# TV Tropes' "New Content Policy" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 16, 2012, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936 "2012-04-16T09:43:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Blackzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Blackzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackzilla)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/41 "2012-04-17T12:38:57Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > Y’know, fun, time-consuming wiki of fiction’s cliches, storytelling devices, etc? No, but I’d love to see **that** website! Instead, whenever I go to TV Tropes it’s all anime fanwank bullshit. Did you know that the most pertinent example of the “Will they or won’t they?” trope is Mayumi and Yakitori from _Magical Chess Club Archipegalo: Shopping is Death_? Me either! :smack::rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Myrnalene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@Myrnalene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrnalene)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/42 "2012-04-17T12:45:14Z")
> [@Blackzilla](#): > > No, but I’d love to see **that** website! Instead, whenever I go to TV Tropes it’s all anime fanwank bullshit. Did you know that the most pertinent example of the “Will they or won’t they?” trope is Mayumi and Yakitori from _Magical Chess Club Archipegalo: Shopping is Death_? Me either! :smack::rolleyes: Uh. The trope pages are divided by media type so that you can easily scroll past the anime examples (which are at the top of the page). Sometimes you actually have to click on a link to make them visible. Apparently some of you have a bug up your asses about anime, and that’s fine, but since the examples are easily avoided it really comes across like PEOPLE LIKE SOMETHING I DON’T LIKE WAHHHHHHH. I don’t care about comic books so I don’t read the comic book examples. I don’t whine and gnash my teeth about the fact that they exist and that someone other than me gives a fuck about them. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/43 "2012-04-17T13:29:24Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > Yes. Fanfiction is universally dreck. That is, of course, why no one other than a few fanatics have ever heard of: [_Rosencrantz and Guilderstern Are Dead_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosencrantz_and_Guildenstern_Are_Dead); [_Pride and Prejudice and Zombies_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice_and_Zombies); [_Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_and_Sensibility_and_Sea_Monsters); [_The Holmes-Dracula File_](http://www.berserker.com/bk_hdfile.htm); [_Wide Sargasso Sea_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_Sargasso_Sea); [_Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked:_The_Life_and_Times_of_the_Wicked_Witch_of_the_West); or [_The Wind Done Gone_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wind_Done_Gone). Once it’s published by a real publishing house, you can stop calling it fanfic. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/44 "2012-04-17T13:33:30Z")
> [@Myrnalene](#): > > Apparently some of you have a bug up your asses about anime, and that’s fine, but since the examples are easily avoided it really comes across like PEOPLE LIKE SOMETHING I DON’T LIKE WAHHHHHHH. I don’t care about comic books so I don’t read the comic book examples. I don’t whine and gnash my teeth about the fact that they exist and that someone other than me gives a fuck about them. To each their own and all that, but when there’s 80 anime examples (and again, many aren’t even available in English) versus only a handful of movie and TV examples for many trope pages, it gets irritating. And **Blackzilla** is right, half the anime section of any trope page will include people claiming that some anime that came out two years ago is the ultimate example of a trope that’s often older than radio. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/45 "2012-04-17T13:37:54Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I find it highly disappointing that the powers that be have apparently decided to gut seven years worth of reader contributions for the purpose of maintaining ad revenue, as if keeping the money flowing were the purpose of the site’s existence rather than cataloguing recurring themes in media. Making money IS the purpose of the site’s existence. That the site actually does what they purport to be about is nothing more than a happy coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/46 "2012-04-17T13:40:44Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > And **Blackzilla** is right, half the anime section of any trope page will include people claiming that some anime that came out two years ago is the ultimate example of a trope that’s often older than radio. I had the same reaction to a lot of tropes that are as old as mankind, top example is a show from last year 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Condescending\_Robot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a183cd/32.png) [@Condescending\_Robot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Condescending_Robot)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/47 "2012-04-17T13:42:24Z")
> [@Myrnalene](#): > > Apparently some of you have a bug up your asses about anime, and that’s fine, but since the examples are easily avoided it really comes across like PEOPLE LIKE SOMETHING I DON’T LIKE WAHHHHHHH. I don’t care about comic books so I don’t read the comic book examples. I don’t whine and gnash my teeth about the fact that they exist and that someone other than me gives a fuck about them. But apparently, when the owner of some website decides that he wants to be the one place on the Internet that isn’t dominated by discussion of the grand artistic achievement that is cartoons about small children being raped by robots, that’s the time to give all the fucks. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/48 "2012-04-17T15:34:39Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > The entire “Les Yay” page was removed. It annoyed me because they have no problem with “Distaff Counterpart” pages in general, but got rid of the one where the target audiences are completely separate. Les Yay goes to Ho Yay for me, and reading the discussion page it seems to be that way since last year. It isn’t because of this recent Google ad scandal… ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/49 "2012-04-17T20:02:35Z")
> [@Condescending\_Robot](#): > > But apparently, when the owner of some website decides that he wants to be the one place on the Internet that isn’t dominated by discussion of the grand artistic achievement that is cartoons about small children being raped by robots, that’s the time to give all the fucks. Best username / post combo ever! ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/50 "2012-04-17T20:23:57Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Apparently they’ve also deleted the entire “Nightmare Fuel” category. > > Which, if I recall correctly, is a term that ORIGINATED on TV Tropes. > > I’m calling it - they’ve officially gone off the rails. Wait, WHAT? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/51 "2012-04-17T21:48:31Z")
If I may… “The Emperor”, having been convinced by “Moral Guardians” that “Naughty Tentacles” are “Sick and Wrong”, has declared to the site to “Stop Having Fun Guys”, this is “Serious Business”. After all, someone has to “Think of the Children”. And so, on the “Day of the Jackboot”, he decided to “Bowdlerize” the Wiki. This resulted in a “Broken Base”, with declarations that “They Changed It, Now It Sucks” and the Wiki is “Ruined Forever”. He responded by declaring “Money, Dear Boy”, and has “Gannon Banned” any dissenters. It’s really a symptom of the “Network Decay” the Wiki has undergone in the past few years. The title page proclaims “We’re not some stuffy encyclopedic Wiki, we’re a buttload more informal” - but a look at the forums will show that’s not true as people are constantly tearing into things that have been part of the Wiki for years and changing established trope names for not being descriptive enough. You can’t so much as launch a new trope page anymore unless it’s been thoroughly vetted for tropeability and non-redundancy. It pains me that I have to tell the Wiki “I Shall Fight No More Forever”, but I don’t want to be part of a community that pulls this kind of “Orwellian Retcon” and decides to undergo “Disneyfication” every time some “Troll” says “What Do You Mean It’s Not For Kids?” This “Wall Banger” is nothing less than a “Dethroning Moment of Suck”, and at this rate the Wiki is quickly becoming “So Bad, It’s Horrible”. Until they say “Screw The Rules, I’m Doing What’s Right”, i’m just going to have to be “Put On A Bus” until the Wiki starts “Growing the Beard” again, escapes its “Seasonal Rot”, and is “Rescued from the Scrappy Heap”. (That was harder to do than it looked without actually referencing the site.) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/52 "2012-04-17T21:51:21Z")
That was a crowning moment of awesome. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/53 "2012-04-17T23:06:31Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Wait, WHAT? Fetish Fuel now has a separate site, which I’m not going looking for at work. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/54 "2012-04-18T01:37:45Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > \ BRAVO! Now do classic “Jump The Shark”! ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/55 "2012-04-18T02:25:11Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > It’s really a symptom of the “Network Decay” the Wiki has undergone in the past few years. The title page proclaims “We’re not some stuffy encyclopedic Wiki, we’re a buttload more informal” - but a look at the forums will show that’s not true as people are constantly tearing into things that have been part of the Wiki for years and changing established trope names for not being descriptive enough. You can’t so much as launch a new trope page anymore unless it’s been thoroughly vetted for tropeability and non-redundancy. As I said before, I am far from convinced that the behavior this part is bemoaning as going away is a good thing to keep around. And being more informal than Wikipedia is both not hard and not necessarily meaning complete and total freedom to do whatever. ETA: I think I know what the “problem” is. It would be (more) okay for anyone to create a trope on anything they liked and name it anything they want IF other users could be trusted to read the trope and understand it completely before using it themselves. [understatement]THEY DO NOT.[/understatement] Though personally, any process that makes sure you don’t get tropes named The Humphrey (really, guess what it was about before it was renamed) and Stalling For Time (hint: it was NOT about stalling for time) can’t be all bad in my book. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/56 "2012-04-18T02:37:00Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > Though personally, any process that makes sure you don’t get tropes named The Humphrey (really, guess what it was about before it was renamed) A career bureaucrat who specializes in using obfuscatory language and not getting any actual work done? > [@](#): > > and Stalling For Time (hint: it was NOT about stalling for time) A conversation taking place in a public restroom? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/57 "2012-04-18T02:40:09Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > A career bureaucrat who specializes in using obfuscatory language and not getting any actual work done? [Nope.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheBarnum) (Do not mouse over if you want to guess for yourself.) > [@](#): > > A conversation taking place in a public restroom? [Nope.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SearchingTheStalls) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/58 "2012-04-18T02:56:05Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > [Nope.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheBarnum) (Do not mouse over if you want to guess for yourself.) > > [Nope.](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SearchingTheStalls) Hmm. Makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/59 "2012-04-18T03:40:51Z")
If all of TVTropes went away, I would be a little happier. It started out as a neat concept, but it has slowly devolved into the worst dregs of the internet. I’m not good with words, so here’s something someone else wrote about TVTropes on another forum: > [@](#): > > It is, in fact, a place where horrible people can talk about horrible things at horrible length…Its sections on real literature and actual art are stunted little nubs, while its anime sections are as swollen and overfull as an infected cyst and its page on My Little Pony is literally a contender for the longest novel in the world. It actively discourages analysis, deep discussion, the criticism of any works valued by the contributors, and has pages on troper-written fanfiction, pornographic comics about rape and murder, and child pornography. > > Second, it is an awful tool for writers. TVTropes, rather than analyzing why an idea is used, only lists what works use it. This leads to most troper-fiction being horribly-written fiction-by-numbers, in which all the “coolest” tropes are jammed together in a semblance of narrative. The policy of “never say anything bad about anything,” combined with the administration’s belief that to criticize a work in any way is to personally insult the artist, means that any artist who turns to the TV Tropes community for help will end up getting nothing more than a slow, loving handjob… > > The golden rule of TVTropes is “never be mean to another user ever,” and this means that you will have open pedophiles, racists, homophobes, and white supremacists posting without other tropers ever arguing with them. We’ve seen them argue for abolishing all age-of-consent laws, openly hit on 15-year-old users, advocate the forced conquest and conversion to Christianity of all of Africa, and mock rape victims, **all without reprisal from administration.** …This does, of course, bleed through into the wiki—see all the trope pages relating to underage sex, racism, little girls, or sex of any kind. The moderation is only now working to correct this, and is fighting tooth and nail to make “let’s not gush about how sexy 7-year-olds are” a rule. I hope the whole site metaphorically burns to the fucking ground. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2012, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936/60 "2012-04-18T04:15:59Z")
Yeah…it’s a shame, because it’s such a cool concept. There’s just something about fandoms that seem to bring out of hiding the toxic people, the drama whores and the real creeps–all the people no-one can be friends with in real life, I suppose. And when TVTropes basically became ‘the respectable alternative’ to livejournal fan congregations (or so it seems), well…we’ll see if they get enough donations to not collapse under their own weight. Of course, it’s not like the website was ever particularly glamorous to start with–it started when a Buffy fan-forum got invaded by a professional wrestling fan-forum. There used to be unlabelled links to furry torture porn on small trope pages just sitting there (holy god was that disturbing), which I understand they at least make an effort to hide now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-tropes-new-content-policy/618936.md?page=4)