Not all examples are welcome on this wiki. Some are too contentious, causing arguments when they appear in a work's page or when there are too many in one place. Some are so ubiquitous, they don't even seem like tropes (they are, but it would make the page hard to read). Some are Not Safe for Work and thus banned to keep our site Family Friendly (and avoid the ire of our sponsors).
In these cases, an Example Sectionectomy is conducted — everything is removed from the page except the definition. Or, as it's sometimes known, No Examples Please.
Types of Example Sectionectomy:
- Definition-Only Pages: No examples anywhere. The trope cannot list examples from works, nor can it appear on a work's page or subpage. It may be linked from an example of another trope to provide context, and it may be linked from a trope or work description. If the trope is also YMMV, it may not be linked to give context to a non-YMMV example unless used In-Universe. These pages are usually a mixture of tropes and terms that don't create interesting examples (or attract the wrong sort of interest).
- Flame Bait: No examples allowed on any work page, but examples are allowed on Flame Bait pages themselves (unless also indexed on Definition-Only Pages). Links to these tropes are not permitted from any example lists or work descriptions. For the most part, talking about these tropes usually results in a Flame War.
- In-Universe Examples Only: All examples must be used In-Universe in a work (that's not based on Real Life in itself). Often applies to tropes that judge a work in itself like Audience Reactions; it's okay if the characters are doing the reacting, but not if we're doing the reacting. They may be linked from any trope or work page, but as all examples must be In-Universe and thus objectively present, they cannot be listed in a work's YMMV subpage.
- Limited Real Life Examples Only: Removal of certain types of Real Life examples, but not others. Often applies to tropes that pass judgment in a way that would be controversial or unfair if they were applied to real life. Works based on real life, including Non-Fiction, may be listed as examples of these tropes if they explicitly mention them, in the section for the work's medium (there being no Real Life section). These tropes may still be linked from anywhere on the wiki, as long as the link does not concern Real Life events; this means they may not be linked from Real Life subpages or Useful Notes pages on the event. The reason to do this is that regardless of what creators may think of a real life person or event, the wiki shouldn't have an opinion like that, if only because Tropers tend to fight over it.
- No On-Page Examples: The opposite of Flame Bait; no examples on the trope page, but the trope may be listed on a work's example list or description. If the trope is also YMMV, it may not be linked to give context to a non-YMMV example unless used In-Universe. If the trope is also Trivia, it may only be listed on Trivia subpages, although it may be linked in trope or work descriptions or to provide context to other examples.
- No Real Life Examples, Please!: Removal of only Real Life examples. Often applies to tropes that pass judgment in a way that would be controversial or unfair if they were applied to real life. Works based on real life, including Non-Fiction, may be listed as examples of these tropes if they explicitly mention them, in the section for the work's medium (there being no Real Life section). These tropes may still be linked from anywhere on the wiki, as long as the link does not concern Real Life events; this means they may not be linked from Real Life subpages or Useful Notes pages on the event. The reason to do this is that regardless of what creators may think of a real life person or event, the wiki shouldn't have an opinion like that, if only because Tropers tend to fight over it.
- No Recent Examples, Please!: No examples that haven't passed a certain time period yet; for example, some examples must be old enough in order to be considered noteworthy, such as a YMMV item not being added before a few years after its related in-universe moments appear in a show.like what? It also happens that examples cannot be about events happening after a certain point of time.like... It's usually to prevent knee-jerk reactions and other questionable entries from being added before one can say for sure that the entries are telling the truth.
- No Straight Examples, Please!: No examples where the trope is played straight — something unusual has to be done with them, like a subversion or an aversion. Used for tropes that are so omnipresent that listing every straight usage would bog down the page with examples from almost every work ever made. These tropes may be linked from work pages and subpages, subject to the rules of Trivia (allowed in work descriptions and in example context) and YMMV tropes (allowed in examples of other YMMV tropes context), as well as from trope descriptions.
- No Video Examples, Please!: No videos for these particular trope articles are allowed to be uploaded, either for health concerns, or NSFW subjects.
Non-TV Tropes examples:
- Wikipedia's "In Popular Culture" sections were heavily pared down as a reaction to Fancruft and rampant Entry Pimping, of the kind satirised in this
xkcd comic. The crackdown may have been instigated by a particular instance of a lengthy Edit War about how much the page on Madame de Pompadour should have described her depiction in Doctor Who.
