Against the Day: Spoiler Protocol

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Wow, thanks for the overview, and saving me and others the odious task of exhuming the relevant archive material.  I really appreciate this.

Laura



-----Original Message-----
>From: davemarc <davemarc at panix.com>
>Sent: Oct 23, 2006 4:23 PM
>To: Pynchlist <pynchon-l at waste.org>
>Subject: Against the Day: Spoiler Protocol
>
>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
>