill the show to just have these characters live a life separate from the Winchesters only to show up every once in a while, and if the show didn’t have a history of killing off all of Sam, Dean, and Cas’s friends for no good reason (plot w/out deep impact is not a good reason) I’d probably handle it better, but it frustrates me to no end is that it happens so often. If you don’t know what to do with a character you can just make something up and leave them alone. (Like, you know, how Claire and Alex went to a Radiohead concert so they weren’t in an ep. See how easy that is spn? Wow.) Here’s a hint, show, having a cast of recurring characters isn’t a bad thing. You can add to the world and make the show more fun the more characters you have. Wow. 22. Popular character you hate? Gabriel. I know! I know! Look, Gabe is fine he’s just not really my favorite. He’s just meh. I get that he’s usually the wild, fun, party guy in fics and that’s totally fine but I’m just not a fan. I don’t really care for him.
This is Not a Blog 