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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

SomeLibre WELCOME BACK MOTHERFUCKER from [SERVICE UNAVAILABLE] Since: Dec, 2020 Relationship Status: Chat, is this real?
WELCOME BACK MOTHERFUCKER
#9201: Jan 11th 2021 at 5:17:08 AM

Alright, another cargo of tropes!

    Body Sushi 
  • Western counterparts to this trope include serving food from trays carried on little people's heads (a practice which appeared in The Three Musketeers (1973), and which Queen reportedly did with trays of cocaine at a party) and Lady Caroline Lamb's alleged stunt of emerging naked from an enormous soup tureen at a banquet.
  • Certain high-end strip clubs and sushi restaurants in North America are known to arrange this. Bring your wallet.
    • Among those places are Geishahouse in Las Vegas and Nakedsushi in Toronto, Canada.
  • China has outlawed this practice as unsanitary.
  • South African entrepreneur Kenny Kunene once held a birthday party that featured nyotaimori, which caused a great deal of controversy.
  • When performed in the West, many feminists have protested it, and some Japanese people feel embarrassed by it.

    Autopsy Snack Time 
  • This is sometimes used as a litmus test for rookie cops with the veterans often bringing a snack for the rookie's first autopsy. David Simon's book Homicide also recounts how they'll often treat the rookie to a greasy breakfast before heading to the morgue for much the same reason.
  • Occasionally, careless medical students will eat right in the middle of dissecting cadavers. It's actually considered something of a right of passage during cadaver lab to become comfortable enough to eat your lunch in the same room with the specimens after an initial period of unease.
  • In his Screenwriter's Guide to the Autopsy, Ed Uthman notes: "For some odd reason, many prosectors report increased appetite after an autopsy, so the first thing they want to do afterwards is grab a bite to eat."
  • Several forensic pathologists have admitted to having lunch in the autopsy room in their memoirs.
  • This used to be a common thing in the medical profession until the introduction of the aseptic technique by Drs. Ignaz Semmelweiss and Joseph Lister in the mid-19th century. In fact, it was such an ingrained norm that Dr. Semmelweiss was essentially laughed out of the professionnote  (and later beaten to death in an insane asylum) for insisting on such crazy things as washing one's hands between dissecting a corpse and attending to a newborn, despite the demonstrable tenfold decrease in the dreaded puerperal fever in his hospital. Only after the much more influential Lister suggested basically the same did the notion take root.
  • An autopsy procedure can take more than four hours when conducted in detail, and involves some significant shifting and turning of the cadaver to inspect it from all sides. An M.E. performing one single-handed is liable to need a snack after that much mental and physical work, albeit hopefully after a thorough clean-up.
  • An interview with the female lead of Bones had her state that this technically was a common occurrence since the crew would break for lunch without taking down the set or the corpses. Humorously, while everyone in the crew eventually stopped losing their appetite around the corpses, she herself had minimal issue with being put off her food as she was a vegan.
  • Science teachers sometimes keep their lunches in the laboratory refrigerator, alongside the frogs, rats or fetal pigs used for dissection studies. If there's no room in the teachers' lounge fridge, they figure it's better than doing without their yogurt or tuna salad.

    Baguette Beatdown 
  • As a general rule of thumb, any French bread more than 2 days old can get pretty hard, making it a valid candidate for this trope.
  • Live demonstration of this trope.
  • A joking version of this was used in the one and only battle of the Conch Republic War of Independence (Key West, Florida, 1982; TOW has the story). As a protest against a US Customs roadblock, Key West declared independence and bonked someone in a US Navy uniform over the head with a loaf of Cuban bread (similar to a baguette but longer and softer), then surrendered. Baguette Beatdowns have appeared from time to time since, including a 1995 protest against an unannounced army reserve exercise.
  • Have you ever... been so pissed you hit a cop with French bread?
  • Inverted by Egyptian protesters, as some with nothing to use as a helmet strapped bread to their heads.note  This is less loony than it sounds, though, since Egyptian bread is a thick, tough brown pita that could easily provide the same degree of protection as hard leather. Still, as plausible as it might be, you kinda have to admit that it looks hella funny, which is why when a newspaper photographer miraculously captured the magic moment in which a bread-helmet-wearing Yemeni protester was seen yelling at the top of his lungs and Milking the Giant Cow, the image immediately went viral. If you want any further details on this, just read Know Your Meme's page on the so-called "Bread Helmet Man".
  • South African rusks aren't the soft, super-sweet baby treats closer to cookies/ biscuits you're probably thinking of. (For those, you need to ask for Marie biscuits.) Oh, no: real rusks are yeasted cobble stones you can easily break teeth on if you forget to dunk them enough, and which can last years if stored properly. They have served as ad hoc thrown weaponry at many a riot (it's a packed lunch, not a weapon — honest!). Also, the crumbs make for very irritating practical jokes of the "thumb tack on seat" kind. Just ask anybody dealing with kids after break, especially if it was muesli rusks.

    Camp Cook 
  • Very few members of the U.S. Armed Forces are remembered for being chefs, but long before he founded Wendy's, Dave Thomas was a mess sergeant at an American base in Germany during the 1950s.

    Buffet Buffoonery 
  • There have been numerous guides written for maximizing one's visit to a buffet. Typical tips include things like where to sit, what to wear, what sort of exercise to do beforehand, when to go to the bathroom, and what to drink (nothing, of course, because liquids are cheap and fill up your stomach). See, for example, this link.
  • According to the BBC, two diners have been banned from an all-you-can-eat restaurant in Brighton. The diners have accused the restaurant of not living up to its policy, while the owner claims they were banned for being rude to other customers.
  • There have been quite some lawsuits by people who didn'tget all they could eat and sued for false advertising.

    Chez Restaurant 
  • Many a New Yorker has joked about sampling the fine cuisine at "Chez Stadium" (a pun on Shea Stadium, most notable as the former home of baseball's New York Mets).
  • Applies, of course, to countless restaurants in France, but is somewhat subverted in that these are often simple, "family" restaurants. This naming technique also applies to many bars, often with a "beauf", low-class name such as "Chez Ginette", "Chez Bébert".
  • Alice Waters' world-famous "Chez Panisse".
  • Want to make your favorite fast food place sound classy? Use Chez + mascot's name. Use a French form if you can! McDonald's is now Chez Renaud. Jack in the Box is now Chez Jacques. KFC is now Chez le Colonel.
  • This naming scheme has become so ubiquitous that its French associations are often completely ignored, leading to restaurants with names like "Chez Kimchi" (a real Korean restaurant in Australia.)

    Little People Are Surreal 
  • Little people have been used for spectacle throughout history:
    • Many royal courts had a "court dwarf" (the Ottoman Empire had a whole troupe of them). Little people were also a popular addition to The Freakshow; one such performer was Charles Stratton (also known by the stage name of "General Tom Thumb"), who was discovered by P.T. Barnum and became one of the nineteenth century's most famous international celebrities.
    • The Kingdom of the Little People, which is Exactly What It Says on the Tin, is a theme park in China. Many people consider it degrading, but the inhabitants themselves are okay with the situation and view the theme park as home.
    • Freddie Mercury reportedly hired a troupe of little people to carry trays of cocaine on their heads at the party celebrating Queen's 1978 album Jazz.
    • On the other hand, a little person who appeared in Miley Cyrus's shows wrote a pretty angry rant about being treated as a prop, and — as mentioned in the Film section above — Peter Dinklage usually explicitly refuses to play fantasy creatures.

Cassie | they/them/he | Help needed for filling out entries on the Series X SCP category
PlasmaPower Piece of Cake. Since: Jan, 2015
Piece of Cake.
#9202: Jan 11th 2021 at 5:33:44 AM

I'm wondering about Repetitive Name. There's a crapton of entires in the RL folder. Makes me think this phenomenon is too common in real life.

Edited by PlasmaPower on Jan 11th 2021 at 9:41:39 AM

Thomas fans needed! Come join me in the the show's cleanup thread!
Albert3105 Since: Jun, 2013
#9203: Jan 11th 2021 at 6:02:22 AM

The RL examples should obviously be restricted to Repetitive Names picked on purpose, and not those that accidentally arose.

Edited by Albert3105 on Jan 11th 2021 at 9:03:12 AM

PlasmaPower Piece of Cake. Since: Jan, 2015
Piece of Cake.
#9204: Jan 11th 2021 at 6:08:11 AM

BTW, are we ever going to have that restricted RL examples section that was proposed a couple of pages ago?

Thomas fans needed! Come join me in the the show's cleanup thread!
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#9205: Jan 11th 2021 at 8:08:01 AM

I don't think we should give real life examples of specific picky eaters at all, that would fall under not troping real life people, and it has an element of shaming about it.

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
laserviking42 from End-World Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
#9206: Jan 11th 2021 at 8:54:46 AM

I added Million to One Chance since someone did agree with me.

Also I do agree that Repetitive Name should be added, as the trope is for characters who are named as such for narrative purposes only.

I didn't choose the troping life, the troping life chose me
Morgenthaler Since: Feb, 2016
#9207: Jan 11th 2021 at 10:24:43 AM

In the ROCEJ cleanup thread, Politics was brought up as a problematic page. Other should probably also be looked at, especially "Businesses" and "Religion". As myself and others argued, the definition of Role-Ending Misdemeanor is "when, due to objectionable behavior or even outright criminal misconduct in the personal life of a performer or creator (and despite the trope name, some of these role enders are straight-up felonies), they are fired in order to protect a project's reputation, or in the case of an independent performer or creator, forced to either reduce their public activity or outright leave the public scene because of the damage to their image." Emphasis mine.

It's suffered quite a bit of Trope Decay to cover any Real Life scandal that ended in the termination, resignation, or banning of some individual, even if that person is not a creator by the definition that TV Tropes uses (a person or group that produces creative works). Consensus was to take it to this thread.

Edited by Morgenthaler on Jan 11th 2021 at 10:40:47 AM

You've got roaming bands of armed, aggressive, tyrannical plumbers coming to your door, saying "Use our service, or else!"
Albert3105 Since: Jun, 2013
#9208: Jan 11th 2021 at 11:02:41 AM

[self-thumped]

Edited by Albert3105 on Jan 11th 2021 at 2:03:21 PM

laserviking42 from End-World Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
#9209: Jan 11th 2021 at 11:02:47 AM

[up][up] I have noticed that pages tend to bloat as people stray from works/media/creators and into more esoterica like sports, food and now politicians that have little to do with tropes in media.

Can we have a vote as to whether or not to cut the page in question?

Edited by laserviking42 on Jan 11th 2021 at 2:03:23 PM

I didn't choose the troping life, the troping life chose me
SkyCat32 The Draftsman of Doom (Five Year Plan) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
The Draftsman of Doom
#9210: Jan 11th 2021 at 11:04:47 AM

I think that the politics page should be turfed. It seems like a lot of shoehorning, and there is a lot of flamebait besides.

Case in point:

  • In November 2019, Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, sat down with BBC Newsnight for an interview regarding his relationship with the deceased billionaire and convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein, along with allegations of sexual assault against Andrew himself. This interview proved so disastrous that within a week of the broadcast—amid the fallout of what many inside (and outside) the UK declared to be the royal family's worst PR nightmare since the death of Princess Diana—Andrew announced that he was stepping away from all of his royal duties, including all two hundred-plus of his patronages, for the foreseeable future, and since then he has disappeared from almost all public life.

Serac she/her (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Oh my word! I'm gay!
she/her
#9211: Jan 11th 2021 at 11:26:59 AM

Yeah, I really don't get how the politics page is relevant to troping works of fiction. I will definitely support that page being cut.

fragglelover Since: Jun, 2012
#9212: Jan 11th 2021 at 11:40:11 AM

HumiliationConga.Real Life should probably be looked at as well... there's a lot of recent political examples...

laserviking42 from End-World Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
#9213: Jan 11th 2021 at 12:32:03 PM

Considering that Role-Ending Misdemeanor is almost entirely real life examples (save the in-universe section), where do we draw the line? Just make it In-Universe only? I would probably support that, but is that within the scope of this forum?

I didn't choose the troping life, the troping life chose me
miraculous Goku Black (Apprentice)
Goku Black
#9214: Jan 11th 2021 at 12:42:05 PM

No keep it you know performers. As in tv, film , etc. It's a valid trivia trope as it affects the work. It's just the politics an religion sections don't have anything to do with performers of media

Edited by miraculous on Jan 11th 2021 at 12:42:20 PM

"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
themayorofsimpleton Short-Term Projects Herald | he/him from the Island of Koridai (Captain) Relationship Status: I won't say I'm in love
Short-Term Projects Herald | he/him
#9215: Jan 11th 2021 at 1:18:18 PM

[up] I brought up the Politics section in the ROCEJ thread. I agree that politicians and other non-work figures should not be included. The politics section in particular is ridiculously bloated and I'd like to see it go.

I recall a mod and a couple other tropers brought up in another thread that Role-Ending Misdemeanor in general is very gossip-y and problematic, and I'm inclined to agree. Maybe the trope needs TRS, I don't know. What does everyone else think?

EDIT: Removed specific username of the mod to avoid potentially causing any trouble.

Edited by themayorofsimpleton on Jan 11th 2021 at 4:20:53 AM

Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
miraculous Goku Black (Apprentice)
Goku Black
#9216: Jan 11th 2021 at 1:24:43 PM

Its not that weird to cite when a work is stopped/ actor loses job from work because of something that happened. This does affect the work itself. Its just that it has ballooned to encompass stuff way out of it

"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
themayorofsimpleton Short-Term Projects Herald | he/him from the Island of Koridai (Captain) Relationship Status: I won't say I'm in love
Short-Term Projects Herald | he/him
#9217: Jan 11th 2021 at 1:27:46 PM

[up] I think the problem with the trope is the way that it is often used is very gossipy, and sometimes Edit War-y. I don't know, I have serious issues with the trope. I think it is being used to document drama, and I don't know if we can trope it without attracting drama importation.

If everyone wants to keep though that's fine. I was just expressing my issues with the trope.

Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
Morgenthaler Since: Feb, 2016
#9218: Jan 11th 2021 at 1:38:29 PM

I don't believe we've had an instance where a creator's fans (or hell, the creator themselves) rushed in to Edit War over their inclusion. I think we're fine ATM on that front.

The "Unsorted" folder is unsurprisingly also a mess, with about 1 or 2 legit examples (the Australian entertainer/musician and the Pinball designer, and maybe Momokun, if you're being charitable and calling Cosplay a form of creative entertainment). There's even a duplicate entry for Prince Andrew.

Edited by Morgenthaler on Jan 11th 2021 at 1:51:19 AM

You've got roaming bands of armed, aggressive, tyrannical plumbers coming to your door, saying "Use our service, or else!"
laserviking42 from End-World Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
#9219: Jan 11th 2021 at 2:19:57 PM

It's all a horrible mess, but looking at it I think that the following should be cut:

  • Politics (having nothing to do with troping media)
  • News and Columns (its very similar to politics, just referring to news anchors and journalists, still very flame-batey)
  • Sports (there's even a folder for animal athletes, should go)
  • Other (keep advertising, literature, comic strips and axe the rest)

Thoughts?

I didn't choose the troping life, the troping life chose me
themayorofsimpleton Short-Term Projects Herald | he/him from the Island of Koridai (Captain) Relationship Status: I won't say I'm in love
Short-Term Projects Herald | he/him
#9220: Jan 11th 2021 at 3:27:37 PM

Ah OK. I felt like there were edit wars on Role-Ending Misdemeanor but if there weren't I guess the trope can stay.

Definitely cut the stuff in [up], those aren't people we trope. Should we add it to the crowner?

Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
Berrenta Bejeweled (she/her) (Ten years in the joint) Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs
Bejeweled (she/her)
#9221: Jan 11th 2021 at 3:52:08 PM

[up] I won't mind that being added to the crowner.

laserviking42 from End-World Since: Oct, 2015 Relationship Status: You're a beautiful woman, probably
#9222: Jan 11th 2021 at 3:56:12 PM

[up] added to crowner

I didn't choose the troping life, the troping life chose me
Morgenthaler Since: Feb, 2016
#9223: Jan 11th 2021 at 4:06:56 PM

Not sure about cutting "Adult Entertainment" though. They're still creators, even if there's more Porn Without Plot than Porn with Plot. I do think they fit the definition for this more than any other section on the chopping block.

Edited by Morgenthaler on Jan 11th 2021 at 4:31:41 AM

You've got roaming bands of armed, aggressive, tyrannical plumbers coming to your door, saying "Use our service, or else!"
SomeLibre WELCOME BACK MOTHERFUCKER from [SERVICE UNAVAILABLE] Since: Dec, 2020 Relationship Status: Chat, is this real?
WELCOME BACK MOTHERFUCKER
#9224: Jan 11th 2021 at 4:58:24 PM

So the Sports examples in Role-Ending Misdemeanor are closer to Politics and Real Life than the work of fiction media (Live-Action TV, Magazines, Literature, etc)?

EDIT: This would mean the page image needs to be changed, as it's about sports.

Edited by SomeLibre on Jan 11th 2021 at 8:00:00 PM

Cassie | they/them/he | Help needed for filling out entries on the Series X SCP category
LaundryPizza03 Maintenance? from Texas Since: Aug, 2020
Maintenance?
#9225: Jan 11th 2021 at 7:50:27 PM

[up]x23 Okay, quiet down:

I'm back!

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

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