Spoiler Alert

Being part of the media, I have mixed feelings about this topic.  Do we have a responsibility not to ruin the outcome of an event?

On Sunday, I planned on watching the British Open when it was broadcast at 3 p.m.  It's always an exciting tournament because the venues are so different from what you find in the States and the weather can be so unpredictible - sunny one minute, downpour the next, and 30 mph winds at any time. 

I decided to check my e-mails and Facebook in the morning and was so bummed when I read a TaylorMade announcement claiming that Darren Clarke had won the Open!  What!  It wasn't even broadcast yet - it was many hours away.  Then Bridgestone posted their "win" announcement on FB.

Of course I realize that there is a major time difference and it's a lot earlier on the other side of the pond but now the dilema was do I still watch knowing the outcome.  Will it diminish my enjoyment of the tournament.  It was kind of like going to the new Harry Potter movie even though I knew the outcome from reading the book.

I tuned in anyway and got really excited when I saw Phil Mickelson make his charge on the front nine and tie for the lead, but then reality hit and I had to wonder if Darren pulled away or did Phil collapse.  So even though I knew the outcome I didn't know how it happened.

Since I was watching live, and Phil was now starting towards the back nine, I posted on FB my comment about how excited I was to see what he was doing but knew that Darren had won.  Next thing I know I get a FB message from a friend saying Thanks for ruining the outcome.  Oops, I had done exactly what the advertisers had done, spoiled the outcome for someone.

Do we need to preface our posts and media announcements with Spoiler Alert when we know that the event won't be shown until much later due to time differences?  It's a simple thing to do, then people just don't have to read that post.  This sort of thing happens to people on the West Coast all the time with TV broadcasts that are shown in "time slots" rather than broadcast live. 

Who shot JR?  Oh I can tell you, I saw it three hours ago.  Who got kicked off American Idol tonight, oh just check in with your East Coast friend or FB and we can tell you.  And of course the advent of the DVR means that more people watch less during real time and watch at another time with the benefit of skipping commercials too.  How many times have you decided to go play golf on a Saturday or Sunday and figured you'd watch that weeks Golf Tournament on the DVR only to have someone call you up and say, Hey did you see how great so and so played today to win?  Gee, maybe I won't watch that now.

So do we have a responsibility to not spoil an outcome?  Or is it the responsibility of the viewer to realize with todays array of media outlets not to tune in to them if you don't want to know?