Help:Spoilers

This page details the Coppermind's spoiler policy and provides information on how you can work on newly-released content, even when it is not yet allowed on the Coppermind.

For questions, clarification, and editing coordination, please consider visiting the Coppermind Discord, the work server for the wiki; there will typically be a dedicated channel for newly-released works.

Spoiler Policy

The Coppermind deals with spoilers in three stages:

1. Prior to a book's release, no content from it may be added to the wiki. This includes chapters that are released before the official publication date, as happened with Oathbringer and Rhythm of War. The one exception to this is that a book's page may include things Brandon has said about the book and list the readings that he has done from the book.
2. After a book's release, content from it may be added freely. However, for a period of time after the book is released, all pages with content from the book must be tagged with a spoiler notice that lists the specific books the page has spoilers for. To add a spoiler notice, use the {{spoilers}} template—detailed instructions are available on the template page or at #Spoiler notices below—which will produce a warning like this:
   This page or section contains spoilers for a list of books will appear here!

   This information has the ability to potentially ruin elements of the plot for the reader. Proceed with caution if you have not read this/these book(s).
   This notice will generally be placed at the top of the page; in rare circumstances, if only one section of a page contains spoilers, it may instead be placed at the start of that section. The length these spoiler tags stay up for depends on how long the book is and whether or not it is a cosmere book, as shown by the following table:

Length	Setting
	Cosmere	Non-cosmere
Novel	6 months	3 months
Other works	3 months	1 month

Furthermore, there are two exceptions to the general rule that information from released books may be freely added to any page; both of these rules persist even after the spoiler period is over:

1. For major reveals, the Keepers may decide to use a spoiler redirect instead of a normal redirect. Information even hinting at the reveal may not be placed on the spoiler redirect.
2. Book summaries may have full spoilers for the book they summarize, but may not contain any information from later books in their series.
3. After the above period has passed, all standard spoiler tags may be removed. Articles that contain extensive spoilers may be given a custom spoiler tag.

Warning Methods

Pop-up

The first time someone visits the Coppermind, a notice with a warning about spoilers and a link to the Time Machine will cover the page they are on, requiring them to acknowledge the risk of spoilers before proceeding. This notice is served via MediaWiki:Common.js.

Site notice

A notice with a warning about spoilers can be placed at the top of the page on specific pages as well as on every page in a namespace. These notices are controlled from pages with the form MediaWiki:Top-notice-PageName (e.g., MediaWiki:Top-notice-Coppermind:Welcome) for specific pages and MediaWiki:Top-notice-ns-NamespaceNumber (e.g., MediaWiki:Top-notice-ns-0) for an entire namespace. Currently, general spoiler notices are in use on the entire article and Coppermind namespaces and a separate notice specific to the spoiler policy for summary pages is in use on the entire Summary namespace.

Spoiler notices

The red spoiler warnings placed on pages with information from a book that is still in its spoiler period are generated by the {{spoilers}} template. To add a spoiler warning, use {{spoilers|first book code from Template:B|second book code from Template:B|etc.}}. For example, if an article contains spoilers for Dawnshard, you would add {{spoilers|sa3.5}}. If spoilers from Rhythm of War are then added, you would change this to {{spoilers|sa3.5|sa4}} and, once the Dawnshard spoiler period is over, you would then change this {{spoilers|sa4}}. Once the Rhythm of War spoiler period is over, the template can be removed completely (assuming new books haven't been added).

Editing before a book is released

Though spoilers are not allowed on the Coppermind before a book is released, if content is released before a book's official publication, editors are encouraged to work on this new content in a word processing application on their computer or in a Google doc. When this occurs, the Keepers will provide a method for tracking who is working on what, so that editors don't have to worry about duplicating someone else's work. When copying work from off-wiki to the Coppermind, remember to double check that your apostrophes are straight, not curly (working in a text file—.txt file extension—should avoid this problem).