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Hello and welcome! We like having newcomers around here and hope you'll stick around and contribute. This place may look intimidating but it's pretty simple once you get used to it.

The purpose of this guide is to teach you the basics of getting around, introduce you to our rules and policies, and give you links to all the resources you need. When in doubt, Ask The Tropers. We try not to bite.


Before we get started, let's cover the most important questions.

Q: What is TV Tropes?
A: TV Tropes is a wiki, sort of like Wikipedia but using different software and with a different purpose. We describe and collect examples of Tropes in Media. We also host reviews, liveblogs, and have forums where you can talk with other tropers.

Q: What is a Trope?
A: A trope is a narrative device or convention used in storytelling or production of a creative work. Click on that link for more details.

Q: What is a Troper?
A: A troper is someone who participates in discovering and writing about tropes: in other words, you. It's a word we made up and we're proud of it. Yes, it autocorrects to "trooper".

Q: Can I make a new trope?
A: Not so fast, friend. It's great that you're excited about contributing but you should take some time to look around and make sure you understand what tropes are and what tropes we already have. To ask if we have something, go to Trope Finder. If you're still convinced it's needed, head over to Trope Launch Pad, but be sure to read TLP Guidelines first. A lot of people get in trouble for not knowing them.

Q: Can I make a new media article?
A: Absolutely. See How to Create a Work Page. TLDR: Put it in the proper Namespace, give it a valid title, add a description, and add enough valid examples.

Q: Can I trope my own work?
A: Yes, but you don't own the wiki article and this isn't a place to advertise. See The Fic May Be Yours, but the Trope Page Is Ours and Auto-Erotic Troping.

Q: Who runs this place?
A: TV Tropes is independently owned and operated. The admins who run the site don't come around much. You're most likely to encounter the moderators: volunteers who make and enforce the rules. See Know the Staff to learn about them. Moderators have special tags by their names and listening to them is a good idea.

When you're ready, learn more about The Goals of TV Tropes, The Troping Code, and TV Tropes Customs. These are recommended reading for all tropers and are enforced. We use a lot of strange words. To learn about them, see TV Tropes Glossary.


Now, on to the basics of navigation. Below is a bunch of folders. Click or tap to expand them. There's also a control to expand or collapse all folders on a page. In your profile, you can choose to have folders always expanded or always contracted, and you can change that at any time. More on your profile later.

    open/close all folders 

    Preferences 

This is a spoiler. You can change whether to view spoilers on or off by default using the Show Spoilers slider in the sidebar. To reveal spoilers while they are hidden, click or tap on them, or drag with your mouse cursor to highlight the text.

There is a "Night Mode" that toggles the colour of the site to a more bright-on-dark scheme. The toggle for it is Night Vision in the sidebar.

To view the wiki in a wider format suitable for 16x9 displays, toggle the Wide Load option in the sidebar.

To control whether the header bar (including the site logo, search box, and profile icon) remains at the top of your screen while you scroll down, toggle the Sticky Header option in the sidebar.

There are many more controls available in your profile page, which you can get to by clicking on the icon in the top right corner. This is accessible only if you're a known troper. The profile also controls your preferences for our fora and discussion venues.

Likewise, you need to be logged in to move the sidebar to the left, to have the header bar stick at the top of the page as you scroll down, to have the forums condensed or to accept avatars from other tropers if they offer them to you. You can also upload and choose your profile image (avatar).

    Basic Navigation 
The standard TV Tropes layout has a black toolbar above the page title, a black bar at the bottom of the page and expanding menus on the right side. When looking at the page from a small screen, the expanding menus are hidden behind the button in the upper left corner.

The toolbar to the right expands when you click on it, and contains the index and links to tools and ongoing discussions.

  • Follow TVTropes is for discussions and other areas where tropers hang out. It also has links to other websites and some settings.
  • Displays is for your settings.
  • Page Info contains information for page properties, and you can flag pages for moderator attention.
  • Bulletins is for site-wide announcements which can be made by moderators.
  • Resources is the toolbox. Here you can look at the page workshops, tools and other help material.
  • Crucial Browsing is a list of master indexes where you can go look for pages.

Depending on the type of article you're viewing, there may be one or more namespace icons/tabs below the page title. These allow you to navigate to an article's subpages, including articles with the same title but in a different medium (Film, Literature, etc.).

To edit articles, you must be logged in — see Getting Known, below, for details. See Tips for Editing for help with editing. To chat with tropers, visit our forums.

    The Top Bar 
  • Google Custom Search. You can search for anything in the wiki by using this feature. Advanced options, such as the inurl parameter, can be used to refine your search. (Example: Including "inurl:pmwiki.php" will restrict results to the wiki.) note 
  • Random Trope and Random Work take you to a completely random trope or work. It'll help you find pages you might never have looked at otherwise and is a good way to fill time.
  • The avatar figure in the upper right corner takes you to the Account Login/Registration form to create a handle, log into an existing handle, or log out. You need cookies enabled in your browser to stay logged in. You must have a handle to do anything other than read the site.
  • If you are logged in, your avatar (which you can set by way of your profile) and your handle name will display in the right corner.
    • Profile takes you to your wiki/forum profile page. Clicking on your avatar has the same effect.
    • Watchlist takes you to the aforementioned list of articles you're watching. It's very handy for tracking the articles you have a particular interest in rather than sifting through Recent Changes all day.
    • Message is the page where Private Messages display and can be sent. If you have a new PM, you'll see a red icon over the avatar. To see your PMs, go to your mailbox. Also, please remember that private messages are private for a reason. Disseminating the contents of a PM without permission from the other party is grounds for loss of PM privileges.

    The Black Toolbar 
This toolbar contains context-sensitive controls for article editing or other functions depending on where you are in the site. Some buttons may be hidden in the More drop-down on the far right.

  • Edit page lets you modify the current page's content. You must be logged in to do this.
    • If a page displays a padlock icon, it is locked and can't be edited except by the wiki staff; clicking the icon will take you to Locked Pages so you can see why.
    • If you try to edit a page and get a notification that it is "Checked out", that's because someone else is editing it. Wait for them to save their edit — if they haven't saved after 20 minutes or so, the lock will be released.
    • If you get a "checked out" notice for an article that says that you're the user who has it locked, you may be logged in with a different case than your handle is stored in the database. This is a known issue; visit the Query Bugs noticeboard for more information.
  • Related runs a search for this page's title. It lets you know how many other pages link to this page.
  • Discussion links you to the discussion page for each article. Useful if you want to ask about a change to the article, or explain an edit.
  • History is a list of recent edits for the page you're currently viewing. You can see who made the edits, the reason, and communicate with them via PM if desired.
  • Page source shows the markup text of the page, so that you can examine or copy it without having to check it out for editing.
  • To do lets you add the current page to your personal to-do list. Good if you don't have time to make the change you wanted but don't want to forget, either.
  • Wiki Word takes you to the form to request a Custom Title - a function for staff to change the display of a page title to include punctuation, spaces and hyphens.
  • Upload Image is the uploader for images and media.

The Follow button lets you add the current article to your watchlist, after that is done the text of the button changes to Following. Any edits to the article or its discussion page will appear on your watchlist. Watching a media article will also cause you to be notified of any new reviews for it. Note: If the article you're viewing has multiple subpages, like YMMV, Headscratchers, etc., you have to watch each separately. If the article is already watched, you can click Following again to remove it.

    Buttons beside and below the article title 
^
  • Create New allows you to create subpages for an already existing article, from a predefined list. (You can always create subpages manually as long as they're in a valid namespace.)

    Registration (formerly Getting Known) 
This site requires that you create a login (aka, a troper handle) to be allowed to edit articles, write a review, contribute to the Trope Launch Pad, post in Discussions, post in the forums, or perform any activity other than viewing. You create a handle by Registering. Your login information will be stored in a cookie on your computer. If you don't have cookies enabled, then some site features may not work for you.

We don't require your real name, but we do need you to provide an email address for verification and security purposes, We also store your profile information and the IP address(es) you use to edit or post. See our Privacy Policy for more information.

  • Your handle should only contain alphanumerics: the letters a-z, A-Z, and the digits 0-9, and it must start with a letter. If you don't follow this rule, you may be able to edit and post, but you may have problems with creating a Tropers page for yourself. Also, you'll annoy tropers who need to contact you over something.
  • To log out, click on your handle in the upper right corner and select Logout from the menu. This will delete your cookie, so remember your password!
  • To log in, click on the blank profile icon on the right side of the main header bar, or go here.
  • To change your password, go here.
  • To recover a lost password, go here. This requires that you have an email address associated with your account, and that you have access to that email account.
  • If you created an account prior to the email verification requirement, you may associate an email address with it here.
  • If you forget your password, and you do not have an associated email address, we may not be able to recover your account. You may make a new handle and post here, note  but there is no guarantee that we can help. If possible, post from the same connection that you used with your old account.
  • For security purposes, we do not permit disposable email addresses, proxies, or VPNs to be used for account registration.
  • To delete your account, use the 'Delete Account' link on your profile page. This permanently removes your password, email address, linked Facebook account, and other personal information in your profile. It does not delete your username, edits, posts, private messages, or any other User Content. It does not delete your logged IP addresses or any suspensions/bans that may have been issued.

    Editing Articles 
See a typo? Want to add an example? Click on the Edit Page button. If the article isn't locked or checked out, the editor screen will appear. The large text box shows the article's current markup. Make your changes there. When you're done, double-check your work for spelling and grammar, markup errors, and organization. The Preview button shows you what the page should look like, without saving those changes. Click Save to commit your changes..
  • You must be logged in to edit articles.
  • After making an edit, it's highly recommended to leave an edit reason in the box provided, as it's helpful for other people looking at the page history. Please see Edit Reasons and Why You Should Use Them for more information. Always leave an edit reason for deletions. Do not be rude in the edit reason or you may be banned.
  • There is a standard way to format examples. Titles of films, shows, and albums are italicized. Use two separate apostrophes around the title: ''ThePriceIsRight'' for The Price Is Right. Titles of short works such as episodes and songs are in quotes: "Brittle Bullet." See How to Write an Example for details. Really, take a look at it.
  • Links to other pages are easy. If it is two or more words, use a WikiWord. If it is one word, use double curly brackets: {{Jeopardy}}. If the page is in a namespace other than Main, put that first, followed by a forward slash. Examples: Literature/LordOfTheRings, VideoGame/HalfLife, Film/{{Airplane}}
  • The top of the edit page has a button for handy markup reminders. The full markup is explained in Text-Formatting Rules.
  • Don't use Hot Linked images. Use the Media Uploader to upload images to the wiki.
  • Clicking the Edit button "checks out" the page to you (specifically, your handle and IP address) for 20 minutes. There is a timer on the edit screen to show how long you have left. If you haven't saved an edit by then, someone else could make another one and then your work or theirs may be lost to the Data Vampires. We highly recommend making major edits in chunks so you don't lose your lock. You can only have one page checked out at a time; clicking Edit Page on a new article releases any locks you have open on others. note 
  • If you come back later to find that an edit you made is changed or gone, it may be that another troper disagreed. Check the Edit History for the page to see if a reason was left. Do not simply add your example back; doing so is called Edit Warring and is very impolite. If you can't work it out in the article's Discussion page, you can send a PM, inquire in Ask The Tropers, or post in the forums.
  • If you see text in the edit box that starts with %%, those are comments — they don't show up when the article is viewed. Comments are usually instructions for how to handle certain things on the article. Failure to read and abide by comments is a Bad Thing. Also, never delete comments.
  • We require reasonably proficient English skills to contribute to the main wiki. Poor grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc., may be grounds for loss of editing privileges. If you would like to request proofreading advice from other tropers, this forum thread may be valuable.
  • If you want help with writing good examples, this forum thread may be of use.
  • Your contributions are irrevocably licensed to TVTropes. See the "Your Rights (Legal Stuff)" section to learn more about our contribution policy.

    Adding New Media Articles 
Media articles are for series, books, games, actors, creators — anything that isn't a new index or trope. All new entries are welcome, as There Is no Such Thing as Notability. However, don't just paste in the Wikipedia entry. We encourage looking up verifiable sources to find more information to add to the page, but write something original.
  • The complete reference is found at How to Create a Work Page.
  • Before beginning, search for an existing article to make sure you aren't duplicating someone else's effort.
  • Before beginning, visit What Goes Where on the Wiki to make sure that what you're adding is going where it belongs. Also see the Media Categories FAQ.
  • All new work, creator, actor, useful notes, etc. articles must go in a namespace, rather than in "Main". The software does try to stop people from making pages in Main/.
  • Create a WikiWord link to the new article. You can do this in the Wiki Sandbox or on the relevant index. See Text-Formatting Rules for how to create links.
  • Click the new link you made and edit the page. The Program Entry Template is a good place to look for formatting tips.
  • Add the title to the relevant index(es); the full list is at Namespace. See How Indexing Works for more details.
  • Set the Page Type via the Tools menu on the left side. Use "a work" for media pages, and "a creator" for authors, singers, producers, networks, etc. This is required for the subpage tabs to work.
  • Check your work. Proofread it for grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Is it formatted like other similar pages on the wiki? Is it indexed? Does it contain accidental redlinks? The Preview function can be useful for this so you don't look like a Serial Tweaker.
  • A common error is to create a new article but not add examples, counting on Wiki Magic to fill them in later. But if you don't add examples and cross-reference them, how will anyone find your new article? We call these stubs and they frequently get deleted.

    Talking About Real People and Things 
If we have articles about authors, actors, networks, and game companies, the next logical step is political figures, current events, and so forth, right? Not so fast. Technically, Tropes only occur in media. Real Life can inspire tropes; it can inform them; it can have things that are highly analogous to tropes, but there is no narrative or design to which tropes can, by definition, apply.

Our articles on real people should not be used to talk about them as if they are characters in a story. Nor should they be biographical; that's Wikipedia's job. We are interested in them from four perspectives:

  • Useful Notes: Real people who frequently appear in media can get a Useful Notes-style article where common facts about them can be collected for reference.
  • Creators: People who write or produce media may have a list of tropes frequently found in their works and may have a list of wiki articles for their works.
  • Actors: People who act in media may have a list of tropes common to their roles and may have a list of wiki articles for the works they appear in.
  • Public Domain Characters: The use of a fictional person (Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster) as a stock character.

For example, calling someone a Reasonable Authority Figure with respect to his job as President would be outside the scope of the wiki. If he frequently appears in published fiction as a Reasonable Authority Figure, that would be something we could mention.

Similarly, current events, countries, and so forth are only subjects for this wiki when they have a significant impact in media. They could then get a Useful Notes article, which should never be a copy-paste from Wikipedia. Keep it original and to the point. If you are not sure if we need an article ask here. If you can't find something to say about them that's relevant to this wiki's mission, then follow the Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement and don't bother.

Above all else, avoid the following in any article dealing with a Real Life subject (these are just the worst offenders, not the entire list):

  • Political soapboxing — Presenting any side of a political debate is asking for a Flame War. Keep it to the facts as they are relevant to media.
  • Misplaced Nationalism — This is not the place for nationalistic squabbling.
  • Subjective Tropes — These are double-plus, super especially never to be applied to real things. It's bad enough when people argue over them with respect to media.
  • Personal Appearance Tropes — We are not here to discuss how hot people are. Nor do we care whom they resemble. Only in media does this become relevant.
  • Righting Great Wrongs — We're not here for you to crusade on behalf of any causes. Keep it to the facts.
  • Internet Counterattack — OMG, Tumblr just blew up over something someone said that might have been politically incorrect! Let's go mention it on every wiki article! Please, don't.
  • Gossip — We don't care about anyone's current or past legal troubles, their personal habits, their sex lives, their political affiliation, etc.

    Adding New Tropes 
All new tropes must go through Trope Launch Pad before being added to the wiki. To support this, the wiki will reject any attempt to create a new article in the Main namespace that is not launched through TLP. Do not attempt to circumvent this by creating your trope in a different namespace as the page will be cut and you may lose editing privileges.

  • Before you even consider adding a trope, go to Trope Finder and inquire if it already exists or is similar to an existing trope.
  • Before adding your first suggestion, take a look at TLP Guidelines. Follow those guidelines and the experience will go a lot smoother for everyone.
  • The check marks indicate new posts. A double check mark indicates a new Trope Launch Pad draft.
  • The pencil button on the upper left corner lets you edit your post. If you edit someone else's post, your name will overwrite theirs, so add the original poster's name into the post if you do this.
  • If bizarre things start happening, don't worry. When you reload the page they usually work themselves out. Be patient and keep trying.
  • If a post has more than one reply, but the replies don't show up, click the "show replies" button until they show up.
  • If you put a link to a picture in your post, it might be rendered. Use small images or text links to the picture.

    Setting Custom Titles 
If the title of a page is more complicated than a simple WikiWord - that is, it contains punctuation, capitalization that is not CamelCase, odd spacing, etc., then you can't just type it in as a URL. How to Make a Custom Title has the full instructions; a summary is below.
  • Create the page as a plain WikiWord, as closely to the actual title as possible. As an example, to make Airplane!, just use Film/{{Airplane}}.
  • Once the page is made, use the Wiki Word button in the grey bar above the page title to submit your proposed actual title. Please note that you must enter the article's name exactly as it appears in the wiki, or your request may fail.
  • A moderator will review and approve/deny the request.
  • Once approved, all wicks (other than Pot Holes) with the same WikiWord link, ignoring Namespaces, will display the submitted title.

    Creating Redirects 
Please see Creating New Redirects for complete instructions, and keep in mind that we will cut redirects that are forbidden there. Other than that, Redirects Are Free.
  • The redirect markup is [[redirect:Namespace/Article]]. Don't use spaces anywhere in the code.
  • If a redirect is added unintentionally, you can manually enter the edit URL for the article to fix it. You'll have to correct the page type as well.
  • Do not create redirects for common initialisms (example: ME3 for Mass Effect 3).
  • It is no longer possible to create redirects in the Main namespace without moderator permission. Ask in this forum topic for help if you wish to do this. Don't ask for cross-namespace redirects, please.

    Deleting Things 
We love it when people add stuff. Deleting stuff, however, isn't always so great. We encourage tropers to fix things that are incorrect, but removing things entirely requires certain protocols. Here are the dos and don'ts.

Examples

  • You should delete an example that is: (a) factually inaccurate; (b) using a trope incorrectly; (c) a duplicate; (d) in violation of any other rule. Try to fix it first, if possible.
  • You should not delete an example that is in the wrong place, e.g. Trivia or YMMV in a main article. Instead, move it to the correct place.
  • You may never delete an example solely because you disagree with it or dislike it, especially in YMMV subpages.
  • You must always leave an edit reason when you delete an example.
  • Repeatedly deleting an example that someone wants to add (or vice versa) is called an Edit War and is grounds for an editing suspension. If you can't work it out with the troper in question, report the issue in Ask The Tropers or via the "Report Page" control in the sidebar.

Articles

  • The Cut List is where requests to remove an article are processed. Make sure to provide a reason. If the article has lots of wicks or inbound links, we will probably decline the cut.
  • You may never blank an article (remove all the text) as a means of deleting it. This is considered vandalism.
  • You may never attempt to delete an article solely on the grounds that you don't like it (or don't like its author, in the case of work articles).
  • You should not request a cut without first seeking consensus from the troper body, unless the article clearly violates an existing rule.
  • You should not cutlist an article because it's in the wrong Namespace. Move it instead, or if you don't know how, request assistance.
  • Before cutlisting a trope, take it to the Trope Repair Shop to see if it can be fixed and to establish consensus.

Media Articles

Creator Articles

  • Articles about real people, companies, etc. that are created solely to gush or to complain about them may be removed on those grounds if they have no other worthwhile content.

Subpages

  • You should cutlist a subpage if all remaining examples on that page are invalid. Please don't just blank it.
  • You should cutlist a subpage if it's not appropriate for the main article type — for example, YMMV subpages for tropes. If you do this, post in this forum thread so that the subpage will also be locked.

Lewd Content

  • Articles about pornographic, pedophilic, or fetishistic works (or tropes) that have little value beyond their prurient content are subject to review under The Content Policy. Only after consensus is reached through that process will the article be removed (or rendered example-less, in the case of certain tropes).
  • You may never blank or cutlist an article solely because you believe it to be inappropriate. Send it to The Content Policy report forum instead.
  • To report an article for review, use the "Report Page" feature on the Page Info sidebar menu. Make sure to check off the "The page may violate the Content Policy" checkbox.

    Sidebar 

Bulletins

Bulletins record important site-wide announcements. You can usually obtain more information by clicking on the button and thus getting on this page.

Resources

  • "Cut List" is the tool by which you can request a moderator to delete a page. Posting a page here does not automatically delete it and you can make a case for keeping a page there.
  • "New Edits": Same as on the toolbar.
  • "Edit Reasons" is useful for examining recent edits where reasons were left by the troper in question. It's especially good for finding controversial edits that may need to be examined.
  • "Launches" shows articles recently launched from Trope Launch Pad.
  • "Images List" is where we have a list of images on the site.
  • "Crowner Activity" shows action on "crowners", which are TVTropes' version of polls.
  • "Untyped Pages" gives you a list of articles that don't have a page type set. See What Page Types Mean.
  • "Recent Page Type Changes" is for auditing page type changes (an advanced feature).

Crucial browsing

Page Info

  • "Page created": The date at which the page was created. It doesn't account for renames and doesn't go farther back than Jun. 14th, 2007.
  • "Last modified": Last edit time.
  • "Page Type": All pages have a type, set via this button. See What Page Types Mean for more info.
  • "Report page": Send a request for moderator assistance with the page. This can be anything from flagging it as containing "adult" material to bug reports; but please use Ask The Tropers to report vandalism and other troper misbehaviours. Check the "The page may violate the Content Policy" checkbox to alert the forum that a work might violate The Content Policy.

Community Showcase

    The Community 
  • Our Forums are a good place to shoot the breeze. If you're told to Take It to the Forums, try it out. There are some interesting topics there. Here's the link. Don't forget to read What Goes Where On The Forums so that stuff doesn't end up in the wrong place.
  • Made of Win is where users point out pages, edits, lines, or pictures on the wiki that they find to be totally awesome.
  • Query Bugs is the noticeboard for dealing with problems with the site or markup. If you have solutions for technical problems, suggest them there. For reporting security sensitive issues, use the "Private" checkbox.
  • Query Wishlist is a place to suggest upgrades.
  • Ask The Tropers is where you ask everyone about the site, as well as reporting problems. Again, this is not where you propose new tropes; that's Trope Launch Pad.
  • Trope Finder is where you go to find that trope whose name you can't remember, or ask about what trope an example might fit into.
  • You Know That Show is where you go to find that work whose title you can't remember.
  • The Wiki Sandbox is your place to test the markup and practice formatting. Feel free to obliterate, modify, add, or scramble the code on the page. Just don't expect your contribution to the page to endure. You can also make new test articles in the Sandbox namespace, but these get wiped periodically.
  • If you want, add your details to Where Are You From? and What Are the Contributors Real Names?. This is purely optional, so if you're uncomfortable giving out personal information about yourself, don't sweat it.
  • Tropes of Legend will give you an idea of the tropes that keep popping up all over the site.

    Contributor Pages 

  1. To make your own contributor page, you create a new article like any other, but you do it in the Tropers namespace. There are three ways to do this:
    1. Go to the Wiki Sandbox and make a WikiWord from your troper handle using the Tropers namespace, as follows: Tropers/MyHandle or Tropers/{{Handle}} if your handle doesn't have CamelCase letters.
    2. Look at your recent edits on your Watchlist - your handle is automatically a link to your troper page.
    3. Make a forum post. Your handle on the post is also automatically a link.
  2. Edit your troper page and save; have fun!
  3. To index it on The Contributors, set the page type (under the "tools" menu) to "a contributor" and it'll happen automatically.

Important notes:

  • You can only make a Tropers/ page if your handle is a valid WikiWord. If not, your only option is to create a new, valid handle.
  • Only the owner of a troper page may edit it. This rule was implemented due to vandalism targeting specific users. There is an informal practice of creating a page in the Troper Wall namespace if one wishes to have other users edit it. Please note that we are not a "social media" site.
  • Please do not use your contributor page to draft original content or store trope examples for your OC. If you are creating a work, you may create an article for it in the Darth Wiki namespace and index it under Unpublished Works. Do not create subpages for your contributor page, as they will be cut. Do not host original content on our wiki.
  • Please adhere to the No Lewdness, No Prudishness and The Troping Code when writing your contributor page. Don't describe your fetishes or your violent fantasies, don't attack other people, don't ask for emotional support or mental health counseling. We also generally advise you to consider your privacy when sharing personal information.

If you violate these guidelines, we may ask you to remove improper content. If you refuse, we may edit your contributor page and/or suspend your wiki privileges.

    Rules and Policies 

  • There are very few concrete rules here. We like to use democratic ways of solving problems. The Troping Code sums the rules up.
  • Causing major problems will get you suspended from editing and/or other parts of the wiki.
  • Adding commercial links, spamming, or linking to/advocating warez, piracy, hacking/cracking, or any other illegal content will get you banned instantly.
  • Plagiarism (copying text from other people without giving them credit) is not okay. Copying images is allowed with certain restrictions. See About Images and Copyright for details.
  • Keep it "family friendly" as much as possible. TVTropes maintains a policy of No Lewdness, No Prudishness with regards to page content. In addition, the wiki is not interested in articles on pornographic or pedophile-pandering works. For more information, see The Content Policy.
  • Don't forget to review What Goes Where on the Wiki, or the content you add may get deleted or moved.
  • Obey the Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement. It is our Holy Grail of rules.
  • Check out Handling Spoilers for how to use spoilers.
  • Our forum rules about importing drama apply to the wiki as well. This means that you may not use our site to carry out an argument that is going on somewhere else. If the Internet is in an uproar about something, we don't need to tell everyone about it. We most certainly don't want to appear to take someone's side of an argument, because someone else will come and put in their point of view and before you know it we're a party to the whole thing and people are getting banned. Just follow the Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement and let other sites worry about it.
  • Software that modifies the text of web pages, such as mature language filters ("nannybots"), will screw up any article you edit. This includes certain popular browser plugins that change common words into other words. Turn off any nannybots or filtering plugins before editing or you will lose your editing privileges. If you can't turn it off, save us the trouble and don't try to edit.
  • The readership of this wiki is international. Americans, two-thirds of the people reading what you write live in another country. If you live in a Commonwealth country, two-thirds of your audience will need at least some setup for a joke about, say, the PM of Australia. Despite the fact that an abnormally large percentage of tropers are multi-lingual, we stick to English on all pages but those specifically designated for another language. This is because English is a language that most tropers know.
  • Speaking of English, we expect good grammar, punctuation, and spelling. If everything you write requires other tropers to follow behind you and fix it, it's not worth our time. A good place to go for help is this forum thread; just post your proposed edit and someone will work with you to proofread it.
  • If you get a message when you try to edit a page that "Editing has been turned off for this handle or IP address", it doesn't mean the end of the world. Go here and add a post. A wiki moderator will get back to you with information about what happened and what you can do to correct it. It might even be a mistake on our part. Don't panic. See What to Do If You Are Suspended for more information.
  • If you want to submit a Trope Depiction for our front page, go for it! The guidelines for that are here.
  • Researchers and academics: We automatically block attempts to "scrape", or download our site's content wholesale. We have a long-term goal to be able to package our data in a researcher-friendly way, but at this time we are unable to provide it. Contact thestaff (at) tvtropes.org for details and updates.

Mental Health Advisory

We assume that our readers and contributors are responsible for their own mental health and emotional well-being. TV Tropes expressly disclaims all liability for the health of its readers and contributors.
  • Do not expect that content that may disturb you will be marked with a warning.
  • Do not add "trigger warnings" to content.
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  • If you are experiencing a health crisis, seek professional care. Do not use TV Tropes to get advice or counseling.
  • If someone appears to be experiencing a health crisis, notify a moderator immediately. If appropriate, you may direct them to suitable emergency services, but do not otherwise engage them.
  • If you are unable to be responsible for your own well-being, you may be suspended or banned from TV Tropes until such time as we deem you capable of responsible participation. This is both for your protection and for ours.
  • If you post content intended to cause emotional or mental distress to any person, you may be suspended or banned at our discretion.

    Advertisements 
This wiki is ad-supported. You can subscribe to turn off most advertisements. To report an ad that violates our rules, post in this forum thread and we'll see what we can do about it. We don't have any direct control over the ads; they are served by our providers based on page content, your cookies, and the demographics gleaned from your browser and IP address. FYI, animated ads are essential to our revenue stream. We need to keep them.

What sort of ads should be reported?

  • Ads that contain autoplaying audio. By autoplaying, we mean that they play sound without you clicking on them.
  • Ads that contain malware or malfunction in such a way as to crash or hang your browser.
  • Ads that create pop-ups, pop-unders, "float" text or images across your screen, redirect you to other sites, or otherwise mess with your browsing, especially if they cannot be dismissed.
  • Ads that are grossly offensive — pornography, gambling, drugs, or other illegal content.

Before reporting misbehaving ads, make sure to check for malware on your own computer; often that is the source, not our own content.

What sort of ads could be reported but probably won't get taken down?

  • Ads that are racy (without being pornographic) or make dubious claims. We all hate Evony but that doesn't mean we can get their ads removed.
  • Ads that offend your political, religious, or social sensibilities.

Ad-blocking

We ask that you not use ad blocking software, or add an exception for tvtropes.org. As noted earlier, the site is supported almost entirely by ad revenue and disabling them costs us money that we can use to deliver you a quality troping experience. If you would like to support us directly, consider subscribing. This will give you an ad-free experience, with some exceptions.

Subscription policies

  • Our subscription service is handled through a third-party provider, Stripe.
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Spam

Unsolicited commercial advertising of third-party sites or products is strictly forbidden and will be grounds for an immediate and permanent ban.

    Wiki Content Guidelines 
Occasionally questions arise as to what, exactly, TV Tropes allows in terms of content. We're primarily about documenting the use of tropes in media. This goal causes us to classify articles into the following major groups:

  • Tropes: The meat and bread of the wiki. A trope is a convention or device used in storytelling. It is not "any thing that happens."
  • YMMV and Audience Reactions: YMMV tropes are found in works, but the degree to which they are present is often highly subjective and/or prone to argument. Audience Reactions are broadly categorized under tropes, but really they're opinions about a work rather than stuff that's factually present in a work. Both go on the work's YMMV subpage to keep the main page clear for objective stuff. Then there are the even more subjective concepts found in Sugar Wiki and Darth Wiki that are restricted to their own subpages.
  • Trivia: These articles describe patterns and phenomena that occur outside the works themselves or in the relationships between works and between works and their creators. Adaptation tropes, casting tropes, and the like belong here, and examples go in Trivia subpages.
  • Works: The stuff that produces tropes. There Is no Such Thing as Notability, but keep in mind that if it doesn't have a story — that is, a narrative or plot of some kind — it's not really tropable in the sense we use. Works have various subpages that help to organize all the material related to them, such as Quotes, Trivia, YMMV, Headscratchers, Fridge, WMG, Moment of Awesome, Character Sheets, Reviews, etc.
  • Creators: Writers, actors, producers, networks, etc. Be careful that you add only tropes that are present in their work. We are not in the business of praising, analyzing, complaining about, or fetishizing real people.
  • Useful Notes: Where Real Life intersects with fiction, it is often handy to have a way to separate the Hollywood version of reality from the genuine thing. Useful Notes serves this purpose. It is not a soapbox, nor it is is an excuse to become Wikipedia and document everything that happens.
  • Just for Fun: Because we're casual and brimming with creativity, there's a lot of troper-added content that's, well just for fun. Self Demonstrating Articles, "So You Want To" guides, and many other things can be found here. This isn't license to go crazy, though. Be appropriate and respect that we want this material separated so it doesn't get confused with on-mission articles.
  • Miscellaneous: Administrivia, indexes, contributor pages, and the other stuff that keeps the wiki running.

What we don't want

  • Articles created specifically for Gushing or Complaining about works, people, or anything really. That said, you can indulge yourself a bit in Sugar Wiki and Darth Wiki, or write a review.
  • Articles created solely to talk about Real Life things or people. We only care about these as far as they relate to Media. If you want a reference source, go to Wikipedia. That said, if something is such a big deal that it shows up in fiction a lot, it may deserve a Useful Notes article. You may also want to Take It to the Forums.
  • Articles or examples about the latest meme, news event, or Internet controversy. While this is covered in the preceding rule, it's worth giving extra attention to because it comes up a lot. There are lots of sites you can go to for this stuff, but TVTropes is not one of them.
  • Anecdotes from your life or other people's lives (formerly known as Troper Tales).
  • Explicit and/or creepy sex stuff (except the minimum needed to accurately describe a work), political soapboxing, hate speech, illegal content (including warez and hacks), unsolicited advertising, and general asshattery of any kind.

    Your Rights (Legal Stuff) 

Your Content

TV Tropes does not claim ownership to your copyrighted content or information you submit to us (“user content”). Instead, by submitting user content to TV Tropes, you grant us a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, unrestricted, worldwide license to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, prepare derivative works, distribute copies, perform, or publicly display your user content in any medium and for any purpose, including commercial purposes, and to authorize others to do so.

You agree that you have the right to submit anything you post, and that your user content does not violate the copyright, trademark, trade secret or any other personal or proprietary right of any other party.

We are not required to attribute your user content to you. Anything you contribute may be deleted, modified, or used commercially by us without notification or consent, to the extent permitted by applicable laws. For that reason, we strongly recommend that you do not post material on our site for the first time, whether in text or image form, that you wish to receive publication credit for in the future.

Our Content

TV Tropes contains graphics, text, photographs, images, video, audio, software, code, website compilation, website "look and feel," and advertisements supplied by us or our licensors, which we call "TV Tropes Content." TV Tropes Content is protected by intellectual property laws including copyright and other proprietary rights of the United States and foreign countries.

We grant you the right to access the TV Tropes content in the manner described in this agreement.

Except for Fair Use, you can't copy any of the site's content unless you obey this Creative Commons license or get special permission. For more details about the Creative Commons license, which controls what you may do with the content that's already on the site, see the link earlier in this section or at the bottom of every wiki article.


Alternative Title(s): Intro To TV Tropes

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