TvTropes, I'm sorry to say, has numerous problems. Misuse of trope and Natter are two big ones that undermine our purpose of cataloging the devices of storytelling. Trope misuse creates confusion and natter transforms trope and work pages into thread forums. This is why intensive clean up is necessary.
For the last year or so I've been working on two tropes in particular: Beyond the Impossible and Xanatos Gambit: the former is defined as 'breaking internal logic' and latter as 'a plan in which both success and failure benefit the planner in some way'. I spent an hour every night (two on the weekends) searching their list of wicks for incorrect usage. There was a lot.
Beyond the Impossible was frequently used to emphasis something, especially something badass or extreme. From over six thousand wicks I brought it down to less than four hundred. Xanatos Gambit was often mistaken to mean 'generic plan' or 'evil plan' or 'exceptionally clever plan'. It had over three thousand wicks at its height and fortunately I had help with this one. Xanatos Gambit is infamous on our wiki because it used to have as many as ten snowclones and long term misuse. This attracted many tropers and we all pitched in bring the misuse down to eight hundred.
I'm honored to have received this award. It truly made my day.
I have wasted many hours reading TVTropes. It's addictive.
ReplyDeleteI tagged you in the Next Big Thing meme. Stop by my blog to get the details.
Hail fellow troper!
DeleteThanks for the tagging. I'll check it out now.