1. A remark which reveals important plot elements
from books or movies, thus denying the reader (of the article)
the proper suspense when reading the book or watching the
movie.
2. Any remark which telegraphs the solution of a problem or
puzzle, thus denying the reader the pleasure of working out
the correct answer (see also
interesting). Either sense
readily forms compounds like "total spoiler", "quasi-spoiler"
and even "pseudo-spoiler".
By convention,
Usenet news articles which are spoilers in
either sense should contain the word "spoiler" in the Subject:
line, or guarantee via various tricks that the answer appears
only after several screens-full of warning, or conceal the
sensitive information via
rot13, or some combination of
these techniques.
(1995-01-18)