It’s bound to happen, and when it does, it will without a doubt ruin your day. Sometimes when it happens it will be entirely your fault. Other times a mean spirted friend may be the cause of your discomfort. Regardless of whom is doing it, there definitely need to be some ground rules governing this global phenomena. This problem that each and every one of us has to face during any given day is spoilers. (This post will contain spoilers, so continue with caution)

In 2015 there is no need to define spoilers, and with the almost infinite supply of media surrounding us the amount of things that can be spoiled is growing every day. Before we dive deeper into some general rules for avoiding spoiling the viewer experience, it is necessary to discuss what can and what cannot be spoiled.

Anything can be spoiled. Sorry it’s true. What may be a banal plot point to you could be the last clue in an elaborate theory that the person you are talking with has been working on for ages. It is almost impossible to know what another person is thinking and how any new information could affect them, so as a jumping off point, assume any information regarding a television show or movie can be a spoiler.

The first rule of spoilers is, don’t be a dick. Everyone knows exactly what I’m talking about. You read all 10,000 pages of the Game of Thrones books and know I only watch the TV show, so you can’t wait to lord all your stupid knowledge over me. I don’t know what R+L=J means. Have they even said the L name more than twice on the TV show anyways? No one likes a know it all, that’s not OK. What else isn’t OK is to blurt out Jon Snow dies the day before the final at dinner. I get it; someone ruined it for you, but remember how having the show ruined felt for you? Yeah, don’t do that to me. It’s a dick move.

However, there is a subsection of this rule. There is a time limit on spoiling things. If you don’t know who Luke’s father is and you have successfully completed the sixth grade, that’s on you. I have no problem talking about how its Darth Vader right in front of you (It was Darth? Mind blown right?).

The next rule of spoilers pertains to the spoilee, the person who has yet to catch up. If you as the spoilee know that you are behind in a TV show or have yet to see a movie and don’t want things ruined for you don’t talk about your show or movie with people who have seen things you haven’t. That rule may be a little harsh, but if finding out information will adversely affect your enjoyment of a show, it’s best to not talk about it. If you don’t heed my advice someone may tell you that Tony killed Christopher because they thought you said you were further along in the final season. Whoops.

The final rule of spoilers is the hardest one to follow, if whatever you have yet to watch is a pop culture juggernaut stay off the internet, you know better. I haven’t seen the new Avengers yet and guess what I’m not reading about Ultron. If you were only on season 4 of Breaking Bad the Monday after Felina aired checking out what the critics had to say was a poor choice. Curiosity killed the cat, and it also ruined the surprise of who Keyser Soze really was.

The above rules are mostly common sense, and thankfully pretty easy to follow. If you have any decency you will follow them and make the world a safer place for those of us that just can’t keep up with everything that is out there.