Brought up in the Trope Repair Shop
, we need to take out the in-jokey Understatement references. People are using it to make any given example "witty" rather than actually using the trope.
It's is extremely excessive, by early calculations there is a 95% misuse rate in that regard. But don't worry, the actual number to fix seems to be less than 9,000 (about 8700).
{Note, as of 12:30 am September 19th, the tally is down to 4228; We've gotten over halfway.}
{Note 2: as of 8:37 pm September 29th, it's down to 2412}
{Note 3: as of 6:16 Am October 3, there are 1868 wicks remaining. If the original assessment of ~90% misuse turns out to be correct, there will be between 800 and 900 good wicks left when we're done.}
{Note 4: As of 2:50 pm, October 6th, there were 1079 wicks remaining.}
{Note 5: as of 8:58 am on October 10, there were 729 wicks remaining. The entire list had been scrubbed. 111 of that 729 are those that a software glitch counts even though the page it's supposedly on no longer exists.}
{Note 6: Fast Eddie has modified the wick counter so that it no longer counts the dead namespaces "JBM" or "Crowning *". This killed off 75 of the phantom wicks remaining, for a final tally of 655 good wicks remaining of 8700+ original wicks}
Cleared Punctuated titles starting with:
- Completed!!
Cleared unpunctuated titles starting with:
- A-Z!
edited 21st Oct '11 8:54:57 AM by Madrugada
Honestly, I'm proud of the work that happened but I feel a little guilty for not doing much after the first two or so weeks. Big props to everyone.
Zzzzzzzzzz
We've had a day to celebrate, so I'm going to shut down this thread.
I've learned quite a bit about keeping one of these big efforts organized — mostly that there needs to be an anchor post where it's easy to see how far through the list we are, and that progress is being made. So I'm going to pick one of the others that's been languishing and try the same technique there.
Hope to see some of you there.
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
Dread Sorcerer of Auchtermuchty
This thread is still unlocked. I only helped a little. However, I'm going to see where Madrugada's gone, and ask people here to help over there, if possible.
Keeper of The Celestial Flame
Zzzzzzzzzz
If y'all are willing to follow me again, the next target is Discontinuity.
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
Unlocking by request.
"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer
Thanks. From time to time I've been knocking down at least 70 wicks after the cleanup but it kept growing.
"Learning without thinking is labor lost. Thinking without learning is dangerous."
Unlocking because it's grown back.
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
"In distress", my ass.
Well, I took a swing through the A's. The ones remaining are used as a trope (as in "Understatement: [blah]"), which I wasn't sure counted as misuse or not.
All your safe space are belong to Trump
I went through the F's and G's, and removed a bunch of Sink Holes, but most were correct as far as I can tell.
I've recently had to go back and change multiple "fixed" wicks because whoever deleted the pothole didn't bother to update the original text.
If the original example is "Bob is slightly upset" then you can't change it to "Bob is slightly upset." You've just made it say the exact opposite of what it originally said. That's not okay.
Rhymes with "Protracted."
Think of the mooks!
...
I think I'm going to weep.
I'll start near the end and work back.
EDIT: Okay, just did W-Z.
edited 16th May '12 7:35:41 PM by 32_Footsteps
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.
I'll work at the C's and D's. I don't think this trope will stop growing sinkholes...
edited 5th Dec '12 1:23:52 PM by Oreochan
"Learning without thinking is labor lost. Thinking without learning is dangerous."
Think of the mooks!
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I don't care if you actually meant to type "sinkholes," in my personal continuity, you always meant to say "sinholes."
Think of the mooks!
Okay, between removing sinholes and people not understanding what Understatement is, I've gotten through U-Z now, and we're back to 783. Sigh... I also updated the comment about the trope on Pothole Magnet, so as to let folks know that we're having to clean up. Again.
This is Why Fandom Can't Have Nice Things.
edited 17th May '12 9:09:00 AM by 32_Footsteps
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.
Dread Sorcerer of Auchtermuchty
It's a pity you can't watchlist the related to page of an article, that would mean we could put one or two people onto watching things like this that attract sinkholes.
Keeper of The Celestial Flame
Think of the mooks!
Said person almost would have to also be on duty to instruct folks why such things are bad - nip unwanted habits in the bud.
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.
I'm going to work on the E's and H's. Down to 756 wicks.
"Learning without thinking is labor lost. Thinking without learning is dangerous."
"In distress", my ass.
Damn things are sprouting like weeds...
Went through A to Ch (again), heading off to RL.
All your safe space are belong to Trump
Think of the mooks!
Should we make a form PM that we copy and send to folks that we catch adding an Understatement sinkhole recently? I just went over what I did and caught one that was added earlier today; I considered sending a PM, but I figured I'd talk it over with folks before pulling the trigger (also, on the theory that I'd probably be a bit too testy in my PM, given that this is the second time I've plowed into this thread, and I've gone over several hundred bad uses of Understatement at this point).
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.
Think of the mooks!
Okay, cleared out To- to the end of T-; going backwards, next is Time And Space. 690 remain.
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.
I've sent out multiple PMs along those lines as we were finishing up the first cleanup of this, and on the one time I swept over the wicks after that (it was... end of November, I think?). I had a couple people thank me for letting them know, and a bunch of no responses. Here's the text I use:
This is a note to let you know that Understatement is only to be used for understatement within the work itself, not for tropers' statements. If it's not something a character said, please don't pothole it to Understatement.
Please see this TRS thread for more details.
Thank you!
And here's the markup, in case anyone wants to use it:
Hello!
This is a note to let you know that {{Understatement}} is only to be used for understatement within the work itself, not for tropers' statements. If it's not something a character said, please don't pothole it to Understatement.
Please see [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1314748114062998800&page=1 this TRS thread]] for more details.
Thank you!
edited 17th May '12 4:19:00 PM by Nocturna
Think of the mooks!
Okay, The Far Side onward has been checked; The Evil Prince is next. Currently down to 659.
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.
(Avatar by Coffee)
What, this sprung up again? I'll go and axe some.
The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground
These wicks grow fast, yesterday it was 659 and today it's 662 (now 647). Anyway, E is done. Working on F and G.
"Learning without thinking is labor lost. Thinking without learning is dangerous."
@188 Really nice of you to reserve a glass for me. I brought my homemade pumpkin ginger pie, because who doesn't appreciate pie for a celebration?
To KJ Mackley, who first found the problem. To Balmung, who demonstrated just how badly this was needed. To Madrugada, who organized us and kept up morale even as it took over a month.
And most of all to everyone, even the ones who never put their names in this thread, even if it was only one or two articles that they cleaned up. Too often, it can be easy to forget why I trope, but an effort like this and the camaraderie it engenders remind me, even beyond my love of entertainment, why I edit on this wiki.
Salut, congratulations, and thank you everyone. (Raises glass)
edited 10th Oct '11 7:41:08 PM by 32_Footsteps
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.