 | This page documents an English Wikipediacontent guideline. Editors should generally follow it, thoughexceptions may apply.Substantive edits to this page should reflectconsensus. When in doubt, discuss first onthis guideline's talk page. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Spoilers are no different from any other content and should not be deleted solely because they are spoilers. |
Wikipedia articles may includespoilers and no spoiler warnings. A spoiler is a piece of information about a narrative work (such as a book, film, television series, or a video game) that revealsplot points ortwists. Articles on the Internet sometimes feature a spoiler warning to alert readers to spoilers in the text, which they may then choose to avoid reading. Wikipedia previously included such warnings in some articles, but no longer does so, except for thecontent disclaimer and section headings (such as "Plot" or "Ending"), which imply the presence of spoilers. The "No disclaimers in articles" guideline explains why spoiler warnings are no longer used on Wikipedia.
It isnot acceptable to add "spoiler warning" notices or to delete information from (orhide it within) an article because you think it spoils the plot. Such concerns must not interfere withneutral point of view, encyclopedic tone, completeness, or any other element of article quality (e.g., thelead section). When including spoilers, editors should make sure that anencyclopedic purpose is being served. Articles on a work of fiction should primarily describe it from areal-world perspective, discussing its reception, impact, and significance.
This guidance also applies to other relevant information beyond simple plot elements, such as "surprise" casting information for a publicly released film. Other aspects beyond prose, such as infobox materials and categories, are also considered to be within this guidance; it is not acceptable to remove a category that is otherwise well-defining for the work's plot that could be considered to spoil the plot.
The same reasoning for including spoilers when appropriate in articles on works of fiction applies to other types of "spoilers" as well; for example, the optimal strategy for games such astic-tac-toe, the workings ofmagic tricks, the solutions tologic puzzles, the answers toriddles, the results ofreality television programs, and live radio and television eventsbroadcast on a delay in certain areas of the world such as theEurovision Song Contest and the Olympics.
But note that this does not mean such informationmust be included, either.Wikipedia is not a textbook, instruction manual, or video game guide; it should contain information appropriate to an encyclopedia article on the subject.
Until late 2007, spoiler warnings, also known as spoiler disclaimers, were a frequent occurrence in Wikipedia articles about works of fiction. However, by 2007, some editors were also including spoiler warnings in articles about myths, folklore, fairy tales, and even biblical stories. After such a warning wasadded to the article aboutThe Three Little Pigs, other editors took notice and began questioning the prolific and unrestricted use of the disclaimers. After a series of long, contentious discussions,[a] several issues with spoiler warnings were identified:
Supporters of spoiler warnings pointed out that it had become common practice on the Internet to give a warning about potential spoilers any time plot details were discussed—especially details about how a work of fiction ends—and that readers had come to expect such warnings as a form of courtesy even when most readers will ignore the disclaimers. Because of this, they argued that Wikipedia's policies and guidelinesshould not apply. However, editors could not reach a consensus about whether the presence of spoiler warnings in articles was an improvement to Wikipedia.