Spoiler Rant!

First of all, a respectful plea... American Idol Watchers! --those of you who are lucky enough to live in the US tonight and will see whether Bo or Carrie is crowned the next American Idol... for those of us who live on the other side of the Atlantic, who won't see it until Friday/Saturday night, (or Monday afternoon, if people are away for the weekend at a sci-fi convention...who, me???) could you please remember to put any thoughts/feelings/elated squeeing/death threats/plans to move to Canada behind cut tags? We thank you for your restraint.

And on a more personal note for me, I just want to thank everyone on my f-list who has been so good about putting episode thoughts for you, spoilers for me, not just for American Idol, but for any show, in cut tags. It really does make a difference...

...until such time as I open my email and have someone sending me an email about a series finale that I've not yet seen, but have heard whispering about something that's going to happen, and the content of this email, dear friends, while not explicitly stating the events of the finale, mean that one would have to be blind deaf and dumb not to draw the right conclusion! (If I tell you it was NCIS, that we're about three weeks behind you guys, and that I'd heard the rumours but wasn't going to look, and trusted you all to cut tag, would you be able to guess what I've been spoiled for? This is me being cryptic so as not to spoil others!)

I? Am quite pissed off by that. Forgetting to cut tag is one thing. But asking me in an email, did you see the finale, and then proceeding to drop an anvil about said finale??? *holds hands out in stunned stupefaction*

For the record? The shows for which I am rabidly, absolutely, will cut out your tongue and strangle you with it, spoiler free for are the following:

24
Alias
American Idol.

Anything else, I'll either look or not, depending on my mood/the time available to me. But there's a huge difference between choosing to be spoiled (the Kevin Hill finale talk over at neonhummingbird's journal, where she cut-tagged it specifically for me, and I read it anyway because I *had* to know) and seeing clear as day when I don't want to see it "OMG! I can't believe they killed Jack on 24!" (And before anyone says anything, I made that up. I'm sure they didn't kill Jack. But I don't know if they did, because guess what? I'm spoiler free, my friends on my friends list have cut tagged it, and I'm not going near any sights that could tell me if they did or if they didn't!)

I understand that it's unreasonable for spoiler tags to be used ad infinitum, and I don't expect that. (We won't get Alias finale until the middle of the summer. I'm almost expecting to be spoiled by accident. 24 and AI, I'm holding out hope!)

But the day after the episode airs? Cut tags. Spoiler tags. It's good manners people!

And... I mean... I'm sorry... but a flippin' E-MAIL??? (Yes I'm annoyed over that one.)

Going to take deep calming breaths now and look at the end of the football. And notice how I'm not spoiling people for the score??? I'm just saying.

ETA: Comments now contain spoilers for the season two finale of NCIS.