SPOILERS!

Actually, this post has no spoilers in it. Rather, it's about spoilers. How delightfully meta!

When listening to The Letters Page, do any of you skip the spoilers sections? I'm just curious how important the spoiler tag is. I'm not planning on discontinuing it or anything - just curious.

Not related, but I'm also curious, are any of you skipping the Interludes? The interludes get far fewer downloads. Like, thousands fewer. Not sure why. Hoping our fantastic listeners (that's you!) can explain it to me.

I listen to it all, I am a greedy spoilers fangirl.

Could be that since the Interludes were previously fairly sporadic, people were more likely to overlook them.

My thoughts on the spoiler sections:

1. The stinger the podcast uses to demarcate the spoilers section is surprisingly mild, so mild that I wonder how easy it is to pick up as you're fast-forwarding to the end of the spoilers section.  Seems like it should be something that would really stand out so that you can easily know when to stop fast-forwarding.  The last thing you want is for someone who really doesn't want to hear a spoiler to miss that the spoiler section has ended so they have to rewind but then they missed it again and now they've heard the spoilers and it's all just a mess.
2. I don't see the point of calling anything on the podcast a spoiler.  Is a spoiler anything which happens post-SotM, or is it anything which hasn't come out yet?  If it's the latter then I guess the entire Benchmark episode should have been a spoiler since Oblivaeon hasn't shipped yet and if it's the former then there shouldn't be a future section at all.  IMO, it's all just the Sentinels story.  I'm certainly not going to try to avoid hearing any of it.

As for the interludes, most of them seem like normal episodes to me.  I'm not sure what you're buying by calling them something different.  A few of them are much shorter than normal or are just housekeeping topics, but most are about characters from Sentinels comics, which is what the normal eps are about.  Maybe if you tightened the definition of what an interlude episode is, you'd get more listeners for the character ones.

In regards to spoilers I agree with Spiff but on a whole spoilers have never bothered me.   

On the Interludes I listen to them just like the regular episodes.   Maybe they could be renamed since they often cover material that isn't specific to just one character but is still about Sentinels lore.   Maybe a minisode or just call it normal episodes.  

I definitely listen to the Interludes, but I can totally get the psychological component of them being skippable as not "real" episodes, especially for people who haven't listened to them before. To compare to comics, lots of people buy Annuals, sure, but they are mostly skippable side stories that have a completely different numbering system. As Spiff says, it may be good to tighten the definition of these interludes? I think that maybe they shouldn't be so specifically about characters at all, but specifically about books or about the saturday morning cartoon or more like the Maintenance Mode one. Just a thought...

Also, I am maybe one of few that really want to draw out and savor these podcasts and the rapidfire Interludes of this month are actually a little offputting, if I'm being honest...no offense intended, just, personally I would prefer if they were their own week's episode. The Slaughterhouse Six, as a whole, really intrigue me, so to see them relegated to an Interlude makes it feel like I won't get as much cool info about them (since Interludes are psychologically lesser?).

I always listen to Interludes and never skip the spoiler sections.

Ordinarily I avoid spoilers, but the reason I do so is that I believe in experiencing "reveals" the way the author intended.

In the case of Tactics, there's no such thing.  There's a story, but no one's telling it--the only way to find it out is through the podcasts or by inferring it through game mechanics and flavor text.

There's a "telling" in the RPG, but the intended way to experience that is as a player, by having the GM buy the module and running you through it.  That's never going to happen for me--I'm always the GM in my groups, the rare times I can get one together, and I don't buy or play published modules anyway.  Having Christopher and Adam "spoil" the story in the podcasts doesn't make any less sense that learning about it any other way I'm liable to encounter it.

Also, the "spoilers" section seems to be getting more and more expansive.  It's pretty much the whole "Future" section now.  The Unity episode outright stated stuff that was in Benchmark's spoilers section.  The spoiler "tags" hardly seem necessary since if you're avoiding spoilers, you should just skip the whole Future section, and there's nothing after it.  I also don't know how you'd find the closing spoiler tag if you weren't listening.  Trevor should add in a voiceover, "Spoiler section ends at 1:54:11" or whatever.

I think "Interlude" just sounds less important.  Also, people who listen to other podcasts might be used to the "side" episodes as being something different.  For instance, some other podcasts I listen to are Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and Acquisitions Incorporated: The "C" Team.  In both of those, the bonus episodes consist of the staff/players just chatting or joking around, and you can totally skip them if you're just interested in the main show/story content.  Renaming the interludes as just regular episodes makes a lot of sense, and it might be worth actually stating in the beginning of the next two or three normal episodes, "Hey, what we've been calling Interludes are really full-length episodes, sorry for the confusion, you should go listen to any of the ones you skipped."

I am a *fiend* for spoilers.  I actively seek out spoilers for movies and books, regardless of whether I intend to see them or not.  I'm the sort of person that hungers for more lore, obscure facts, and post-credit stingers.  I'd almost advocate just labeling the whole podcast as spoiler-prone.  Even outside of the spoiler-tags, there's a ton of information that either wouldn't be readily available or currently isn't available in the game.  As global spoiler warning might be effective enough for people to understand.

Within the podcasts, I listen to everything, multiple-times even.  I listen at work, when the podcast is first released, then again with my wife (who likes SotM as much as I do, if not more), and occasionally I'll put on repeats when in bed (podcasts provide me with that white-noise that helps me sleep).  It's become one of my regular rotation.

I listen to everything: spoilers, interludes, music, post-credits, everything. 

I have a subscription to the podcast, so I can't miss the interludes. I'm sure that's not the case for everyone, though, so it might be harder for others to know they're coming out. 

I think folks have a point about the length of the spoiler sounder, though. I don't care personally, but it needs to be distinct and long enough that it won't be missed. 

Yeah I agree that the question of what is and isn't a spoiler is getting a little nebulous. I'm guessing it's the RPG and anything not in a currently published Tactics game, maybe? Although ironically the Prime War stuff has been pretty light anyway.

I wonder if it would be best to have all character/group/environment-based podcasts be in the main podcast slot and keep interludes for stuff like answering missed/follow-up questions or talking about the Sentinels publishing world or alternate universe things or other meta stuff.

I listen to all the spoilers but thats because one i cant wait to find out and two when i get the rpg i want to be able to make storys for the rpg
And i personally listen to all the interludes. Its probably gettimg less views because its not on the normally broadcasted day

I listen AND download all episodes, including the interludes. I skip over the spoilers, since I want to be surprised by whatever info it is when it's revealed in the RPG or Tactics or what-have-you. I appreciate the warnings you put both in the show-notes and the actual recordings themselves. :)

Pretty sure it's anything post-multiverse that hasn't had it's coresponding product out for sale yet. And not all of the future section is spoilers. Alot is just sharing what story we wouldn't normally be able to pick up from what's been released, and future releases wouldn't really cover either.

You answered your own question, at least in part. The interludes are either topics that can't fill an entire episode or don't fit elsewhere so they are given a shorter format, or they're follow-ups or corrections to previous episodes.

I bolded the important part of Spiff's quote. They started off as you say, but more and more they are entire "mainstream" episodes like the two upcoming team-centric ones about Slaughterhouse Six and Void Guard. If Freedom Five has it's own "main" episode, why is Dark Watch an "interlude?" Or like the WAY long and WAY story-driven Nemeses one should not, in my opinion, have been an interlude. The ones that fit the supposed purpose behind them are ones like "The Betterlude" or "Maintenance Mode," where they speak more about the Letters Page issues than they do about the story of Sentinels Comics. 

Exactly! I say exactly because I was going to use the 'Big Team Epispodes!' as cuts for the Podcast Wiki page, a semi 'season' marker… but then Dark Watch didn't get their own, and I'm not sure that PW will, and we know Void Guard wont.

I listen to the whole thing and have no care about Spoilers, and of course listen to every Interlude. But I understand why some people may not.

I listen to everything. It's almost a fault. As I don't see myself ever actually playing the RPG or Tactics (don't know anyone who owns/is interested in them who I regularly game with), I don't mind being spoiled on things.

Yeah i just listen to the whole thing, I'm not too worried about spoilers as I get very very into the fiction i enjoy. For instance this weekend i re-read the first 7 Dresden Files books. As for the interludes I definately listen to all of those, we've been getting a lot of good story in them; But I also understand where people are coming from. Making them interludes might make people view them as extra or not as important.

Actually I've got a question. I don't usually "Download" the episodes but just listen to them on my google Play subscription or through the libsyn page at work. Do those still count into the download statistics or is it just the ones where people actually download it onto their Device?

I totally listen to everything. The main episodes, the interludes (which I don't really distinguish from the main episodes), all of the bits that Trevor edits out (thanks for sending me those, Trevor!), and the tapes from the cameras that are installed in all of your houses and the office (yeah, I know, I still use tapes). I don't care about skipping spoilers.

INTERLUDES:

Main episodes are ones that air on Tuesdays.

Interludes are any episode that does not air with the main Tuesday release.

I think the branding of interlude has nothing to do with the content of the episode and everything to do with trying to highlight off-schedule episodes. 

SPOILERS:

Spoil me rotten baby. I don't skip nothin'.

I listen to all of it. Twice, sometimes, because I get distracted and miss things, then look up the summary and think, "Wait, what? When did they say that?"

I think it's pretty obvious that I listen to everything.

I agree with Foote's definition that "an Interlude is anything that's not a Tuesday release" is an apt one, but the name implies that they're less important which might explain lower download rates.

For spoilers I think I've said before somewhere (maybe over on Reddit) that I think that spoilers only really make sense for story points that are important for a narrative game. In general, the card game doesn't qualify and neither does Tactics (sure there's a lot of story behind the scenes, but the act of discovery of the story isn't the point of the game). The RPG can make sense to mark spoilers, but mostly only for things that are important GM-only info. That is, If it's a big reveal late in an adventure that's meant to blow the players' minds, then it's appropriate for a spoiler tag. If it's part of the opening "tell the players this" exposition of a campaign, it's probably not a spoiler.

Since I listen to it all regardless, maybe my opinions on what's worth marking as a spoiler are less useful for the purposes of actually compartmentalising information that people care about, though.

Most people on the forums are probably super fans, myself included. Of course we listen to everything you guys put out. More interludes this month = Awesome!

However my wife also listens to the podcast occasionally and she skips the interludes even when I tell her they are great with lots of good stuff.

I asked her why: "I care more about the characters themselves. 'Interludes' is so vague, I want to learn about Captain Cosmic so why would I listen to something called the interlude?"

My follow up: What if it was called Interlude 7: Captian Cosmic? Would you listen to that or expect there to be a Captain Cosmic Episode?

Her response: "Maybe. But if you are talking about Captain Cosmic put it in the Captain Cosmic episode. If it was called Interlude 7: EVEN MORE Captian Cosmic. Then maybe yeah."

So she if fully aware of them but believes the content will be uninteresting to her (not character focused) so at least for her its a branding issue. She also rarely listens to the end of the episode and probably misses the "The next interlude will be about the Dark Watch so send in your questions" section.

If you have any additional follow ups I'll gladly ask. Neither of us care about spoilers and listen to them.

I listen to all the spoilers, much like MindWanderer I'm going to be a GM for these games more often than not, meaning I'll be reading the book cover to cover and the adventures cover to cover. Any spoilers will then be revealed to me... and why wait? It's no more impactful to hear now than to read by myself a few months or a year from now.

Plus, some of the spoiled stuff then gets talked about on here, and I like talking things over with other fans so I don't want to miss out on that.

As for Interludes, I listen to all of them. I don't download anything if that makes a difference, I just go to the Letters Page webpage and listen to every episode and Interlude using the built in player. 

I've listen to all the episodes (OK, I haven't figured out how to get ALL the episodes, but the ones that have been released, I've listened to.)

I skip nothing, and honestly don't understand how anything could be spoilers, at this juncture, minus maybe some OblivAeon things.  And that's a big maybe.

EDIT: especially as, as far as i've come to understand, giving out all of this information is the POINT of the podcast.

You are asking the wrong group, Most people on this forums are die hard Sentinels fans. Most of us will gooble any show you guys make. Need to ask elsewhere or even on the podcast it self.

Rebranding the Interludes may be the way to go. Most other podcast 2nd shows are horrible, so i skip them. Got to raise the awareness. I am also relistening to the whole show and your content has improved. As well as your interludes. I miss the hour long shows. Now we got 2 hours of hearing you guys talk, Adam quiting, food talks and faking people's death (Still waiting on the "Just kidding NightMist is alive" T_T), Makes Bingo so much easier.

I never mind spoiler because I can forget them if need be or Like to talk to them with my discord buddies.

I can also say with the upmost confidance that the La Captian/Comodora is/was/willbe my favorite episode so far right behind NightMIst. When you guys  are trying to make time travel make sense will be great. Deffently am waiting to listen to it. (and your food podcast, so inspired). I mean Prime/Eternal/Extreme/Iron Legacy's Haka can both exsist and not exisist in the same time right.

I'm with pretty much everyone on here.  I listen to every single episode (multiple times!), including the interludes. Also, I LOVE the spoilers.

Just wondering something about your download numbers: do those include people who listen via iTunes/Android podcast subscriptions?  Or are your numbers just direct downloads from the Letters Page website?  Not sure if that would make a difference?  (I download everything from the site, for the record).

I listen to it all, because I’m listening for Sentinels Comics story!

Along that line, I agree with Spiff that I don’t see the point in calling anything on this podcast a spoiler. However, my reason is different: While we’ve received and been able to piece together a fair amount of story content to go with the game, MOST of this story information is new to us listeners. Why would I get upset to find out some bit of story in the future of the Tactics timeline, but not get upset about the reveal of any other plot beat from the timeline of the card game that we couldn’t have previously known?

Unless it’s a thing that one of the Tactics scenario books is ABOUT, or a central plot twist to a canonical RPG scenario, I wouldn’t mark anything as a spoiler for story reasons.

I listen to the interludes and listen to the spoilers.

Why would I not listen to something you put out about Sentinels Comics? You might say my name!

Yeah, I pretty much want to know all the things about everybody and their personalities and everything that happened on the cards and everything that happens after the cards. I would legit buy just a written compendium of everything, but the podcast is pretty fun too. ;)

I listen to Inteludes, spoilers and anything else I can find.

This is great feedback! Thanks everyone!

To answer a question asked a few times, our download count tracks every instance of downloading regardless of source, and also includes listening directly from the website.

So if we go download it over and over…

I am kidding. Don’t do that, folks. It’ll mess with their metrics.

Speaking of messing with expectations, how many of you saw Christopher had written a post titled “SPOILERS” and got really excited to see what juicy story info he’d put in here?

I listen to all of the episodes. I also don’t mind the spoilers, I think it’s great prep for the RPG.

Yeah, if we're going to RP using Sentinels characters as PCs or NPCs, it's super useful to get a handle on what they're actually like as people.

This is my exact stance on the so-called spoilers.

I only just got to listening, took me like three weeks, but I have listened to it ALL so far!