Why is it a problem to list Character Alignment on Character pages?

Personally I just meant maybe the banner wording could be tweaked a little. Like, just drop the "on one of the page's subpages" remark, since YMMV is a subpage already.

Good and evil and law and chaos are not very well represented by character alignment. Not to mention they are subjective concepts in the first place. Character Alignment is NOT a valid or useful tool for discussing those concepts. People just bring in their own interpretations of what good, evil, law, chaos, and neutrality mean, and twist the definitions to fit. They are used, far more commonly, to glorify, demonize, excuse, or otherwise Fan Wank opinions about their favorite characters. Discuss it on a forum, fine. List it as a trope? NO. You don't WANT a Conversation In The Main Page.

edited 16th Jan '11 12:33:52 PM by Tyoria

ICBW, but I think what is being asked for is it to be said somewhere outside a forum thread. These aren't a very user friendly way of archiving rules. A mod like Fighteer or Eddie putting it on the actual Character Alignment page in plainer language is a much easier thing to point to.

Thanks Cryptic Mirror, that's what I was trying to say.

I apologize if I was rude to anyone on this forum during this thread (either by accident or otherwise), but I just wanted clarification for this issue, since I have encountered it numerous times and believed it need clarification.

The automated banners don't really have a good one for this. I'll work up some description text.

Edit: I'm not sure I can save an edit without breaking the colors in the table.

edited 16th Jan '11 1:13:22 PM by Fighteer

Know The Staff

Why, because a small group of very stubborn tropers, want to ruin everyone's fun, and the mods are backing them, and that's why 90% of this stuff is happening.

I'm answer a question, sure it's WMG but it's still my answer.

I think it's more likely because character alignment, where not explicitly stated by the creator(s), is inherently speculative/subjective and thus a natter magnet. Not to rain on your conspiracy parade or anything. <.<

says the small group to the fly.

Because Character Alignment is Natter Bait of the highest order.

I am not a number group, I am a free man!

... Okay, I suspect this is a bad place to be posting off-topic.

@ Post 29:

Is the banner going to change?

Cleaning up piles of Fan Wank left by alignment disputes is not fun. (Personally, I had nothing against Character Alignment before I saw its ultimate effect on pages here. When I first started editing, I was known to add a few alignments myself.) The whole thing about subjective tropes is yes, they can be fun, but not if they come at the expense of the fun once had by other people.

...perhaps then Tv Tropes needs their own alignment system to avoid using one that is from another work and isn't properly defined. Isn't that what the Sliding Scale tropes are for?

Ew, no. Anyway, we do of a sort, through our various Morality Tropes.

The problem with making up a definition of pre-existing terms is that a lot of people will come in with their own definition and use that one instead of one we made.

This is like the fifth time I've seen this come up. Maybe we need a write-up on The Problem With Character Alignments.

edited 3rd Feb '11 7:40:50 AM by TripleElation

Try this: The Great Character Alignment Debate. I'll offer it up for the Administrivia section if there are no objections.

Excellent.

I'd say cut the whole enforcement section. It is not needed after the explanation and comes off as bossy and negative.

Which part, Eddie? The part where it says "time to reinforce the rules", or the last paragraph?

I marked it in the draft. Everything south of that line.

Hmm, the text needs some sort of concluding paragraph. I suppose we can condense the rules section down a bit... are you working on it now?

Check it out now please.

Nudged the Word of God bit out. Other than that, looks okay to me.

Okay, it's launched. We can now refer people to The Great Character Alignment Debate when this question arises.