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Administrivia / "Too Many Links" Clause

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The probability of changing a trope title is inversely proportional to the number of links it has accumulated.

Why is having lots of links (wicks or inbounds) a problem? Because, in the process of fixing a trope, the name, definition, or pages allowed to wick the trope may change. Changing those things requires tropers to comb through the wiki, cleaning sinkholes and inappropriate uses. The more wicks you have for said trope, the more work. And new "bad links" might still appear while tropers are fixing the links.

So when a trope has too many inbound links, it is best to not have the links needing to be fixed, and thus the trope is encouraged to be fixed in ways that don't require link fixing later, such as Launch Displacement.

This is one of the reasons why it is mandated that pages brought to the Trope Repair Shop must show misuse in the opening post before a moderator will allow work to begin.

Compare Grandfather Clause, when something that is supposedly outdated is still allowed to remain because it has existed long enough to be well known.


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