Question:
What is the spoiler policy for the West Wing forums?
Answer:
(This policy was written by Strega for Angel and examples have been adapted, with Strega's kind permission, for The West Wing. Thanks, Strega!)
Spoilers are information about episodes that haven't aired (in North America). Once an episode has aired during Eastern Standard Time, everything in the episode is fair game. Everyone's got his or her own definition of spoilers. Here's the one we're using. There are three key ingredients to a spoiler: it's specific, it's a plot point, and it's unpredictable.
1. Specific. "This episode focuses on Charlie" isn't a spoiler because it's so vague.
2. Plot point. It's important to the story. "POTUS will tell a pedantic yarn about sausages and kings," is specific but doesn't ruin the story for anyone. Unless it's an exceptionally boring story.
3. Unpredictable. "The Bartlet administration manages to get some gun control legislation passed" is not a spoiler. Yes, it's a plot point, and yes, it's specific, but you can't pretend to be surprised. Here's a counter-example: "The Bartlet administration manages to get some gun control legislation passed by blackmailing three politicians Abby used to date." The last part makes it a spoiler, because we didn't already know that Abby got around quite that much, or that she had the kind of information that could be that useful, or that she'd be willing to offer it up despite the risk to her own reputation, or�well, you get the point.
Part 3 of that definition means that anything you see in an ad for an upcoming episode is fair game, as are the short synopses released by the network to TV Guide and other media as publicity. Casting information is not a spoiler by itself. For example: "Emily Procter's contract was renewed," isn't a spoiler. If you add, "...because Ainsley's going to have Josh's love child," it becomes a spoiler.