Since we have a thread for improving the descriptions for tropes
, I thought I would make one for improving descriptions for works. This is also a good place for requesting creator page cleaning.
Here are some common problems with many work descriptions:
- Over-analytical Walls of Text: Many works that have a high Troper Critical Mass have egregiously long descriptions, and could use some trimming, possibly moving some of it to the Analysis page.
- Critical reception/audience reaction cruft: "Edit Tip #12: We are not interested in whether or not something is or was popular. Whether or not it was liked has nothing to do with tropes." In other words, work descriptions should not contain paragraphs nor any mention at all about how the work was received. Zap it.
- Editorialism: A similar issue to the above, some tropers have a tendency to try to sneak stealth reviews into works' descriptions. This is obvious deletion fodder - Kill It with Fire.
- Plagiarism: Copy-pasted text from another source, such as Wikipedia.
So just post any work or creator page descriptions that are in need of cleanup and we'll see what we can do.
edited 23rd Dec '15 8:06:12 PM by MyTimingIsOff
Snow Patrol - it needs pretty much everything, but it would be really, really nice if somebody would write a proper description.
Is it alright if I put the self-deomstrating portion of the Sweet Bro And Hella Jeff into a self-contained folder or separate page? There was a folder for the non-self-demonstrating bit, anyway.
edited 4th May '13 6:31:27 PM by dakinebrah
I would move it to its own page.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Zzzzzzzzzz
Yes, please. Move it to SelfDemonstrating.Sweet Bro And Hella Jeff
And it appears that was already done.
edited 5th May '13 5:05:55 AM by Madrugada
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
Dragon Writer
I don't see it mentioned in the OP, but one recurring problem I have with a lot of work page descriptions is when they describe the plot (as if from an in-universe perspective) first and only at the end finally tell you what (media, creator, year) the blasted thing actually is.
An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.
Dragon Writer
ICO's description reads like something from Wikipedia, and not in the good way.
An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.
Yes I was just at the Sword of the Stranger Page. I looked in the history and saw that this was deleted:
With beautiful, detailed animation and amazing action scenes, Sword Of The Stranger is a very highly recommended samurai film. Jidaigeki specifically would be the classification, but with over the top anime fight scenes.
Stop surfing TV Tropes and go rent it. Go!
The reason was that "Nice to see some enthusiasm, but remember that this isn't a review page". I'm not really sure it is that bad, and now the description on the page is somewhat lacking. So I'm just wondering if I should add it back in?
edited 19th Jun '13 12:54:10 PM by jjjj
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
No. In general, work pages aren't even allowed to talk about external critical reception. So straight-up telling the reader to watch a movie is certainly too much.
Gidget needs an actual description added.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
It's super effective.
Yogscast Sips has a style which can probably be described objectively as to Sips' general approach to Let's Playing, type of humour, his projection of backstories onto characters, his fantastic updating schedule, etc. Right now it's a list of "popular series include...", which aren't even close to up-to-date. Apart from maybe the reference to Ninjas, it's almost a time capsule into 2012, before I really watched any of Sips' solo series.
Also, is referring to Torchwood as "very, very campy" a value judgement? I can't tell.
edited 8th Aug '13 8:34:31 AM by OldManHoOh
I came across something called Static Space with a really vague description and no external links. It doesn't even bother describing the medium, and neither does the namespace. The only thing I know about it is from its paragraph in the Fan Verse page. Apparently, it's a Fan Verse based on Asteroids inspired from some "(in)famous" Fan Fic called Asteroids: Festival Among the Rocks. I've Google searched this verse, but I can't find it. And That's Terrible.
edited 13th Aug '13 7:00:38 PM by Rethkir
Image Source. Please update whenever an image is changed.
re: Torchwood. In this context, I think it's more like calling something "Very dark" or such. It's a style description, meaning "ostentatious, exaggerated, affected, theatrical." I'd remove the "very, very" though.
My alignment is Chaotic Cute.
Yeah, that synopsis ought to be moved off to Synopsis/.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Glory in the Thunder: A nice trope list, but no description.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls: Good-looking trope list, but the description is seemingly plagiarized from Wikipedia.
As Strong Said said: "What? That's not an improvement!"
TV Tropes' Sonic Wiki Curator
The summary for Paleoworld needs some help. As is, it's mostly lifted from Wikipedia.
Experience has taught me to investigate anything that glows.
Frankly, the whole quote can go away.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Am I a weirdo?
I noticed a bit of a problem with the page for Helloween. A large portion of the description is lifted from the Pandora bio for the band. If someone who's a bigger fan than I am wants to make a go at fixing the page, that would be great. If not, I can probably make a run at it some time in the near future, when I have time, and am fully awake.
Bigotry will NEVER be welcome on TV Tropes.
Mario's Time Machine has no description whatsoever and only three tropes.
iRidescence
It's created last year and has only 2 wicks (which are listed in other work pages rather than proper crosswicking) and no inbounds. Something tells me that it can just be cut for being a stub.
edited 10th Aug '14 12:13:17 PM by theAdeptRogue
Yep, also, one trope example is a ZCE, so there are only 2 tropes listed. Cut away - I'll list it in YKTTW Crash Rescue to make sure.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Yeah, we prefer not to plagiarize descriptions.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman