Why all the spoilers and leaks?

One of the highlights of my reading year has been ruined.


My eyes are burnt. I was innocently looking up the Inheritance cycle by Christopher Paolini and I have seen spoilers. Full on, plot ruining, whole book destroying spoilers.

Why do people feel the need to know what is going to happen in books before they have read them? And even so, why do they feel so compelled to share it on the Internet?

Authors try so hard to keep their manuscripts and ideas private (eg. Jk Rowling and Stephanie Meyer) to make sure that the reading experience is not ruined! I personally do not understand why people actually want spoilers. Its just like reading the last page of a book, before you have finished reading it. Its a no brainer, you don't do it! When you know how a book is going to end, it makes you view the book in an entirely different way than if you had no idea how it was going to end. Although with some books the ending is fairly predicable and some people may argue that they are not spoiling much; this does not erase the fact that some books are not predicable and can be ruined. Personally, I had no idea what Stephanie Meyer was going to do in the end of Breaking Dawn, and I personally- I know lots of people will disagree- thought that certain events would transpire and that certain characters would meet there demise. If I had seen spoilers the BD I would have been totally shocked! This is exactly the case with Brisingr, I had- had is the key word- no idea what was going to happen. Now the whole book is ruined for me!

To be quite honest, when Breaking Dawn was about to be released I was petrified that I was going to innocently go onto myspace, fanfiction or simply check my emails and there would be the entire plot laid out for me too see.

I have to say, I am a massive fan of Christopher Paolini and his novels. His latest book is one of the 'must reads' of the year and now I simply typed in Eragon into Google and BAM, spoilers. Its not like I can take it back either, I have read a really crucial fact about Brisingr (the third and latest book which is to be released on the 20th of September).

This is a massive problem, in our new age of technology it is becoming easier and easier for confidentiality and copyright issues the be breached. My question is, why do people choose to ruin a wonderful book for people around the world?

Just like Midnight Sun. Midnight Sun was the whole Twilight book-which Stephanie Meyer was in the process of writing- but from Edwards perspective. Due to a leak of her manuscript she has cancelled work on the novel until she is 'more mentally prepared to write it'. This is another case of a leak which has ruined a almost published book.

I was really grateful and surprised that the 7th Harry Potter book wasn't spoiled, but I am digressing.

I am just really upset.

And annoyed.

I don't even know if I will end up reading it because it is ruined!

No, that's not true, I will defiantly read it, but it will be ruined and I will be extremely sad.

This is basically a warning, do not, I repeat, do not look up anything to do with The Inheritance Cycle or Eragon or Eldest or Brisingr or Christopher Paolini

Oh well, I have to say that this spoiler has managed to quell some of my enthusiasm for this novel, but I am still psyched.
Captain Libeka