Web Original namespace cleanup

See Sandbox.Web Original Wick Sorting for progress

The WebOriginal/ namespace (currently at arond 400 pages) has frequently been misused as a catch-all for any internet works, even when the work in question should probably go on other categories, such as Blog/, Fanfic/, Literature/ (in the case of Web Serial Novels), Roleplay/, WebAnimation/, Webcomic/, Website/ or WebVideo/.

Therefore, this project is dedicated to sorting or moving these works to their correct namespaces. Due to the obscurity of a large part of these works, a lot of these pages tend to also be low-quality (zero-context examples, poor grammar, red links, no crosswicking or indexing, Auto-Erotic Troping...) so general cleanup for these pages can also be discussed here.

(Note that the namespace isn't completely redundant, as a lot of works such as Creepypasta or Original Character Tournaments don't really fit any of the above namespaces.)

Edited by GastonRabbit on Oct 24th 2023 at 2:51:56 PM

I'd like to apologize for all this.

Probably the only name in the namespace I recorgnize,

WebOriginal.LOL Cats (plus Characters.Lolcats, YMMV.Lolcats, and etc) either need ZCE help or scissors.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup

This actually got brought up before with Virgin Vs Chad, but discussion stalled — can we honestly trope memes, since all the content is created by anonymous users, and the therefore have no real narrative, outside of common quirks?

Even Administrivia.Namespace points to this being a problem with the WebOriginal/ namespace.

This namespace is mostly deprecated. It's mainly used for memes, which we don't want anymore, as well as holdovers from the infancy of namespaces.

So this issue could be brought up in Wiki Talk or Ask the Tropers if it hasn't already.

I'd like to apologize for all this.

Yeah, a "do we trope memes" debate would help.

One Web Original page I know of is WebOriginal.Cat Ghost; while the main videos are web animation, there's also an ARG component with video games you can play to learn more about the main story and even trigger unique events. So maybe it should stay in Web Original?

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

I think that it should go under either Web Animation or ARG, whatever is more important.

But yeah, works often start as one medium but are later adapted to another. Gargoyles includes tropes related to its comic book continuation, but it's listed under Western Animation since that's what it started as; anime that started as manga are always listed under the latter namespace; a lot of theatre musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof include tropes about their film adaptations, and so on.

Was it cross-media from the very beginning?

Edited by FernandoLemon on Jul 10th 2022 at 3:49:56 PM

I'd like to apologize for all this.

To be clear, the debate was here. I think we mostly lean towards keeping them (I still stand by that in the modern Internet).

As for Cat Ghost, I'm leaving that to someone more experienced.

Edited by Piterpicher on Jul 10th 2022 at 8:54:50 PM

Currently mostly inactive. An incremental game I tested: https://galaxy.click/play/176 (Gods of Incremental)

Come to think of it, aren't ARG generally cross-media anyway, often having players watch videos, browse sketchy websites and, yes, sometimes even playing games? From what I got, it doesn't sound too different from the classic formula.

I'd like to apologize for all this.

Yeah, Cat Ghost was always cross-media. The video games were developed alongside the episodes and could be downloaded from the video description. At least a few episodes feature clips of gameplay and there's an implication that the characters themselves were always trapped in a video game. It's... a weird series.

But to be clear, the games are very simple .exe games.

It is true that ARG are technically cross-media anyway; Cat Ghost is just unique in that you can enjoy the animation without actually trying to solve the ARG part if you don't want to.

Edited by WarJay77 on Jul 10th 2022 at 3:06:42 PM

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

An Emmy For Megan seems like an easy move to WebVideo/, right?

EDIT: That's done.

Edited by FernandoLemon on Jul 12th 2022 at 11:39:05 AM

I'd like to apologize for all this.

Should we keep redirects in the WebOriginal/ namespace, or does that count as a wrong namespace?

I'd like to apologize for all this.

I kept the redirects so that inbounds can be preserved.

Macron's notes

After browsing some more of these, I see benefit in creating a new namespace, the WebFiction/ namespace. A lot of these are Creepypasta, Choose Your Own Adventure-types (like the stuff from Choose Your Story), and other things like The Pixar Theory and Orions Arm. Besides, I find it odd to put stuff like Candle Cove under the Literature/ namespace.

I'd like to apologize for all this.

This post from way back in the day (and the two replies after) suggested moving Original Character Tournaments to the Roleplay/ namespace, and I think that actually makes sense. Can I get some more opinions on that?

Just to put the numbers out there, there's 68 of them in this namespace.

Edited by FernandoLemon on Jul 17th 2022 at 1:50:56 PM

I'd like to apologize for all this.

I'm not very knowledgable on the genre, I guess it can be Roleplay/ being close to Play-by-Post Games, but I'm not confident.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup

At a glance, yes, OCTs appear to be a form of roleplay.

Trouble Cube continues to be a general-purpose forum for those who desire such a thing.

New page launched yesterday, WebOriginal.Diary Of A Tourney Kid; it's a musical tournament. I honestly don't know if it could go on another namespace.

I'd like to apologize for all this.

Actually, yeah, this would be a good place for WebFiction/ discussion and crowner.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup

I don't like the idea of moving Web Serial Novels out of Literature/. Even putting aside the question of web-only stuff, that would include:

• Web First print novels such as The Martian and John Dies at the End.
• tons of Light Novels that were first published as web novels, such as Sword Art Online

I was under the impression that Literature/ is for printed (as in, paper) media, so the move makes sense to me personally.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup

Currently, Literature/ explicitly includes ebooks and Web Serial Novels. (see Administrivia.Namespace and Web Serial Novel)

Web Serial novels can stay in Literature/. That's for any for of literature. I thought Web Fiction/ would be for things under WebOriginal/ that can't be neatly filed under the namespaces we currently have.

Macron's notes

I've always thought the Creepypastas that are based on other properties really ought to be in the Fanfic namespace. Like Jeff the Killer can go into the new Web Fiction namespace but Ben Drowned really is just Fanfic, right?

Somewhat off topic, I notice a lot of tropes, like a lot, have folders for "Web Original" that mostly trope Web Videos and Websites. Should those be split or are they closely tied enough to warrant a single folder still, a la Anime and Manga?

Ben Drowned isn't "just fanfic", Ben Drowned is a whole ass Alternate Reality Game, with videos and a plot about a suicide cult that has their own website. It is based on a haunted Majora's Mask game, but I don't think it'd be fair to call it a fanfic because of just how much there actually is to it.

It seems to fall under the same mixed-media issue as Cat Ghost, even if the most popular part is the haunted game aspect.

But I get it; it's based on a pre-existing property.

Edited by WarJay77 on Aug 5th 2022 at 8:39:15 AM

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

Not just that, but I also see so many Web Animation examples in the Web Original folder, even if there's already a Web Animation folder.

Kirby is awesome.

I did mark a few fanfic on the sandbox. Dead Bart, for instance.

Yeah, there are a lot of pages on this namespace that are about works exclusive to YouTube, which should be moved to WebVideo/ or WebAnimation/. I'll post the whole-ass list tomorrow.

---

Since we're doing things here, I'd like to include this on the future crowner as well, since it too concerns the use of the WebOriginal/ namespace.

As for what goes where, keep in mind that a lot of these pages can be unsalvageable. Some are chock-full of ZCE, some works can't be found anymore because the link is dead, and some I'm not even sure are tropable in the first place.

I'd like to apologize for all this.