The main argument that Jenkins makes in the chapter centers upon “Survivor Spoilers”. The spoilers take an increase on the fact that Survivor is filmed months before it is aired on television, therefore their main goal is to gather as much information as possible about the show before it goes on television. These people go above and beyond to assemble enough information to be able to put it on the internet before the show is televised. After a couple of seasons of the spoilers trying to ruin the show, the producers caught on to what the spoilers were trying to do. Once they caught word, they started to put information and pictures on their site about upcoming events. The spoilers obviously caught on to this with complete thrill. They would then post the information on their own site, only to find out the producers were playing the game as well and the information was completely false. The argument stands only to be focused on whom the spoilers are, and what connection do they have to the show vs. how true is the information that the spoilers are trying to leak out.
The support he shows throughout the chapter takes a look at both sides of the argument. The first support he makes to show that the spoilers are really getting true information is on the first page of the chapter where he states that, “they use satellite photographs to locate the base camp, they watch the taped episodes frame by frame, looking for hidden information.” (Jenkins, 25). Here Jenkins states that the spoilers are going to the extreme to find out as much information as they can about the television series. One spoiler names himself, ChillOne, he is one of Survivors biggest spoilers. He never identifies himself or gives hints where he gets his information. This makes some viewers very skeptical on how true his information really is. He claims that he was on vacation in Brazil, when he staggered upon information about the next season of Survivor. Most Survivor spoilers identified who they were and all information about themselves and their background. Each person including ChillOne has his own personal reasoning for becoming a spoiler. Another way spoilers support their information is from time zones between the east coast and the west coast. Something may be aired three hours prior to when it is aired on the west coast. This lets west coast spoilers spill some of the information prior to when their viewers will be watching. The main way spoilers get the community to support them is by how correct their information is when the actual show is aired. Wezzie and Dan are one of Survivor Spoilers most trust-worthy spoilers, and when ChillOne tried to prove them inaccurate about some of the information, people did not believe ChillOne. The internet community felt that ChillOne was a little to advance to be a novice spoiler and they really wanted him identify himself, so they could look up his background information, but ChillOne would not budge. The community believed that ChillOne might work for the series, but he kept informing them that he didn’t and that he got his information from the hotel that headquartered Survivor Season 6 and from a local boat worker that transported the losers of the show off the island. ChillOne would not release his information right away and held out until the last possible moment. People believed his information came from an early issue of USA Today or TV Guide. All of this information supports the argument with balance. After all the support the community just needs to find who the “real” spoilers vs. the spoilers who do not extremely look into the information. The community can only believe and trust the spoilers who have been accurate so far.
On page 27 Jenkins states, “The emergent knowledge culture will never fully escape the influence of the commodity culture, any more than the commodity culture can totally function outside the constraints of the nation-state.” I believe this means exactly what his previous quote in the chapter states, No one knows everything, everyone knows something, all knowledge resides in humanity.” Breaking this down “no one knows everything” is knowledge culture. As much information as a spoiler can gather with other spoilers they have combined will never be everything. The next part of the quote relates to “everyone knows something.” The quote talks about commodity culture, which is the individual information that the spoiler knows different from the other spoiler. When the quote states that that “emergent knowledge culture will never full escape the influence of the commodity culture”, Jenkins is saying that there would never be knowledge culture without commodity culture. Individually knowledge culture is commodity culture, and once the spoilers emerge on the internet commodity culture becomes knowledge culture. The final part of the quote is about nation state, which is “all knowledge that resides in humanity.” The quote relates to this quote by stating that commodity culture is the individual knowledge can never escape humanity. After breaking down the quote and putting it all together, Jenkins is saying that emerging knowledge culture (when individuals come together on the internet to put together all their information together) could never be found without the commodity culture (the actual individual getting on the internet to give their information), the same way that commodity culture could never escape the nation-state (all the knowledge known in humanity).
The spoiling community is very similar to other communities, in the fact that everyone is voiced to their own opinion. Not everyone has to agree with the opinion, which is when the disbeliefs and disagreements start to happen. Also another similarity is that communities are filled with surprises and not everyone is going to predict accurately. This is very similar in the spoiling community, because spoilers are going to predict by hints and information given, but not everyone has to believe them and not everyone has to be right. It is different because in other communities, being wrong is accepted more. When a spoiler is wrong, they are bashed and torn apart on the internet. In the spoiler community people expect you to be accurate when you post on the internet and that if you are wrong once then you will always be wrong. In other communities, the act of forgiveness comes in to play a lot more than in the spoiling community. Spoiling is democratic because the power of what they are voices is held by the citizens. It is definitely the “popular” spoilers who run the show and who the viewers tend to lean towards when they are trying to look who to listen too. It also acts very hierarchical as well, because the viewers are not very accepting to new spoilers. They have the ones they like and listen to on top and the list branches out by how trustworthy the spoiler is. Spoiling is based on a relationship status and how well you feel connected as a viewer to the spoiler. This shows great connection to a hierarchical model. Technology plays a tremendous role in spoiling and a very competitive one as well. The way to be a good spoiler is by what extremes you play to gather the information. Technology is a big way to find accurate information about Survivor, especially by using satellite photographs to gather information. Also without technology, such as the internet, spoilers wouldn’t be able to post their new findings and information for humanity to see.
Collective intelligence is a shared intelligence that becomes known from competitive individuals. Since no one knows everything collective intelligence serves a vital role by combining the individual knowledge, so there is enough knowledge to solve a puzzle. This relates to the individual knowledge, because without someone’s information, there could be a vital piece that is missing.
Honestly I have never watched Survivor or other reality shows, I really do not have time to sit down and watch them religiously. I feel if you watch these types of shows then you need to continue to watch them weekly to understand what is going on. I still can relate to this because I have looked up spoiler information about other television shows to see what is going on. I have read ones that seem to be very accurate and some that are bazaar. Most spoilers tend to have the same information, with the television show that I watch and review. I found this reading to be very interesting because of how far people will go to actually find out information before it is aired. It just goes to show you how much of an impatient society we have today.
