Stop Putting Spoilers in Your Damned Headlines and Lead Images, Pajiba

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I'm an avid reader of Pajiba.com. But those days may be numbered if they keep ruining my favorite shows and films. Pajiba, get your act together before Star Wars comes out, or else there will be blood. Here, let me show you how you recap entertainment content correctly. Let's talk about the latest episode of The Leftovers, Ten Thirteen. Spoilers ahead!

First of all, notice how my lead gif doesn't in any way reveal the big twist at the end of this episode. Rather, it communicates how you, Pajiba, make me feel with your recaps. Lots of people like me read your website, scanning for articles they want to read while trying to avoid spoilers INSIDE the articles they DO NOT YET WANT TO READ UNTIL THEY'VE SEEN THE EPISODE/FILM. They expect you to be professional and considerate. After all, you're entertainment bloggers who rail against this sort of thing all the time when movie trailers do it! Remember the trailer to Free Willy?


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Hmmm, I wonder if Willy gets free? THIS IS PRECISELY WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

I'm not saying you can't put spoilers in the full article, of course. Case in point: Ten Thirteen. The Leftovers has been a revelation this whole season, making Ten Thirteen merely amazing until its big reveal in the final minutes. An unspoiled viewer would watch this episode with great apprehension that Meg is about to unleash an old airstream filled with explosives into the "holy" town of Jardin. But guess what's actually in that airstream? Oh, did you open the home page of Pajiba the day after the episode aired? Well, then you already saw the lead image and headline for this article, and will now quickly surmise that the airstream actually holds the town's missing daughters, led by Evie. Here, let me contrast that spoiler with another spoiler-free Leftovers gif which expresses my bemusement:


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Here, Pajiba, check out how io9 and Warming Glow do this, and see how it's done. Love you Pajiba, but if you do this one more time, I'm punting you until January, because you can't be trusted with Luke Skywalker spoilers at all.