Robot Wars Wiki:Spoilers

The Robot Wars Wiki was written years after the show ended, but the recent broadcast of a 2016 reboot of Robot Wars has necessitated a policy on spoilers.

Definition
A spoiler is something that a reasonable person could not have known without any knowledge of the upcoming show. It may include, but is not limited to:
 * Who wins a heat;
 * Who wins a battle;
 * That a particular robot does not win;
 * That two robots fight multiple times in an episode;
 * That a certain occurrence takes place (i.e. an out of the arena flip).

Many users have different views on what constitutes a spoiler – some may not even want to know the commentary. This policy errs on the side of caution.

Information is considered a post-air spoiler until one week (seven days) after the series’ original broadcast ends.

Information made publicly available on the Robot Wars website or social media (aside from BBC Two’s Twitter) does not constitute a spoiler.

Pre-Air Spoilers
Given that it is possible to attend filming of Robot Wars, it is possible that some contributors may actually witness the battles before broadcast.
 * Pre-air spoilers are absolutely forbidden in all instances.
 * This policy applies to all pages, including User Pages, Forums, sub-pages, blogs, blog comments and the chat feature. Keep it to yourself.
 * Because it would be unfair to expect the blocking admin to expose themselves to spoilers to verify whether the spoiler is true, any comment about an un-broadcast episode is deemed a spoiler.
 * A spoilers is considered a pre-air spoiler if it happens before it is reasonably available to view.
 * For example, if a spoiler for the heat final is posted whilst the first round is airing, this is considered the same as if the spoiler were posted a week in advance.

Penalty: Pre-air spoilers are cause for an instant ban with talk page privileges revoked. The length of the ban will depend on the severity of the spoiler.

Post-Air Spoilers
The Robot Wars Wiki has a diverse fan base around the world, and even within the UK not every fan is able to watch the episode the second it goes online. In recognition that some users may still wish to visit the Wiki and avoid spoilers, there are still some precautions.


 * All pages including a post-air spoiler are to be marked with a tag at the top of the page, or in a relevant section. This includes competitor articles, battle articles, team articles and other articles such as judges’ decisions and thrown out of the arena.
 * Edit summaries should not include references to the broadcast. If a piece of longstanding trivia has now been changed, include a simple “updating” as your edit summary, rather than “not now that X has happened!”.
 * Do not post spoilers to the personal pages of users who you are not certain have seen an episode. This includes talk pages and blog comments. These users may get email notifications of such comments, and may have the episode spoiled for them without even visiting the Wikia.

Penalty: Post-air spoilers may be cause for a ban if done out of spite or malice. If not, breach of this rule will invoke a warning. Repeat offences may be cause for a ban, at the discretion of the admin team.