Review: Special Lostpedia Debate Event with DocArzt

This week Lostpedia hosted a very special debate event featuring Jon "DocArzt" Lachonis from www.docarzt.com. The motion was "Spoilers do not diminish the LOST viewing experience." Arguing in favor of spoilers was team A consisting of danhm (super Op at the #lostpedia IRC channel) and IkklGenius (winner of event 1), and arguing against the motion was team B consisting of TheAma1 (super Op at the #lostpedia IRC channel) and manicmonoliths (winner of event 1.)

The transcript of the entire debate can be found here. For more details on previous events and for voting for your favorite team, click here.

In an effort to keep the debate structured and focussed on the key issues, a "compartmentalized" format was used for this week's debate. A total of 6 spoiler-related issues were put forth, and were titled such that they could be equally classified into "pro" and "anti"-spoilers.

The following six sub-topics were discussed:

1. Supply and Demand
The third most visited page (after the main and episodes pages) on Lostpedia is the spoiler page for Season 4 (over 1.1 million views.)

There is a demand for spoilers in the fan community, hence there is a supply.

2. Writers' Right
Releasing spoilers is distributing information about a story without the author's consent.

Both Damon and Carlton have openly voiced their frustrations regarding the leakage of season 3 finale spoilers.

3. Tidbits of information about upcoming episodes add to the excitement and anticipation.
There is a lot more to Lost than simple plot details -- character development, acting, cinematography, etc.


4. Spoilers hurt the online community.

Websites and forums go into lockdown mode, chat rooms prevent anonymous users from participating in LOST discussions. Many fans simply avoid the online community till the episode airs.

5. Release of spoilers cannot be avoided.
Hundreds upon hundreds of people are involved in the making of LOST. It is inevitable that spoilers will be leaked. Deal with it.

6. Once released on fan websites, spoilers are uncontrollable.
Though most spoiler sites are careful not to spoil unsuspecting viewers, the measure of control is limited, and trolls cannot be stopped from vandalizing other websites.

This was followed by a brief Q&A and closing statements by the team leaders. DocArzt's presence elevated the quality of the debate to a whole new level, and we hope to have him participate in more events in the future.

Lostpedia debates are held every alternate week in the #lostpedia IRC channel on the GameSurge server at 2 PM EST.

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User account creation disabled (spoiler lockdown)

Due to vandalism that has occurred repeatedly since the release of the previously discussed spoilers for There's No Place Like Home Parts 2 & 3 on DarkUFO, we have had to temporarily disable user account creation on Lostpedia. Unfortunately some members of the community seem to be focused on destroying the surprise and enjoyment of the show for the majority of the fans, so we've had to take this action to protect everyone who visits from the malicious actions of a few.

Sorry everyone, but when we are faced with a choice between releasing sensitive information like this unwittingly (due to the very nature of a wiki being editable by anyone), and stopping a few members from creating memberships, we decided not to spoil it and limit member creation.

User account creation will be re-enabled once Season 4 has finished on May 29th.

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What do you think of spoilers?

New Spoilers Restart Controversy

Note: No spoilers in this article. No spoilers in comments please (Comments thread will be moderated).

In the wake of a major scene-by-scene spoiler of the Season 4 finale by the Lost fansite DarkUFO, I must say I'm disappointed (again) but not surprised. Apparently he has received very specific spoilers for the season finale, and has posted the synopsis of the first hour of three, apparently a very detailed scene-by-scene reveal. A new controversy is brewing, and we want to hear your opinions.

Andy, the proprietor of DarkUFO, says he received the information from a source claiming to be "Lostfan108". If you don't remember, Lostfan108 was the person who gave Dark the spoiler for the finale of Season 3, perhaps one of the biggest mindfucks in television history. I'm glad I wasn't spoiled for that one. Dark of course released the information and started a huge controversy, causing Darlton to sulk into radio silence. If this is indeed the same Lostfan108, the content is real.

This time, DarkUFO has taken some care, including posting warnings, guidelines on behaviors such as disseminating spoilers responsibly, and posting the spoiler as a flash slideshow that can't be easily copy-pasted in its current form. Of course we all know a text summary will be posted soon, somewhere, by somebody. If there is a huge twist at the end of this season, it too will be accidentally spoiled for many fans as the site promises to release spoilers for the final two parts of the finale. Is it worth it, Andy?

For the rest of you, be careful on "teh Internetz" for the next few weeks. It's a dangerous world out there.

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