Do we have a rule, informal or no, regarding how long to keep spoiler tags going? I'm thinking of movie threads, for example - Cleo just posted regarding spoiler tags for POTC 2 and it got me wondering if we have (or could have) some guideline like once a movie is out on DVD then we don't have to bother with spoiler tags, that sort of thing. I know we have the 'err on the side of caution' rule but it can be a little frustrating trying to discuss a movie that's now out on dvd, like POTC 2, and having to practically spoiler everything.

Especially since, in the case of Pirates, there is a third one coming out which will bring actual spoilers and therefore confusion about what the spoilers are for. Maybe we should account that in?

We need to come up with a general policy the way we have for TV shows, but we probably need to say that for series movies (Pirates, Potter, His Dark Materials, whatever) that a movie currently on DVD is okay to talk about freely; a movie that has not yet come out needs to be spoiler-fonted, even if it's based on a book, because a lot of people don't read the book first, or read the book afterwards because of the movie. Which would mean that talking about POTC2 is okay, but POTC3 info needs to be spoilered for now.

Should this apply to older films too? My guess is that if you want to see POTC, you probably have done, but not everyone has seen, say Sleuth or Don't Look Now so people might not want to come across spoilers for that sort of thing in random posts. My feeling, for what it's worth, is that there is a difference between the film/book/tv show's own thread and say, the Unpopular Opinions threads where you can't guard so well against getting too much information.

Somewhat in the same vein, how should we treat information from the DVD extras (commentaries, making of, etc.)? Say, hypothetically, that a commentary reveals that something that seemed random will be explained in the next movie.