History Main / TheTheoremOfNarrowInterests

If you want [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Legolas]] fanfic, there's tons of it out there, and even though Sturgeon's Law says that 90% of it is going to be crap, the 10% that's good is still a lot (and consequently easier to find). If you want a Legolas/X slash fic, there are still tons, but there are fewer tons, because it's a subset of Legolas fic, and the 10% that's any good is correspondingly smaller. If you want Legolas/[[Franchise/HarryPotter Draco]] slash fic, you've moved into a still smaller subset, by adding in a crossover requirement, with a still smaller "10% good". And so on...

It doesn't simply apply to porn and fanfic, though. Any narrow interest niche is going to have a smaller overall selection than a wider niche (it's just that those are the areas where people have the most ''particular'' tastes). Thus, if you want to see a movie about World War 2, you're spoiled for choice, but if you want an AlternateHistory UsefulNotes/WorldWarII film where ThoseWackyNazis won the race for the atomic bomb by making a literal DealWithTheDevil, you've cut your options significantly. Note that this is also a mathematical property. Under set theory, set (A&B) is usually smaller than either set (A) or set (B), the only exception is if A=B.

Also known as Beggars Can't Be Choosers.

If you want [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Legolas]] fanfic, there's tons of it out there, and even though Sturgeon's Law says that 90% of it is going to be crap, the 10% that's good is still a lot (and consequently easier to find). If you want a Legolas/X slash fic, there's still tons, but there are fewer tons, because it's a subset of Legolas fic, and the 10% that's any good is correspondingly smaller. If you want Legolas/[[Franchise/HarryPotter Draco]] slash fic, you've moved into a still smaller subset, by adding in a crossover requirement, with a still smaller "10% good". And so on...

A second factor that also contributes is that writers tend to stay in the same general area for most of their work. In other words, a fanfic writer who has done one Legolas/Draco-is-a-crossdresser BDSM fic is more likely to do it again. This means that one writer may be responsible for a sizable chunk of all the stories with a certain narrow set of parameters, and if they're a bad writer, they're going to skew the crap-to-not-crap ratio (and groups like the [[WebOriginal/ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum PPC]] are going to have a field day.)

The porn version is closely related: Vampire/fetish-latex porn is rarer, and thus has fewer good examples, than either just vampire porn or fetish-latex porn.

It doesn't simply apply to porn and fanfic, though. Any narrow interest niche is going to have a smaller overall selection than a wider niche (it's just that those are the areas where people have the most ''particular'' tastes). Thus, if you want to see a movie about World War 2, you're spoiled for choice, but if you want an AlternateHistory UsefulNotes/WorldWarII film where ThoseWackyNazis won the race for the atomic bomb by making a literal DealWithTheDevil, you've cut your options significantly.

Note that this is also a mathematical property. Under set theory set (A&B) is usually smaller than either set (A) or set (B), the only exception is if A=B.

On the subject of porn, this trope intersects with {{Rule 34}} in an interesting way: The narrower your search terms, the less likely you are to find something good, but the ''more'' likely you are to find something pornographic. Make of that what you will.

If you want [[TheLordOfTheRings Legolas]] fanfic, there's tons of it out there, and even though Sturgeon's Law says that 90% of it is going to be crap, the 10% that's good is still a lot (and consequently easier to find). If you want a Legolas/X slash fic, there's still tons, but there are fewer tons, because it's a subset of Legolas fic, and the 10% that's any good is correspondingly smaller. If you want Legolas/[[Franchise/HarryPotter Draco]] slash fic, you've moved into a still smaller subset, by adding in a crossover requirement, with a still smaller "10% good". And so on...

If you want [[TheLordOfTheRings Legolas]] fanfic, there's tons of it out there, and even though Sturgeon's Law says that 90% of it is going to be crap, the 10% that's good is still a lot. If you want a Legolas/X slash fic, there's still tons, but there are fewer tons, because it's a subset of Legolas fic, and the 10% that's any good is correspondingly smaller. If you want Legolas/[[Franchise/HarryPotter Draco]] slash fic, you've moved into a still smaller subset, by adding in a crossover requirement, with a still smaller "10% good". And so on...

It doesn't simply apply to porn and fanfic, though. Any narrow interest niche is going to have a smaller overall selection than a wider niche (it's just that those are the areas where people have the most ''particular'' tastes). Thus, if you want to see a movie about World War 2, you're spoiled for choice, but if you want an AlternateHistory WorldWarII film where ThoseWackyNazis won the race for the atomic bomb by making a literal DealWithTheDevil, you've cut your options significantly.

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If you want [[TheLordOfTheRings Legolas]] fanfic, there's tons of it out there, and even though Sturgeon's Law says that 90% of it is going to be crap, the 10% that's good is still a lot. If you want a Legolas/X slash fic, there's still tons, but there are fewer tons, because it's a subset of Legolas fic, and the 10% that's any good is correspondingly smaller. If you want Legolas/Draco slash fic, you've moved into a still smaller subset, by adding in a crossover requirement, with a still smaller "10% good". And so on...

<<|PornTropes|>>

A second factor that also contributes is that writers tend to stay in the same general area for most of their work. In other words, a fanfic writer who has done one Legolas/Draco-is-a-crossdresser BDSM fic is more likely to do it again. This means that one writer may be responsible for a sizable chunk of all the stories with a certain narrow set of parameters, and if they're a bad writer, they're going to skew the crap-to-not-crap ratio (and groups like the [[ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum PPC]] are going to have a field day.)

If you want [[TheLordOfTheRings Legolas]] fanfic, there's tons of it out there, and even though Sturgeon's Law says that 90% of it is going to be crap, the 10% that's good is findable. If you want a Legolas/X slash fic, there's still tons, but there are fewer tons, because it's a subset of Legolas fic, and the 10% that's any good is correspondingly smaller. If you want Legolas/Draco slash fic, you've moved into a still smaller subset, by adding in a crossover requirement, with a still smaller "10% good". And so on...

It doesn't simply apply to porn and fanfic, though. Any narrow interst niche is going to have a smaller overall selection than a wider niche (it's just that those are the areas where people have the most ''particular'' tastes). Thus, if you want to see a movie about World War 2, you're spoiled for choice, but if you want an AlternateHistory WorldWarII film where ThoseWackyNazis won the race for the atomic bomb by making a literal DealWithTheDevil, you've cut your options significantly.

It doesn't simply apply to porn and fanfic, though. Any narrow interst niche is going to have a smaller overall selection than a wider niche. Thus, if you want to see a movie about World War 2, you're spoiled for choice, but if you want an AlternateHistory WorldWarII film where ThoseWackyNazis won the race for the atomic bomb by making a literal DealWithTheDevil, you've cut your options significantly.

If you want [[TheLordOfTheRings Legolas]] fanfic, there's tons of it out there, and even though Sturgeon's Law says that 90% of it is going to be crap, the 10% that's good is findable. If you want a Legolas/X slash fic, there's still tons, but there are fewer tons, because it's a subset of Legolas fic, and the 10% that's any good is correspondingly smaller. If you want Legolas/Draco slash fic, you've moved into a still smaller subset, with a still smaller "10% good". And so on...

By the same principle, if you want to see a movie about World War 2, you're spoiled for choice, but if you want an AlternateHistory film where ThoseWackyNazis won the race for the atomic bomb, you've cut your options significantly.

A corollary of SturgeonsLaw:

As you add in requirements, the expected number of good examples of whatever it is you're looking for goes down.

If you want [[TheLordOfTheRings Legolas]] fanfic, there's tons of it out there, and even though Sturgeon's Law says that 90% of it is going to be crap, the 10% that's good is findable. If you want a Legolas/X slash fic, there's still tons, but there are fewer tons, because it's a subset of Legolas fic, and the 10% that's any good is correspondingly smaller. If you want Legolas/Draco slash fic, you've moved into a still smaller subset, with a still smaller "10% good". And so on... [[hottip:*:There's another factor as well, which is that fanfic writers tend to stay in the same general area for most of their work. In other words, a writer who has done one Legolas/Draco-is-a-crossdresser BDSM fic is more likely to do it again. This means that one writer may be responsible for a sizable chunk of all the stories with a certain narrow set of parameters, and if they're a bad writer, they're going to skew the crap-to-not-crap ratio (and groups like the [[ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum PPC]] are going to have a field day.)]]

[[FreudWasRight Not that this only applies to porn]] - it's just a good example of something people tend to have very ''specific'' tastes in. By the same principle, if you want to see a movie about World War 2, you're spoiled for choice, but if you want an AlternateHistory film where ThoseWackyNazis won the race for the atomic bomb, you've cut your options significantly.

Most noticeable in porn and {{fanfic}}, and even more noticeable when the two [[{{Lemon}} cross over]] - after all, RuleThirtyFour only guarantees that "there is porn of it", not that there is ''good'' porn of it...

As you add in requirements, the expected number of good examples of whatever it is you're looking for goes down. To take an arbitrary example, if you're looking for a [[RanmaOneHalf Ranma Saotome]]/[[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Xander Harris]] {{slashfic}}, it's harder to find a decent one than Ranma/Mousse or Xander/Principal Wood slash, given that you've added in a crossover requirement to your search; add in that you want vampire[[CharacterizationTags !]]Ranma/Xander slashfic, and the field of good stuff gets even narrower still.

How this works:

Most noticeable in porn and {{fanfic}}, and even more noticeable when the two [[{{Lemon}} cross over]] - after all, RuleThirtyFour only guarantees that "there is porn of it", not that there is ''good'' porn of it...

As you add in requirements, the expected number of good examples of whatever it is you're looking for goes down. To take an arbitrary example, if you're looking for a [[RanmaOneHalf Ranma Saotome]]/[[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Xander Harris]] {{slashfic}}, it's harder to find a decent one than Ranma/Mousse or Xander/Principal Wood slash, given that you've added in a crossover requirement to your search; add in that you want vampire[[CharacterizationTags !]] Ranma/Xander slashfic, and the field of good stuff gets even narrower still.

As you add in requirements, the expected number of good examples of whatever it is you're looking for goes down. To take an arbitrary example, if you're looking for a [[RanmaOneHalf Ranma Saotome]]/[[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Xander Harris]] {{slashfic}}, it's harder to find a decent one than Ranma/Mousse or Xander/Principal Wood slash, given that you've added in a crossover requirement to your search; add in that you want vampire Ranma/Xander slashfic, and the field of good stuff gets even narrower still.

[[TroperTales/TheTheoremOfNarrowInterests Now With Troper Tales!]]

[[FreudWasRight Not that this only applies to porn]] - it's just a good example of something people tend to have very... ''[[{{Fetish}} specific]]'' tastes for. By the same principle, if you want to see a movie about World War 2, you're spoiled for choice, but if you want an AlternateHistory film where ThoseWackyNazis won the race for the atomic bomb, you've cut your options significantly.

[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TroperTales/TheTheoremOfNarrowInterests Now With Troper Tales!]]