Discussion: Why don't you like spoilers?

Spoilers are a big no-no for pretty much anything--movies, tv shows, and certainly books. Writing reviews that contain spoilers with no spoiler warning is considered pretty much a blogging sin and just a not cool thing to do.

I'll be honest though: I don't really understand why.

Okay, I do understand why--because I'm sure it would suck to have all the suspense kicked out from under you by a comment online you wish you wouldn't have read--but spoilers just don't bother me. At all.

In fact, I often look for spoilers because I hate the uncertainty of not knowing. That's just how I am--if I know the information is readily available, I want it. I will go and take the time to find out the details later, but I want to know the big facts immediately. My reasoning is this: just because I know that something does in fact happen, that doesn't mean know how or even why it happens. The "who what when where how and why" are what make things interesting for me, not the facts. So you can tell me "[insert character name here] dies" and that tells me absolutely nothing other than said character is in fact dead. How did they die? Who killed them? Why were they killed? What were the events in their life leading up to their death? All these are questions that can only be fully and completely answered by reading the book. And then the book actually takes on a completely different element of suspense because now that I know this character doesn't make it out alive it becomes a guessing game of when they'll die. "This chapter? Oh crap this doesn't look good oh god it's going to happen OH IT'S GOING TO--whoops, nope, they're still alive. We'll get 'em next time boys."

This sometimes makes it hard when I write reviews. Since I'm so desensitized to spoilers sometimes I don't realize that a fact I share, while I think it seems innocent, can be a total spoiler for someone else. I usually correct this by doing what I call the "summary test" while I'm proofreading. If it's a fact that is in the summary or easily assumed from the summary, it can stay. But if it's something that's not in any way implied in the summary, it's gotta go. I'm sure things slip through the cracks sometimes, but please know I do try very hard to keep my reviews spoiler free and I always clearly mark them when I know the spoilers are unavoidable.

I can understand why spoilers are so hated though. Especially if it's for a series you love, you'd want to be able to experience it completely new as you were reading.

So my question to you is....

Why don't you like spoilers?