New US show season about to start - Should there be a sub-forum to avoid spoilers?

ianh · 2 Sep 2011 at 20:54

Hi, now there's a new show season about to start in the US there's going to be lots of talk about them which always brings us to the issue of Spoilers. While the current rule says we can only talk about TV shows "Aired in the UK" is it time we had a change and had a sub-forum for US TV shows (like the Football one in Sports etc)?

With the likes of Itunes etc and pay-per-view for US channels I personally find the "UK only" rule to be a little old fashioned when this is a world wide computer forum (meaning at least some people are from the US etc and most of us are IT literate) and it's legal to view US programs on the web. I don't see the problem of adding a sub-forum with "Spoilers" in the Forum title and it'll keep everyone happy.

For those that will only see the US programs when they air in the UK they can still use this forum and keep that rule applied.

Everybody wins surely?

CrispyOtter · 3 Sep 2011 at 13:08

Isn't this a copyright issue? So OcUK avoids being sued?

Mark1989 · 3 Sep 2011 at 13:11

I hate the rule, I can barely discuss stuff ive watched due to it so i end up ignoring half the threads

ianh · 3 Sep 2011 at 16:53

Buster2312 said:
Isn't this a copyright issue? So OcUK avoids being sued?

Otiginally yes but now you can legally watch/buy US programs on Itunes with a US account and on some US channel websites too, plus there's the users on here from the US, Canada etc who aren't allowed to chat about episodes they've watched. However I realise that talking about pirating TV shows could lead to OcUK being shut down which is why the original ban was put in place but now other legal avenues have opened up maybe it's time to ask for a change.

I think it'd make sense to have a separate little sub-forum we're people can chat about TV they've seen without the worry of getting threads closed due to spoilers as has happened in the past.

Of course OcUK could just say no

ChrisJSY · 3 Sep 2011 at 17:01

Buster2312 said:
Isn't this a copyright issue? So OcUK avoids being sued?

Sure it's a uk forum but it's not limited to uk based people is it?.

Dano · 3 Sep 2011 at 18:35

ChrisJSY said:
Sure it's a uk forum but it's not limited to uk based people is it?.

The majority of members are UK based, or were when this last came up. Have to say, I think a sub-forum would be a good plan.

MissChief · 3 Sep 2011 at 19:41

Agreed about the sub forum.

Bloomfield · 3 Sep 2011 at 20:38

I don't even see the point in having TV talk in this forum with the current rule tbh. Pretty much all the threads about TV shows atm are just "Spec me a TV show" or are basically dead threads about a specific show where barely anyone posts because they have no idea which episodes they can post about and probably forgot what happened in the episode that's just been shown in the UK anyways.

I expect the official reply to be the same as usual, "There's plenty of other forums to talk about American TV", shame really.

qqg3 · 4 Sep 2011 at 01:19

Bloomfield said:
I don't even see the point in having TV talk in this forum with the current rule tbh. Pretty much all the threads about TV shows atm are just "Spec me a TV show" or are basically dead threads about a specific show where barely anyone posts

That would be because we are in the "off-season". Like the OP states, US networks are about to launch their main runners again following the summer break and things will pick up once more.

SixTwoSix · 4 Sep 2011 at 09:24

I can tell you all right now that OCUK will not change their position on this, as a business they have to protect themselves.

Ask yourself this. If you owned this business and could open yourself up to all kinds of legal problems by letting your forums members chat openly about currently "un-released in the UK" shows/movies, would you allow it?

Finally, no matter what the majority of you say about having obtained the media legally by PPV, On-Demand or anything else, we know it's all BS. 90% of you will have downloaded it from torrent sites/usenet or any of the abundance of illegal media sharing options open to you on the net.

I do the same, i'm a torrenter because i'm impatient and the UK schedules are a joke most of the time, I do however respect the rules of a forum i've come to love as I like being part of this community.

Btone · 4 Sep 2011 at 10:39

how is it illegal to talk about a TV show/film/music no matter if it can be got here or not, yes they might find them self in a legal grey area if people where posting links to were they could download them (something i would be against here)

Glaucus · 4 Sep 2011 at 10:49

ianh said:
Otiginally yes but now you can legally watch/buy US programs on Itunes with a US account and on some US channel websites too, plus there's the users on here from the US, Canada etc who aren't allowed to chat about episodes they've watched. However I realise that talking about pirating TV shows could lead to OcUK being shut down which is why the original ban was put in place but now other legal avenues have opened up maybe it's time to ask for a change.

D

Through an account you have lied about to obtain and very much against the T&Cs.

I can't see OcUK changing it at all.

Bloomfield said:
I don't even see the point in having TV talk in this forum with the current rule tbh. .

what?
There's loads of series threads, that people talk about every week. Not everyone watches tv from America, I would even go as far as say American tv watching is still in the minority.

Shamikebab · 4 Sep 2011 at 13:58

No point in complaining, the rule will not be changed.

THMRK · 4 Sep 2011 at 14:17

The US TV season runs all year. It's not about to start, it's always running.

I agree with the OP although I know that rule won't get changed.

SexyGreyFox · 4 Sep 2011 at 14:49

Completely pointless and useless dinosaur rule and it isn't often I disagree with the Mods/Spie.
I can't see any US company saying 'Please stop talking about our programs or we will sue you'.
In fact, quite the opposite to get the interest going.

I'm also 1000% convinced that after a program is aired they are put on Usenet by the TV company's themselves because there always seems to be 2 different size versions uploaded and if it was Pirate John doing it he has never had a day off in years recording absolutely everything from all around the world.

sunama · 4 Sep 2011 at 15:16

dmpoole said:
Completely pointless and useless dinosaur rule and it isn't often I disagree with the Mods/Spie.
I can't see any US company saying 'Please stop talking about our programs or we will sue you'.
In fact, quite the opposite to get the interest going.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

Glaucus · 4 Sep 2011 at 15:22

dmpoole said:
Completely pointless and useless dinosaur rule and it isn't often I disagree with the Mods/Spie.
I can't see any US company saying 'Please stop talking about our programs or we will sue you'.
In fact, quite the opposite to get the interest going.

I never thought it was about that. It's about most people being in England and as such not reading spoilers by a few and spoiling the series.

The suing rules would only be if you give or help people find copyrighted material or help on breaking it.

That's what I thought anyway.

SixTwoSix · 4 Sep 2011 at 16:14

dmpoole said:
I'm also 1000% convinced that after a program is aired they are put on Usenet by the TV company's themselves because there always seems to be 2 different size versions uploaded and if it was Pirate John doing it he has never had a day off in years recording absolutely everything from all around the world.

I can tell you for a fact that there are many people working to get the latest episode of a TV show uploaded before anyone else can beat them to it, it's not just one individual. This is one of the reasons you get a lot of re-uploads and nukes/propers, people rushing to be first and not quality controlling what they are uploading.

The two different file sizes are for SD and HD, SD are always around 350MB and HD (720p) around the 1-1.3GB mark. There used to be very strict guidelines with the file sizes posted to be an official "scene" release but these have relaxed a lot lately.

You would be amazed at the organisation that goes into these groups, it's not just a group of kids uploading what they can, when they can, there are people out there for whom this is almost like a full time job.

Most "scene" groups have 4/5 core members and there are probably hundreds of scene groups out there posting. That's why you have so many tags after each torrent upload, for the group to claim ownership and saying "look, we got it up first"

This isn't a post just aimed at you dmpoole, just a general info post to open peoples eyes a little bit to how much goes on behind the scenes that the majority of us aren't aware of.

AcidHell2 said:
The suing rules would only be if you give or help people find copyrighted material or help on breaking it.

If OCUK did allow the discussion i'm fairly sure it would be less than a week before someone either posted a direct link of where to download something or a nudge nudge, wink wink hint that was so blatantly obvious they may as well post the file itself.

For the record, I wish OcUK would allow the discussion but I fully understand and respect their stance on it, it's a possible headache they just don't need.

CaptainRAVE · 4 Sep 2011 at 16:17

Wait, there is a rule here saying we can't talk about US shows? Is that correct?

SixTwoSix · 4 Sep 2011 at 16:20

CaptainRAVE said:
Wait, there is a rule here saying we can't talk about US shows? Is that correct?

US shows/episodes currently un-aired in the UK on either Sky, Virgin or regular terrestrial TV.

However the enforcement largely depends on the popularity of the show. For example the Walking Dead and Game Of Thrones threads were regularly moderated. However the Falling Skies thread had us all talking about the episodes (myself included) before they had been shown in the UK and nothing was said.