J.J. Abrams talks about spoilers

DocArzt beat me to it, but this article written by J.J. Abrams is too damn good to not pass on to as many people as possible. J.J. is like E.F. Hutton: when he talks, people should listen. Especially if those people are "Lost" fans.

J.J. is the guest editor for Wired this week, and chose "mystery" as the theme of the issue. Makes sense, if you know the man's body of work. What intrigued me most in the article he provided for the issue is a topic near and dear to my own heart: spoilers. Here's what he has to say about "Lost" in particular.
People often ask me how "Lost" is going to end. I usually tell them to ask Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, who run that series. But I always wonder, do they really want to know? And what if I did tell them? They might have an aha moment, but without context. Especially since the final episode is a year away. That is to say, the experience—the setup for a joke's punch line, the buildup to a magic trick's big flourish—is as much of a thrill as the result. There's discovery to be made and wonder to be had on the journey that not only enrich the ending but in many ways define it.

"People often ask me how "Lost" is going to end. I usually tell them to ask Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, who run that series. But I always wonder, do they really want to know? And what if I did tell them? They might have an aha moment, but without context. Especially since the final episode is a year away. That is to say, the experience—the setup for a joke's punch line, the buildup to a magic trick's big flourish—is as much of a thrill as the result. There's discovery to be made and wonder to be had on the journey that not only enrich the ending but in many ways define it."

After that, he deals with the spoiler-centric day and age in which we all live.
But the real damage isn't so much that the secret gets out. It's that the experience is destroyed. The illusion is diminished. Which may not matter to some. But then what's the point of actually seeing that movie or episode? How does knowing the twist before you walk into the theater—or what that island is really about before you watch the finale—make for a richer viewing experience? It's telling that the very term itself—spoiler—has become synonymous with "cool info you can get before the other guy." What no one remembers is that it literally means "to damage irreparably; to ruin." Spoilers make no bones about destroying the intended experience—and somehow that has become, for many, the preferred choice.

"But the real damage isn't so much that the secret gets out. It's that the experience is destroyed. The illusion is diminished. Which may not matter to some. But then what's the point of actually seeing that movie or episode? How does knowing the twist before you walk into the theater—or what that island is really about before you watch the finale—make for a richer viewing experience? It's telling that the very term itself—spoiler—has become synonymous with "cool info you can get before the other guy." What no one remembers is that it literally means "to damage irreparably; to ruin." Spoilers make no bones about destroying the intended experience—and somehow that has become, for many, the preferred choice."

Well, it's not my preferred choice, that's for certain. And I know most of you feel the same. Anyways, as we enter into the last few weeks of the season here, I thought it appropriate that J.J. dropped the above science at this particular time. So I promise to keep this a spoiler-free sight not only through the end of Season 5, but Season 6 as well.

I'd love to tell you I'm doing it for you; but honestly? I'm doing it for me. I want the discovery and the wonder of the journey ahead to remain untainted.

Source: Zap2IT