Tardis:Spoiler policy

Spoiler policy Official releases → Where spoilers are allowed → Comics and spoilers → Ways you can avoid spoilers → What is not a spoiler →

It's not just River Song who needs to worry about spoilers. Defining them helps readers and editors alike know what to expect from the wiki.

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T:SPOIL

In order to provide the most accurate and up-to-date information, this wiki contains details about all stories that have been officially broadcast, released or published for the first time, be it in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in the world. These details would be spoilers to some, but not to this wiki. If a story has been officially released, anywhere in the world, it may be discussed freely anywhere on this site. It's up to you to determine whether you wish to be spoiled about available stories that you personally have not yet experienced.

Instead, we only regulate spoilers which come from media that have not yet been released. This spoiler policy defines what we consider to be spoilers. It goes on to give instruction as to how such information can and cannot be integrated into pages here.

How we define "spoiler"

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T:SPOIL DEF

A spoiler is any information — in-universe or behind-the-scenes — coming from a story which has not yet been officially released in its entirety (notwithstanding multi-part stories with days-long gaps between the release of their constituent installments).

However, there is a distinction between leaks and official spoilers, upcoming information released by the likes of the BBC, Big Finish Productions or BBV Productions. The following concrete examples are "official spoilers" — but this list is by no means exhaustive:

• "Next Time" trailers, teaser trailers, or anything similar
• Cast or crew announcements
• Information from an official website about a future episode
• Information from an interview with a production principal
• Any information about an unbroadcast or unreleased story mentioned in the likes of Doctor Who Magazine.

Note that public statements by individual members of a story's production team can count as "official"; for example, posts on Russell T. Davies's social media have clearly been part of the official promotional strategy for the 60th anniversary year and releases related to it; we shouldn't act like it makes a world of difference whether a given piece of information comes from RTD's account vs. the Doctor Who account.

The following are "unofficial spoilers":

• Rumours or leaks reported about in media unaffiliated with the production companies of the media at stakes;
• Early leaks of full stories;
• Set photos by fans making the rounds on social media.

Official spoilers

Where official spoilers are and aren't allowed

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T:OFFICIAL INFO

What, then, do we do with information that comes from a reputable source like the BBC itself? We use it only on real-world pages. It cannot be used elsewhere.

Upcoming works that have been confirmed — by the BBC or any other relevant production company — but have not been officially released yet can have pages created about them, tagged with {{spoiler}}, as well as on any upcoming series or range they might have been announced to constitute. List of future releases and its subdivisions like List of future Big Finish releases can also start listing these works. All information on these pages must be rigorously sourced.

Officially-announced cast or crewmembers can have pages created about them if they are new to the DWU, duly tagged with {{spoiler}}. The situation is trickier with real-world individuals who already have pages on the Wiki: we can't prevent spoiler-averse people from accessing David Tennant every time he's been announced to participate in a future project (whether it be a Big Finish Productions audio or returning to television). Instead, a subpage can be created at e.g. David Tennant/Spoilers, linked to from the main page using {{Subpage tabs}}. After the information is no longer a spoiler, it can be reintegrated into the main page.

Pages about DWM issues, or other notable publications, which discuss spoilery information from a real-world perspective, ought to present the spoilers on the main page, but be tagged with a {{spoiler}} banner.

Regarding trailers, images from trailers can be used on the appropriate spoiler-tagged pages. Trailers and other promotional pieces which constitute original fiction in themselves, and thus would warrant coverage aside from spoilers, can now have pages created about them even before the release of the thing they advertise, but should of course be tagged as spoilery pages and kept out of Lists of Appearances until they are no longer spoilery.

Please do not add spoilers, even official spoilers, to in-universe articles, even to the Behind the scenes section — nor create in-universe pages, albeit tagged as spoilery, about in-universe elements from upcoming works. Please wait until an episode airs before adding the new information. All spoilers relating to an in-universe article should be place on the appropriate real-world page.

Additionally, any pages that contain spoilers will need to be edit locked to unregistered users, which will slow down any speculative editing.

Unofficial spoilers

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T:RUMOUR
T:RUMOR

Rumours and other such unofficial spoilers are allowed on series and work pages, but they must be cited so that users can verify the page's claims. Citation of this kind is effected by reference tags around the source, like this: <ref> '''source'''</ref>. All facts not confirmed by the BBC Press Office or members of the relevant production crew in a formal interview must be placed within a section labeled "rumours" so that users may clearly understand what they are reading.

Information without a source can be tagged with {{fact}} or {{facts}} which produces the following results: and

Cast or crew information

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T:SPOIL CREW

Information as to cast and crew must initially start in the rumours section of an article, unless the news is broken by the production company themselves. Once the person has been confirmed through either official, production company press release or a known member of the production team, it may be moved to either the cast or crew section, as appropriate. It must still, however, retain a citation, as mentioned above. (<ref> '''source'''</ref>)

Only after the story is released may the reference tags be pulled from the article, and they can be retained if it's of historical interest that X actor was announced on Y date in such-and-such way.

Note that this does not apply to pages about upcoming cast members themselves, which do not have a "Rumours" section and must contain only official spoilers.

After broadcast

Rumour sections are subject to complete removal after the story is broadcast or published, unless a rumour has some bearing on the story as released. By their nature though, rumours are rarely of any value once a story becomes public. If they turn out to be true, the info naturally goes into another section of the article. If they turn out to be false, the info is most often dismissed as no longer interesting. Historically-noteworthy but inaccurate rumours can be moved to the "Myths" section or "Story notes".

Once the story is released, it becomes the primary source for information about itself. Thus, the credit roll at the end of the story becomes the highest-order source for information about the cast and crew, and citation for that person's involvement is no longer necessary.

Full example

For example, let's imagine that Jennifer Aniston were rumoured to be in an episode of Doctor Who called The One with the Bug-Eyed Monsters. And imagine we learned of her involvement first through a report on DigitalSpy. So initially, we'd put her in the "Rumours" section, and cite Digital Spy. Then imagine she were to be confirmed by the BBC Press Office. We'd pull her up to the "Cast" section and change the citation to BBC Press Office. Then imagine The One with the Bug-Eyed Monsters comes out. Sure enough, she's in it. At this point you can remove all citations, because it's now a fact established by the episode itself.

Spoilers and the forums

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T:SPOIL FORUM

Official spoilers are allowed in Forum threads when necessary, but spoilery threads should be flagged as such. Within the limits of practicality, the thread title should additionally strive not to contain overt spoilers, and it should itself specify that the thread will contain spoilers. (For example, a 2013 thread to discuss ahead of release whether we should consider the 50th anniversary specials to be part of Series 8 (Doctor Who 2005) could have been called something like [[Forum:SPOILERS: How to lump future specials and series]], remaining as broad and possible instead of e.g. talking about "the Smith specials and Capaldi's first series".

Sometimes, however, there is uncertainty about whether a given piece of information constitutes a leak or an official spoiler, and thus, how this information is to be integrated into the Wiki? In such cases, a duly-tagged Forum thread can be used to discuss whether a given piece of information is fair game for spoiler-tagged pages, or if it constitutes a leak. A specific template to flag such threads as "even spoilerier than normal spoiler threads" should be used: {{potential leaks}}. (This is not necessary for media page citing unofficial sources within the boundaries set by T:RUMOUR, because that format already segregates the unofficial spoilers to a specific, skippable section of the page.)

Finally, it is a violation of this policy to use the template {{Please see}}, or any other page link, to entreat someone to come to a spoilery thread. This is the equivalent of a "form letter", and it makes it look to the reader like you're asking them to any other forum thread. If you want someone to join you at the Howling, please write out a personalised message. And, if the thread to which you're inviting them includes spoilers about the future, please make that fact clear in your message on their talk page. If a user comes to an admin, complaining that they were asked to go see a thread, and now that thread has ruined things for them, then the party who extended the invitation is in violation of this policy.