How to Avoid, Post, & React to Spoilers

Hello everyone!

Spoilers bother me greatly. They ruin the surprise. It seems as though there online everywhere: Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Amazon, etc. It is truly hard to avoid them. I apparently can't avoid them anywhere. There are only a few books that I have read that hadn't had parts spoiled for me.

I recently encountered a spoiler on an author's Twitter. It bothered me greatly. The author herself didn't post the spoiler, it was a Tweet that another girl wrote to her. I don't necessarily know if what the girl said is true. Regardless of whether it is true or not, doesn't matter. Now, when I actually read the book I'll wonder the entire time if it'll happen or not. With that said, I decided to write a post on how to avoid, post, and react to spoilers.

First, I will give you some ways on how to avoid spoilers. Some of these are quite extreme, but hey, they work.

a) Do not read other people's comments on author's blogs, social networking pages, Goodread pages as well as on the Facebook page and  on Goodreads page for the book itself. Example: If you don't want to read spoilers about the Delirium series, do not read people's comments on Lauren Oliver's blog, FB, Twitter, Goodreads, etc. and do not read people's comments on the Delirium Facebook Page and Goodread's page. I hope that makes sense.
b) Hide all of the author's posts on all social networking websites including Goodreads so you will not be tempted to read people's comments
c) Hide all of the book's posts on all social networking websites
d) Do not read people's discussions on the book on discussion boards and forums
e) Do not read people's book reviews on Goodreads and Amazon


Now, when posting spoilers online give a warning! It's so rude and inconsiderate of some people who don't do this. Now, there are right and wrong ways of doing this.

The right way:
Write the word "Spoiler" in bold and underline it. But don't do this in the same paragraph as the spoiler itself because there is still a chance that people will see the spoiler if it is done this way. You should write the word "Spoiler" as a separate line before the paragraph with the spoiler. Also, have at least one space between the line with the word "spoiler" and the paragraph that contains the spoiler. Once the spoiler is over,  create a new line that says "End of spoiler" in bold and underlined.

Example:

Spoiler!


Omg! So A falls in love with B in book C. Blah blah blah blah blah

End of spoiler

The wrong way:
Spoiler! Omg! So A falls in love with B in book C. Blah blah blah blah blah End of spoiler

See the difference? ^^

Finally, here are some tips on what to do when you encounter a spoiler:
a) Take a deep breath
b) Think positively. You may know one major/minor thing that happens in the book but you don't know everything that happens. There will still be some surprise.
c) Realize that in a year or two from now, you won't even care that you were spoiled. In fact, you will probably forget (unless you're like me and you remember these things).
d) Realize that there are more important things in life to worry about.
e) Again on the "think positively" note. If there is a sequel that comes out after the book that you had spoiled, realize that you still don't know how that particular book will end or how the series will end.

As a final note, please do not post spoilers in the comments!!!

Hope that helps!
-E