MODS...your attention please...

ianh said:
However if that's not going to happen and the "UK aired only" rule stays as it is then the Mods really need to be just as active as the guys in General (Random Pics thread for example) at policing the threads so that there's a clear line on what is OK.
Click to expand...

I think you might be slightly underestimating the difficulty involved in knowing when every possible episode is shown in the UK and what it contains so that there is no posting of spoilers regarding episodes already aired elsewhere. It would still rely to a great extent on posters reporting the offending posts but more than that it relies on posters being grown-up to follow the rules generally.

I've raised it for discussion with the moderation team anyway but for the avoidance of doubt I'd say at the moment that nothing has changed to the normal order - you're still not meant to be discussing episodes that have not yet been aired in the UK. If there are shows which have had either no release in the UK or a very limited release then presumably providing you can acquire them legally here it wouldn't be an issue to discuss them but that would be a judgement on a case by case basis. As always if you're in doubt then feel free to email one of the moderators listed to check out whether it is acceptable.
 
I see no issue if you post spoiler tags, I started the Walking Dead Season 3 thread, put in the thread title that there may be spoilers, based on the comics, the whole thread discusses the direction season 3 might take, for those who haven't read the comics, its a minefield of speculative spoilers that could potentially ruin season 3.

If you haven't seen an episode, why not just avoid the threads?
 
Oh not this again.

semi-pro waster said:
I think you might be slightly underestimating the difficulty involved in knowing when every possible episode is shown in the UK and what it contains so that there is no posting of spoilers regarding episodes already aired elsewhere. It would still rely to a great extent on posters reporting the offending posts but more than that it relies on posters being grown-up to follow the rules generally.

I've raised it for discussion with the moderation team anyway but for the avoidance of doubt I'd say at the moment that nothing has changed to the normal order - you're still not meant to be discussing episodes that have not yet been aired in the UK. If there are shows which have had either no release in the UK or a very limited release then presumably providing you can acquire them legally here it wouldn't be an issue to discuss them but that would be a judgement on a case by case basis. As always if you're in doubt then feel free to email one of the moderators listed to check out whether it is acceptable.
Click to expand...

I completely get this and it is a really grey area. Quite a few here actually watch them in america - when I lived in America I used to watch them and post in here all the time.

Hopefully any unnecessary threads like this get closed in the future.
 
I'll reiterate that i'm on the fence, I don't mind either way at the moment. I've been torrenting TV shows for years and that isn't going to change in the near future unless Sky/Virgin or even terrestrial can get their asses in gear and show some shows a little earlier. I'm looking at you Sons of Anarchy, Californication and Dexter.

However Game Of Thrones only has a 24 hour wait now, The Walking Dead only had a 5 day wait and that was more than acceptable to wait for the UK air date until I watched the shows and subsequently discussed them here. But even though TWD only had a 5 day wait, there were people in that thread ruining the show for others by not following the rules.

Spoiler tags are essentially useless if you are subscribed to a thread, they either need to be fixed or removed. I don't subscribe to anything myself but other people have had episodes ruined by the thread notification emails.


semi-pro waster said:
I've raised it for discussion with the moderation team anyway but for the avoidance of doubt I'd say at the moment that nothing has changed to the normal order - you're still not meant to be discussing episodes that have not yet been aired in the UK. If there are shows which have had either no release in the UK or a very limited release then presumably providing you can acquire them legally here it wouldn't be an issue to discuss them but that would be a judgement on a case by case basis. As always if you're in doubt then feel free to email one of the moderators listed to check out whether it is acceptable.
Click to expand...

Anyway, a mod has given me the answer I wanted for the time being, I do hope there will be some genuine discussion from the OCUK mod team about updating or giving us some leeway on this rule in the near future.
 
semi-pro waster said:
If there are shows which have had either no release in the UK or a very limited release then presumably providing you can acquire them legally here it wouldn't be an issue to discuss them but that would be a judgement on a case by case basis.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

My stance is that, if the series is running in the UK but is merely broadcast somewhere else a short time before e.g. a week to 10 days earlier, then they should not be discussed in this forum. Discussion of programs that do not have a UK date is fine IMHO.

Use of spoiler tags is a reasonable "middle ground".



Jay794 said:
I see no issue if you post spoiler tags, I started the Walking Dead Season 3 thread, put in the thread title that there may be spoilers, based on the comics, the whole thread discusses the direction season 3 might take, for those who haven't read the comics, its a minefield of speculative spoilers that could potentially ruin season 3.
Click to expand...

Only one issue here (and it's minor). Quite correctly, spoiler tags are used in the thread title so anyone wandering in should know better. The issue comes with thread fragmentation whereby you have discussions on the same TV Show broken across different threads (see quoted section 2 down)


If you haven't seen an episode, why not just avoid the threads?
Click to expand...

Because, unless it has "spoiler" in the title, people don't expect spoilers to be in there. The threads on here are not explicitly for discussing an aired episode, they go into discussion about the cast and news about when the next series is being released, who may star in it etc.



Neil79 said:
Why not have this which will sort it once and for all

for example

SPARTACUS - USA DISCUSSION
SPARTACUS - UK DISCUSSION
Click to expand...

Not a huge issue for shows that are not being shown in the UK but for shows that are currently being aired in the UK and are simply a few days behind, this would result in fragmentation of the topic with posts split over 2 different topics yet only a few days apart.


Why should I have to put up with Adverts after already paying everything else?
Click to expand...

Who is saying you do have to? :confused: (see below)

Dimple said:
It's a fact of life that some of us are going to watch the latest episodes as soon as they are aired and I think it's unfair that we could get suspended for it.
Click to expand...

no one is asking for people to be suspended for downloading the shows, all that is being asked is for no one to discuss them before they are aired in the UK ESPECIALLY for shows that ARE currently being aired but are just a few days behind.



TL;DR - IMHO I dont think people have an issue with non-UK aired shows being discussed on here. The issue comes when people want to discuss shows that ARE airing on the UK but are just a few days behind. People want to argue this is ok? :confused:

If people want to download them and watch them then crack on, but have some patience and restraint for people that don't, bearing in mind that they are not the people breaking any law... It's almost like getting upset and thinking someone is crazy because they are "holding you back" while they are driving at the speed limit... Who is in the wrong here?
 
arknor said:
look at the game of thrones thread, theres a full page of people posting just to say they watched the episode..

same thing in the spartacus thread and that airs the next day on sky aswell?
Click to expand...

I'm guilty of this childish act and just for you I will stop however a trial US TV forum would be an excellent idea and a suspension for anybody who wanders into the normal forum and spoils it.
DO IT MODS
 
I think having another sub-forum or a separate US thread for each show is silly, it fragments things and is unnecessary. OCUK also has a stance on piracy, so in a way doing so advocates it because let's face it, most people are downloading them.

I'm also not buying the "well what if I watch it in the US?" - this is a UK forum. If you need to discuss something right away, why not do it on a US forum or a UK one that doesn't care.

I think the system is fine for currently airing shows, no discussion at all, including the use of spoiler tags until its aired in the UK.

I'd also agree that it's become quite puerile now that the threads end up with people stating they've seen it, it's childish, just wait.
 
How the hell does maturity get into it just because someone thought that the episode was good?. I can't stand people that spoil episodes but just because someone said they enjoyed it or didn't doesn't spoil anything. Also about piracy this isn't like games and movies, If I watch an episode say three or four days before it appears in the uk, who is it hurting?. My family has a tv license and sky so it's already payed for.

The only people complaining about this are those that throw the toys out the pram because god forbid we see it three days before you do!
 
Last edited:
Neil79 said:
My family has a tv license and sky so it's already payed for.
Click to expand...

And that's why nobody will ever come knocking on your door.
Do you really think American TV companies give a toss about some British blokes watching an episode a couple of days before?
The only people that are bothered are SKY because you're not watching adverts.
 
Neil79 said:
If I watch an episode say three or four days before it appears in the uk, who is it hurting?.
Click to expand...

The channel that airs it.

The money they pay out for the right to air the show is recovered from ad revenue.

If nobody watches it while is is airing then the ad spots available during the show become cheaper and cheaper to buy and eventually to the point where a channel is losing to money to air it.
 
Neil79 said:
How the hell does maturity get into it just because someone thought that the episode was good?. I can't stand people that spoil episodes but just because someone said they enjoyed it or didn't doesn't spoil anything. Also about piracy this isn't like games and movies, If I watch an episode say three or four days before it appears in the uk, who is it hurting?. My family has a tv license and sky so it's already payed for.

The only people complaining about this are those that throw the toys out the pram because god forbid we see it three days before you do!
Click to expand...

It's because they know full well they aren't allowed to say anything, but rather than saying nothing and waiting until they are allowed to leave comments that add something, they start posting to say they've seen it, which is pointless and is childish because by doing so its almost as if to say "Naaaa Nnnaaaa I've already seen it!"

Just because you have Sky and a TV Licence doesn't mean it gives you the right to download or for people to host it. Do I really need to explain to you why it's piracy?
 
semi-pro waster said:
I think you might be slightly underestimating the difficulty involved in knowing when every possible episode is shown in the UK and what it contains so that there is no posting of spoilers regarding episodes already aired elsewhere. It would still rely to a great extent on posters reporting the offending posts but more than that it relies on posters being grown-up to follow the rules generally.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply matey, it's good to know that at least it's under discussion. Also I think I've probably come across as a bit harsh on the Mods for which I'm sorry. I think at the moment there's about 10-15 TV threads which have some kind of spoiler info and very few people are going to know exactly what happens in all 10-15 TV shows to be able to moderate it properly. Like you said I guess it's up to us to help you out with that.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As to the "it'll split up discussions, just wait the extra days" etc statements regardless of whether a program is shown in the UK next day or 2 years after it's still shown in the US before the UK leading to the current situation of what is/isn't allowed (can we use spoiler tags, what about e-mails which don't format the spoiler tags etc etc). I still think the best for everyone is a US sub-forum for those who want to discuss and it 'should' stop the UK TV threads being spoiled which seems to be the ultimate aim.

Yes there'd be "repeated discussions" where the US forum would have the same conversions as the UK shows but unless you visited both forums then you'd never know, I mean if you're only watching UK aired there's no reason for you to visit the US section unless you wanted to read the Spoilers so I don't agree there'd be "split discussions" between the two (unless I've got the idea of a Split discussion wrong?).

Anyway I think thats enough from me on the subject. Whatever happens I'll stick to the forum rules regardless, I like the place too much to risk a ban :D
 
robgmun said:
Deal with it, seriously
Click to expand...

This :)

I don't see what the problem is at all as long as people use the spoiler tags and write a quick line before the spoiler saying what it is about e.g.

Nexus18 said:
Spoiler below about his character (Hershel) and episode 13!


I really like his character, at first I wasn't keen on him, but he has grown on me a lot now, hope he doesn't die any time soon
Click to expand...

After all if people don't want to know what will happen then stay off any internet threads/forums that talk about the show or whatever, it is like going on IMDB forums for the show and going "OMG xxxxxxxxx idiots, USE spoilers!" :p

As for the "epeen" or whatever as to who watched the show first, really? :confused: :rolleyes: Who honestly cares if someone has seen it a week before a couple of people in this thread.......The forum is here to discuss and if people think it is a good episode then they can say "OMG great episode" if they want (if it is not against the rules that is, but I don't see any harm in even saying that anyway, it's not like it spoils the show or anything...... :rolleyes:)

As to how people obtained/watched the latest episode, that is another matter.


Anyway if the mods do decide that no discussion is allowed of shows/episodes that have aired in the USA but haven't in the UK yet then fair enough, however, I personally don't see the point really, I think it would be better to have a rule that HAS to be followed, if people post any info about the next episode that hasn't aired in the UK yet then that content has to be put in spoiler tags and to write a line above the spoiler in bold/big text saying what episode it is about etc.
 
Last edited:
Neil79 said:
Why not have this which will sort it once and for all

for example

SPARTACUS - USA DISCUSSION
SPARTACUS - UK DISCUSSION

If you are concerned about copyright just say we also have usa people on the forum too i mean christ we have people from europe on this forum. I really don't see the problem of saying a unaired episode is awesome if it doesn't contain spoilers.

Why should I have to put up with Adverts after already paying everything else?
Click to expand...

This is by far the easiest solution.
 
My stance is essentially this: If Digital Spy, a massive TV and film news website based in the UK, one which regularly interviews TV and film stars, have a forum specifically for US TV show discussion where they have, in said forum, threads for TV programmes shown at "US pace" then I don't think somewhere like OCUK need to worry about the piracy thing.

Digital Spy is well known commentator and reporter on TV. I'm pretty sure Ofcom know exactly who they are. I've yet to see anything said to them about forum threads infringing on piracy laws. As long as links aren't posted, discussion should be allowed.

Because if it's not, it's simply inconsistent. Our US users see TV shows before they're shown in the UK. They do so legally. Yet they're unable to talk about them for fear of some mystical piracy warden sending a strongly worded email or letter to the owners of OCUK.

Just my two cents worth.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom