Sending spoilers

[Sorunome]

Is your suggestion related to a problem? Please describe.
Recently rendering spoilers has been merged into riot develop, the problem is now that there is no way of sending them!

Describe the solution you'd like
Sending spoilers as extended markdown like ||spoiler|| and ||reason|spoiler|| seems reasonable.

Describe alternatives you've considered
None, this could be a discussion!

Additional context
||spoiler|| neatly aligns with existing messaging services (e.g. Discord). As for the extended ||reason|spoiler|| it seems similar enough to just a plain spoiler to implement.

[Sorunome]

A different markdown parser that is more easily customizable would greatly simplify this step, and would also allow things like ~~strikethrough~~. Is there a chance of changing the markdown parser?

[t3chguy]

Is there a chance of changing the markdown parser?

I believe there is scope for this as the experience with CommonMark is kind of unsuitable IMO, especially for markdown in links which is not easily fixable from the consumer level. GFM would be a good shout but I don't see it being extensible to adding spoilers

[aaronraimist]

Links to the MSC https://github.com/Sorunome/matrix-doc/blob/soru/spoilers/proposals/2010-spoilers.md

and PR for viewing spoilers matrix-org/matrix-react-sdk#3018

[grinapo]

• Stackexchange uses >! spoiler for lines - but it won't suit spoiler words.
• Discord use ||spoiler|| for inline spoilers. - that's pretty bad for anything containing multiple pipes
• Reddit uses [] (#s "Spoiler Filled Text") - convoluted...
• Github uses <details> spoiler </details>, others <spoiler>spoiler text</spoiler>. This doesn't mess up normal text.

I'd go for <spoiler>xx</spoiler> or the S.E. syntax for lines, but that's just me.

[Sorunome]

custom tags are pretty much ruled out IMO as the msc specifically added an attribute to the the span tag to not need to do custom html tags

[dkasak]

The pipe syntax is really nice, IMO, and it has the additional benefit of familiarity for Discord users. I don't see multiple pipes in ordinary text as being common enough to warrant dismissing this syntax because of that. The same could be said for a lot of other Markdown special characters.

For situations where you really need pipes, there's /plain ... in Riot. For cases where it occurs in code, code blocks should be used instead anyway.

[theotheroracle]

Apparently the mobile version of riot uses /spoiler? i'm not sure why that's not implemented here already.

[grinapo]

@SaturnSoftware yes but it's only for the whole line, cannot spoilermark words.

[Huy-Ngo]

I've seen bots being able to do this (they are bots bridging the chatroom with discord), so I suppose there must be already a way.

[t3chguy]

Bots don't use Element.
Element can already render spoilers, just has no way for users to send them.

[Sorunome]

I've seen bots being able to do this (they are bots bridging the chatroom with discord), so I suppose there must be already a way.

yes, /html <span data-mx-spoiler="reason">spoiler content</span>

[shmerl]

Using /html ... works, but if you edit that message in element, it stops rendering the spoiler. Is there a way to edit it too?

[shmerl]

Is there any way currently to send an image as a spoiler, not just text?

[theotheroracle]

as a workaround, you can nest an <img> tag in a <span data-mx-spoiler> tag, but you'd have to upload the image first and get the mxc, there's also no current solution for encrypted rooms .

[theotheroracle]

Using /html ... works, but if you edit that message in element, it stops rendering the spoiler. Is there a way to edit it too?

you'd have to use devtools

[Lokomojo]

Please add support for spoiler images, too.

[shmerl]

I think images should already work, but blurring can be improved. See related: vector-im/element-web#16412

[Lokomojo]

@shmerl Ah right, but is there a way to do this when attaching an image? Or just linking to one?

[shmerl]

yeah, there should be some UI / syntax options for that that are currently absent.

[robintown]

Spoiler images actually need a spec change to be properly supported, since sending images inline isn't an adequate solution for encrypted rooms.

[robintown]

I've created an MSC for media spoilers, and split their implementation out into a couple of new issues: element-hq/element-web#18061 https://github.com/vector-im/element-web/issues/18062. If you have ideas for the designs, I encourage you to drop them in there, as it'll help me have a sane first draft to present for design review once I implement this.

[kittykat]

@Sorunome given that we have /spoiler now, does that satisfy your original request or do you feel that there are additional improvements to be made? (Everyone else, please feel welcome to speak up 👍 )

[b1ek]

I think its quite moronic that other clients support the common ||markdown|| syntax while element doesn't. I just had a very interesting conversation about element spoilers in the work matrix chat

[gabrc52]

Yes, /spoiler isn't enough because it's not inline and doesn't allow partial spoilering.

[SimonBrandner]

@Sorunome given that we have /spoiler now, does that satisfy your original request or do you feel that there are additional improvements to be made? (Everyone else, please feel welcome to speak up +1 )

We can't do Hello world, this is a ||spolier|| or make images (and other things) spoilers

[ShadowJonathan]

We can't do Hello world, this is a ||spolier|| or make images (and other things) spoilers

Could you elaborate? Is this because of limitations with commonmark libraries?

[SimonBrandner]

We can't do Hello world, this is a ||spolier|| or make images (and other things) spoilers

Could you elaborate? Is this because of limitations with commonmark libraries?

Ah, I didn't mean that it is technically impossible (I have no idea, but I imagine it is possible). I was simply saying you can't send a message like that in Element atm, afaik

[sumnerevans]

Another possible syntax is the Reddit-style:

This is >!spoiler text!<

[gabrc52]

Signal is adding formatting including spoilers. Spoilers are an essential part of formatting.

[shmerl]

So what's the new syntax / way to use it, especially for images?

[shmerl]

Not sure what the status of this now. Is it doable for images or not yet?

[gabrc52]

Nope

[Destinyg133]

Spoiler should be added as markdown option. There should be syntax on which we can agree on.

[quazgar]

FWIW, nheko and FluffyChat use ||spoiler text||.

[Destinyg133]

Same as discord and i think that is okay syntax