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Real Life section maintenance (including NRLEP and LRLEO) (New Crowner 9/20/25)

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Note: If a newly launched trope was already given a No Real Life Examples, Please! or Limited Real Life Examples Only designation while it was being drafted on the Trope Launch Pad, additions to the proper index do not need to go through this thread. Instead, simply ask the staff to add the trope via this thread.

This is the thread to report tropes with problematic Real Life sections.

Common problems include:

Real Life sections on the wiki are kept as long as they don't become a problem. If you find an article with such problems, report it here. Please note that the purpose of this thread is to clean up and maintain real life sections, not raze them. Cutting should be treated as a last resort, so please only suggest cutting RL sections or a subset thereof you think the examples in question are completely unsalvageable.

If historical RL examples are not causing any problems, consider whether it would be better to propose a No Recent Examples, Please! (via this forum thread) for RL instead of NRLEP. If RL examples are causing problems only for certain subjects, consider whether a Limited Real Life Examples Only restriction would be preferable to NRLEP.

If you think a trope should be No Real Life Examples, Please! or Limited Real Life Examples Only, then this thread is the place to discuss it. However, please check Keep Real Life Examples first to see if it has already been brought up in the past. If not, state the reasons and add it to the crowner.

Before adding to the crowner:

  • The trope should be proposed in the thread, along with reasons for why a crowner is necessary instead of a cleanup.
  • There must be support from others in thread.
  • Any objections should be addressed.
  • Allow a minimum of 24 hours for discussion.

When adding to the crowner:

  • Be sure to add the trope name, a link to where the discussion started, the reasons for crownering, whether the restriction being proposed is NRLEP or LRLEO (and in the latter case, which subject(s) the restriction would be for), and the date added.
  • Announce in thread that you are adding the item.
  • An ATT advert should be made as well (batch items together if more than one trope goes up in a day).

In order for a crowner to pass:

  • Must have been up for a minimum of a week
  • There must be a 2:1 ratio
  • If the vote is exactly 2:1 or +/- 1 vote from that, give it a couple extra days to see if any more votes come in
  • Once passed, tropes must be indexed on the appropriate NRLEP or LRLEO index
  • Should the vote fail, the trope should be indexed on KRLE page

Sex Tropes, Rape and Sexual Harassment Tropes, and Morality Tropes are banned from having RL sections so tropes under those indexes don't need a crowner vote.

As per Real Life Troping, we never trope unscripted real life sports — so sports tropes where RL examples would only apply to those scenarios don't need a crowner vote.

Crowner entries that have already been called will have "(CLOSED)" appended to them — and are no longer open for discussion.

After bringing up a trope for discussion, please wait at least a day for feedback before adding it to the crowner.

NRLEP tag:

%% Trope was declared Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease via crowner by the Real Life Maintenance thread: [crowner link]
%%https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13350380440A15238800

LRLEO tag:

%% Trope was declared Administrivia/LimitedRealLifeExamplesOnly via crowner by the Real Life Maintenance thread: [crowner link]
%%The following restrictions apply: [list restriction(s) here]
%%https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13350380440A15238800

Notes:
  • This thread is not for general discussion regarding policies for Real Life sections or crowners. Please take those conversations to this Wiki Talk thread.
  • Do not try to overturn previous No Real Life Examples, Please! or Limited Real Life Examples Only decisions without a convincing argument.
  • As mentioned here, the consensus is that NRLEP warnings in trope page descriptions can use bold text so that they stand out.
  • The [[noreallife]] tag no longer works. This is a deprecated tag that was introduced many years ago — originally, it would have displayed a NRLEP warning banner when you edited the page. Per word of admin as of 2025, any replacement for this system will not use markup, so these tags can be removed.
  • If a newly launched trope was already given a No Real Life Examples, Please! or Limited Real Life Examples Only designation while it was being drafted on the Trope Launch Pad, additions to the proper index do not need to go through this thread. Instead, simply ask the staff to add the trope via this thread.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Aug 3rd 2025 at 6:31:00 AM

VeryMelon Since: Jul, 2011 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#4326: Mar 31st 2015 at 6:40:36 AM

Right, Sexuality trope. My bad.

MsCC93 Since: May, 2012
#4327: Mar 31st 2015 at 7:43:01 AM

I would nominate Loners Are Freaks because it's a harsh and biased generalization to people who have difficulties making friends. It's also bashing them as well.

SolipSchism Since: Jun, 2014
#4328: Mar 31st 2015 at 8:28:43 AM

[up] I was going to disagree, but after reading that Real Life section, I'm not impressed. It's basically a cavalcade of serial killers with a few outliers (such as "Presumably, this is the principle, in part, of the wingman, as opposed to going out on your own to pick up women", which is shoehorning of an impressive caliber).

And there are a lot of Justifying Edits and Natter, and a disturbing amount of comments that just aren't relevant. Like, sure the VA Tech guy was a loner. Sure, he sat on his rocking chair for days or whatever. But "stalked several female students"? We already established that he shot up a school; I think the "freak" aspect is covered. And the two JEs on that example are atrocious. The first siezes on the last sentence of the main paragraph about churches, and goes off on a complete tangent about exorcisms and physicians, and the second is just a fluffy general statement about how no one wants to admit to being friends with a school shooter.

At the very least, it undoubtedly needs a cleanup. Given the state of it, I think I'd vote for NRLEP as well.

MsCC93 Since: May, 2012
#4329: Mar 31st 2015 at 10:10:45 AM

I mean, looking back, I do think getting rid of the whole thing would be an overreaction. Cleaning up the examples would be better.

SolipSchism Since: Jun, 2014
#4330: Mar 31st 2015 at 10:16:26 AM

The first thing we should decide is if we're okay applying the definition of Loners Are Freaks to real people.

If we're not willing to call real-world Hitler "evil" (and I've already explained why I think that's the correct stance to take), then I don't think we should be willing to call real-world serial killers "freaks". "Freaks" is a value judgment that belongs in the same category as "evil", in my opinion.

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
SolipSchism Since: Jun, 2014
#4333: Mar 31st 2015 at 11:00:24 AM

Is "sexuality trope" a reason for NRLEP? In any case, only one of those examples on Single-Target Sexuality is legit anyway. Two of them are misuse (demisexuality and a gay man having romantic feelings for one and only one woman) and one of them ("There's a general assumption") is a general example. A clean-up at the very least, and I'm inclined to say that it's impossible in real life anyway. Just because a person may only ever fall in love with one person doesn't mean they're incapable of loving anyone else.

edited 31st Mar '15 11:00:39 AM by SolipSchism

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#4334: Mar 31st 2015 at 12:49:14 PM

Real life examples seem utterly irrelevant to the meaning of the trope.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
SolipSchism Since: Jun, 2014
#4335: Mar 31st 2015 at 1:10:17 PM

Yeahp. It's not inherently impossible for me to imagine somebody embodying the trope, but there'd be no way to prove it aside from a hypothetical example of a person who only ever had one love. But again, that doesn't mean they have a single-target sexuality, it just means they found the right person and didn't need to keep looking, or some similarly non-tropable situation.

But a gay guy who fell in love with one woman and never had feelings for another woman is not an example, nor is "you should be faithful to your spouse", nor is "some people don't feel sexual urges unless they feel a romantic connection". The only reason the Bina Aspen example fits is because it's lampshaded: She explicitly states that her sexual orientation is "that guy". If she hadn't explicitly stated it, even she wouldn't be an example.

edited 31st Mar '15 1:11:29 PM by SolipSchism

AnotherDuck No, the other one. from Stockholm Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: Mu
No, the other one.
#4336: Mar 31st 2015 at 2:40:58 PM

Forgot About His Powers: The real life examples there are generic examples. Removed.

Loners Are Freaks: Aside from the usual amount of generics, we don't call people freaks. I'd call NRLEP.

Single-Target Sexuality: Gossip in my mind. I am however okay with people who confirm or admit it themselves. One proper example left after cleaning.

Check out my fanfiction!
SolipSchism Since: Jun, 2014
#4337: Mar 31st 2015 at 3:03:46 PM

[up] I'm down with everything you just said.

Terrie Since: Apr, 2011
#4338: Mar 31st 2015 at 4:23:16 PM

ACW, based on the description, how is Better the Devil You Know NOT a villain trope?

AnotherDuck No, the other one. from Stockholm Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: Mu
No, the other one.
#4339: Mar 31st 2015 at 5:10:47 PM

It can work purely as an antagonist trope, without references to evilness. However, it seems to inevitable cast moral judgements on the people involved. Even if it's not inherently evil, it's still got a few other issues (like flamebait) that make it unsuitable for real life examples.

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randomtroper89 from The Fire Nation Since: Nov, 2010
#4340: Mar 31st 2015 at 8:50:44 PM

Everybody Knew Already should go to Narrative Tropes, and the examples can be moved to Open Secret.

Memers Since: Aug, 2013
#4341: Mar 31st 2015 at 11:07:14 PM

[up][up][up] It is a straight up enemy trope.

Manipulating an opposition force into keeping a leader that is good for you or deliberately not aiming to try and kill him instead of opening a power vacuum which might end up a replacing him with someone who might be unpredictable or smarter is something that is actually really common in real life. If anything I would say the examples are light.

VeryMelon Since: Jul, 2011 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
AnotherDuck No, the other one. from Stockholm Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: Mu
No, the other one.
#4343: Apr 1st 2015 at 1:52:13 AM

[up]I would add that it's a narrative about those types of goverments as villains. It specifically refers to the Hollywood versions of them, rather than as legitimate forms of governments.

If it isn't that, it's basically just a fascist and/or communist party taking over, which isn't a trope in real life.

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ACW from Arlington, VA (near Washington, D.C.) Since: Jul, 2009
#4344: Apr 1st 2015 at 6:00:49 AM

I'll grant the flamebait thing, but, for example, the Bush-Obama example...not really calling them VILLAINS per se.

edited 1st Apr '15 12:17:24 PM by ACW

VeryMelon Since: Jul, 2011 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#4346: Apr 1st 2015 at 1:13:05 PM

Everything in the RL folder seems to be in the vein of analysis and speculation, not actual examples. Nuke on the basis of having not a damn thing to do with the trope.

edited 1st Apr '15 1:13:24 PM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
SolipSchism Since: Jun, 2014
#4347: Apr 1st 2015 at 2:06:36 PM

[up] Without having actually read the examples, Fighteer's analysis sounds good. I do believe Conveniently Close Planet could happen in Real Life but (for reasons inherent to the trope) it's highly unlikely and would be super notable if it did. I vote for a clean-up on Aisle 5 but not to destroy Aisle 5.

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#4348: Apr 1st 2015 at 2:08:07 PM

For example, "The Moon is conveniently close to the Earth." Yeah, but the Moon is not a planet.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
SolipSchism Since: Jun, 2014
#4349: Apr 1st 2015 at 2:15:27 PM

There are so many reasons that's Not An Example. For starters, even though this isn't explicitly mentioned and I'm not sure how to explain why, I don't think anything that is a satellite of another thing should qualify as being conveniently close to that other thing.

The trope is basically a type of Contrived Coincidence if you think about it (which is why it's on the Suspiciously Convenient Index), so if there's a justification for it (like, say, gravity), it shouldn't fit. In fact, I don't think any two known bodies in the same solar system should qualify. If a spaceship with no unrealistic technology somehow travels from Earth to Saturn in the space of a few days, that's not a Conveniently Close Planet, that's run-of-the-mill Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale. Now, if a hitherto undiscovered planet somehow pops up a few days' travel away from Earth, that's an example of a Conveniently Close Planet.

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#4350: Apr 1st 2015 at 2:17:02 PM

Conveniently Close Planet concerns itself with travel paths/times in space. What is being travelled between is not important to the trope.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Projects: Long Term/Perpetual: Real Life Section Maintenance
20th Sep '25 9:57:50 AM

Crown Description:

Vote UP to cut real life examples; vote DOWN to keep.

Anything marked DONE has been resolved.

In order for a crowner to pass:

  • Must have been up for a minimum of a week
  • There must be a 2:1 ratio
  • If the vote is exactly 2:1 or +/- 1 vote from that, give it a couple extra days to see if any more votes come in
  • Once passed, tropes must be indexed on the appropriate NRLEP or LRLEO index
  • Should the vote fail, the trope should be indexed on KRLE page

Total posts: 16,914
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