Big Things Happening on TV Tropes

Wow, I did not see this coming.

First off, after being here for years, I should probably thank Fast Eddie for the enormous amounts of work he's put into the site. It's an insane amount of work for one person.

Anyway, I'm interested in seeing where things go. Hiring some dedicated programmers is (in my non-programmer opinion) a great idea, as it'll spread the effort around more than dumping it all on one person.

edited 30th Nov '14 2:15:07 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Oh hell, I'm willing to drop a tenner. This site deserves an overhaul, particularly after someone crazy ported the whole wiki content to a Mediawiki site.

Goodbye, Fast Eddie, and all the very best, drew and other new guy!

The phone thing is true on Android too, and I tried it on a completely new phone and it still occasionally popped up ads and then started going to another website or the Play Store. I don't mind ads, but this is a real issue.

*cheers* yay mobile layout! As a troper who does all her troping on an iPad, I couldn't be happier. Farewell, Fast Eddie, and hello drewski. Any Troper Critical Mass efforts you guys need help with?

Ugh, yes arcanephoenix is right. The Play store thing is majnly why I don't do this on my cell phone.

edited 30th Nov '14 2:14:12 PM by dexterian120

I highly appreciate the effort to improve this site, but I hope the "classic" desktop layout will still be available as an option even when the new one is set up. The plans for the new layout look great, but the current visual simplicity of TV Tropes is what makes me love it the most.

Yeah, that other site claims to be a pastiche, but it's obvious it's just trying to compete.

edited 30th Nov '14 2:16:28 PM by shooterboss

Something that just occurred to me: how long will the site be down while the changes are being implemented?

I decided to do nothing and hope for the best.

Will the new site have a fixed version of the inbound checker that was removed a while ago?

I get the App Store redirects on my (non-jailbroken) iPhone as well, but maybe on 15% of links I open instead of every last one. I don't even know if iOS can get malware, but I use iOS Chrome instead of Safari (yet I have no problems of the sort when I'm logged into my Google account on my Chromebook or Win8.1 PC).

Anyways, this is pretty offtopic. I didn't even know FE was stepping down, wow! If you're listening, FE, I hope you enjoy your retirement because you've earned it, I'm sorry for mouthing off at you back in 2011 when I was briefly edit-banned for blanking my Unpublished Works pages instead of custlisting them, and thank you for creating my second home. I don't know what my life would be without this site or if I would even be a writer, and the community over in Writer's Block has made all the difference to me and my life. The least I could do is give back a little. As soon as I'm done with my Calc III homework.

edited 30th Nov '14 2:27:33 PM by CrystalGlacia

Post about ads is coming up from people more knowledgeable than I.

@Crystal Glacia: That's not off-topic at all. :)

Also, a general answer:

Q. Will the new version of the site have x feature?

A. Hopefully! In most cases, that's not gonna be something the mods know yet, so it's prolly not worth asking here. Bring it up again when there's a beta version out, or if we start gathering a list of suggestions. The Tech Wishlist is also open for business as always.

edited 30th Nov '14 2:29:59 PM by Telcontar

For those wondering about site downtime due to the changes: we don't expect it to be anything more serious than the server change we did recently. If you remember that you'll have a rough idea of what sort of downtime we might have.

First of all, big thanks and goodbye to Fast Eddie. I feel like I owe you a lot for what you have done for the TV Tropes community, and also for certain things you chose not to do that you could have done.

And because of that, you've also got some of my money. I'm looking forward to seeing this new evolution of TV Tropes.

Eddie will probably read this thread at some point so even though I've said this to him elsewhere I hope this will reach him:

Thank you, Eddie. You created my favourite site in the whole Internet and for that I'll always be very grateful. I wish you all the best and I hope we'll still talk somewhere - about Tropes or about anything at all. I always enjoyed our conversations. Even though the site will change anyone who knows you - even as little as I do - will see your humour shining through it, and I doubt this will ever change.

In case people are wondering if the new bosses are also cool, the answer is yes. There's been near constant communication between them and the Mods for a while now and it's clear that they share the love and dedication to this site, as well as the passion about fiction and the humour that its proper admiration both creates and demands.

Wow, this is huge...

Thank you very, very much Fast Eddie for creating this wonderful site! Good luck for whatever your future brings!

Fare thee well, Eddie. Enjoy your retirement from helping run House Telvanni running TV Tropes.

As long as these changes lead to something I've (semi-)quietly wanted a long time, standard page templates (which sounds like part of what the Kickstarter is proposing), then I am on board with all of this. All hail our new admin overlords!

Man, this was unexpected. I'll throw in another voice in favor of a quote functionality.

edited 30th Nov '14 2:46:58 PM by Druplesnubb

So yeah, about the Kickstarter project, I got one question that I know is on everyone's minds:

...

...Will you bring back Naughty Tentacles?

Haven't been posting long, but I've been visiting the site for a couple of years now. Good luck to you, Eddie, and I hope you find something else that makes you happy.

Is there a place where we can volunteer to assist? I have a bit of web design experience.

Eddie's last act will be to forever forbid a quote button.

Thank you, Fast Eddie, for my favorite site in existence. Enjoy your new found free time and the fact that you've made countless people very happy.

Oh, look, the funding is already 1/10 there in less than a day. I'll donate as soon as possible.

As a follower and poster on TVT for almost a decade now, I share my interest and curiosity about the site redesign. I wholeheartedly agree, the site has been due for a major update (I think the last one was in 2008 or so) and there's definitely a lot more features that could easily be implemented.

However, I also feel that one of the things I enjoy the most about the current site is it's simplicity. For instance, in terms of basic editing, I enjoy that I don't needlessly have to juggle between handling HTML and a WYSIWYG text editor to do my dirty work- the site handles everything with it's own internal parameters. When I want something bolded I don't have to do [b]Bold This Sucka[/b], I can just as easily use the apostrophe key as such Bold This Sucka. Same goes for site editing- no fugly <a href="thisisaderpysite.shitsforbrains.com">Some Lame Website</a> tags, it's dead simple to just write the trope name along with what I want ([[StarWars R2D2 Shits Gold Bricks]] ==> R2D2 Shits Gold Bricks. For this reason, I like the fact that everything in the editor's box of Tvtropes can be handled without the necessity of buttons- it makes editing on my phone significantly easier. Thus, I sincerely hope the new overlords preserve the same editing easiness.

Finally, while I am more than willing to shell out my cash to our glorious site for their kickstarter campaign, I'm slightly irked that there aren't more options on the Kickstarter rewards. The badges and beta tester access are a clear given, but then we get to the higher ups like $45 for a T-Shirt, $75 for a calendar, $95 for ads free and then from there up it's basically just free advertising. As someone who neither owns their own company or online store, I myself am somewhat uninterested in those rewards so the only thing I'd know I'd be contributing to is this truly awesome site (which is somewhat isolating for people who aren't aware or aren't familiar with the site). Some variety would have really benefitted this campaign- like an ebook Dictionary Of Tropes or "All Tropes Associated with Doctor Who" pdf or hell, just the mere ability to download trope pages in a nice format would be more than enough to satisfy myself.

Anyway, please don't take my suggestions the wrong way- I'll still donate to this campaign and good luck to the new admins.

edited 30th Nov '14 2:52:31 PM by Mattonymy

When we start introducing beta versions of the new layout and features and so on we'll want as much feedback as we can get. If you're good at giving feedback - as a web designer would be - we'll be even more grateful for it.

That's as much as I as a non-web-designer (I design anything but webs) can say. The admins will be able to tell you whether you can contribute more directly.

edited 30th Nov '14 2:53:27 PM by BestOf

So what happens to Fast Eddie? As in does he still own the site but is it administered by different people or are the new admins also the new owners?

I just don't like the new layout that will happen in the future. Please don't do it! I like the older, then-current layout.

Just donated $20 for the cause. The Kickstarter proposed a lot of interesting changes for the site and I will definitely be on board for any changes on the horizon for TV Tropes

I'll definitely raise a glass to you, Fast Eddie. You created quite possibly the most awesome site on the internet and I can't thank you enough. Wish you the best of luck.

@Nettacki Niemals! What if Google was to catch wind of its return? Then what?

edited 30th Nov '14 2:53:46 PM by ryanasaurus0077