Graeme McMillan posait une question simple concernant les réels dommages que peuvent causer les spoilers. Il affirme : « How important are spoilers, anyway? I wonder that, sometimes. There are plenty of stories that rely on a shock last minute reveal for a certain amount of drama and tension, of course, but that is rarely the only value of a story; there has to be something more to it, surely, otherwise the story can only be read once, because any re-reads would be pointless in light of you knowing the big secret. While knowing a spoiler ahead of time can rob the story of one kind of appeal, shouldn’t good stories have more to offer, and therefore have a different-yet-equal appeal even if you know the ending ahead of time…? » (« How Bad Are Spoilers, Anyway? », Newsarama, 13 mai 2013).  Ainsi, les spoilers sont véritablement dommageables si l’aventure n’a aucune consistance ou de véritable profondeur qui inciterait le lecteur à y revenir.