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Game of Thrones was the 10th-most discussed topic on the world on Twitter last year
How can I avoid spoilers? Game of Thrones was the 10th most discussed topic on Twitter last year, so curating your feed is a start. Photograph: SIphotography/Getty Images/iStockphoto
How can I avoid spoilers? Game of Thrones was the 10th most discussed topic on Twitter last year, so curating your feed is a start. Photograph: SIphotography/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Game of Thrones spoilers are everywhere on social media! How can I avoid them?

This article is more than 6 years old

The digital debrief is part of the fun of TV – but how do you stay spoiler-free when everyone is watching at different times?

How can I avoid Game of Thrones spoilers online? PLEASE HELP IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT.

Bad news: short of building a bunker below ground, beyond the reach of the internet, and shacking up there with some Fray Bentos until September, you can’t – not with total certainty. And if that is your plan, well, your grand design is behind schedule. Season seven of Game of Thrones premiered last Sunday, kicking off six weeks of breathless online commentary and the brittle policing of it.

THIS IS IT! IM SCREAMINNNGGG! SPOILERS ALERT IM ABOUT TO SPIT FIRE! MUTE ME NOW, ILL BE TWEETING WHAT IM GOING TO SEE YESYES #WinterIsHere pic.twitter.com/29K2r2qQ9N

— x (@chaxrn) July 17, 2017

PSA: I know everyone is excited about Game of Thrones but I'm on season 2 so I need y'all to chill...no spoilers until I'm caught up thanks

— Kailee 🌊 (@kaileethegoat) July 18, 2017

Spoilers are not a new phenomenon, nor a uniquely online one, as evidenced by this decade-old report on printing plants being bolstered by barbed wire against enterprising Potterheads – but they have never before been so hard to avoid. Streaming on-demand services have left television in a state of disarray, from which certain shows have emerged as cultural touchstones to rally round.

The digital debrief is all part of the fun of the shared experience – except it’s not shared at all. We’re watching the same shows at different times or, if you don’t like your flatmate, at the same time, in the same house, but on different devices. This is especially true of the most pirated show in history, yet the online conversation is a pivotal part of Game of Thrones.

I confess: I’ve never seen an episode, making me the only person you can trust on Twitter, where #GameofThrones was the 10th-most discussed topic in the world last year. To give you a sense of the weekly chaos that causes on the timeline, reaction to a certain murder in season six reportedly peaked at a rate of 3,900 tweets per minute.

The season premiere on Sunday had the effect of a starting gun on social media – fans were even given an official five-minute headstart.

#WinterIsHere.
5 minutes until #GoTS7. pic.twitter.com/rgBg244tx6

— Game Of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) July 17, 2017

Naturally, the shows that are the most anticipated, the most discussed are also the ones you’d rather not have spoiled by some expository gag on Twitter. The stakes for Game of Thrones are rather higher than they are for MasterChef, or Love Island (actually, in that case, the less you know the better).

If you’d been at work or a dinner thing at the time of Sunday’s broadcast and were really looking forward to watching it in your own time when you glanced at your phone and learned, entirely involuntarily, that ▆▆▆▆▆▆ killed ▆▆▆▆▆▆ and ate ▆▆▆▆▆▆ , you might feel less warmly towards the #GoTS7 “community”.

NSW Police Force introduce new penalty notice which will be enforceable from 11am today #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/82nlOWwxNk

— NSW Police (@nswpolice) July 17, 2017

The result of these contradictory agendas is a mix of real-time reaction to the show, deliberate efforts to dodge it, and a more anxious, antagonistic internet than usual. The safest strategy, if you’re out of step with the online majority, is to avoid it as best you can. Nigella Lawson, duty-bound to share her #RecipeOfTheDay, beat a speedy retreat from Twitter on Tuesday morning “as haven’t watched #GoTS7”. Even the recipe for “yellow spaghetti” seemed to communicate the haste with which she removed herself.

#RecipeOfTheDay is Yellow Spaghetti https://t.co/AwE7vC30no And now must stay off Twitter as haven't watched #GoTS7 pic.twitter.com/xF68dVibmZ

— Nigella Lawson (@Nigella_Lawson) July 18, 2017

A strategy of risk mitigation seems vastly preferable – not to mention more effective – than trying to enforce ground rules about who can tweet what details, and how soon after airing. Any anticipated cultural event emboldens self-appointed gatekeepers to instruct others not to tweet, or to do so “responsibly”.

Happy Game of Thrones night. Remember to tweet responsibly and avoid sharing spoilers. Be courteous to people in other time zones.

— Twitnter is Coming (@OhNoSheTwitnt) July 17, 2017

On Twitter earlier this week I came across an open letter asking fans of Harry Styles not to disrupt screenings of Dunkirk by screaming and giggling whenever he appeared on screen. The author later retracted it and apologised after it was brought to his attention that he was being an ass – but just how many 1D fans did he think were among his 134 followers in the first place?

The thing about publicly attempting to control others’ behaviour, particularly over something as ultimately frivolous and inconsequential as television, is that it not only singles you out as a rigid person but one with an inflated sense of your own importance. Arts journalists will attest to receiving complaints after offhand references to plot points from the previous year. If you fall episodes behind, let alone seasons, I’d argue you forgo your right to be angry about having them ruined for you.

dont put spoilers on the tl im saving the finale of gossip girl for my wedding night

— baber (@bakerbakerbaker) July 18, 2017

Not that being wrong has ever stopped people from being angry on the internet before – and the politics of spoilers intersects many of its favourite fault lines, such as micro-aggressions (“WHERE’S THE SPOILER ALERT?”), virtue-signalling (“while watching this season premiere, spare a thought for those who are not so lucky to live in the era of prestige TV”), and whataboutery (“this has nothing on season two of The Wire” – joke!).

Forgot theres a group of people who are worse than those who tweet GoT spoilers - the "look at me I've never watched Game of Thrones" people

— Matt Bungard (@TheMattBungard) July 17, 2017

There are even people who revel in sharing spoilers, simply to “trigger” the “snowflakes” who are concerned with other people’s happiness. It’s sort of like the free speech debate on American university campuses except even more wearying, because it centres on a television show about, I believe, talking dragons.

I may have no skin in this particular Game (of Thrones) (is it even an actual game?), but I believe the onus is on the individual to safeguard themselves against spoilers. The easiest way to do so is to mute every keyword and hashtag associated with Game of Thrones – #GameOfThrones, #GoT, #GoTS7, Arya, died, Bilbo, etc – in Twitter’s advanced settings. (This is also a useful feature for those Twitter jokes that were never funny and refuse to die – #covfefe, anyone?)

my twitter settings for the next seven weeks #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/HCDb2qGIgf

— Daniel Howell (@danielhowell) July 17, 2017

Then, with your precautionary measures in place, all you can do is stay off the internet at peak times, hope that your fellow fans use the official hashtags, and just be an adult about it. Like Nigella.

Look watch #gameofthones tonight or suffer the spoilers at work tomorrow. No leaving the room! This is a subtweet.

— Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling) July 17, 2017

The world may not have to cater to your television schedule, but there’s still a case to be made for common courtesy. Having lived in far-off timezones and worked antisocial hours, I’m in favour of a grace period of about 24 hours after the initial broadcast, allowing ardent fans an opportunity to catch up before digging deep into the debrief. Using those hashtags and flagging upfront any spoiler-y posts, too, is only polite.

But if a plot point is inconveniently revealed to you, well – it’s all in the game of Game of Thrones, I’m afraid. Just think – it could be worse. You could be Ed Sheeran.

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