Fixing SarcasmMode sinkholes

All right, we all know this is a problem, and I can't do this alone. I've started just going into the /related and deleting things like crazy, but there's over 5000 wicks.

Let's get to work.

Dude, we Never Decided to remove These sinkholes.

Sinkholes are not good. If it was a good link with a valid reason to be used, it wouldn't be a sinkhole.

The vast majority of these links are just people potholing to the page when they're being sarcastic. That's just tacky.

Courtesy link: Sarcasm Mode

Running tally of cleared sections; Wicks remaining in these sections can be presumed to be valid uses (mostly, the valid wicks are showing up in quotes, by the way)

• A as far as Funny.Adventure Time
• Z

5345 remaining

edited 5th Nov '12 6:34:17 AM by Madrugada

Didn't I post this issue a year ago?

Maybe. But the important thing is someone has started working on it now.

It's been a few months. Any updates?

Aaand the effort has died again. Personally, I think we should just add Sarcasm Mode to the Permanent Red Link Club since I'm pretty sure ALL the links to the page are used for just plain sarcasm and the main page has an Example Sectionectomy which mean the true meaning of the trope is confined to the page's description and is totally irrelevant to anything on this wiki.
I just realized that if we simply remove all sinkholes, it will create another problem since, with TV Tropes being a text-based medium, it might be hard or impossible to understand that a troper was being sarcastic in certain examples. Also, there's this line on the Sarcasm Mode page that might justify some sinkholes:
Our advice is that before you do this, you ask yourself if the sarcasm is visible without the pothole. If it is, ask yourself if there's any reason for you to pothole here.

What I get from this is that it's okay to sinkhole to the page if and only if it's impossible to tell you're being sarcastic from text alone. However, the problem still remains of having to teach that to every single troper so they don't use if for every single instance of sarcasm and only use it when necessary.

edited 28th Jul '13 9:46:12 PM by Someoneman

There's also the issue of sarcasm blindness. What may be obviously sarcastic to one troper may be taken seriously by someone else.

Is it possible we could turn it into a page explicitly intended to be potholed to like Incredibly Lame Pun?

I remember that that was actually the purpose of the page.

There are some times when it's preferable to pothole this trope because the subject turns up flame wars.

It can also be useful for quotes from voiced materials, for situations where the sarcasm was clear by tone but not phrasing.

edited 31st Jul '13 10:10:59 AM by Nocturna

Bump.

A general rule should be: If it's not a direct quote from a work, and it's impossible to tell it's sarcasm without the pothole, it's a sinkhole and should be removed.

If it's impossible to tell that the statement is sarcasm without the pothole, it would be a really bad idea to just delete the link unless you also re-write the statement so it's not sarcastic. Unless you meant "possible to tell"?

I think he meant to imply rewriting it so it's not sarcastic.

I indeed did.

Then you're aiming too small. You're going to have to change the way people add entries altogether, especially when 1/3rd (by my estimation) of those entries are being used on forums, audience reaction or Just for Fun pages, rather than Tropes.

Thing is, you've, we've, created an atmosphere that kind of requires it and we didn't do it overnight. It's usually easier to destroy than create but you've got to take it up by the root sometimes, less it just grows back.

Currently under discussion in TRS, closing this as stale.