I'm not really an experienced web developer so I don't know that it's an ideal solution but cookies could be used for that. I know some crappy forums use cookies to deal with thread subscriptions so I'd assume it could work just fine for something simpler like a white/blacklist.

Yeah, there are two problems with cookies: they are local, and they expire.
The first problem means your settings won't necessarily carry over between your browsers or devices (or even after a format), unless something other than cookies is added to the mix. The second problem means that the cookie needs to be refreshed every so often... though I guess you can set a cookie to expire in 3000 years.

Ah, yes, I was thinking of static (server-side) solution. Treating spoilers dynamically (client-side) does sound a tad better, with the option to turn it off for the search without the need to reload the page. Of course, that leaves a question of how to keep the white/blacklist (which will need to be somehow parsed anyway) at hand without pulling it from the database every single time... but that's not an issue to be solved right now.

last edited at Nov 26, 2014 6:13PM

Re-tagging is a given, there's no way to decently automate the process.

As for the other issue, there's a number of solutions.

• Spoiler levels. Instead of binary "spoiler or not" flag, introduce several tiers of spoiling, e.g. 3 (following VNDB's example). Global spoiler setting would also carry on with that. Extremely simple to work with in terms of extending the original idea.
• Spoiler tag white-/blacklist. You select tags that you (don't) want hidden regardless of your global spoiler setting. Slightly more complex - users gain at least one extra property, which means possibly parsing text to some extent. Simple to implement and extend, but has the worst performance compared to others, possibly. Still my favourite option, I think.
• Spoiler areas. Similarly to levels, you indicate what kind of spoiler it is - does it relate to the story itself? To the genre? To the characters? Ultimately it's somewhat limited, and the potential implementation doesn't seem very promising (performance-wise) either. On the plus side, when combined with the others, could add a bit of the depth to the whole system. I doubt it's necessary though

EDIT: Also, it's been so many years since I saw Ozy and Millie. That was one fun story...

last edited at Nov 26, 2014 5:30PM

And that would kind of be a decent idea, I guess. I reckon it's a different experience when you don't know some tragedy is coming, isn't it?

Depending on how the innards are structured, I can see this being done without erasing the whole tagging record (which could be exported and reimported anyway, even if using a one-off tool). All entries would simply default to "no spoiler".

As for search, I think a global setting would work best with potential exceptions, but that would be up to whoever would write this in. It's all doable, and the only question would be about complexity of both execution and storage...

I'm all for it, just not sure how it could work in context of this reader.

I'm not sure there are that many examples, but I heard from some mods over at IRC (so take this with a grain of salt, perhaps?) that there are people pushing for tagging Ryuuko x Satsuki (or vice versa) as incest pretty much just for the sake of it.

In hindsight, KILL la KILL seems like the main reason I'm revisiting this idea, seeing as there's a similar issue on Danbooru - what kind of picture qualifies to tag those two together as sisters, and therefore as spoilers? It is solved (for the most part) by giving a chance to hide potentially spoiling tags themselves.

last edited at Nov 26, 2014 4:45PM

So I said something about it on the IRC last night, and said that I will make a proper suggestion, so there it is:

Spoiler category for tags

There's a solution tested on VNDB (and for some bizarre reason nowhere else) that simply adds one extra property to a tag assignment, namely "spoiler level" with three settings: no spoiler, minor spoiler, all-out.

There's a certain, semi-recent anime (NSFW) that might justify categorizing tag assignments as spoiling or not, or so I hope. It is no secret to anyone who has seen KILL la KILL that MATOI RYUUKO and KIRYUUIN SATSUKI are sisters, and therefore there will be those who look for works with them treating their relationship as incestuous, as well as insist on appropriate tags... while on the other hand, one could try to be just a little bit more considerate towards those who haven't seen it, and would rather not be spoiled (no, six months' grace period is far from enough - not like hiding your spoilers will hurt anyone anyway). And as a result, in a perfect system, both would be able to find whatever works they were looking for without being spoiled just from reading the tags. Which is, AFAIK, what VNDB has managed to achieve.

tag yo' tags