See, and this is why I say it's a conundrum rather than anything clear cut ;).

I think there are things that kind of ... seep out into fannish consciousness. It would never occur to me to cut at this point for the ending of LoTR. Not at all. On the other hand, I will probably be protecting the ending of the Dark Tower series until the day I die, because I know a fairly sizeable chunk of fandom has not read it, and God, do I want them to read it unspoiled.

Conversely, as a reader, I know that just being in fandom means I'll be spoiled for Harry Potter if I don't keeo up reading wise. I was spoiled for OoTP before I read it. I wouldn't really expect to be protected from major developments in Buffy and Angel, or (to pick a show I didn't watch) Due South. And yet, I at least hope for it with Farscape. Why? I can't really say. Conundrum.