The Official TvTropes Thread!

Nabber

Nabber

Artisanal Cheese Taster
Ever heard of a little site called TvTropes? Then this is the place to discuss it!
 
I remember a few months ago when TVTropes was stealing my sleep because I couldn't stop reading.

AUGH

I'm better now though.
 
It's an ok idea executed terribly.

-The wiki software is rather mediocre and full of gapping security flaws (lol plaintext password) that the owner refuse to fix,
-Thanks to Sturgeon's Law and being a wiki, the quality of the individual pages can vary widly. Way too often, you'll find creepy shit (for ex, the iCarly page had a lovingly detailled listing of every instance of "panty shot", the actors's cup size, some bullshit about sock length... ect), "examples" that only fit a trope with some particularly throughout mental gymnastics, whiny fandom entries and obvious self-promoting pages for horrible fan-fictions and webcomics.
-Its userbase is full of bigots, sexual deviants, militant pedophiles and people who really, really need to get serious psychiatric help. This Youtube series and a tl;dr Something Awful thread only scratch the surface.
-Not helping matter is that the moderation is ridiculously overworked and not very competent.

The site's ED page (NSFW obviously) is a good summary of its problems

It's still an ok read if you avoid the creepy sexual tropes and works with a large nerd following, but the management really needs a good roundhouse kick to the head.


(oh, and before the thought cross your mind, please don't describe yourself using tropes. It's awful.)
 
One guy said that GURPS is on the Trope Overdosed page just because he tried finding every little trope that has little to do with it.

One thing that really bugs me is labeling real things and people with tropes. What. Also, pretty much every Averted Trope.
 
I don't really do much with it. I make minor edits sometimes.
I really like the Evil Overlord List. Look it up.
 
Glowsquid said:
-Thanks to Sturgeon's Law and being a wiki, the quality of the individual pages can vary widly. Way too often, you'll find creepy shit (for ex, the iCarly page had a lovingly detailled listing of every instance of "panty shot", the actors's cup size, some bullshit about sock length... ect), "examples" that only fit a trope with some particularly throughout mental gymnastics, whiny fandom entries and obvious self-promoting pages for horrible fan-fictions and webcomics.
-Its userbase is full of bigots, sexual deviants, militant pedophiles and people who really, really need to get serious psychiatric help. This Youtube series and a tl;dr Something Awful thread only scratch the surface.
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I couldn't agree more, mate. The community of TVTropes is quite terrifying.

(oh, and before the thought cross your mind, please don't describe yourself using tropes. It's awful.)
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Which reminds me, I had a tropes page once. I should go remove that immediately.
 
I made two tropes once. One's called Divine Assistance and one is Big Door. Nothing special.
 
I had an userpage listing my dubious contributions but I replaced it with the sublime Brazil Nut Disorder page when I realized it was ego-stroking and nobody gave a shit. As far as I am concerned, this is the only good thing I've ever written on there.

ew I suddenly feel so dirty.
 
I suddenly respect you a lot more.
I didn't know you can make analysis. How do you do that?
 
I didn't know you can make analysis. How do you do that?
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If you mean making an Analysis page on tvt, type http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Analysis/TheNameOfTheWorkYouWantToAnalyze and post what you've written.

If you mean writting litterary analysis in general, uhhhhh, I'm not expert (infact I've only enterred my first honest-to-god lit crit classes three weeks ago) but what I can tell you is:

-Watch the form of the text very closely. Even seemingly basic things like punctuation or the sentence's lenght can convey something.
-Try to find the meaning of the text. Read between the lines. Find the symbolism, the themes, the ideas the author want to convey
-Look at the real word context. Who was the creator? What happened in his life? What was the historical context? His influences? Was he pissed at something? Did he try to make a point?

ect ect. But I don't really recommend asking an unintelligent teenager for advices, this might get you started : ).


Incidentally, this bring me to another point I forgot to list in my first post, and it is that, unlike what the management claims, TvT is a terrible site for analysis or game design reading. Listing unrelated plot devices and character types without any regard to their importance will not net you any meaningful understanding, and the "building blocks" metaphor they use to explain their approach is laughable. It's an ok timewaster, but don't try to look at it as anything more than that.
 
I personally have to disagree with the idea that "tropes" cannot apply to real life, the tropes are about fiction which is more or less based on real life.

Yes, I do see your points. The tropes don't exactly fit. But they can be fairly useful in describing a person.
 
I personally have to disagree with the idea that "tropes" cannot apply to real life, the tropes are about fiction which is more or less based on real life.

Yes, I do see your points. The tropes don't exactly fit. But they can be fairly useful in describing a person.
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I didn't actually say tropes absolutely cannot never apply to IRL, I just said troping yourself and real-life is awful (which it is) because:

-In (statistic I pulled out of my ass)% of all cases, it's vain and masturbatory. You're not a "Deadpan Snaker" because you made some sarcastic wisecrack to a guy who shortchanged you a nickel, and if you really were that snarky and totally 'hip, you wouldn't brag about it. If you feel the need to brag about your "Badass Longcoat", you probably look like a fool. ect.

-It looks ugly.

-Real life is infinitely more complicated than fiction, and reducing real peoples and situations to binary traits and plot devices is stupid and degrading. I dread the day where I'll see the Holocaust being described as a WhatTheHellHero MoralEventHorizon.

You could argue that some peoples emulate behaviours they see in medias and thus fit some twisted meta examples of a given trope, but how widespread is that? And is it really worth telling about?

(incidentally, I typed up this post while somewhat sleep-deprived soplease excuse any obvious typos and incoherences there might be)
 
Yeah, the people who use tropes to brag about themselves are useless. Though it is true that people often attempt to emulate fictional characters.

I still stand by my point that the tropes can somewhat apply. As you said, life is infinitely more complex but the tropes can at least give some idea of what a person is like. Assuming they aren't being pretentious.

Trying to describe someone with tropes is like trying to describe a smell with only sensual words. You can try, but it will never be as effective as if you met the real person.
 
Damn, I made a thread about this but I found out that you had made a thread before... Sigh.
I usually make edits relating to Mario or webcomics.
 
Love the main wiki and don't really have any problem with using tropes in referring to real-life situations, but I stay away from the userbase. Haven't exactly heard great things about them.
 
Reposting this, because, why not?

I was once addicted to the website. Like hardcore. I still am to a certain point. But at one point, I literally looked at the almost worthless information on that site for 7 hours straight.
 
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