Needs Help: Renaming The Scrappy

Yes, I am complaining. I did a lot of things wrong on my first appeal, by rambling and ranting and in general not a super presentation. This Page has a lot of problems, problems that I don't think that a simple "Clean-Up" is enough to fix. First of all, the following problems:

• Trope Namer Syndrome:

Couldn't state it more clearly: Naming tropes after characters or examples in fiction is a thing to avoid. But first let's taken an in-depth look at what symptoms this trope shows here.

• A general insistence that some work of fiction "deserves to be" a Trope Namer.
  • Ah, yes. It only takes a mere look around the forums to see that this is a definite syndrome, people insisting that Scrappy’s only known characteristic his hatedom.

A name that conveys only its connection to some Trope Namer — names ending in the words "Effect", "Syndrome", and/or "Moment" are especially at risk. Names starting with the word "The" are also at risk, as this creates ambiguity between an example of the trope and a reference to its trope namer.

• Yepyepyep. Take for example, this quote from the Take That, Scrappy! Page:

“The Scrappy and his ilk are despised by most (if not all fandoms)." Note the use of the word his. Both captions on the Western Animation and Main Pages for The Scrappy call him the “original”, as if he was the first character ever to be taken poorly. A page image (and/or page quote) that conveys "this is the Trope Namer" without properly illustrating the underlying definition.

• We can check this symptom off too. It only shows a picture of Scrappy, the caption beneath it proclaiming:

There he is! That's the original Scrappy! Kill him, and make sure it's slow and painful! Oh, and then kill it again, just to be safe.

This tells the reader absolutely nothing except A) He’s A Scrappy B) Whoever wrote the caption clearly hates Scrappy and wants him to die. It does not convey what the trope is and it does not provide additional demonstration. Not to mention, the Western Animation page has Trope Namer written above it for little to no given reason. It’s...just...there. Because the Trope Namer came from there!

• The Scrappy Index simply lists “Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta! Puppy Power!” Simply because he’s the trope namer. It’s doubtful that only fans of that respective show would really get the reference.

This case is unusual as it seems to have manifested self beyond the YKTTW, but the symptoms are still glaringly present.

• 'Pot Hole Magnet: To briefly describe, a pothole magnet is when a trope is used excessively.

The first sentance of the page even bluelinks said page back to itself. That should be your first clue to the extremity of the situation.

• A quick look that this page’s trope’s redirects page show mainly links to YMMV pages, which is all well and good-but many others are on main work pages and other distinctly not-YMMV pages. It is even linked-back from The Scrappy/Literature, The Scrappy/Media, and so on. I believe part of this problem comes from the aforementioned Trope Namer Syndrome-some Scooby-Doo pages simply link Scrappy back to this trope upon seeing his name. The trouble doesn’t stop there, though. By definition, the Scrappy should only be on the YMMV, yet it is places it shouldn’t be. Of course that rule isn’t entirely strict and is set for bending...but in this case it pushes past the limit.

And Lastly, But not Least: Everythings Worse With Snow Clones: The trope The Scrappy has...by default... Damsel Scrappy Ethnic Scrappy- Replacement Scrappy Tier-Induced Scrappy Scrappy Mechanic

• Now, let’s take a quick look at each one of these...Damsel Scrappy, a character gets kidnapped so much that fans come to loathe them. This was not a prominant trait of Scrappy’s. The only way to understand this trope at all is to have read and grasped the Scrappy page, which definitely does not fit the Clear part of Fast Eddy’s “Clear, Concise, Witty” rule of thumb. In fact, none of these fit any of Scrappy’s traits, because...Scrappy wasn’t ethnic stereotype, he didn’t replace anyone, it wasn’t due having bad video game stats or being a frustrating video game mechanic. It’s simply the in-joke of an in-joke of an in-joke, which is confusing for outsiders.

• As a moderator mentioned in response to my last appeal, there is a long term project dedicated cleaning up entries that are no longer Scrappies or were never Scrappies in the first place, however, I feel that that still does not come close to fixing the numerous problems that still abound, such as the Everything’s Worse With Snowclones, The rampant Trope Namer Syndrome, the Pothole Mageting-And the fact that several other people before me have voiced similar concerns throughout. The Square Peg, Round Trope even clearly states that The Scrappy is not to just be for a character you dislike...but a character that is hated by many, immediately adding that this is the reason that naming tropes after characters is discouraged.

Now I realize that a more neutral rename would not solve all this page’s issues...But I believe that it would be a very good start.