 | This page documents one of Memory Alpha's policies. |
The standards and practices described below are widely accepted and should not be substantively changed without consensus. If you have any questions, suggestions, or complaints, please post them on the talk page. |
In order to provide the most accurate and up-to-date information, Memory Alpha contains details about all Star Trek episodes and films which have been released in the United States. However, we endeavor to minimize the extent to which our visitors encounter unwanted spoilers.
Warning! Memory Alpha contains full spoilers for all released episodes and released films.
Wikipedia has this to say about spoilers:
- A spoiler is an element of a disseminated summary or description of a media narrative that reveals significant plot elements, with the implication that the experience of discovering the plot naturally, as the creator intended it, has been robbed of its full effect.
Star Trek presents an especially difficult situation due to its worldwide popularity. Episodes and films are generally not released at the same time globally, and some markets may have to wait weeks or even years before getting the same content. This means that while some fans are eagerly discussing the latest release, others must carefully avoid spoilers or lose any benefit of surprise once they finally get to watch the new content. On film and episode articles, it is recommended that any information relating to later productions be restricted to the "Continuity" section. This reduces the chance that readers who have not seen more recent releases will happen upon such information.
In articles[]
Fair warnings are present on several introductory pages, and individual articles containing information from new productions must be marked with the spoiler template for the series or film from which the latest spoiler originated (a complete list of spoiler templates is available).
Consider the following when adding a spoiler template:
- Only one spoiler template is allowed per article – if a spoiler template from a different show is already present, it should be replaced by the more recent one.
- The spoiler template should be placed below any article type template, but above any sidebar, disambiguation links, article quotes, or similar (see: MA:EXAMPLE).
An article's spoiler warning should not be removed until it is superseded by another spoiler template or at least two months have passed since the film or final episode of the season was released in the US, whichever comes first. In the second case, the tags should only be removed by an admin or through an administrative process.
For upcoming releases[]
Information about upcoming episodes and films, including information from released trailers or previews, may not be included in a Memory Alpha page, aside from official cast and production information released by Paramount, CBS, or credible news sources. Moreover, this information can only be added to pages told from a "real world" point of view, such as the articles for the episodes and films themselves; pages told from an in-universe perspective, such as the articles for ships or characters, cannot contain any information from a film or episode that has not yet been released. Spoilers that violate this policy may be removed by any user, and adding spoilers to in-universe articles may result in an administrator blocking you from editing the wiki.
In edit summaries[]
Contributors should never include spoilers in an article's edit summary. In addition to being poor etiquette, intentionally doing so makes reviewing the recent changes without encountering spoilers next to impossible. Those who post such information may be blocked from editing the wiki by an administrator.