Does this need examples?: Crack Is Cheaper

Chimaera brought this up in the natter thread, but I thought it deserved its own discussion.

It seems to me that while there is something trope-worthy about Crack is Cheaper, I don't really see that it needs anything beyond the description, and think it could stand an Example Sectionectomy, as IMO the examples there are pretty much not much more than natter magnets.

Partially Natter Magnets, but especially that EVERY possible hobby can be listed, if you're willing to invest that much money in it.

Could be switched to just examples in media, with a warning stating all real life examples must stay within Troper Tales? After all, there are cases in media where the author has clearly made the character addicted to something to the point where you would think that crack would be better for them...

I agree with in-media only. Chainsaw everything else. If we can't get enough in-media examples to make this a trope, ax it.

I'd take it back to YKTTW if we can't find enough in media examples first. If that fails, then we either make it no examples, or we ax it. Looking at the wiks might help some too.

Has 2,274 inbound links. That list might seem pointless, but people are coming to the site to read it.

The problem is, while it's definitely a Meta/Fandom trope (dear god, have you looked at the cost of Warhammer minis?), it's become a page where anyone can stick anything they do. I think what the page needs is some standards for inclusion.

Now, what those standards are is where the contention is.

I'd say that the "standard for inclusion" is pretty much set in the title: it has to be a particularly costly hobby to maintain, and it has to be a hobby that you just don't get off of. Any weirdo can keep fiftten years collecting "see thru" glasses — they even come free with the yoghur these days. But keep collecting all the Final Fantasies in their original cartridges, with original artwork signed up by Amano or whoever, plus the Ultimania guides is a different feat altogether.

I'd be in favor of shoving most current examples to Troper Tales and keeping the actual page in-universe, but I am not in favor of a mass deletion.

I too would not support losing the material. Your suggestion seems like a very sensible idea. It's the right place for personal accounts.

Alternatively, given a lot of the material is written in a general voice how about moving much of it to a Useful Notes article?

(There are 44,706 words in the article. That's roughly equivalent to a 178 page novel!)

edited 15th Nov '10 4:59:45 PM by Camacan

I think it needs to be split into sub-pages, given how long it is.

It will be much much shorter after we take away the natter and the out of media examples.

Just throw it all in Troper Tales and start over on the main page.

That won't do anything about the page being so long. The Troper Tales page would need sub-pages if we move everything currently in the main one there.

I just had a look at this page thanks to someone flagging it and oh, my god, the examples list is huge and nattery. At the very least we need to cut it down to bare-bones examples and chop the natter.

Even that may not work. Are there even any in-media examples on the page? The point of TV Tropes is to catalog Tropes - that is, stuff that happens in media. 99% of the page is about Real Life stuff!

Phew. I wiped out everything beyond the first bullet points, with a little bit of shuffling for the ones that had X Just X with the natter expanding on them. It may still need work, since so much of it reads like "my hobby's the most expensive... no mine!", but at least we can get a feel for how long the bare-bones article really is now.

I knew it was stupidly long, but before looking at the edit history, then looking at what's still there, it didn't really sink in that it was that bloated, originally. Yeesh...

Reading this thread and thinking on it, I'm thinking that paring it down to just in-story examples (are there any? The page is still obnoxiously long) would be better, instead of my original suggestion of a complete Example Sectionectomy.

Oh for gods sake...

Look, Crack is cheaper is about hobbies that are particulrly addicting and expensive. We could also add popular and then attach difinitive examples before putting up the "get off my lawn" signs over every page that gets people to come here.

Yeah this site isn't really about providing a forum for people to talk about their expensive and addictive hobbies. Bandwidth ain't free.

If you want to talk about how your hobby is too damn expensive, take it to Troper Tales.

Let's gather up some media examples. I'm sure plenty of webcomics have jokes about this.

Restricting the trope to in-universe examples and shoving Real Life crap off to Troper Tales seems like the way to go.

Speaking of In-Universe example, this is brought up in the latest Loading Ready Run video - regarding Magic The Gathering (Playing it as adult, they need a spending limit).

Following you logic, I think all examples from these pages should be purged.

"Stop Having Fun" Guy

The Scrub

Half the stuff on Square Peg Round Trope including Square Peg Round Trope

They fit perfectly with the trope to a tee, there is no need to remove it. if anything, change the trope first, because it's pretty much he same as clearing the real life folders of half the wiki.

"Yeah this site isn't really about providing a forum for people to talk about their expensive and addictive hobbies. Bandwidth ain't free."

How about deleting it? After all, it's T Vtropes.org, not Media Tropes.org.

"If you want to talk about how your hobby is too damn expensive, take it to Troper Tales."

That can apply to several other tropes, including the ones I listed.

"Let's gather up some media examples. I'm sure plenty of webcomics have jokes about this."

So we are going to move all the hobbies listed into webcomics page? Irony is not lost here.

The Scrub has already had it's examples moved to Troper Tales. This isn't something new we're doing. This sort of thing is exactly what Troper Tales is there for. So that we can separate the in media examples from people's own personal experiences.