A Reminder in TVgasm Etiquette

Okay people, gotta clarify some things. TVgasm is all about the TV experience. We relish in television. Some might say we’re “enthusiastic” or “obsessed” or “lacking any sort of life whatsoever”. The point is, we truly love sitting down and watching some of these shows we cover. At the end of the day, it’s about entertainment, hearing a story — and no one likes the end of the story ruined. So if you have a spoiler about any show, especially a reality show, SHUT UP.

We’ve had some incidents this past week in the forums and comments section where people have posted spoilers without any warnings whatsoever. Granted, the spoilers might just be rumors, but either way, be smart people. Warn us.

Please remember that we try to preserve the viewing experience as best we can at TVgasm. If it’s spoilers you want, feel free to check out some other wonderful websites out there instead. Spoilers are not cool here, but if you must babble about these things, then type in big, capital letters: “SPOILER ALERT!”

Here are some examples of things that might be spoilers:

• Revealing or spreading rumors about the winner of a reality show. This is a big one. So you heard that Jane Doe is winning Survivor? WHO THE HELL CARES? So you want to know if this rumor you heard about John Doe winning Amazing Race is true? Well, two people heard the same rumor and one person didn’t. GREAT. And this matters why?
• Revealing that a character long thought to be dead or gone returns (ie. any number of people on 24). Don’t ruin the surprise for us. Note that this is different than pointing out casting alerts or hypothesizing about outcomes. You think Sherry Palmer is coming back to 24? That’s cool. You heard Gwenyth Paltrow is going to join the cast of Lost? Sweet (that was a lie, by the way). Revealing major plot twists (character deaths, etc.) is also worthy of a spoiler alert.
• Giving updates on webcams. Okay, this is mainly a Big Brother issue. Technically, anything that airs on a webcam isn’t a spoiler because it’s already out there, and I know people love to talk about that stuff. So this summer, if you’re gonna chat about the outcome of challenges before they air on CBS, we’ll make a special category in the forums for you to discuss without bothering those of us who wish to be pleasantly surprised by the good people at CBS.

Thank you for your time.