A rant has been building up in me for the past, oh, few years.

Now, it should be obvious to long-term readers of Tube Ray Army that there are plenty of rants churning around in clembastow's stomach at any given time (ooh, don't start me on poorly colour-graded synthetic blood in movies... and you better sure as hell not mention the way Justin Timberlake says "Madonna!" in 4 Minutes...).

But this is one that I feel is relevant to all our interests, both as fans of television and people on the internet:

I hate "spoiler alert". Almost as much as I hate "NSFW" (but that's another rant for another time).

You'll notice that on this past Tuesday's blog about LOST's finale, I made a (blinking, bold-face) note for those who'd not watched the finale to STOP READING NOW.

I didn't write "spoiler alert", because, really: if someone is so dim as to think that a piece expressly reacting to the LOST finale isn't going to detail some or all of the plot points, then they're not worth the brainpower.

Here's the thing: if YOU haven't watched something (yet) when the rest of the internet has, isn't it YOUR responsibility to make sure you don't spoil it for yourself?

If you didn't get around to watching something when the majority of viewers did, is it their responsibility to wait until you've rewound your VHS and caught up?

"Spoiler alert" - or the moaning about the lack of it - is the "personal injury law" of the internet. It says "Hey, I twisted my ankle on this footpath because I wasn't being mindful of where I was walking. I know, I'll sue the council!"

It's all about personal responsibility, or the lack thereof. Are we really such babies that we have to bitch at our fellow internet residents that they "should have" written 'SPOILER ALERT' in their Facebook status or Twitter feed or blog post or or or...?

Back in the olden times, if I didn't want to know who'd won the Oscars (which wouldn't be broadcast in Australia until well after the event had actually occurred), I would turn off my television and switch off the radio.

Magic. No spoilers, enjoyed the telecast.

People moan and groan about having to avoid possible spoilers online, but it's not that difficult. Like the gambling ads say, when it's no longer fun, walk away.

Is it really that difficult for people to navigate their own online experience without it having to be signposted by everyone else?

I'm very interested to hear what you all think about this. Am I being too Scrooge McInternet? Or is the WWW really a wild wild West that shouldn't be nanny-stated by "OMG SPOILER ALERT!!" tags so that sooks don't cry?

Finally, I'll leave it to the Fine Bros to give you the sort of virtuoso spoilerising that I can only dream of:



Now that's what I call being spoiled for choice.

(PS like the header image? Buy the t-shirt.)