The Walking Dead: "Show Only" vs. "Books Included"?
February 17, 2016 10:00 AM - Subscribe

We used to have both "Show Only" and "Books Included" threads for The Walking Dead. I just realized that more recent threads have been neither—just generic threads that don't specify any particular spoiler policy.

Since I haven't read the comics, I personally prefer Show Only.

Should we bring back the separate threads? It does fragment discussion a bit, but then comics-readers can talk about stuff from the comics, and comics-abstainers can enjoy the show without potential spoilers.

I'd be happy to make the Show Only posts; I just wanted to get y'all's thoughts first.
posted by escape from the potato planet (7 comments total)
 
I kind of hovered over the choices for a while considering whether to make it show only. I haven't read the comics, either, but because I couldn't decide and recent convention seemed to be to have a single thread, I just stuck to the default.

I'd be in favor of a show-only thread, whether or not there's also demand for a comics-included thread (the 5 "books included" threads have a total of only 16 comments; 2 threads have no comments at all).
posted by mama casserole at 10:13 AM on February 17, 2016


my opinion is that i hated the comics so much and with such depths of unimaginable loathing that i just pretend they don't exist. so if people don't want to bother having separate threads for with or without comic canon i am fine with that because there are no comics, they do not exist. i definitely don't care about spoilers from this parallel universe where bad comics exist.

they're so bad you guys
posted by poffin boffin at 11:59 AM on February 17, 2016 [1 favorite]


Oh, I hadn't noticed that - I think I as well was just so used to the show-only threads. I like it as show only. Should we bring back separate threads? Probably, though I didn't see anything egregious in the current thread. It might fragment the discussion a tad, but for comics readers I imagine it would set them free to discuss a heck of a lot more things.
posted by cashman at 12:15 PM on February 17, 2016


The only two kinds of threads where spoilers are allowed are "Books Included" and "Rewatch" threads. Otherwise, in all other threads, spoilers are prohibited. If you see a spoiler, you should flag it.

So while unmarked threads allow some discussion of the comic, they do not allow any kind of spoiler. If it's spoilers you are worried about, then the unmarked threads should be okay for you, assuming that people are being careful about them (and if they're not, you should flag them or contact the mods). If you dislike any discussion of the comic at all, then a "Show Only" thread would be better for you and, well, if there's not one you should just create one.

This seems to be coming up a lot, recently. I think some people mistakenly believe that an unmarked thread disallows any discussion of source material and, conversely, some other people mistakenly believe than an unmarked thread allows spoilers from the source material. Or something. I think some people are just careless about spoilers.

But, as I discussed recently elsewhere, it can be kind of tricky in an unmarked thread where source material is allowed because if you aren't familiar with the source material, it can be difficult to distinguish between what is spoilery and what isn't, and it's also very easy for people familiar with the source material to spoil some stuff without intending to, without even mentioning something directly. The things you do and don't discuss, and how you discuss them, can include inadvertent clues.

For this reason, unmarked threads about adaptations can't quite avoid being uncomfortable for many people -- they're an uneasy compromise. The benefit, however, is that they are open to the widest possible participation.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 1:55 PM on February 17, 2016


I never thought that I would encounter a spoiler in that post and would be very upset to have been exposed to one.
posted by unliteral at 5:04 PM on February 17, 2016


This seems to be coming up a lot, recently. I think some people mistakenly believe that an unmarked thread disallows any discussion of source material

Actually, I assumed that unmarked threads are meant for shows that aren't based on prior source material, and that shows which are should be marked as either "Show Only" or "Books Included". I stand corrected.

Agreed that there haven't really been any spoiler problems in the existing threads. (After all, I've managed to go a whole season without even noticing.) So, barring an influx of strong opinions, I'm guess I'm content to continue with unmarked threads.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 6:03 PM on February 17, 2016


I made some Books Included posts to parallel the Show Only posts, but out of a need for completeness instead of wanting to discuss the comics, which I'm waaay behind on. Because I'm behind in the comics, someone pointed out that there was no real parallel in the comics for that episode. My wife is more current on the comics (but still a trade or two behind at this point), and she kept guessing when certain things would happen, only for that thing to never come around.

I'm guessing that the comics and show have parted ways so that they're running in alternate universes - some characters and elements overlap, but it's any guess as to when and where that might happen. In other words, there's no point in having a Books Included post unless people want to speculate on where the comics may come into the next episode, or how the comics influenced that particular episode.

Alternatively, someone could make a Season 6 - Books Included post to let people get into the comics as they might overlap with and foretell the season.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:58 PM on February 22, 2016


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