The One With...

Been referred to here from the TRS policy discussion.

Anyways, I'm not certain what the proper usage of The One With is. There are examples there that make this a legit trope (something being referred to as such in-universe), but there has been a few examples where there isn't context to determine if it's merely what at least one troper thinks. Furthermore, I've seen it tacked on in descriptions. Now there is a JustForFun/ version, which I'm not opposed to but kind of doesn't help with the main trope's usage. I do believe it is a problem X Meets Y had before being strictly made JFF.

Edited by GrafVonTirol on Sep 4th 2021 at 11:51:50 AM

I've never seen Friends; would it be fair to say the in-universe usage is a Stock Shout-Out?

Because I'm inclined to say the Main page is a mix of "Friends reference" and "JFF episode description". I don't mind the latter on the work pages; it adds personality.

Edited by Synchronicity on Sep 4th 2021 at 10:07:20 AM

Relevant ATT thread, at least in relation to the trope's use in page descriptions.

Going to reiterate my point: having The One With passages at the top of pages doesn't add anything to descriptions (they mess with reading flow if anything) and they are redundant with Laconics.

Edited by Karxrida on Sep 4th 2021 at 11:20:54 AM

I'm starting to think they are a relic of the "old days" of the wiki. I initially thought they added "personality", but now they just remind me of what this site was in 2010, which isn't exactly something I'm in favor of bringing back.

All the The One With stuff can go.

If anything, I'd probably like them because they're something that's like a relic from the older site days. As the site grows, elements of its personality diminish because everything becomes more similar and templated, but keeping a non-intrusive form of it is like a small plus to enjoyment. Practically they serve little function (I agree with the "redundancy to laconics or descriptions" argument), but pretty good at giving soul to pages.

the trope itself though will need example cleaning to make sure they're actually in-universe though, won't argue with that.

Edited by Piterpicher on Sep 5th 2021 at 2:46:29 PM

Now that elements of what the wiki used to be are mentioned, there are description gags that I am all for keeping (eg. "(noun)-(verb)ingly popular", "is an okay place to live", the Describe Topic Here gags that are work/trope-relevant). The One With on the other hand doesn't seem near as creative and seems to rotely say "the one with the (something that people know the work for)".

Edited by GrafVonTirol on Sep 5th 2021 at 8:20:27 AM

I'm generally not very fond of them, if only because they're wholly redundant to the Laconic pages and rarely add much of value on their own merits.

While I was never really bothered by them, if everyone wants them to go, that's fine by me.

They're pointless.

I think the intended difference between The One With and the Laconic is that the Laconic should be summarizing the work, while The One With is the most memorable/notable aspect of the installment.

For example:

• Laconic: Bob turns 18 and he and his friends throw an R-rated party.
• Description: The One With Bob crying about his life to a stripper.

Edited by Synchronicity on Sep 5th 2021 at 8:30:41 AM

Speakin' of laconics, if the laconic page for The One With is the definition, it is untropeable.

The ones on the Sonic pages bother me a lot, because you can't distil the essence of each game into one sentence; a lot of the games are very similar so there isn't really one specific thing that distinguishes them; so they end up being just one person's ideas for what to say. They are really not ideal for the first thing a visitor reads on seeing the page, and some of them are especially bad (like the Sonic 06 one, inevitably). I'd like to see them gone.

Honestly, outside of Friends (which literally used the line as the title of every single episode), The One With is actually Too Rare to Trope and it's being used as fandom in-jokes like in the Sonic the Hedgehog pages more than anything.

I can only speak to the ones on the Sonic pages, but honestly, they're redundant with the Laconic.

Things like this can work, but the ones from the Sonic games don't qualify as humor — they're far too earnest and toothless — but they also don't summarize the work particularly well, so they don't really work on a purely functional level.

As far as The One With trope, that's a naming convention that one show used, and a few scattered others referenced it a time or two. That doesn't merit anything more than a mention on Idiosyncratic Episode Naming. Hell, it's the page image.

Outside of that, it's a stock phrase when used in-universe, or at best something better left to ReferencedBy.Friends

Edited by HeavyMetalHermitCrab on Sep 7th 2021 at 8:12:49 AM

Isn't this a variant on In Which a Trope Is Described?

Hmm, in that case, yes, this definitely should be looked at in the TRS!

Honestly, both tropes seem to be more specific variants of Idiosyncratic Episode Naming. I'd say In Which a Trope Is Described is somewhat better off than this one, on account of stemming from an established literary convention rather than a shoehorned Friends reference, but they both seem a bit too much like stock phrases regardless. (Plus, IWATID uses the word "trope" as a placeholder, so that one is due for a rename anyway.)

As per TRS, The One With is now designated JFF-only.

I suppose we can use this space to discuss what to do with existing entries and any future additions on other pages.

Edited by GrafVonTirol on Oct 9th 2021 at 9:56:11 AM

This ATT is asking about the topic.

I swear there was another thread on this, too.

I personally don't find them redundant or nattery, and I really don't get the charge that they're pointless with the laconics or are incomprehensible in-jokes.

I mean, I personally kind of found them annoying, but I wasn't involved with the TRS thread (which happened while I was on hiatus) so my opinion isn't really relevant anyway.

I remember campaigning for them to be removed, but only because I wasn't sure we were allowed to just have stray JFF links everywhere. I'm otherwise apathetic.

The only objection I had was that it's designed like a trope, yet in most instances it wasn't treated as such. Good thing that the matter got resolved, at least for the time being. I have no problem as a series gag otherwise, though I favor more creative gags.

Edited by GrafVonTirol on Jan 12th 2022 at 12:35:25 PM

Anyway, I think I should invite the two parties from the ATT discussion:

~The Tropper and ~A Haunted Mind