History Main / MovingTheGoalPosts

* In [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/jacobs/english/fishring.html The Fish and the Ring]], [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/russian/russianwondertales/vasiliiunlucky.html Vasilii the Unlucky]], [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/29devilgoldhairs.html The Devil With the Three Golden Hairs]], Literature/TheKingWhoWouldBeStrongerThanFate, and many other fairy tales, a man who discovers finds his child [[SelfFulfillingProphecies doomed]] to marry a poor child tries to kill them with many tasks, before and after the wedding; in the end, he fails.
* In "Literature/TheGratefulBeasts", at the instigation of his brothers, Ferko has to, in turn, cut all the corn in a single night, gather it all into barns the next night, and summon all the wolves in the land. It stops with the wolves because, well, they're [[BigBadassWolf wolves]].

On the odd occasion, Alice might have genuinely good intentions. Maybe Bob wants Alice to introduce him to Alice's pretty coworker, who Alice knows is a [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]] and a GoldDigger, so she tries to deter Bob from the girl without saying outright that she's bad news because [[CassandraTruth she knows Bob wouldn't believe her.]]

* A classical example:
->Religiously motivated homophobe: "Homosexuality is unnatural."
->Other person: *showcases something like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality_in_animals this]]*
->Religiously motivated homophobe: "Well, so you believe humans [[InsaneTrollLogic should lower themselves to the standards of animals]]!?"

-> ''"[[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.]]"''
-->-- '''Darth Vader'''

* Tends to show up in {{Super Slave Market}}s that sell extended warranties and/or computer services. If you or your store do well a particular week/month/etc, your goal will be adjusted upward, the demand becoming increasingly harder to reach every time it goes up. And of course, when you inevitably can't reach it, there's a stern talking to about how much you "failed to meet expectations."

[[quoteright:208:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Goalposts_4470.png]]
[[caption-width-right:208:It would help if they both pushed in the same direction.]]

* LampShaded by combining this with ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem in ElementalGelade, in regards to a fighting match. Up to this point, the character's been winning every 1-1 fight she's been in; then her creditor, who also owns the arena, says "Since I make the rules, I'll just change them." and has her fight two guys at once, to ensue she'll never be rid of him. She beats them handily (with a little help from Coude and the gang), and beats the creditor to death backstage (I think, the last we see of him is his unmoving body with his eyes rolled back in his skull).

->''"Every time we get a yard ahead, Ryan goes and moves the goal line down to the other side of the field!"''
-->-- '''Atlas''', ''VideoGame/BioShock''

* If TV execs want to cancel a show that's doing well in the ratings they can just move it to a new time slot where people are less likely to watch it, so when ratings go down they can say they have a legitimate reason to cancel it.

* JackThompson wrote a "Modest Video Game Proposal", wherein he promised to donate $10,000 to a charity of the choosing of Paul Eibeler (former chairman of Take-Two Interactive, publisher of ''GrandTheftAuto'' and target of Thompson's ire) for the creation of a video game involving the player going on a killing spree against people in the gaming industry. Such a game was made, in the form of ''ImOK''. Thompson reneged on his end of the deal, though, saying the game had to be published and sold commercially. Thankfully, ''PennyArcade'' jumped to the rescue, donating the 10K in Jack's name to the Entertainment Software Association Foundation Charity.

* 419 scams work this way, with the perpetrators asking for bank fees, bribes for officials, money for "taxes," and so forth, with the promise of millions of dollars to come, until the victim either wises up or is cleaned out.

* A staple of the FourNineteenScam and similar cons. The mark is promised a cut of millions if he/she sends in a few hundred. Then they get a letter (or these days, email) saying that something went wrong, and they need to send more money. Which they often do, believing that the millions that were originally promised are still coming and will offset the comparatively small amount sent in. Which, needless to say, never happens.

*** Blacktaildefence has a perfect video explaining what happened. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi478Ld5rOc

* A staple of the 419Scam and similar cons. The mark is promised a cut of millions if he/she sends in a few hundred. Then they get a letter (or these days, email) saying that something went wrong, and they need to send more money. Which they often do, believing that the millions that were originally promised are still coming and will offset the comparatively small amount sent in. Which, needless to say, never happens.

* A staple of TheNigerianScam and similar cons. The mark is promised a cut of millions if he/she sends in a few hundred. Then they get a letter (or these days, email) saying that something went wrong, and they need to send more money. Which they often do, believing that the millions that were originally promised are still coming and will offset the comparatively small amount sent in. Which, needless to say, never happens.

* A staple of the NigerianScam and similar cons. The mark is promised a cut of millions if he/she sends in a few hundred. Then they get a letter (or these days, email) saying that something went wrong, and they need to send more money. Which they often do, believing that the millions that were originally promised are still coming and will offset the comparatively small amount sent in. Which, needless to say, never happens.

-> ''"[[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further]]"''

* In the ''{{Futurama}}'' episode "A Clockwork Origin," Dr. Banjo insists that Prof. Farnsworth provide a "missing link" between humans and prehistoric apes. With each link the professor provides, Dr. Banjo demands a link between that link and the prehistoric ape. This continues for a long time until the professor can no longer provide a link.

* In the ''SpongeBobSquarepants'' episode "I'm Your Biggest Fanatic" [=SpongeBob=] is trying to get into the Jellyfishers' Club, but their leader Kevin keeps stringing him along with increasingly difficult tasks, at which [=SpongeBob=] succeeds with ease. When they finally come up with something sufficiently impossible, it winds up in Kevin being HoistByHisOwnPetard as the fake "queen jellyfish" he creates attracts a real king jellyfish, and [=SpongeBob=] saves the day, revealing Kevin as a complete loser.

* RobotChicken had a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpE_xMRiCLE sketch]] playing with the famous moment from TheEmpireStrikesBack mentioned above. In the sketch, Vader keeps adding ridiculous elements to the deal ("Furthermore I wish you to wear this dress and bonnet!" "Here is a unicycle, you are to ride it wherever you go" "Also you are to wear these clown shoes and refer to yourself as 'Mary'") whenever Lando says "[[TemptingFate This deal's getting worse all the time!]]". It only stops when Lando figures out what's happening and says, "This deal... [[TaughtByExperience is very fair and I'm happy to be a part of it]]."

* In ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'', a literal example occurs. In a football game, the opposing team actually moves the goal posts.

-> ''"[[TheEmpireStrikesBack I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further]]"''