Xeno Series Wiki:Spoiler policy

This is a policy, a standard that all users should be aware of and follow. Do not edit this page unless you have consensus about it on the talk page.

Xeno Series Wiki is an encyclopedia of knowledge relating to the Xeno series. As a result, in order to be useful and complete, we will include information that is considered spoilers. However, we also recognize that the Xeno series is heavily story-driven, and many users that are here for help with their gameplay wish to avoid spoilers until they can experience them by themselves. There is no easy way to resolve these two desires. As a result, we have this policy for how we treat spoilers.

Point 1: Only spoil when necessary

Do not spoil content that is not necessary for understanding.

This is a fairly simple point best-explained by example. Suppose a character appears human, but they are later revealed to be a robot. This naturally might need to be explained when discussing the character's backstory. But if the context is something such as the character's moveset or dialogue, it is not relevant, and thus best omitted. There is no need to bring up a spoiler if the topic at hand doesn't require its presence.

Point 2: Data is blind

If data provides a spoiler, there's nothing we can do.

Imagine that an item can only be traded by an NPC after a plot event forces them to relocate. This detail will be listed on the trading section of both the item's page and the NPC's page. In both cases, it is not feasible to hide the spoiler that the NPC will move - omitting it makes the page incomplete, while hiding it (for example, in an "open for spoilers" dropdown) still reveals that something will happen to this NPC. As completeness is most important, we can only just list the data as it is.

Point 3: Warnings are impractical

Explicit spoiler warnings are hard to manage and arguably do not add anything.

It can be difficult to measure what exactly counts as a spoiler. The identity of a final boss obviously counts, but what about a major character dying in the first few hours of gameplay? How early must a plot twist be - or how widely known must it be - before it changes from "spoiler" to "common knowledge"? And how can a wiki possibly hide something that is spoiled by the mere existence of a page? Furthermore, users browsing a wiki about X should reasonably expect that there will be spoilers for X, and therefore should naturally be cautious. Rather than decide which pages or sections deserve spoiler warnings, it is better to place the entire wiki under a general "here be spoilers" disclaimer: specifically, this page.

Point 4: Editors are not perfect

We cannot guarantee that pages respect any spoiler policy at all times.

Being a wiki means that anyone can edit content. While this is a good thing on the whole, it also means that someone can come along and add spoilers in ways that don't follow whatever we want our spoiler policy to be. It doesn't matter whether this is done in good faith or bad faith, because it being done means someone else has to notice it, fix it, and either (if in good faith) educate the editor to not do it again or (if in bad faith) take measures to block them from doing it again. And until this is done, the spoiler will be out there where we don't want it to be. The only true way to stop this would be to lock editing from all but trusted editors - but that defeats the point of a wiki, and doesn't leave room for anyone to become trusted editors.

Point 5: The wiki itself can't be limited

Certain parts of the wiki either should not or can not have spoiler restrictions.

It is often either infeasible or impossible to avoid spoilers outside of article content. Edit summaries might have to point out a fact, template documentation might have to reference a secret, talk pages might have to openly discuss what to include. Certainly we will not be unnecessarily spoilerly in these areas (see point 1), but it is better to be clear than to be obscure when maintaining the wiki's content. Relatedly, enforcing a spoiler policy on user pages would be a tall order, and would be treading on the toes of users trying to do their own thing on their own page. Given all the above, simply peeking at anything beyond the "front end" of the wiki can be very risky for readers who are unprepared. Users who wish to contribute to the wiki, rather than simply read its articles, will have to assume a certain degree of overall risk.

Conclusion

The burden of avoiding spoilers falls on three sides: the wiki, the editor, and the reader. Here is how we have decided to make this distinction:

• The wiki will avoid mentioning spoilers when not necessary for comprehension or completeness. The wiki may choose to take steps to hide spoilers, but not at the expense of usability. Some examples of measures include:
  • Disabling the autocomplete in the search bar by default, as searching for "Good Guy" will have "Good Guy (final boss stats)" appear in the list, and we have no control over this. Clicking the O/X icon in the search bar will re-enable it.
  • Describing subjects as what they first appear to be, leaving any information on their secret motivations or true form to a dedicated section underneath the description of the plot that reveals it.
    • The main infobox for such subjects will omit spoilery information rather than reveal it or lie about it, unless it's agreed by editors that one of these other solutions is better for this specific case, such as the character specifically stating something in dialogue.
  • Protecting pages that have historically been a problem for edits that break this policy.
• The editor will take care that their edits follow this policy, and try and police edits that do not.
• The reader will be aware that while the wiki is spoiler-conscious, spoilers will be present and unmarked, and thus browse accordingly.