Hopefully people got the grammar reference in the title, if you haven’t well then you need not read any further. Star Wars: The Force Awakens has finally released, as is evident from the amount of Stormtroopers trooping around and Darth Vaders gliding along on Segways. People have gone into cinemas crying with happiness and have left crying with happiness, only to queue up to watch it again as clueless bystanders wonder if there’s a cosplay convention in town.
But alas, the Dark Side has permeated this world, escaping the confines of cinematography and making it’s way to the internet in the form of spoilers. Yes something starting with “S” more repulsive than Darth Sidious. While a fortunate few got the chance to attend Star Wars premiere screenings across the world, the rest of us had to wait for it to officially release in cinemas and a small unfortunate number of the world population made the mistake of not booking seats in advance, meaning they’ll be watching it at the nearby multiplex next month if they’re lucky. Regrettably, in that interval of time, chances are you’ll come across a Star Wars spoiler on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, YouTube or pretty much anywhere on the surface web.
But a balance to the force there must be and our unlikely hero in times of need comes in the form of a Chrome extension. Named Force Block, the extension prevents you from visiting web pages that feature any phrases related to the Star Wars universe. When visiting a possibly spoiler-filled page, a message pops up letting the user know that the contents of the page may spoil the movie for them. Users can then choose to leave immediately, or tell the plug-in to refrain from blocking the page in the future.
The overwhelming majority of user reviews are positive with some users relieved that they’ll be able to use the Internet this week and not having to hide under a rock. Others feel that it does its job a little too well, blocking any page that even mentions Star Wars, including this article.
