Fixing zero context examples

Just zapped about a dozen on a newly launched trope, Elemental Rivalry and moved them to discussion. Anybody got any ideas?

Arc Words needs a lot of examples either removed or commented out.

That page, unless I miss my mark, is an abomination of natter, poor formatting and general confusion with examples from Catchphrase, Phrase Catcher, Wham Line, Tag Line and Title Drop, to name a few. I'll see if I can't fix a few of them...

Associated Composer is a horrible mess. The bar for associations being examples is probably set too low, but it doesn't help that most of the example section merely lists a bunch of names.

Working on Raven Hair, Ivory Skin. Any help elaborating on a few of the examples would be appreciated.

Adorkable was in TRS, but we haven't reached a consensus for a major change. So the definition is still somewhat loose and technically audience reactions might still be added if they are well-written.

However, we agreed on a minor clean-up and ZCE were commented out, and it's now No Real Life Examples Please.

Please consider checking the sub-pages and providing context for the commented-out entries.

Also, there is the issue of half-context. For example, one of those doing the clean-up (either Ms CC 93, Septimus or yours truly) removed this.

• Glasses? Bowtie? Complete nerd? Let's see... Tobey McCalister, anyone?

Incorrect potholing and Word Cruft aside, it's only half-context. It describes that he's a geek, but not that he's attractive because of it. Or you think it can be inferred?

I usually cover those half-context examples, or examples that have no context but other associated tropes in them.

Opinions?

If we're treating it as a trope then no. Something tells me this has the same problem almost every other attractive character trope has which is collecting a lot of personal examples instead of cases where the work actually portrays as the characters attractive. IMO, those half-context examples are probably shoehorned examples.

Anyway finished Raven Hair, Ivory Skin. Unfortunately, it's still a magnet for Zero Context Example wicks.

I'm working on Long Haired Prettyboy but I really need help elaborating on some of these examples.

Troubled, but Cute seems to be a mess with very few examples with actual context. I started the commenting out, but it might take a while. Any help would be appreciated.

I'm finishing a YKTTW, Merger of Souls, and I've got ZC Es for Neon Genesis Evangelion, Dragon Ball Z, and the Isaac Asimov short story "The Last Question".

Ending Aversion, an Audience Reaction, has many contextless examples. Most seem to be lumped at the bottom of the page.

While it has other issues, Alt Text is mostly ZCE, with even the ones having description not being very... well, descriptive of how the trope applies. As I don't follow 99% (guesstimate) of the comics on that page, I have no idea of where to start, other than my natural inclination towards flamethrower.

I'm not really sure how much context you can put in beyond "This comic has mouseover text that adds an extra joke."

Wham Line needs help. Most of it's example pages are filled with a pieces of dialogue with no context explaining why they're so earth shattering.

Commented out the worst offenders in Alt Text.

The ones that's left says something about how often they are used("on occasion", "almost all", "every comic"), when they started to be used("comic #84", "Chapter 3"), what they are used for("secondary punchline", "additional commentary and dialogue", "funny remarks", "little jokes", "references and comments"). So I guess stuff like that could be added.

Wham Line in particular invites misuse from zero context examples, since it's not just the line itself but the dramatic context wherein it is delivered that makes it so devastating.

I know I ask for help from the The Order of the Stick and while I got some, it wasn't enough to clarify any of the examples. It's a difficult trope to clean because it requires a good deal of familiarity about the work. Honestly, it probably needs to be its own thread (trs?).

If it's just an issue with lack of context then you can just comment the examples out by putting % in front of them.

That's what I would have done but it would have resulted in some blank pages.

I really with the examples weren't in organized in subpages. It clearly wasn't ready for that.

I commented out most examples at Never Send An X To Do A Ys Job because they lacked any explanation of why a Y was more suited. Fixing them will take more work knowledge than I have.

Mind Screw Film has a lot of ZCEs.

edited 23rd Jul '13 9:43:12 AM by Someoneman

I have a question about Long-Haired Pretty Boy, should those really be considered zero context examples. It's not exactly a trope where you can give context since it just discusses a physical attribute basically.

Then the trope needs to be taken to TRS. Or more precisely the general appearance cleanup thread. If it's impossible to give a trope context, that means there's something wrong with either the example or the trope.

Yes, the trope is more than "male character with long hair". It's about a male character with long hair being portrayed as attractive and/or feminine.

Talk about the character's hair and what how the work portrays them as handsome or feminine.

edited 23rd Jul '13 8:11:50 PM by captainpat

Cringe Comedy has plenty of Zero Context Examples. I'm not exaggerating when I say all but three of the "Film" examples are ZC Es