Xeno Series Wiki:Spoiler policy

Xeno Series Wiki is an encyclopedia of knowledge relating to the Xeno series. As a result, in order to be useful and complete, we will include information that is considered spoilers. However, we also recognize that the Xeno series is heavily story-driven, and many users that are here for help with their gameplay wish to avoid spoilers until they can experience them by themselves. There is no easy way to resolve these two desires. As a result, we have this policy for how we treat spoilers.

Point 1: Only spoil when necessary
This point is best explained by example from another franchise: It may be true that Sheik is actually Zelda in disguise. But if the context is a list of songs that Sheik teaches Link, there is no need to bring it up. Mentioning the spoiler here adds nothing to the article.
 * Do not spoil content that is not necessary for understanding.

Point 2: Data is blind
Imagine that an item can only be traded by an NPC after a plot event forces them to relocate. This detail will be listed on the trading section of both the item's page and the NPC's page. In both cases, it is not feasible to hide the spoiler that the NPC will move - omitting it makes the page incomplete, while hiding it (for example, in an "open for spoilers" dropdown) still reveals that something will happen to this NPC. As completeness is most important, we can only just list the data as it is.
 * If data provides a spoiler, there's nothing we can do.

Point 2a: Facts are blind
It is often either infeasible or impossible to avoid spoilers outside of article content. Edit summaries might have to point out a fact, template documentation might have to reference a secret, talk pages might have to openly discuss what to include. Certainly we will not be unnecessarily spoilerly in these areas (see point 1), but it is better to be clear than to be obscure when maintaining the wiki's content. Simply peeking at anything beyond the "front end" of the wiki can be very risky for readers who are unprepared. Users who wish to contribute to the wiki, rather than simply read its articles, will have to assume a certain degree of overall risk.
 * We can't hide spoilers on certain parts of the wiki.

Point 3: Warnings are impractical
It can be difficult to measure what exactly counts as a spoiler. The identity of a final boss obviously counts, but what about a major character dying in the first few hours of gameplay? How early must a plot twist be - or how widely known must it be - before it changes from "spoiler" to "common knowledge"? And how can a wiki possibly hide something that is spoiled by the mere existence of a page? Furthermore, users browsing a wiki about X should reasonably expect that there will be spoilers for X, and therefore should naturally be cautious. Rather than decide which pages or sections deserve spoiler warnings, it is better to place the entire wiki under a general "here be spoilers" disclaimer: specifically, this page.
 * Explicit spoiler warnings are hard to manage and arguably do not add anything.

Point 4: Editors are not perfect
Being a wiki means that anyone can edit content. While this is a good thing on the whole, it also means that someone can come along and add spoilers in ways that don't follow whatever we want our spoiler policy to be. It doesn't matter whether this is done in good faith or bad faith, because it being done means someone else has to notice it, fix it, and either (if in good faith) educate the editor to not do it again or (if in bad faith) take measures to block them from doing it again. And until this is done, the spoiler will be out there where we don't want it to be. The only true way to stop this would be to lock editing from all but trusted editors - but that defeats the point of a wiki, and doesn't leave room for anyone to become trusted editors.
 * We cannot guarantee that pages respect any spoiler policy at all times.

Conclusion
The burden of avoiding spoilers falls on three sides: the wiki, the editor, and the user. Here is how we have decided to make this distinction:
 * The wiki will avoid mentioning spoilers when not necessary for comprehension or completeness. The wiki may choose to take steps to hide spoilers, but not at the expense of usability. Some examples of measures include:
 * Disabling the autocomplete in the search bar by default, as searching for "Good Guy" will have "Good Guy (final boss stats)" appear in the list, and we have no control over this. Clicking the O/X icon in the search bar will re-enable it.
 * Describing subjects as what they first appear to be, leaving any information on their secret motivations or true form to a dedicated section underneath the description of the plot that reveals it.
 * The main infobox for such subjects will omit spoilery information rather than reveal it or lie about it, unless it's agreed by editors that one of these other solutions is better for this specific case, such as the character specifically stating something in dialogue.
 * Protecting pages that have historically been a problem for edits that break this policy.
 * The editor will take care that their edits follow this policy, and try and police edits that do not.
 * The user will be aware that spoilers are present and unmarked, and browse accordingly.