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Wednesday, August 21st, 2024 3:34 PM

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Too many plot outlines have spoilers

NUTSHELL: Would IMDb please consider to perhaps supply a pop-up box that stops contributors and reminds them of NO SPOILERS clause ("are you sure there is not even a teeny-minute spoiler in what you're about to submit??) that displays (and thus blocks a contributor temporarily) before someone is able to hit "submit" for a plot outline, please? 

And for repeat offenders, who won't be deterred, perhaps even adding in red: "If your outline is reported for spoilers, your account will be frozen for 2 weeks. After 3 freezes, your account will be permanently deleted..." Or whichever threats warnings/timelines IMDb deems fit "punishment". 

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IMHO I find way too many plot outlines where contributors feel the need to upload spoilers. Which is against the rules. See:

IMDb | Help

I'll give you an example of a spoiler that is benign and (hopefully) will bother no one here, to illustrate:

Betty Boop's Ker-Choo (Short 1933) - IMDb

It's a cartoon, we all know it ends well, so here's what it currently says

  • Betty, Koko, and Bimbo drive at the auto races; Betty has a cold, and her sneezes help her win.


This is the kind of spoilers I regularly find for movies or shows, in plot outlines (not synopses!). Repeatedly finding this when you're trying to decide whether to watch the movie ruins things for us, and feels a bit like the contributor is a smarty pants: "I know how it ends and you don't! I'm so smart!! I'll post it here so I can feel like I wrote the movie myself!!" 

Again, pretend the cartoon were a movie. Here's what it would look like spoiler-free:

  • Betty, Koko, and Bimbo drive at the auto races, but poor Betty must deal with driving with a cold.

There are other possibilities to write this outline, certainly, but I kept the user's first line and left it as simple as possible: the reader will know the main character has a cold. Hmm... (Thinking process of the IMDb reader searching for a show to watch) Will she prevail, or will she be destroyed in the race? I don't know, let's watch and find out!  Or:  I know Betty Boop always wins, but let's see how!

Again, it's IMDb's guidelines NOT to post spoilers in Plot Outlines.

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SIDE NOTE: I also find many that include actors' names, which is also not allowed, but that doesn't bother me; I'm not posting this to be a busy-body, nor police the boards or out of spite, to report people, no; rather, to stop said people from ruining things for us, normal viewers who aren't spoilers-fanatics! 

Thank you.

89 Messages

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1.2K Points

1 month ago

Wow. Nobody ever replied! Well I guess I'll just post this here, since I can't access my profile, nor my browser history (??) I cant find where we put the sub-genres, so here goes:
 Can we please stop with calling these "shorts"??
Rocket Squad (Short 1956) - IMDb
The correct word is "cartoon"! :-D 

A short is a boring little film with Z-list actors who couldn't make it in Hollywood. Or sthg.
So can we start differentiating between cartoons and "shorts" by appropriately removing "short" and using "cartoon" instead? All cartoons are shorts, unless you had to go to the cinema to watch one. In which case it's a long-cartoon.