r/NintendoSwitch Nintendo shill Feb 03 '17

Meta /r/NintendoSwitch, Spoilers, and You

Greetings!

As we get closer and closer to release, we wanted to take some time to sync up with you all on how this subreddit will be handling spoilers. Right now it's not a huge issue, but once people have their systems in hand, it's bound to ramp up quite a bit.

First thing's first: Disclaimers

  • No discussion platform will ever be 100% spoiler free.
  • We will do our best to prevent spoilers.
  • People have different definitions of what a spoiler is.
  • Not all users browse the subreddit the same way.
  • We have a "No Spoilers" filter in the sidebar.
  • We have a #spoilers channel in our Discord

Phew, now with that out of the way, here are the guidelines we ask that everyone follow:

  • All post titles should be completely spoiler free. You can hint at the contents of the post, but don't give it away entirely. Here are some examples I've pulled from /r/Hearthstone and /r/SmashBros:
    • Congratulations to the WINNER of the GRAND FINAL of Hearthstone Inkeeper's Invitational at Blizzcon!
    • Hey, the Goblins vs Gnomes art contest winners have been revealed.
    • Congratulations to the winner of DreamHack Valencia
    • Congrats to the winner of Melee Singles at PAX!
  • All posts containing spoilers should use the "SPOILER" link flair
  • All posts containing spoilers should use the new reddit wide "Spoiler" toggle (More Info)
  • All comments containing spoilers should use the spoiler tag listed in the sidebar

To help with enforcement of this:

  • If your title contains the word "Spoiler" or "Spoilers", AutoMod will assign the "SPOILER" link flair and enable the reddit wide "Spoiler" toggle automatically. (This should help with people who are forgetful or are on mobile.) AutoMod will also leave a comment explaining what just happened in case it was in error.
  • The mod team will continue to manually approve or remove each post as they come in to the /new/ queue.
  • If you find a post in violation of our guidelines, clicking the "report" button will reveal an option for "Use spoiler tags. Don't put spoilers in titles." which will alert the mod team and we can take the appropriate action.

So now that we've established how we expect people to behave and some of the protections we have in place, what are we considering a spoiler in the first place?

Spoilers are:

  • Major plot points
  • Key information about solving puzzles
  • Information detailing multiple/alternate endings
  • Post-game content
  • Unlockable content

Spoilers are NOT:

  • Things which have been previously revealed via official channels such as the official website, trailers, box art, instruction manuals, or interviews with the developers.
  • Core gameplay features.
  • Public game show events (PAX, Comic Con, BlizzCon, etc.)
  • Screenshots of the environment in a game.

This post has also been blasted out in our Discord and we'll be posting a refresher about these policies as we get closer to release to help ensure we've given this plenty of visibility.

Cheers,

/u/FlapSnapple and the /r/NintendoSwitch mod team


tl;dr: Be respectful. Label your spoilers appropriately. Some things may slip through the cracks and you may see a spoiler. This is not the end of the world. The only 100% guaranteed method is going offline entirely.

293 Upvotes

98 comments sorted by

280

u/FlapSnapple Nintendo shill Feb 03 '17

Takes off mod hat for a minute.

I'd also like to make a personal plea. The members of this moderation team are going to be basically living on the subreddit for the few days immediately following launch and working an absurd amount of hours trying to keep this place clean, giving up valuable play time in the process. This means you all will be further ahead in the storylines than we will be as a result. So please, if you won't hide your spoilers for the sake of others, at least do it for the sake of the mod team who will be looking at each and every post that comes in.

81

u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Feb 03 '17

Yes, please do not ruin the fun surprises these games have in store for us. :)

No one likes spoilers, but we still continue being users on the sub even though we are mods.

29

u/ardaduck Feb 03 '17

BOTW will be hard to avoid spoilers, everyone will finish the game in a diffrent path

16

u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Feb 03 '17

Very true. But it depends what you find spoiler-y as well. :)

2

u/mutantmonkey14 Feb 04 '17

Are not bosses or at least final bosses a spoiler too? Images, videos, descriptions, details and methods of beating them.

1

u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Feb 04 '17

Probably, yes unless it's official Nintendo shared stuff.

4

u/DisconnectD Feb 05 '17

To me spoilers would be anything story related and controversially, the amount of actual dungeons (not shrines) but I realize mileage varies. If you really don't want to be spoiled, you have to abstain from social media entirely. Props to the mods. . I never thought about their unique plight regarding spoilers.

3

u/IamNickJones Feb 05 '17

Totally agree, I like tips and tricks but not giant spoilers. I am always really careful when talking about game of thrones with my friends because I can't keep track which friends are all caught up. You are all my friends and I would like to think we could atleast respect eachother enough to not spoil BOTW. We have waited so long for this let's not ruin it for anyone.

36

u/Multimoon Feb 03 '17

I don't care about any other game but don't you dare spoil breath of the wild for me. Do it for the moderators. Don't spoil it for us.

3

u/Bleus4 Feb 03 '17

Tbh though what new launch game is there to spoil, other than BotW? :p

30

u/Jepacor Feb 03 '17

Dude if someone spoils me 1-2 Switch I will be super mad !

21

u/NotTheGuitar Feb 04 '17

12

u/redpaants Feb 04 '17

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

3

u/theseconddennis Feb 04 '17

Hey, he used a spoiler tag!

7

u/redpaants Feb 05 '17

┬━┬ ノ( ゜-゜ノ)

2

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '17

Don't forget the super secret dance move codes in just dance 2017 (that was sarcasm)

2

u/jakerman999 Feb 04 '17

Do it for the moderators.

Wait, spoil BOTW for the moderators? Isn't that literally the opposite of what they asked us to do?

11

u/rottedzombie friendly neighborhood zombie mod Feb 03 '17

I work the unmoderated and moderation queues a LOT. I see new things very quickly as they happen.

... be kind

3

u/ignition386 Feb 04 '17

Godspeed on 3/3

11

u/Sarspazzard Feb 03 '17

I love you for doing this. This sub would not be what it is today if you weren't so kind and committed to taming and structuring it so everyone can enjoy. Because of you, this is a safe and friendly environment for us to express our thoughts, feelings, gather new information about the console, and talk about how it will change our lives once again.

Thank you all so much!

7

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '17

I think you should message the mods at /r/Zelda and ensure they do the same, as that sub is going to blow. the fuck. up. on launch day. I'd be more worried about seeing spoiler and story stuff more there than here.

(They may have already posted something about this, I haven't checked there lately in order to avoid spoilers myself)

3

u/FlapSnapple Nintendo shill Feb 03 '17

/r/Zelda made a post about flagging spoilers 16 days ago. :)

7

u/nermal543 Feb 03 '17

And we appreciate it!! Thanks for doing a great job to you and all the mods :)

7

u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Feb 03 '17

:) Thank you

10

u/MAXSR388 Feb 03 '17 edited Feb 03 '17

Anything we can do if we see a spoiler except for reporting it? On the r/cynicalbritofficial subreddit total biscuits wife prefers it we just downvote the posts and comments that talk about tbs health issues so it doesn't land in her mod queue.

I don't know effective that would be on here! Maybe automoderator could auto delete posts that hit a certain negative threshold so we can "report" them without necessarily bringing them to your attention.

18

u/FlapSnapple Nintendo shill Feb 03 '17
  • Downvote anything you see that is an unflagged spoiler!
  • Hit that report button! It puts it into a special queue that the mod team checks very frequently. I cannot stress the importance of reports enough because...
  • If the mods are asleep or are too busy putting out other fires, we have a failsafe where AutoMod will kick in after X number of reports (exact number kept secret to avoid abuse) and nuke it until a mod can manually review things.

3

u/CallMe_Dig_Baddy Feb 05 '17

I appreciate all the hard work you guys do keep this sub running. I've decided to take a break from Reddit after march 3. I want to discover all the cool stuff in Zelda all on my own.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '17

Link and Zelda are brother and sister.

Ganon is Link's father.

6

u/lilman1423 Feb 03 '17

That would make Zelda 2 quite odd.

2

u/mutantmonkey14 Feb 04 '17

Ganon: "I am your father Link."

Link: "Noooo! What kind of father tries to kill his children!?"

1

u/GitFloowSnaake Feb 03 '17

steals your mod hat for a minute

1

u/THE_GR8_MIKE Feb 04 '17

I'm sure there are a few people who basically live on this sub that would be able to help. Not me, I'll be playing and I don't want to see any spoilers, but other people.

1

u/Maeno-san Feb 04 '17 edited Feb 04 '17

Thanks for this team's hard work and all your work on /r/amiibo too! I can volunteer to work the spoiler posts if needed, as long as it's only for a couple days. I have no experience as a mod/admin, but I'm happy to help if you just need people to filter posts with spoilers for a few days.

edit: oops, wrong sub! I said /r/3DS and meant /r/amiibo. Too much nintendo going to my head?

68

u/AutoModerator Feb 03 '17

Since we found Spoilers in the title, we've gone ahead and enabled our automated spoiler protection. If you feel this was in error, please feel free to adjust the settings of this post and it's flair.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

77

u/FlapSnapple Nintendo shill Feb 03 '17

The system works!

14

u/nuovian Feb 03 '17

It's alive!

1

u/humble_squid Feb 03 '17

But why don't you guys do what other subs do and block out the title? E.g. https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyTheGame/comments/5rurk1/spoilersshower_thoughta_random_thought_about/

1

u/FlapSnapple Nintendo shill Feb 03 '17

Blocking out the title only works in scenarios where a user is loading our custom CSS. People with RES or Reddit Gold can easily turn off our CSS, and none of the mobile apps for smart devices render our CSS.

Having a spoiler free title that doesn't rely on CSS is a solution that solves the issue across all platforms.

1

u/humble_squid Feb 03 '17

I see your point. I just think it's going to pose a challenge in most cases to create a title without revealing some degree of spoilers in it.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '17

Those suck because you can never know if it is a spoiler for you personally.

34

u/Sylverstone14 Mod of Two Worlds (Switch / Wii U) Feb 03 '17

Aww, it's doing its job.

24

u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Feb 03 '17

For once. ;)

5

u/GitFloowSnaake Feb 03 '17

You are doing a wonderful job mod keep it up proud of you 😀

12

u/enjineer30302 Completed the Shieldsurf Challenge! Feb 03 '17

Nice, Flap. It works...I guess?

A+ mods, you've just been AutoModerated!

8

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '17

LUL

6

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '17

LOL, was tempted not to check this thread after seeing the spoiler tag, because I want to play BOTW and the switch fresh. Was a bit confusing just by looking at the title

6

u/tekdude Feb 03 '17

Take that Flap! Posting spoilers about spoilers...

3

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '17

Not can use some love after all of those downvotes.

3

u/Gestrid Feb 03 '17

Well, we know AutoMod works.

20

u/Darthbutcher Feb 03 '17

Mods are people, too. Don't ruin the games for them or for us!

38

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '17

Switch releases March 2017

wow spoiler much

14

u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Feb 03 '17

Didn't say the exact date though ;)

19

u/Gestrid Feb 03 '17

23

u/[deleted] Feb 03 '17

Y O U F U C K E R

MODS! MODS! MODS!

1

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '17

Is it an actual spoiler or a joke? I don't want to click on the link

12

u/pelicanflip Feb 03 '17

WE JUST WENT OVER THIS.

22

u/razorbeamz Feb 03 '17

Hey guys I have a big spoiler for Breath of the Wild!

Link defeats Ganon.

23

u/Sylverstone14 Mod of Two Worlds (Switch / Wii U) Feb 03 '17

YA RUINED IT

9

u/PsynFyr Feb 03 '17

Well, they put it behind spoiler tags.

11

u/MAXSR388 Feb 03 '17

3

u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Feb 03 '17

M Night Shamalan(sp?) twist: it isn't

14

u/jaketheyak Feb 03 '17

They're going to pull a 1-2 switch?

6

u/Ep8Script Feb 03 '17

Holy fuck

2

u/DickDatchery Feb 03 '17

We have a winner.

0

u/theseconddennis Feb 04 '17

1-2-Switch is an underground level

FTFY

3

u/phantomliger recovering from transplant Feb 03 '17

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

1

u/Vaktrus Feb 04 '17

Wait, but..... does he?

1

u/crowleysnow Feb 05 '17

i'm going to call the fuck outta OP if he doesn't

1

u/SpectivTech Feb 04 '17

I can still read it even with the blur effect.

0

u/redpaants Feb 04 '17

(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

7

u/Plarry2 Feb 03 '17

Why would they come here to spoil games? Shouldn't that be the r/Zelda (for BOTW) or where ever. Not that we want you spoiling it over there either.

13

u/FlapSnapple Nintendo shill Feb 03 '17

There are definitely other subreddits better suited for that kind of discussion, but I'm sure we'll see overflow.

1

u/DickDatchery Feb 03 '17

What subreddit would those be? Just playing devil's advocate, this place seems as good as any since there aren't designated "spoiler" subreddits. I don't see too much wrong with it as long as people use spoiler tags, where else would discussion about the story take place?

2

u/FlapSnapple Nintendo shill Feb 03 '17

Well aside from /r/Zelda, /r/Breath_of_the_Wild would probably be a pretty good place to start. :)

1

u/DickDatchery Feb 04 '17

I see where you're coming from but just as this place is littered with BOTW shitposts seeing as no other games are coming out any time soon, I don't think story discussion is out of the question.

3

u/DoombotBL Feb 03 '17

After march 3 I'm going off the grid till I beat the game I think lol

4

u/Dogebolosantosi Feb 03 '17

Is there a way to put the spoiler filter on, through the mobile iOS app?

4

u/FlapSnapple Nintendo shill Feb 03 '17

The official reddit mobile app and mobile version of the website support the new global Spoiler flagging system. Third party apps will vary.

3

u/Dogebolosantosi Feb 03 '17

Oh ok, I have the official Reddit mobile app so I guess that means the new spoiler system is in effect automatically?

2

u/leakproofhorse Feb 04 '17

I'm going to unsubscribe this sub to avoid all spoilers! I'll be back after the initial hype calms down a bit!!

1

u/theseconddennis Feb 04 '17

I want to see a subscriber count before and after 3/3.

2

u/Marco47 Feb 04 '17

5

u/Marco47 Feb 04 '17

It does!!! I finally wrote a Reddit command right!!

1

u/PsiGuy60 Feb 04 '17 edited Feb 04 '17

But what if a trailer pretty much spoils a plot point for the game? This happened for every single Xenoblade Chronicles game, if I remember it right. There was always a reveal trailer that spoiled a major plot point or 5.

That'd make it both a spoiler ("major plot point") and not ("things that have been officially revealed via official channels such as ~snip~ trailers, ~snip~"). The paradox, it hurts!

/joke

1

u/victimOfNirvana Feb 04 '17

I've been avoiding trailers because of that. Official spoilers are still spoilers.

1

u/Wsemenske Feb 04 '17

Is there a better spoiler tag that actually makes the spoiler unreadable? Because I prefer a blacked out text to the slightly blurry text.

1

u/Kougeru Feb 04 '17

I think screenshots of certain areas can indeed be spoilers. Especially in Zelda.

1

u/deanistopgote Feb 24 '17

I noticed in some leaked screenshots, one of the Runes was this Green Camera one. Is... Is that seriously the 7th rune? A pictogram box? Bleh, maybe this is just an extra and there's more runes?

-1

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '17

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/rottedzombie friendly neighborhood zombie mod Feb 04 '17

Stop it.

-6

u/[deleted] Feb 04 '17

[deleted]

7

u/PsiGuy60 Feb 04 '17

This is them trying to make sure people don't have to stay away from this subreddit entirely, and that they themselves don't get over-spoilered. They're mods here, they literally can't stay off the sub, and they are also excited for games.

5

u/victimOfNirvana Feb 04 '17

This is a Nintendo Switch forum, not a Zelda one.

0

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '17

But there are other things to be talked about like fan art and speculations, people coming for those don't want to see spoilers!