Spoiler Tagging in Quotes (or anything outside Trivia?)

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I was hoping to add a late line for a film, and although it's not so clear a spoiler that it'd ruin the film (I wouldn't have posted it if it were that damning, but elements of the scene have been included in promotional screens and a snippet is in the trailer,) I still would prefer it be added to the bottom of the Quotes library and notated as such.

My problem is, I cannot tell if the Spoiler tag works for Quotes, or other content types besides Trivia? The [spoiler] tag is only listed in the instruction for Trivia, and there's nothing in the IMDB instruction guide or forums (as far as I can tell) about using [spoiler] elsewhere. 

I do see that there is some way to add a "The quote item below may give away important plot points" section to a Quotes page (Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back has a notable quote under here, of course,) but when I tried to copy its implementation, there was no clear indicator how that particular quote was labeled as such. 

I'd like to [spoiler] tag my submission, but will that work?
Or, how else can I label a quote for after-viewing use?

Thank you much!
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Marc Nix

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Posted 3 years ago

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3 years ago
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Steve Crook, Champion

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Reading the help page at  https://help.imdb.com/article/contribution/titles/quotes/GJQY7DAWS89JU5AA I don't see any way to indicate that a quote is a spoiler. What quote do you want to add (to which title) that you consider to be a spoiler?

Some people go over-board on the idea of spoilers thinking that if they say that "The War Horse" is about a horse, that would be considered to be a spoiler  :)

More generally, and more seriously, if someone is reading a page about quotes, doesn't that usually give away various plot points?

    Steve
(Edited)
2017-11-11T16:54:33+00:00
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Marc Nix

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Yes, I found no indication in any of the Contribution Instructions that a spoiler tag could be used on any content type besides Trivia either. But when I look at The Empire Strikes Back (which, as any film fan is aware, has one of the most widely-discussed and treasured twists in cinema,) there it is, the Spoiler section:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080684/quotes?ref_=tt_ql_trv_4

So, I just wanted to be respectful if possible and make use of the tool as it is designed. But, seeing as there's no reference to Spoiler tagging outside Trivia and very little use of it elsewhere, I'm not sure IMDB designed it to be used? If you look at the Edit menu on this particular Empire quote, it doesn't contain any Spoiler tag/toggle in the stored text. Maybe Empire Strikes Back was a special case ... even Psycho (which Hitchcock himself worked hard to protect as the first spoiler-protected movie) has the last line of the film and elements of the twist right there at the top of the IMDB Quotes page.

So maybe the Spoiler tag outside Trivia is a discontinued or custom feature not always available for use?
(Edited)
3 years ago
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Marc Nix

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My quote is for the new film Last Flag Flying.

The line is inspirational and affecting (IMO), and should be part of an IMDB listing for such a movie. The line does come late in the film, however, and also does refer to an item given to the lead character by the speaking character at a key moment in the climax. It's a bit of dialog that would, if IMDB organized this way, be sorted to the bottom and listed as material that "may give away important plot points" for proper enjoyment of the site.

Now, does it really matter that this line is spoiler-proofed? Not particularly; it's not the kind of film that delivers shocking twists and buzzed-about surprises. Heck, even the marketing department for the movie has been lax in "protecting" the ending (the idea that I'm trying to spoiler-proof this particular movie is almost comical since shots and snippets from the ending are in a lot of the marketing material ... can you guess the item?) The line doesn't give the ending away in and of itself either (although it does cap off the character arc for the speaker, and the character you meet when the movie begins, maybe you wouldn't expect him to say such a line until you see what he's experienced by the time the movie ends.) 

Honestly, nobody will be hurt if this line goes up without a spoiler warning. It's a new movie, and I'm being a little extra cautious in my submission process since there are no other contributions up live for it (I'm mostly posting this as a general curiosity for future submissions.) But if the ability to tag a Quote as a spoiler is there, it'd be nice to make proper use of it. 
3 years ago
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Steve Crook, Champion

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You can always suggest it in the Ideas area of GetSatisfaction
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/categories/imdb_imdb_contentdata_issues?topic-list[settings][type]=...

    Steve
3 years ago
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Joel, Official Rep

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Hi Marc,

Thanks for your post!

At this time, contributors are unable to tag quotes as spoilers. In rare special circumstances, staff can do this if necessary.

If this is a feature you think would be greatly beneficial, please submit a community poll where our staff and other IMDb users can vote on it.  This will allow us to measure the level of interest. 

Joel
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