Please help me understand the rules concerning spoilers.

[Iron Hawk]

I am new here. I just want to know about how spoilers work here. I think I will spend most time in the "Still Reading" sections. I don't want to spoil the story for others, but when I am involved in a conversation I tend to get deep and philosophical; I do not give half-ass answers. I know that you can not spoil things that happen in later books. What about if you spoil something that is at the end of the current book?

For instance, what if I am in the A Clash of Kings section, and in a thread I theoretically mention that "I think that since **** betrays **** and **** kills **** and then **** rapes ****..."

What about that? All that stuff I mention happens in the current book. If I'm in the A Clash of Kings section, may I mention anything that happens in A Clash of Kings, or should I try to keep it near the beginning/middle of the book?

So really what this question is asking, what is a good rule of thumb for how to deal with spoilers I might possibly say?

One more thing, I saw earlier a spoiler button, that contained a spoiler (obviously). To read it, you had to click a button which clearly said "Spoiler." Does anyone know how to use this tool? I looked through the options and couldn't find anything that looked like it would be it.

[Altherion]

To get the spoiler button, you need to do:

[spoiler]Put spoiler here.[/spoiler]

This results in:

Put spoiler here.

For the usage of spoilers, it's mostly common sense. If a book came out a week ago, there will generally be a notice about not spoiling things (especially in thread titles). If it's 10 years old, it's generally safe to talk about it unless you're in a thread or sub-forum specifically dedicated to people who haven't finished reading yet.

[Stubby]

From the Board Rules:

Spoilers

In the book threads, you are required to hide information relating to preview chapters, etc., which have not yet been published. This is because other boarders may not want to know what's in them, and don't want to be 'spoiled' for when the book comes out.

Sometimes, books are published earlier in some countries than others (generally, GRRM's books are published earlier in the UK than the US, for example). If this is the case, you should take this into account when considering whether information should be treated as a spoiler.

On other forums, information about unreleased books, films, etc. might be treated as spoilers also. This isn't a hard and fast rule, but it's polite to do so if in doubt. If other boarders ask not to be spoiled (eg on a new film, or a book they have not read) you should respect their wishes. Some of the subforums have specific guidelines about spoilers posted to help you.

From the FAQ:

In general, the first month or three after a release (it depends on the span of time between the releases in the U.S. and overseas) will be considered a spoiler period, and topics should be marked by [spoilers] at the beginning of its titles. The titles themselves must not reveal spoiler information as well (such as, '[spoilers] Winterfell Sacked?!' shortly after the release of ACoK). Ran will make appropriate announcements concerning spoilers at the time of a new release.

Altherion has explained the use of the spoiler button clearly enough.

[Iron Hawk]

From the Board Rules:

From the FAQ:

Altherion has explained the use of the spoiler button clearly enough.

I did look around for a thread explaining this, but it was late and I was ready to go to sleep.

Thanks for posting this, I'll read through it.

[Iron Hawk]

To get the spoiler button, you need to do:

[spoiler]Put spoiler here.[/spoiler]

This results in:

Put spoiler here.

I assumed it was something like that, but I tried using html tags. <spoiler>Spoiler</spoiler>

Thanks.