Introducing Spoiler Filtering: Look Up Characters Without Getting Spoiled

We've just shipped the feature that OpenFiction was built around: automatic spoiler filtering on character pages. If you've set up a reading profile, character pages now only show information from books you've finished. No spoiler banners to click through, no "read at your own risk" - just the data that's safe for you.

Here's how it works and how to get started.

Setting up your reading profile

Your reading profile tells OpenFiction which books you've read. It takes a couple of minutes to set up:

1. Sign in to your account
2. Go to your Reading Profile (in the dashboard sidebar)
3. Search for books, series, or universes using the search bar
4. Mark books as "Read" or "Currently Reading"

That's it. There's no bulk import or complicated setup - search for what you've read and mark it.

A few things that make this faster: when you search for a universe like "Discworld", you can expand it and see all the sub-series with "Mark All Read" buttons. When you mark a later book in a series as Read, earlier books are automatically marked too (if you've read Book 3, you've obviously read Books 1 and 2).

What happens on character pages

Once your profile is set up and you've turned on spoiler filtering (there's a toggle on your reading profile page), character pages adapt to your progress.

If filtering is active, you'll see a subtle banner at the top of character sections telling you what you're seeing - something like "Showing data through The Hero of Ages." Below that, every section is filtered: appearances, life events, relationships, traits, abilities, and group memberships only show data from your read books.

If a relationship starts in a book you've read but ends in one you haven't, you'll see the relationship exists but the ending details stay hidden. The system doesn't just filter whole sections - it understands the timeline.

If you haven't set up a profile yet, you'll see a prompt suggesting you create one, with a "Show anyway" button if you'd rather just see everything.

If you're not signed in, spoiler-sensitive sections are hidden behind reveal buttons - click to show each section individually. This is the safest default for anonymous visitors.

What about "Currently Reading"?

Books marked as "Currently Reading" are not included in the filtered set. Only books you've marked as fully "Read" count. This is deliberate - if you're halfway through a book, showing all the data from that book would include things you haven't reached yet. We'd rather be safe.

In the future, we're planning chapter-level filtering that would let you say "I'm on Chapter 12" and see data only up to that point. For now, the safest approach is to mark a book as Read once you've finished it.

How it works technically

Every piece of character data in OpenFiction is tied to a specific book and chapter. When you visit a character page, the system checks which books you've marked as read, and only returns data from those books. The filtering happens on the server - data from books you haven't read never reaches your browser.

This is different from a wiki approach where all content is on the page and spoiler protection is done by hiding elements. Our approach means there's no way to accidentally reveal content by inspecting the page source or disabling CSS.

Try it out

If you've got an account, head to your Reading Profile, mark some books, and then visit a character page. You should see the filtering in action immediately.

If you don't have an account yet, creating one takes about 30 seconds. Sign in, set up your reading profile, and browse characters safely.