At first I was going to say this sounds like the exact opposite of what I would want but, now I’m wondering can you give some specific examples of where heading “spoilers” are unwanted—and what context are we talking about.
For example, I hate blog posts that don’t tell you what the blog post is “about” and therefore why I should read it- I often feel myself shortchanged finding half way through what it is really “about” and realizing I have no interest or use for reading it. But if you’re speaking about chapter headings in a non-fiction book, then I would assume as a reader you’re already invested for the “long haul” and to one extent or another it will satisfy your expectations. Then again, for a reference or text-books in particular spoiler headings are necessary because the purpose is to have quick access to specific information without reading “cover-to-cover”.
Are there any specific headings that you recently came across that caused you to notice this problem?
So I’m learning & writing on thermodynamics right now, and often there is a distinction between the “motivating questions”/”sources of confusion” and the actually important lessons you get from exploring them.
E.g. a motivating question is ”… and yet it scalds (even if you know the state of every particle in a cup of water)” and the takeaway from it is “your finger also has beliefs” or “thermodynamics is about reference/semantics”.
The latter might be a more typical section heading as it is correct for systematizing the topic, but it is a spoiler. Whereas the former is better for putting the reader in the right frame/getting them to think about the right questions to initiate their thinking.
At first I was going to say this sounds like the exact opposite of what I would want but, now I’m wondering can you give some specific examples of where heading “spoilers” are unwanted—and what context are we talking about.
For example, I hate blog posts that don’t tell you what the blog post is “about” and therefore why I should read it- I often feel myself shortchanged finding half way through what it is really “about” and realizing I have no interest or use for reading it. But if you’re speaking about chapter headings in a non-fiction book, then I would assume as a reader you’re already invested for the “long haul” and to one extent or another it will satisfy your expectations. Then again, for a reference or text-books in particular spoiler headings are necessary because the purpose is to have quick access to specific information without reading “cover-to-cover”.
Are there any specific headings that you recently came across that caused you to notice this problem?
I’m talking about technical writing/explanations of things.
Can you give a specific example, maybe even the specific one that moved you to write about it?
So I’m learning & writing on thermodynamics right now, and often there is a distinction between the “motivating questions”/”sources of confusion” and the actually important lessons you get from exploring them.
E.g. a motivating question is ”… and yet it scalds (even if you know the state of every particle in a cup of water)” and the takeaway from it is “your finger also has beliefs” or “thermodynamics is about reference/semantics”.
The latter might be a more typical section heading as it is correct for systematizing the topic, but it is a spoiler. Whereas the former is better for putting the reader in the right frame/getting them to think about the right questions to initiate their thinking.