Has everyone been misusing?: TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life

TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life is one of the most recognizable phrases on the wiki; indeed, no other phrase seems to be as universally recognized and invoked in describing the TV Tropes experience, specifically the experience of getting hooked on reading page after page and letting the wiki detract from real life obligations.

Except... that's not what the page itself is about.

The page itself actually describes - and was originally created to describe - a more general phenomenon, of how TV Tropes specifically and the recognition of tropes and other conventions generally changes the experience of a work. The thing that people use it for now - already described by tropes like Wiki Walk and Browser Narcotic in the interim, by the way - is basically limited to a single short paragraph, a line at the bottom of the article, a quote, and the page image. I actually sense a battle going on for the soul of the article unfolding slowly over the past few months, but the originally intended purpose of the article is almost never what it's used for outside the article itself.

Here's what I propose:

• Renaming the original topic and moving most of the current description of the article off into a separate trope. Unfortunately, it's late and I don't have any good names in mind.
• Starting over with TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life, using it to describe all the myriad ways that TV Tropes does so, possibly as a Just for Fun page. There are a variety of ways we can do this. Perhaps we could use something like TV Tropes Will Enhance Your Life as a model, which would have the odd effect of making a snowclone the model for the article it was snowcloned from, which could cause the universe to explode. (I'm not sure it would be necessary to put it in Darth Wiki, though, despite the precedent of the now-original. Incidentially, that page's mainspace equivalent redirects to TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life instead of the Sugar Wiki page for some reason.) Whatever we go with, it should probably be something that fits the page's existing wicks, possibly better than it does now.

edited 6th Jan '11 3:08:14 AM by MorganWick

Well the name does imply more than just your enjoyment of the show, so the misuse doesn't surprise me. I agree on renaming the current definition and making the name fit just sucking up time.

As for a new name, TV Tropes Will Ruin The Show?

Note that the page describes multiple ways that TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life, not just what you're talking about. Paragraph by paragraph, we have:

• Becoming too Genre Savvy to enjoy your favorite shows anymore
• A desire to apply tropes to our actual lives
• Wiki Walk Archive Binges

edited 6th Jan '11 3:54:00 AM by BlackWolfe

Wow, this is a valiant effort. I support your suggestions.

I also support TV Tropes Will Ruin The Show as the rename of the "You will see tropes in every work of fiction" trope.

So are we talking about splitting? Or reworking from scratch? I do suspect Trope Decay, but I actually like it as is, so maybe Wiki Magic is a more appropriate term.

edited 6th Jan '11 4:27:19 AM by BlackWolfe

I always thought that it has more than once aspect. I still do, actually, and the rather general name doesn't make it better.

I'd say that the page should be expanded a bit.

Expanded? IMO, the problem isn't that it needs to be expanded, it's that the already long page causes people to skim over the various aspects of the description that describe other ways TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life besides how you look at TV/Movies/etc. Expanding it would only exacerbate the problem.

You are kidding me. One of the most quoted, and iconic pages on this whole wiki and you want to change it. No, leave as is.

OP thinks it's being misused. I've been attempting to show how it's actually being used in exactly the ways described on the page, but I get the feeling people are misunderstanding me... *sigh* In any case, I should have gone to bed an hour ago, so good night, all.

I suggest a crowner, with the following question:

What should TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life mean?

• Browsing TV Tropes will eat all your free time in an endless Wiki Walk.
• Long-time browsing of TV Tropes will make you look for tropes in every work of fiction you encounter, and thus ruin them for you.
• Long-time browsing of TV Tropes will make you look for tropes in Real Life, even though Real Life doesn't work that way.
• All of the above. Then the article needs to be at least partly rewritten, to showcase all aforementioned meanings.

What do you think?

I think there should option for leave as is.

Let's stick with "all of the above". It's popular enough that it can encompass multiple meanings, so let's let it.

TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life doesn't necessarily mean it'll ruin your life in a specific way. It's flexible. TV Tropes will happily ruin your life in all sorts of different ways. The description talks about certain ways it can ruin your life, but it doesn't need to cover every single angle. It's the basic idea that matters.

I am against any kind of split here.

Troacctid: I personally support this option. But then, the description should list the most popular ways of life ruinage, instead of being too vague and general (as it is now).

I'm in favour of "All of the above". That way, people can still include everything - but it'll just be a little more organized.

Just leave it alone. All the meaning are dealt with in the description as it is now. If someone follows a link snarking about what a timesink we are, they also get free exposure to why the site is addictive.

Nothing here needs fixing.

I see nothing to fix here. As others have said, TV Tropes can ruin your life in many ways. No need to restrict ourselves to one.

Would at least tweaking the description be okay?

I wouldn't be opposed to a minor rewrite for clarity, if it's thought necessary, but I have no problem with TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life including multiple ways of that happening.

Of course, it can be argued that the items on the page can also be seen in a positive light. The endless Wiki Walk means you'll never be bored, becoming so Genre Savvy lets you enjoy media in a new way, and if you can do it, it can be fun to try and apply tropes to Real Life.

edited 6th Jan '11 4:06:12 PM by Roxor