I don't get Example Indentation

I just got a PM describing an issue with Example Indentation, but every time I try to look at the Administrivia page, I can never seem to understand it. Is there someone who can explain it better?

The most common issue are solitary subbullets, like:

• A
  • B

These are never acceptable.

The simple version:

A trope (on a work page) or a work (on a trope page) with a single example should read like this:

• Example

Double bullets are used with multiple examples, and should read like this:

• Header
  • Example 1
  • Example 2
  • Etc.

Three bullet scenarios should only be used when talking about sub-works in a franchise (which almost always will only show up on trope pages), like so:

• Franchise Header
  • Work 1
    • Example 1
    • Example 2
  • Work 2 with just one example
  • Etc.

The double backslash paragraph markup is used for longer examples, but there are very few of those (and almost always the example is written too long), so you probably won't use it.

I hope this helps.

edited 26th Jun '14 8:15:48 AM by TotemicHero

Basically, there should never be a subbullet to an example bullet. Only to franchise and work bullets.

Do not add a comment as a subbullet. Probably the best option is to rewrite the example to include it.

Sometimes you may see something like, "[Work] uses this trope a lot, in particular:" and then have a few subbullets under that. That's fine, since the generic example isn't an example as such (would be a Zero Context Example), but it does give you the idea that the following examples are just a few of many, rather than all of them.

So if you add an example to a work that already has a single example, add a work header above (normally bullet level 1), move the existing example down a bullet level (normally to bullet level 2, and some rewording may be necessary), and put yours below it on the same bullet level as the first example.

If you spot something like (in this case Power Glows):

• In [Work] the weapon Alice uses glows.
  • Bob's sword also glows.

Then you can edit it to:

• [Work]:
  • The weapon Alice uses glows.
  • Bob's sword also glows.

Granted, there's a bit of a lack of detail in those, but I think the point should be clear.

edited 26th Jun '14 9:39:56 AM by AnotherDuck

What about examples where the header just end up being examples? Like some Title Tropes.

• Show title that's an example of the title trope.
  • Title of episode 4 which is an example of the same trope.

edited 26th Jun '14 11:53:27 AM by m8e

I prefer to keep them to one bullet point there.

• While [show] is an obvious example because [why], [episode] was also an example because [why].

OR

• [Show]
  • the show title is an example because [why].
  • [episode] is also an example because [why].

In other words, each bullet should be an example by itself. The most common deviation from this guideline is when a sub-bullet is a comment about the example given by its parent bullet, which is poor style for a bunch of reasons, Thread Mode among them. Also, as described in post #2, there should never be a bottom-level sub-bullet by itself; it should be folded into its parent instead. Sub-bullets are for splitting up and organizing, and in that case there was nothing to "split up", there should only be one bullet, perhaps with a longer description after it because that was good information, just added wrong.

Single bullet (*) is an example. Double bullet (**) is when the single example has more than one "sub-example", like one movie with two instances of that trope, or a series with examples in different episodes, and a single entry/bullet for the entire work is not better for some reason (but that usually is better, it's easier to read for one thing... see the post above this one for an example). It is very rare for a triple bullet (***) to be appropriate, pretty much only for a franchise, like...

• Star Trek contains many examples.
  • The Original Series did it the most.
    • Here is one example.
    • Here's another.
    • And another.
    • And so on.
  • The Next Generation does it too.
    • One example is in S1E8.
    • Another is in S3E4.
  • Star Trek Voyager holla.
  • Deep Space Nine also.
  • Star Trek The Motion Picture does it several times.
    • Early in the film, this.
    • Later, that.
    • At the end, the other.
  • (more installments in the franchise...)

edited 9th Jul '14 3:24:53 PM by rodneyAnonymous

I feel like there was a drift towards the current rule that I missed out on. Possibly something to do with my long forum ban, I don't know. Taking some getting used to, I caught a suspension a few months ago and got a warning about last week as well.

Not complaining, that's just my experience, I'll try to adhere to the rules as closely as I can.

Just ask if you're unsure, whether in its own topic or one of the more specific threads about it, if applicable.

^^ As far as I know, no, that's what TVT bullet points have been supposed to be for since time immemorial. People using bullets in other ways, like for natter, has been around nearly as long, though. I only saw it getting enforced more strictly in the last year or so. If it seems like a rules change, you were mistaken about what the rules are, there was no change.

Very many editors pick up their bad writing style from reading other people's bad style, not from reading style guides, which is another facet of it being really important to fix this stuff. For any site but for a wiki especially it is good to have consistent uses for punctuation etc. When people see This Troper, Sink Holes, tics like potholing I Got Better or Incredibly Lame Pun, markup used wrong, incorrect format or style, JAFAAC images, ZCEs, wrong Example Indentation, and so on, they not only think it's okay, but that it's correct, or even desirable. It's not.

edited 10th Jul '14 2:11:22 PM by rodneyAnonymous