Trope Description Improvement Drive

As discussed in the Broken Base Cleanup thread, I would like to propose this addition to the main page of Broken Base:

It can be placed either in the bullet point for the 2+ factions requirement or on its own, consensus pending.

"As long as I have my comrades with me, I can do anything!" (She/Her) (Current Focus: Cleaning Hell Is That Noise misuse)

I had earlier refuted that The Ghost cannot overlap with Adapted Out on the basis that a character being mentioned in an adaptation still counts as the character existing in the adaptation even if they don't physically appear.

I made the suggestions to revise the Adapted Out page's heading and waited for feedback on my suggestion before putting it in place, but have yet to hear a reply.

As the decision to have the heading of Adapted Out describe the trope as overlapping with The Ghost was made by a moderator, I wished to get permission before enacting the revision I had in mind.

Please tell me if it's okay to make this correction to the Adapted Out page.

I feel like Plan B Resolution and Imperfect Ritual should refer to each other, because if an Imperfect Ritual is used by the heroes it will very often by a Plan B Resolution as opposed to the intended ritual.

I support a mutual reference between both.

135 - 169 - 273 - 191 - 188 - 230 - 300

I'd really like to get some clarification on whether my earlier suggestion for how to update the heading for Adapted Out is approved, because I don't want to end up stepping on any toes in the process of acting on this.

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to foresee that there are consequences to undoing a change mandated by a mod.

Any feedback on the proposal at (x5) would be appreciated.

"As long as I have my comrades with me, I can do anything!" (She/Her) (Current Focus: Cleaning Hell Is That Noise misuse)

Cerebus Syndrome has a note "it's not Cerberus". We have even have a page about it, Cerberus Syndrome. Should it be wicked there?

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup

That Was Objectionable could probably use this line near the end: "Normally, an attorney has to call an objection, then, when asked by the judge, name a specific court procedure the opposing council is violating, and await the decision.".

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup

Moon Logic Puzzle starts by offering this contrast:

It's that last one that raises concerns for me. Considering the page image is of a famous puzzle that hinges on an untranslatable pun, I'm pretty sure puzzle solutions requiring associative leaps and outside cultural-dependent knowledge are counted as moon logic.

Edited by Noaqiyeum on Nov 30th 2023 at 10:11:33 AM

The Revolution Will Not Be Tropeable

Brain/Computer Interface has this paragraph

"Actual physical jacks are rapidly approaching Zeerust status nowadays, though, as the heretofore insuperable complications of physical penetrations through the skin seem more and more like unnecessary risks in a world rapidly moving towards wireless solutions. When physical jacks are involved, however, they will be the tell-tale sign of an elite hacker or of certain specific professions, such as starship pilot. "

This doesn't sound right to me. I get that wireless connections are becoming increasingly omnipresent, but it's not as if hardwire connections have *no* advantages. Namely, stability and security, both of which i expect most people would value when dealing with something as important as a brain.

I think it depends on how much modern media tends to move towards wireless connections regarding the trope. If it does, then the paragraph has merit.

The universe is under no obligation to make sense to us.

That's the sort of thing that Real Life and Analysis is useful for. (On the one hand, easily-infected continuously open wounds. On the other hand, easily-hacked Internet of Things, meatware edition.)

The Revolution Will Not Be Tropeable

even if all modern depictions of brain computer interfaces use wifi only, that wouldn't be zeerust

Zeerust is depictions of the future that are glaringly outdated. An example would be Alien, where the Nostromo is equipped with computers straight out of the late 70s.

Even if fiction has a preference for wireless, we still use hardwire connections in the real world, and we have no reason to think we will stop using them any time soon. Its not outdated technology, it just has different pros and cons compared to wireless

It was brought up in this IP thread that the first two paragraphs of Shipper on Deck are misleading as they refer to "active shipping", the character "trying to make them realize their true feelings" and "playing matchmaker". That's the definition of The Matchmaker. Apparently Shipper on Deck is just for a character shipping other characters in-universe.

My suggestion for the first two paragraphs of Shipper on Deck with references to The Matchmaker removed:

---

A character in a story ships two other characters in the story while they're both still claiming that She Is Not My Girlfriend.

This character could be someone in love with one of the characters in the pairing who wants their beloved to be happy, or they could be a very good friend. If everyone in the cast is shipping the same pairing it becomes a case of Everyone Can See It. May overlap with Love Informant.

---

Would this work?

Edited by eroock on Dec 10th 2023 at 2:21:43 PM

I've brought it up before, but I think Aliens in Cardiff needs some work.

As written, the description is very western centric and seems somewhat...stuck in the past.

Johannesburg gets namedropped and so does Singapore, among others. These are not small, out of the way places. We're talking about major cities and an incredibly population dense, wealthy and technologically advanced nation.

The description could probably use shortening to not give so many examples (as a lot of them are wrong) and the actual focus of the trope needs to be a bit more clearly defined, I think.

Oh yeah I'd delete that second paragraph

New theme music also a box

Any more input on Brain/Computer Interface?

Cut the Zeerust bit as others have mentioned.

The beginning sentence is a little nattery "In Cyberpunk and other Sci-fi", just say "in science fiction."

There's also a clear tic by the writer of the opening, as they use "it's natural" once too often you can probably snip it so it sounds less redundant.

I noticed something on Got Volunteered. It says:

In Real Life, 3 or more kids play a game called "1, 2, 3 Not It!" or "Nose Goes" to pick a "volunteer" for an unwanted task.

...but that's not really what this trope is, since with a game like that, there's no pretense the loser actually wants to do the task, and neither are they just chosen by others without any input by themselves. "1,2,3, not it" is a version of Drawing Straws, which is a trope that in turn has a very narrow description about only being about that specific game. Should that sentence be moved? Or is there a trope which is more general about games deciding on a loser for something?

I've always been confused about the distinctions between Two Lines, No Waiting, Third Line, Some Waiting, and Four Lines, All Waiting, until I looked at the canonical list of subtle trope distinctions and apparently it has nothing to do with the number of plots but the key is the "waiting"; in Two Lines, No Waiting the plots are connected from the get go, in Third Line, Some Waiting the main plots are connected but there is a minor subplot that seems completely unrelated until the end, and in Four Lines, All Waiting none of the plots are connected until the end of the story. That makes sense, but the thing is... the actual pages give no indication whatsoever that is the case and seem to be outright misleading.

Two Lines, No Waiting just describes it as "two plot lines intersecting" without any discussion of them being more obviously connected and relevant to each other from the beginning, and potholes a mention of using three plot points to Three Lines, Some Waiting and four to Four Lines, All Waiting in spite of the fact they are supposed to have nothing to do with number. Meanwhile Four Lines, All Waiting describes it as involving specifically four or more plots in an episode. Only Third Line, Some Waiting seems to have a consistent definition as having to do not with number but with one plot being less significant and connected than the others until far later on.

Also the tropes seem very TV-centric, referring constantly to "episodes" and such, ignoring that you can absolutely pull this off in a movie or a book as well. And for some reason there is no link on any of the pages to Switching P.O.V., which will often (but not always, sometimes the POV characters are in the same place dealing with the same plot) how this will be pulled off in a book with limited perspective. Rotating Protagonist does mention Four Lines, All Waiting but not vice versa.

Does anyone have ideas on how to clean up these descriptions and more clearly distinguish the differences between them (and while we are at it throwing in Switching P.O.V., Simultaneous Arcs, Rotating Protagonist and Rotating Arcs?)

The trope names are also really bad. They don't tell much about what the tropes really are.

The universe is under no obligation to make sense to us.

I feel like the description of School Bullying Is Harmless is bloated, and a lot of the explanations on why school bullying is harmful should just go to the analysis page. I also noticed a lot of examples describe themselves as Type 1 or Type 2, which I don't think is allowed on the wiki anymore.

Edited by PlasmaPower on Dec 16th 2023 at 6:02:14 AM

Thomas fans needed! Come join me in the the show's cleanup thread!

OK, not a "trope" but shouldn't the description of Film at least define what exactly film is?

Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation project

It's really unclear what the index is supposed to contain. Is it any motion picture that's not a TV series? Especially that the line tends to get blurry with streaming services becoming more common and phasing out both regular TV services and cinema.

Edited by petersohn on Dec 24th 2023 at 9:21:26 PM

The universe is under no obligation to make sense to us.

Edited by Tylerbear12 on Dec 24th 2023 at 6:39:15 AM