History Administrivia / EverythingYouWantedToKnowAboutChangingNames

* '''All other things being equal, keeping the current name is better''' - if it ain't broken, don't fix it. Lack of a good argument for renaming is a good argument for not renaming (and the converse is not true). This means that if someone brings up an argument for renaming, pointing out weaknesses in it stands on its own as an argument for keeping the current name.

* The name is a '''typo and/or grammatically incorrect'''. There are tropers who are sticklers for correct spelling and grammar. Some grammatically incorrect trope names are acceptable if it's witty.

* The name is a typo and/or grammatically incorrect. There are tropers who are sticklers for correct spelling and grammar. Some grammatically incorrect trope names are acceptable if it's witty.

* '''Trope Names that are Spoilers'''. Not only is this now considered FanMyopia, it can ruin someone's enjoyment of a work. A good example of this would be the now renamed [[spoiler: "Instrumentality"]], a massive spoiler for ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. The trope was renamed to "AssimilationPlot", a title that doesn't spoil the work. As of this writing, there have been three other tropes renamed because of spoilers, [[spoiler: "The Usual Suspects Ending"]], a spoiler for ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'', now known as "TheEndingChangesEverything", [[spoiler: "Thirty Five Minutes Ago"]], a spoiler for ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', now known as "YouAreTooLate", [[spoiler: "The Cedric"]], a spoiler for ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', now known as "SacrificialLion", and [[spoiler: "I Am John Smith"]], associated with spoilers from the ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' series, now known as "TrustPassword".

* '''Character-Named Tropes''' used to be standard, but are now deprecated and considered a form of FanMyopia. Very few characters are iconic enough to truly personify a trope, and these are generally in the dictionary (e.g. [[ThePollyanna Pollyanna]]); using anyone else risks PopculturalOsmosisFailure. Consider whether there are [[JustForFun/OneMarioLimit other fictional characters by that name]], whether [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant the character may have other aspects]], and how old the work is that the character is from.\\

* '''Trope Names that are Spoilers'''. Not only is this now considered FanMyopia, it can ruin someone's enjoyment of a work. A good example of this would be the now renamed "Instrumentality", a massive spoiler for ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. The trope was renamed to "AssimilationPlot", a title that doesn't spoil the work. As of this writing, there have been three other tropes renamed because of spoilers, "The Usual Suspects Ending", a spoiler for ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'', now known as "TheEndingChangesEverything", "Thirty Five Minutes Ago", a spoiler for ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', now known as "YouAreTooLate", "The Cedric", a spoiler for ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', now known as "SacrificialLion", and "I Am John Smith", associated with spoilers from the ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' series, now known as "TrustPassword".

* We no longer name tropes after '''a line of dialogue or a Stock Phrase'''. It risks editors wikilinking the ''phrase'' every time that particular combination of words occurs, whether the underlying ''trope'' actually applies in that context or not.

* '''Character-Named Tropes''' used to be standard, but are now deprecated and considered a form of FanMyopia. Very few characters are iconic enough to truly personify a trope, and these are generally in the dictionary (e.g. [[ThePollyanna Pollyanna]]); using anyone else risks PopculturalOsmosisFailure. Consider whether there are [[OneMarioLimit other fictional characters by that name]], whether [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant the character may have other aspects]], and how old the work is that the character is from.\\

* '''Trope Names that are Spoilers'''. Not only is this now considered FanMyopia, it can ruin someone's enjoyment of a work. A good example of this would be the now renamed "Instrumentality", a massive spoiler for ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. The trope was renamed to "AssimilationPlot", a title that doesn't spoil the work. As of this writing, there have been three other tropes renamed because of spoilers, "The Usual Suspects Ending", a spoiler for ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'', now known as "TheEndingChangesEverything", "Thirty Five Minutes Ago", a spoiler for ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', now known as "YouAreTooLate" and "I Am John Smith", associated with spoilers from the ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' series, now known as "TrustPassword".

Once the alternative titles crowner has stabilized, again, either discussion will die down with everyone accepting the winner, or a moderator will have to step in and sort things out. Either way, a new title will be chosen, which means the page will have to be moved and everything having to do with the trope will have to be updated accordingly. Only a moderator can move a trope page; you should press the [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/error.png Holler Button]] in the thread where the rename was discussed and post a request for a moderator to move the page. Of course, if the page is to be moved to a place not in the Main/ namespace, then you can simply apply the guidance on Administrivia/HowToMoveAPage. After the page has been moved, you'll have to update the {{wick}}s.

* '''No (or negligible) misuse''' in the wicks (in-wiki links) means that the title isn't [[IThoughtItMeant confusing our editors into thinking it's something else]]. For details, see Administrivia/HowToDoAWickCheck.\\

* '''Character-Named Tropes''' used to be standard, but are now deprecated and considered a form of FanMyopia. Very few characters are iconic enough to truly personify a trope, and these are generally in the dictionary (e.g. [[ThePollyanna Pollyanna]]); using anyone else risks PopculturalOsmosisFailure. Consider whether there are [[OneMarioLimit other fictional characters by that name]], whether [[IThoughtItMeant the character may have other aspects]], and how old the work is that the character is from.\\

* '''Renaming is not a magic solution''' to all of a page's problems. If some issue isn't the name's fault, there's little sense in trying to fix that issue by renaming. If renaming could help but there's another, better way to deal with the issue, that's still a good reason to try that way instead. RedirectsAreFree, for example. If the main issues with a name are that it's [[OverlyLongName overly long]] or difficult to spell, an intuitive redirect may be a better solution than renaming the trope.

* The name is '''Unclear''' -- it fails to indicate what the trope is about, and thus undermines our goal of making the trope as accessible to as great a portion of our readership as possible. This includes [[WordSaladTitle titles that have nothing to do with the trope]], using technical terms that mean something else in everyday speech and names that rely on familiarity with a particular work to make sense/"names that suggest something unrelated to most people" (see Administrivia: Administrivia/{{Renamed Tropes}}).\\

If you think a name is unclear, remember that ''you are required to make substantial arguments and provide substantial evidence that the name is really unclear to actual readers, and that this lack of clarity exists outside your imagination.'' There are all sorts of ways to do this; you can use a [[Administrivia/HowToDoAWickCheck Wick Check]], an InboundCheck, Google result analysis or a dictionary, to name a few. Just saying "this is totally unclear" is not an argument in and of itself.

Though we hate to admit it, the concept of renaming tropes has pretty much become SeriousBusiness on this wiki. In some particularly bad cases, debates about renaming have even degenerated into {{Flame War}}s, which is plain uncool. For this reason, we've crafted up a basic rename strategy to answer the questions of when, and how, tropes are to be renamed.

The first part of the strategy is that ''a trope should never be renamed without discussion''. Discussion is done in the [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/conversations.php?topic=renames Trope Repair Shop]]. The idea is to hear everyone out, consider the relevant arguments and reach general agreement as to what should be done.

Eventually, the proposition will either go through or be rejected, depending on whether there is consensus supporting it. Note that a majority is not always a consensus. It's not simply "how many" votes; it's "what proportion" of the votes cast that matters. 5 votes out of 6 indicates a consensus. 49 votes out of 95 does not, even though it's a majority. In general, we regard a two-thirds majority as the threshold for a majority to be called a consensus, but this number is not set in stone. In particularly heated discussions where the back-and-forth continues even after the crowner has stabilized - regarding how to interpret the results, what to do with them, and so on- a moderator will have to step in and make the call.

Once the alternative titles crowner has stabilized, again, either discussion will die down with everyone accepting the winner, or a moderator will have to step in and sort things out. Either way, a new title will be chosen, which means the page will have to be moved and everything having to do with the trope will have to be updated accordingly. See Administrivia/HowToMoveAPage for instructions on how to go about that.

* If a trope '''has the same title as a work of fiction''', except if that title is a common established term for that trope.

* If a trope was '''launched prematurely''' from YKTTW before consensus was reached about a title and a description, it should probably get sent right back.

* '''Trope Names that are Spoilers'''. Not only is this now considered FanMyopia, it can ruin someone's enjoyment of a work. A good example of this would be the now renamed "Instrumentality", a massive spoiler for ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. The trope was renamed to "Assimilation Plot", a title that doesn't spoil the work. As of this writing, there have been three other tropes renamed because of spoilers, "The Usual Suspects Ending", a spoiler for ''Film/TheUsualSuspects'', now known as "The Ending Changes Everything", "Thirty Five Minutes Ago", a spoiler for ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', now known as "You Are Too Late" and "I Am John Smith", associated with spoilers from the ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya'' series, now known as "Trust Password".

* '''Trope Names that are Spoilers'''. Not only is this now considered FanMyopia, it can ruin someone's enjoyment of a work. A good example of this would be the now renamed "Instrumentality", a massive spoiler for ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. The trope was renamed to "Assimilation Plot", a title that doesn't spoil the work. As of this writing, there have been three other tropes renamed because of spoilers, "The Usual Suspects Ending", a spoiler for TheUsualSuspects, now known as "The Ending Changes Everything", "Thirty Five Minutes Ago", a spoiler for ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}, now known as "You Are Too Late" and "I Am John Smith", associated with spoilers from the LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya series, now known as "Trust Password".

* '''"Trope" used as a placeholder word''' (e.g. "[[MoreTropesThanGod More [Tropes] Than God]]", "[[GonnaNeedMoreTrope Gonna Need More [Trope] ]]") is now deprecated, as it misuses the word "trope".

Note that the TropeRepairShop has a maximum number of active threads. We do this because when we didn't do this, we ended up with a huge backlog of threads which stalled via lack of consensus, progress or action. This means you might not be able to create your thread right away. Be patient. It's just something we all have to deal with.

* The trope is suffering from '''disuse'''--as in, it has very few wicks or inbounds. This can be an indicator that the title is too obscure. Furthermore, the ''cost'' of renaming is drastically lower when the trope has low usage--because the trope isn't entrenched, hardly anyone will even notice it's renamed; the transition is seamless. It also takes much less time to do the actual legwork of renaming: a small handful of wicks might take five minutes to change, whereas a trope with 2000 wicks would take a large, concerted effort. (And even if we found tropers willing to do that much grunt work, there are [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/conversations.php?topic=shorties plenty of other projects]] that could better use those man-hours.)\\

* The trope is suffering from '''disuse''' - as in, it has very few wicks or inbounds. This can be an indicator that the title is too obscure. More importantly, however, is that the ''cost'' of renaming is drastically lower when the trope has low usage. Because the trope isn't entrenched, hardly anyone will even notice it's renamed; the transition is seamless. It also takes much less time to do the actual legwork of renaming: a small handful of wicks might take five minutes to change. In contrast, a trope with 2000 wicks would take a large, concerted effort to achieve. (And even if we found tropers willing to do that much grunt work, there are [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/conversations.php?topic=shorties plenty of other projects]] that could better use those man-hours.)\\

* The name seems '''unnecessarily subjective''' - that is, it's outright spiteful or laudatory, but the trope isn't a [[YMMV.HomePage YMMV]] item. Sometimes the ''trope itself'' is unnecessarily subjective; in that case, it's better to first discuss what to do with the trope.

* The trope is suffering from '''disuse''' - as in, it has significantly less wicks or inbounds than it's supposed to. Deciding how many wicks or inbounds a trope is "supposed to" have can be a bit of a problem, so this argument is best used in clear-cut cases, or when there are other tropes we can compare against. For details, see Administrivia/HowToDoAWickCheck and Administrivia/AnalyzingInbounds.

* The name is '''Unclear''' -- it fails to indicate what the trope is about, and thus undermines our goal of making the trope as accessible to as great a portion of our readership as possible. This includes [[WordSaladTitle titles that have nothing to do with the trope]], using technical terms that mean something else in everyday speech and names that rely on familiarity with a particular work to make sense/names that suggest something unrelated to most people (see Administrivia: Administrivia/{{Renamed Tropes}}).\\

* The name is '''Unclear''' -- it fails to indicate what the trope is about, and thus undermines our goal of making the trope as accessible to as great a portion of our readership as possible. This includes [[WordSaladTitle titles that have nothing to do with the trope]], using technical terms that mean something else in everyday speech and names that rely on familiarity with a particular work to make sense/names that suggest something unrelated to most people (see Administrivia:Administrivia/{{Renamed Tropes}}).\\

* The name is '''Unclear''' -- it fails to indicate what the trope is about, and thus undermines our goal of making the trope as accessible to as great a portion of our readership as possible. This includes [[WordSaladTitle titles that have nothing to do with the trope]], using technical terms that mean something else in everyday speech and names that rely on familiarity with a particular work to make sense/names that suggest something unrelated to most people (see Administrivia/{{Renamed Tropes}}.\\

* The name is '''Unclear''' -- it fails to indicate what the trope is about, and thus undermines our goal of making the trope as accessible to as great a portion of our readership as possible. This includes [[WordSaladTitle titles that have nothing to do with the trope]], using technical terms that mean something else in everyday speech and names that rely on familiarity with a particular work to make sense/names that suggest something unrelated to most people (see AdministriviaRenamedTropes).\\

* The name is '''Unclear''' -- it fails to indicate what the trope is about, and thus undermines our goal of making the trope as accessible to as great a portion of our readership as possible. This includes [[WordSaladTitle titles that have nothing to do with the trope]], using technical terms that mean something else in everyday speech and names that rely on familiarity with a particular work to make sense/names that suggest something unrelated to most people.\\

* The name is '''Unclear''' -- it fails to indicate what the trope is about, and thus undermines our goal of making the trope as accessible to as great a portion of our readership as possible. This includes [[WordSaladTitle titles that have nothing to do with the trope]], using technical terms that mean something else in everyday speech, or names that rely on familiarity with a particular work to make sense.\\

* '''EverythingsWorseWithSnowclones'''. Too often the, ah, [[{{Pun}} cleverness]] of a snowclone can obscure the fact that a name doesn't quite fit the trope it's supposed to describe. If the snowclone doesn't make sense outside of the context of the original, or doesn't make sense ''inside'' the context of the original, it's misleading.