Game of Thrones book/TV show POLL

Young_Love · April 2014

Do you think people have a right to be upset when someone spills spoilers on the GoT TV show? Or do they need to STFU because the book has been out for over a decade?

Menrandes · April 2014

Last night my husband and I watched GoT later than usual. All it took was one trip to Facebook and the first thing on news feed was a huge spoiler.
Now I've read the first book. I read it after watching the first season. My husband doesn't really have the time to read and for him it's just not something he enjoys a huge amount. He'd like to get into audio books for his insane amount of time in DC traffic, but we haven't explored that possibility yet.
That being said, we have an agreement that I wont read the books until the associated seasons attached to each book have aired completely. That's mostly because watching the show is something we enjoy together, and being shocked is part of that.
Seeing that spoiler last night, it was upsetting. And it was spoiled by someone who had not read the books. Not everyone can watch as soon as something airs. And not everyone has the time or inclination to sit down and read.
I think it would be unfair to say that someone deserved to be spoiled because they didn't read the book. The way I see it, if reading isn't their thing and TV is more their speed, at least they are watching something other than reality tv.

julie37619 · April 2014

I don't watch the show but I've read all the books. Whenever friends who watch the show want to discuss I get nervous because I feel like there's no way I can remember what has and has not happened in the exact order to keep from spoiling. But it's SO HARD not to join in on a conversation!

pinkybooklover09 · April 2014

I don't watch the show nor have I read the books but I still think spoilers are messed up in this case. The internet kind of ruins everything.

mrsvedo · April 2014

I get so upset when I'm spoiled, regardless of how long something may have been out. For example, I watched This is 40 this weekend and in it they showed scenes from and discussed the last episode of LOST. Now, LOST has been over and done with for awhile but it's a series I've been meaning to watch and I got irrationally mad at the movie for spoiling the last episode.

Also, I work 2nd shift so when someone posts on FB who got kicked off The Voice or American Idol or whathaveyou before I leave work I get ragey.

That said, am I surprised spoilers happen? Absolutely not. People get excited about things and talk. I'm not saying they should stop because that's part of being part of a fandom. If I don't want to be spoiled, for the most part I know what to avoid until I've seen or read something.

People who watch GoT (whether or not they've read the books) should know by now there's ALWAYS a possibility something big is going to happen in any given episode and if they don't want to be spoiled, they should avoid social media and news sites until after they've watched it.

Then again, that sounds victim-blamey. I JUST DON'T KNOW.

kaylynne · April 2014

DH reads a board that talks about GoT. They started two threads - one for readers and one for nonreaders.

I think spoilers where somebody watched it live and then posted on Facebook immediately are more annoying than people who have read the books predicting upcoming events... but that's mostly because I don't watch anything live any more - I'm usually two or three days back on the tivo. In my ideal world, people don't talk about last week's ep until right before this week's ep airs. If you've read the book and tell people what to expect, that's kind of a jerk move, but there's always the possibility that the show does it differently (there are a lot of people alive/dead in Walking Dead that should be dead/alive if they were following the books).

I feel like it's easy to avoid book spoilers, unless the person is being a real ass about it. But I do feel like it's mostly on the viewer who knows there's a book out to actively avoid sites and conversations with people who read.

ETA I kind of like how easy it is to be spoiled if you want to be. For ex: after watching this week I couldn't remember from my reading who was responsible for a certain major event. Instead of scrolling through my nook, all I had to do was go to google and type in "who _____ed _______?" and I got the answer in the first search result.

j*&p* · April 2014

I think spoilers in a public forum are lame. On a message board like this, we can at least mark spoiler posts and save each other from unintentional spoilage, but posting explicit plot points on Facebook or Twitter annoys me. Vague shock and surprise in response to an episode is not a big deal in my book (ie: Game of Thrones: WHAT?!?!?!?!?), but not specific details.

sassypants527 · April 2014

julie37619 said:

I don't watch the show but I've read all the books. Whenever friends who watch the show want to discuss I get nervous because I feel like there's no way I can remember what has and has not happened in the exact order to keep from spoiling. But it's SO HARD not to join in on a conversation!

I've read them and seen the first three seasons but I can't watch the current season due to the lack of HBO...have to wait for Netflix. I'm like Julie in that, since I've read the books (and one right after the other at that), I'm afraid I'll forget what happened when and blow it for someone.

As for spoilers, at least give it a day or two for those who have to DVR it or be vague about it. When someone blows up their feed with "Ding Dong, Such-and Such is dead, hooray!" I think that ruins it.

84Lauren · April 2014

I don't think you should ever post major spoilers for anything on social media.

That said, I definitely want to tell everyone getting all excited to "find out what happens" on GoT to STFU because the book has been out for over a decade.

jenndawnp · April 2014

I've read the first 4 books and will soon read the 5th book. My husband is about half way done listening to the 3rd book and I try to be really careful not spoiling things for him but I've accidentally let some things slip. He went on reddit Sunday night right before the episode was airing and he got something spoiled for himself, like a major thing. I was really bummed because I wanted to see his reaction.

RiverPlate · April 2014

The last book didn't come out so long ago, maybe a year? I have a copy but haven't read it yet, but I had to wait for it to come out in paperback so it would match my set, which took forever and a day to begin with.

There is at least one thread that is currently in the show that is from Dances with Dragons, because the books aren't completely in chronological order. The last 2 books happen at the same time, and then there are some storylines that are known to the reader through flashbacks (Theon Greyjoy, for example), but the show is putting events in more of a chronological order.

So yes, spoilers are messed up, and no, you can't tell people to get over it because the books have been out for 10 years.

lab7979 · April 2014

I don't think its fair to spill spoilers on the show even though the books have been out for a long time. Not everyone is a reader. Not everyone has heard of Game of Thrones before it came out on TV. It doesn't mean they deserve to have the show spoiled for them. It really isn't any different than when an avid reader has books they may not have read right away. They'd probaby be pissed if someone ruined a book for them with spoliers and used the excuse that the book has been out for awhile and you should have read it more quickly.

brie&drew · April 2014

I've been reading the books, and because of the way the show is setting storylines I've had some things spoiled. Honestly, it's making me read them faster because I want to know before I see it.

I had a friend intentionally spoil something that happens in the fifth book the day I got it. "Oh you like Character A right? Well you won't believe how angry you get when X happens to her." I couldn't pretend to contain my rage.

I'm ok with the general "Wow, I can't believe that just happened!" type posts, but I do think it's kind of unfair to post the details right away.

hydrangeablue · April 2014

I think if it's a spoiler for the current season you should keep it to yourself. My friend said something super vague like "that sigh you hear is the catharsis of GoT fans everwhere" so I knew something big happened and had a feeling of what it would be. My husband had a HUGE reaction and I was really bummed that I didn't get to experience that because I knew something was coming....

ThisModernLove · April 2014

I think I'm in the minority here. I don't know exactly what this is in reference too but I do follow Stephen King on Twitter who had a blowout. He dropped a huge spoiler and then received a lot of flack for it and then had responded that the books had been out for 10 years or something like that. Now he did tweet it before west coast would have had a chance to watch which I think is wrong for any show type spoiler but I think this is a bit different. In my opinion, if you watch a show you easily know is based on a series that has been out for quite a while, you should expect spoilers to be more rampant and sometimes unavoidable other than disconnecting yourself from the internet. While I do realize that not everyone reads, I think there's some ownership on the viewer's behalf if they don't watch television in real time.

Game of Thrones book/TV show POLL

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