Against the Day: Spoiler Protocol

[davemarc]

Howdy pardners!

By my reckoning, the US release of Against the Day is about a month away.
Copies have already flown into the hands of any number of people out there.
The likelihood of leaks increases by the minute!

Which means it's time for me to start fretting over spoiler
protocol--standards established against the day that anyone on this list
might wish to share Against the Day information that others might not be
overly anxious to see.

To prepare for this post, I went back in time. What a nostalgic experience
it was to return to the exciting months around the release of M&D. Susan
Argus! Greg Montalbano! Andrew Dinn! Eric Alan Weinstein??? Ah, those were
the days. Heh.

Anyway, the concerns last time might be corralled into two categories:
pre-publication leaks and post-publication info giveaways (like having
someone revealing key information on just after the book appears).

What happened last time (quite successfully with some exceptions, as I
recall):

*List owner Murthy created a "welcome message" spelling out a spoiler
protocol for newbies

*Subject headers consisted of "M&D" plus the page number of the highest page
to which you think your comments relate (so if you were writing about things
on pages 13 and 133, the header would be something like

M&D 133

"Spoiler" or "Spoiler Warning" could indicate when an especially important
revelation was being included in the post. The "barebones" aspect of the
subject header would prevent giveaways from being seen in the subject line,
help readers determine whether they should check the content, and also,
possibly, serve as a guide for people looking at the posts at a later date.

*Posts began with blank spaces to keep "textmosis" from occurring content
via email preview windows. (see below re "textmosis")

*The first organized M&D reading was planned to last a year and done in
stages that, in theory at least, gave folks a chance to keep up. There was
continued sensitivity regarding spoiler issues. The book was being reviewed
in late April, there was book discussion prior to the kickoff of the
"organized" M&D reading on May 23 (was that one month after the pub
date?)...and I haven't yet found when protocol stopped applying, but at one
point the end-of-spoiler protocol discussion revolved around that most
useful date of June 16.

In advance of reinventing the wheel, below are some posts I brought back
from the 1990s. It seems like just yesterday!

I've put triple asterisks besides two key posts.

--list nanny d

*

Concern about spoilers and such:
http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9704&msg=12396&keywords=spoiler


Why many of us care:
http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9705&msg=14634&keywords=spoiler


John Mascaro uses the word "textmosis"!
http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9704&msg=12434&keywords=spoiler


Proposed spoiler protocol with proposed "welcome" to new subscribers who
wish to discuss new book:
http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9704&msg=12406&keywords=spoiler


Response from dear Susan Argus:
http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9704&msg=12411&keywords=spoiler


***Murthy's Spoiler Warning***
http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9705&msg=13298&keywords=spoiler
http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9705&msg=13549&keywords=spoiler


Example (not necessarily a model) of a spoiler protocol post:
http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9705&msg=14350&keywords=spoiler


***Andrew Dinn's Awesome M&D Opening***
http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9705&msg=15234&keywords=protocol


Pro and Con regarding spoiler protocol during the M&D reading
http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9705&msg=14793&keywords=spoiler


When to end the spoiler protocol
http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=9705&msg=14877&keywords=spoiler