Tardis:Where spoilers are allowed
This article is currently undergoing significant editing. Editors should not use this tag for more than 72 hours. Please do not edit it until you no longer see this message, or until 72 hours have passed from the time this message appeared in the edit history.
|
Official releases → Comics and spoilers → Ways you can avoid spoilers → What is not a spoiler → Where spoilers are allowed |
We permit spoilers in these areas:
- articles about series, such as Series 14 (Doctor Who);
- special areas of the Wiki, including The Howling and List of future releases.
Please note spoilers are completely forbidden on in-universe pages, such as Eleventh Doctor or Torchwood Institute or sonic lipstick. The reason for this prohibition is simple: it is impossible to verify narrative elements before a story is actually released. And, indeed, even reputable sources occasionally get it wrong. If we were to believe Doctor Who Magazine, for instance, Oswald Danes would actually be Oswald Jones (DWM 427). Because so much on a wiki depends upon the correct titling of articles, it's a tremendous time saver to wait and see what happens in the story as published or broadcast.
Furthermore, only articles about series are generally left open to general editing (alongside analogous "special cases" like List of future releases and List of future Big Finish releases). Story articles are typically protected from general editing until the moment of official release. Story names have been known to change immediately prior to broadcast, as with The Vampires of Venice. This has occasioned additional work, which could have been avoided had we but waited to create the article until the night of first broadcast.
Series articles must carry {{spoiler}} at the top of the the article, until that series has been completely released. This alerts the reader to spoilers about upcoming adventures and places all such articles in a common category for easy maintenance.
Spoiler information relating to not-yet-released stories must be kept to series articles only. Please do not create articles about narrative elements rumoured to exist within stories that haven't been released.
In addition, spoilers are not allowed on talk pages or in edit summaries.
