The error message should be specific to the spoiler/secret tag and the user's insufficient permissions to view it just so we don't think there's a spoiler where there's just an error or whatever.
Meta/FAQ/Secrets
Secrets
The 'Pedia is not only where anyone may go to find out more information about the Foreworld, but it's also where the creators of the world plan and produce it. Sometimes we don't want to spoil the fun by giving away too much information about what's coming up or what's behind the curtain, so we hide notes for ourselves here in plain sight—because we use the 'Pedia at least as much as anyone else, to keep our story straight, and it makes sense to keep everything together.
Some secrets are your basic spoilers, where important facts about the world are mentioned. Those are protected by <<spoiler>> tags on the 'pedia, and on a desktop computer you can see them just by rolling your mouse over them or selecting the text. (Eventually, we'll track what you've read and remove the spoiler protection from such items, if you want that. We'll also have a way to view spoilers on mouse-less devices such as the iPad.) If you edit a 'pedia page with a spoiler tag on it, you'll see the text behind it.
Some secrets represent things under discussion among the cabal, such as the manner and timing of a character's death, or what kind of person he is and what part he plays in events. That's stuff we keep more secret, at least in part because it's more likely to be in flux or otherwise inchoate. You won't even see that such things exist until you edit the 'pedia page, where you will see an opaque token representing the elided information. Just leave that stuff where you found it and nobody will get hurt.
Finally, some 'pedia pages themselves are completely secret. You might accidentally run across links to them and the site will give you an error message of some sort. (The details of how this takes place are subject to change.)
Oh, and if you end up being a major contributor, it's possible that we'll let you see the secrets. Don't tell anybody.
Discussion
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That would make it too easy, they are instead employing security through obscurity.
No security through obscurity here... We leave it up to you whether or not you want to see spoilers (which look like this), and so they'll appear in everyone's browsers. The other things are the deeper secrets and are never sent to users at all... when they occur in a 'Pedia page, they're replaced with tags that say something was redacted, but there's no other information in them other than where they are in the document.
it's a beautiful system. knowing there are secrets and not being able to access them makes the story all the more compelling.
Agreed, mayko. This is starting to remind me of Cloudmakers, the ARG that was a promo for the movie AI. We get to delve, speculate, postulate, and otherwise dig up dirt all while building a community!
This just makes it all the better for people who like to dig deep into fictional universes. Not only do we have a whole world to explore, but a chance at peeking into the mind of its gods.
It is beautiful. Not only can we peek into the minds of the gods, but we can create lore alongside them, and weave pieces of ourselves into the canon. Some of us may even become gods, either through good will or trickery.
did you just tell me there are secrets and then not share one??? Boo I say, Boo!!! ;)