This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Helpful Tips On YKTTW launched as YKTTW Guidelines: From YKTTW
Working Title: YKTTW guidelines: From YKTTW
Meta4: Don't we have a page about how to come up with good titles for articles? I wanted to link to it but I can't find it.
Tanto: ...Naming A Trope?
Large Blunt Object: Did a major rewrite of this article after discussion on YKTTW, moving some of the content of the old article to Finding A Trope. The original article, copied for posterity:
Some loose guidelines for making use of You Know That Thing Where....
- Chill, Winston. This is supposed to be fun.
- Explain thyself. Most tropes aren't as obvious as you think.
- Use the Search, Luke. (It's right there at the top of the page.) It will show you if the trope you're proposing already exists.
- Note, the on-site search function looks for the exact words you type in (with and without spaces), and some of our titles are rather misleading, so it may not be the best way to find a page you're looking for. Some alternatives:
- Look up a series, book, or story that is a very clear example of the trope you have in mind, then skim the "Tropes" list or the list of pages that link to it (accessible via the "related to" button at the top of the page.)
- Use Google. Add "site:tvtropes.org" to the phrase you're searching for, to limit your search to the wiki.
- Read all the way through the basic trope indices, such as Narrative Devices or Characters.
- Ahh, screw it. If your proposed trope already exists, someone else will point it out.
- If you're proposing a Subjective Trope, make sure it isn't just Complaining About Shows You Dont Like. Conversely, if someone says your proposal is Complaining About Shows You Dont Like, it is not necessarily the kiss of death. If you make your case, we'll listen.
- You don't need to start a YKTTW thread for a series, film, book, webcomic, or any other story. Just write up a page for it and stick it in the proper index. Even if you can't think of any tropes to link from the page, it will accrue them via Wiki Magic.
- You generally don't need to start a YKTTW thread to propose a new index, though you're welcome to request input on the title if you want to make it something besides "X Tropes".
- Speaking of titles, Naming A Trope has some helpful advice for brainstorming and reaching consensus on article names.
- If a thread goes awhile with no replies, and you're sure no one's said that we have this one already, there's no shame in Bumping it.
Did we mention that this is supposed to be fun? Don't worry, you'll be fine.
Arivne: The statement "The script quote markup "—>" doesn't work in YKTTW. Use bullets (*) instead." is incorrect: script quote markup works just fine in YKTTW, so I've deleted it.
