John The Mancunian Man was an obscure website discussing life in Greater Manchester. Officially, it had few followers, but was popular enough itself.
This site contains the following tropes:
- A Day in the Limelight: For a guest author in November 2004, who wrote about the attraction of British men and American women.
- An Aesop: This site had many, namely:
- "Don't label someone an Internet troll just because you think it's cool. Not everyone is even a troll, anyway. Some people are different.
- "Obesity is unhealthy, but fat-shaming is wrong."
- Plus, considered progressive by some (for 2003), Slut-Shaming is ethically wrong and will get you nowhere.
- "Social media is good, but it's better to Know When to Fold 'Em".
- "Being one of the cool kids does not pay, Be Yourself".
- "Reporting bullying is not being a tattle-tale, it saves lives and may prevent suicides".
- Artifact Title: By 2003, the title was less relevant, with Mancunian issues being discussed less and less.
- Continuity Reboot: Returning in late 2015, a mere 11 years since the site disappeared. The old site is Canon Discontinuity. Well,
it should have, but now it may not return until November 2017.
- Deconstruction: The rise of Internet trolls was deconstructed during 2002-2003, with a Burn the Witch! discussion on one website being deconstructed, and the supposedly guilty individual being someone with neurological issues.
- Genre-Busting: Doesn't quite fit any specific genre.
-
Missing Episode: The entire site is gone, and not even on the Internet Archive.
- No Antagonist: No villain at all, just life issues.
- Non-Indicative Name: John is actually from Bolton, not Manchester (
Word of God confirms this)
- Something Completely Different: As a website. It was fairly different, to be honest.
- Straight Gay: Not the author (he's married with children), but a Discussed Trope. He goes to great lengths to point out that not all gays are flamboyant.
- The Spook: Officially, not much is known on the author other than he is called John and from Manchester.
- Webcomic Time: He backdates the posts to when the guest author wants them published, making this a strange example for a Real Life website. Yet, in Real Time they were posted to the server on another day.