*grumble*

[emmagrant01]

I was reading a post in a non-HP-related comm, and someone had commented on the post using an icon with a DH spoiler printed across it.

o_0

It could be a joke for all I know, but seriously, what kind of asshole does that even as a joke? Un-fucking-believable.

Comments

[mamainak.livejournal.com]

Sorry, but...*LMAO*

It's really unbelievable...
When you least expect it...on unexpected way.

LOL, I'm still laughing...

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I didn't think it was funny.

[nmalfoy.livejournal.com]

Happened to me too. I have cut all comms from my flist. The ones I trust (cat_health, kittenbreak) I can check individually. I can only hope the spoiler isn't true... this is my LAST chance to anticipate a book and if someone spoils it I'm gonna have to cut a bitch.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

I have this one, and it's a joke, and I'm now starting to wonder if the fact that it's not an obvious joke to anyone who hasn't seen S2 of the new Doctor Who means I should remove it?

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what this particular person's issue is. They're responding to everyone who complained with other spoiler icons.

[sullacat.livejournal.com]

One of my friends mentioned the same thing the other day, on a recipes journal... and then another one mentioned they saw a person holding up a sign (same spoiler, v popular right now) at a televised event that she was watching on tv.

It's only going to get worse...

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why some people think it's fun to be mean to others. I never have.

[ciel-vert.livejournal.com]

How effing lame. I mean, I get that for every one of us rabid HP fans, there's some asshat out there who thinks it's stupid. Great. Fine. But why must they try to ruin our fun just because they can't have their own?

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Right, exactly.

[furiosity.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, how lame. I'm glad I'm a spoiler hor this time around. Yeah, I might get spoiled for the ending/plot, but I would rather have that happen because I chose to, not because someone else chose to make the decision for me. *has control issues, clearly*

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I was spoiled for OOTP and not for HBP, and I enjoyed not being spoiled more -- so that's how I'm going this time. I guess I just don't understand why there are so may people out there who want to ruin it for other people, just for the lulz.

[frenzied.livejournal.com]

I've ceased playing online games till the book comes out. Last time, by about 7AM the next day general chats were full of spoilers- the one big spoiler in particular.

but as things have leaked this time.. i', enjoying a break until after. Lord knows angsty 13 year old boys LOVE to ruin it.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Sadly, this person is more like a 30-something woman than a 13-year-old boy. :-P

[longtimegone]

That sucks and that person sucks, but you know, people always do that shit. Last year they were all "Snape killed Dumbledore page whatever". So I'm not surprised that we are getting now.

The fact that it was a non-HP comm is kind of hilarious though. I haven't seen anything on my non-HP comms, but if I do...*shrugs* I mean, I can't live in a hole till July 21, I suppose.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I know some people are going to that extreme and are pretty much staying off the internet altogether. I really don't want to do that, and I thought that carefully filtering my flist would be enough. Apparently not. :-P

Oh, and I saw spoiler notices go up in quite a few non-HP comms I'm in, even some that aren't remotely fannish. One of the atheism comms I follow went on moderated status last week, just for this reason. :-P

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

I'm not even looking at the comments here, but thank you for reminding me to make the default on all my computers "do not load images"

Grrr.

[ciel-vert.livejournal.com]

Oh my god thank you for reminding me to do that! I hadn't even thought about that! Glad I was reading through all the other comments! :)

[maureenlycaon.livejournal.com]

An asshole who mistakes meanness for wit.

For years I've been saying that people tend to have one of two reactions to discovering the Intarweb:

1.) "WOW! I can communicate with people as far away as Russia and South Africa! I can even talk with them in real time! I can look up stuff without going to the library or buying expensive books! I can even put up my own website sharing my interest in the obscure mating habits of spiders! COOL! This beats TV any day!"

2.) "Heh-heh, heh-heh . . . lookatthis! I figured out how to put a fake name on my email/Usenet/forum postings! Now no one will know who I am! I can scream NAZIS ARE C00L on alt.israel! I can post bestiality pr0n on this forum or scream obscenities on that one and generally piss people off and get away with it, because NO ONE KNOWS WHO I AM AND THEY CAN'T REACH ME ANYWAY!!! MUHAHAHAHAHA! I'm so tough and clever!"

(Otherwise known as Internet Tough Guy. (http://www.fstdt.com/funnyimages/uploads/403.jpg)

My first reaction was in the first category. This guy's, on the other hand, fell into the second.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you're right, of course. I have been filtering my flist so carefully for the last month, and generally assume people I have friended are considerate. I really didn't expect it to be an issue in a non-HP comm. :-P

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I think it probably is impossible, especially the week before. :-P

[daddybear716.livejournal.com]

Sends out big hugs to ya...

Personally I think spoilers, especially for the books, are fakes or really lucky guesses. As someone who worked on books 1 - 6 and had the advance knowledge of what was happening, it's just not worth the consequences. Sure, 2 years ago I knew at this time how HBP ended, but the 15 minutes of internet fame it would have given me would not have been worth the fall-out of having my career ended for me. So make the assumption that this person is a big barking jack-ass who does not know what they are talking about. Look forward to enjoying

FYI.. DH for all it is worth. Speaking of career, I have a 2nd interview this afternoon. Hopefully I'll have an exciting announcement to post when I get home. It looks very promising. :-)

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm sure you're right. But still, it will affect my enjoyment of the book, because I won't know either way.

Good luck with your interview!

[ashe-frost.livejournal.com]

That really sucks. What is her issue? Did she write a fic that got flamed on ff.net or something?

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

No idea. :-P

[belleweather.livejournal.com]

Funny, the post before this one on my flist was the mod of poor_skills complaining that people were bitching about someone's spoilery icon with the attitude that we should just get off the internet if we didn't want to be spoiled.

I'm in your camp. It's a mean, evil, jerky thing to do and I don't get why people think it's funny. Perhaps I've been hanging out with the Whovians too long -- and those people? Are spoiler INSANE! -- but toward the end of Series 3 all the big Who communities went on default moderation to prevent spoilers. And honestly, it was kinda awesome to be totally unspoiled for the ending. Unfortunately, due to asshats on the internet, I have YET to be unspoiled for a HP book. :(

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I somehow managed to be unspoiled for HBP, but I think that was partly because I wasn't on the internet much the week before due to some traveling.

It's really mean, and while I know there are assholes out there, I just don't get it. Why would you get your jollies from ruining other folks' fun?

[dreamerneva.livejournal.com]

I was spoiled for OotP because one of my friends was in a time zone such that she could post about it before I had read it. I checked my flist and willingly read some stuff she posted (why I ever set down the book in the first place remains to be discovered).

For HBP, however, a friend who had no interest in HP whatsoever posted the spoiler in huge block letters on his LJ. I actually defriended him and any mutual friends who commented that his post was funny. Maybe I'll just stay away from LJ for a bit this time around.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

a friend who had no interest in HP whatsoever posted the spoiler in huge block letters on his LJ

Yes, that's unforgivable, absolutely.

It almost doesn't matter if the spoilers turn out to be true or not, because it still affects my reading of the book, you know?

[karaz.livejournal.com]

I've pretty much resigned myself to getting spoiled. Isn't that sad?

I'll be getting the book at the midnight release party. If I haven't been spoiled by then, I've got to hope some jackass doesn't flip to the end and shout _____ DIES ON PAGE ____ ! And if I manage to avoid that, I've got to leave my tv, radio and etc. off until I've finished the book. I can't believe how quick the media is to announce key plot points. When HBP came out, they announced who the HBP was and who died, 2 days after the book came out. o.O

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I thought I was being careful, and I really didn't expect to see spoilers outside of HP comms. It's frustrating to realize there are people out there who just get off on being mean.

And the media should know better. :-P

[sagcat.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I'm now considering dropping off the face of the internet for the next 9 days.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Me too. :-P

[joesther.livejournal.com]

I'm hardly even reading the comms these days at all. I've realized that for the most parts, they're the danger zones, so I just go up top on my menu and click Journals Only. Most of my friends have already posted their spoiler policies, and even if they are going to be posting spoilers, they're sticking them behind cuts with neutral lead-ins (I think it's important to remember the lead-in as well).

In the past couple of weeks, I've defriended several comms, simply because their mods weren't on the ball. I only use LJ for fandomy things, so I'm not too worried about getting spoiled by a non-fandom group, but mostly, I'm just looking at individual LJs. I guess that's the best way to avoid the idiots.

And they (these idiots) are just attention whores. They're just either trying to be funny (and they really should know better), or they're just trying to get attention. And they don't care if it's positive or negative. I think one important thing to remember is, don't react to them when they post. Speaking logically (or at all) to them just gives them what they want. Just ignore them, and leave the comm that they're on (thus saving yourself exposure to more spoilers, or potential spoilers). Rejoin it later, if you want, but for now, nothing you say or do will change their behavior. Accept that, and you'll be better off. /best unsolicited advice

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I didn't think non-HP comms were going to be an issue, but I guess they are. I guess I need to tighten up my filters a bit more. :-P

[waterbird.livejournal.com]

Ergh, that just sucks. *shakes fist* Even if it does turn out to be a hoax (which, of course, we can't really know until we read the book), I'd much rather not have something like that lurking in the back of my mind while I'm reading the book.

I've been reading a very abbreviated and heavily-filtered Flist since the first alleged spoilers appeared last month, but I guess if I also want to read comments, I'm going to have to turn off icons now too. :(

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Even if it does turn out to be a hoax (which, of course, we can't really know until we read the book), I'd much rather not have something like that lurking in the back of my mind while I'm reading the book.

Yes, exactly. That's exactly why it pisses me off even if it turns out to be a joke. :-P

[rabidpotterfan.livejournal.com]

*sigh* I hate people...I really do. People like that are the reason why! I hope it ends up being a fake spoiler, and I'm sorry some arsehole may have ruined it for you. *hugs*

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

It must be The Spoiler then, because people seem to know which one it is without mentioning it. Of course, the troll in question had multiple icons with multiple spoilers. :-P

[tifsuz.livejournal.com]

Oh man. I had that happen to me with the last book - big flashy icon saying that Snape killed Dumbledore. Looked over at the person's LJ and they were calling the people who got pissed about it immature.

Um, hello? Spoiling something just to be an ass and then whinging when people get mad about it?

Pot - Kettle.

Sometimes you just wish you could reach through and choke someone.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

That's just asshattery, that is. It's like taking candy away from children and then mocking them when they cry. I mean, come on. :-P

[photograficnerd.livejournal.com]

Because some people get that sick enjoyment out of seeing how we react when we get spoiled. "Oh, those crazy Harry Potter people? You want to see something funny? Well watch this. *yells to line of people waiting for HBP* 'Snape kills Dumbledore!'" They think it's hilarious to see how serious we take these things, but they are just a bunch of assholes for not understanding.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

I know. *sigh*

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

How do you ad-block user pics? It hadn't even occurred to me to do that.

[chickadilly.livejournal.com]

It could be a joke for all I know, but seriously, what kind of asshole does that even as a joke? Un-fucking-believable

I dunno what icon you did see but I've seen a few and I'm pretty sure they ARE some people's ideas of a joke. I've seen people on various communities coming up with all sorts of fake spoiler icons because they think it's funny to annoy people.