on the other hand, is it not possible to talk about how to talk about spoilers without actually specifically mentioning said spoilers?
Probably, but why make things more difficult for ourselves? The aim of the topic is to figure out how to answer a specific question in such a way that the questioner walks away satisfied and completely unaware that only their literal question has been answered, and incompletely at that.
Since you're probably the only person here who doesn't know all about the HFS (I don't know how much you know), how would you suggest handling a question about that adamantine oddity in the stocks screen?
i've gone out of my way to avoid getting spoiled since i first saw the word "adamantium" on DFWiki, and the big spoiler tag and whitespace. perhaps i'm weird, but it's a lot of fun to me not really knowing what to expect. unfortunately, i think most of the big things have at least been partially revealed to me by way of forum posts.
what i was getting at in my last post was that the term "HFS" is understood to include certain... phenomena, right? so, by saying "how do we discuss HFS" you dont really have a reason to offhandedly add in "like hordes of zombies protecting a special sword". we're not making it any harder to understand the subject by mentioning specific HFS, and by doing it like this, you can get the opinions of those who have yet to discover all of the things grouped as HFS.
how would i explain the sword? about the same way as adamantine mining. something along the lines of "dig down and claim it if you dare, but be prepared for the consequences. many mountainhomes have fallen because the dwarves were too greedy, and have dug too deep"
i'm pretty sure i'm paraphrasing something, but i cannot remember the source. perhaps one of the spoiler-free or -lite adamantine articles on the wiki.
i do not mean to belabour the subject overmuch, or come off as sounding rude or angry. after all, it's not like anything, even in my game, was "ruined forever" by these two discussions. but, if i can help another somewhat clueless newbie, such as myself, preserve "the magic of discovery"... i will.