I'm confused. I thought that the purpose of spoiler boxes was to post information that some people might choose not to see and still allow them to read the rest of the information in the post and/or thread. Obviously, in order for them to make such a choice, they would need to be warned about the content of the spoiler box. The name "spoiler box" automatically implies to me that the box will contain an ending or a plot twist contained in the book or movie being discussed and if I plan to see or read the work later, I might not want to have this detail revealed to me beforehand. For example, since I haven't read the DaVinci Code but have some interest in reading it, I would not read the contents of any spoiler boxes in a thread or post about that book.

But, I see spoiler boxes being used more and more often now outside the context of a "spoiler". I see them being used to post quotes, information or opinions that the poster believes might offend people, but without any warning about what the spoiler box might contain. I guess these posters think that we should be able to guess what the box may contain by the name of the poster and the thread title? I certainly haven't enough experience on MP to know what kind of thing individual posters might post that might be offensive to others, so I have no idea which spoiler boxes to avoid. Am I expected to avoid all of them? Is this a general trend we should continue to expect in the future? Any thoughts?

If a poster is relatively certain that people will be offended by something, should they be posting it, spoiler box or none?

Hey iwannabean -- You're right -- the original purpose of enabling the spoiler tag for MousePad was for just such a purpose, in movie threads and what have you.

If you see anyone using the spoiler tag inappropriately, do let us know (click on the triangular exclamation mark at the bottom left of the person's post and you'll send a notice to a moderator).