Before making or posting in a thread, read the Trope Repairing Guidelines to see whether a thread you're considering making actually should be made, as well as what is and isn't allowed in an open thread.
This thread is a metathread for Trope Repair Shop discussion. Things like TRS policy, what is needed in a TRS opening post, questions about whether a certain topic is TRS-worthy and questions about why a thread wasn't opened go here.
Some guidelines for when/whether to use TRS:
- If the trope is fine, but has some bad examples, feel free to clean them up or to start a cleanup project at Projects: Short-Term
. Trope Repair Shop is for when cleaning isn't sufficient.
- If you think there's something wrong with the trope that systematically attracts improper examples, start a discussion at Trope Talk. Use a Wick Check to see whether there's an issue present (and if there is, what the issue is). The following methods are two possible ways to do a wick check (though not necessarily the only ways):
- You can go ahead with the Wick Check without a discussion if you know what you're looking for. While it's not mandatory, feel free to ask someone for help confirming that you got the issue and the numbers correct.
- Consult the Wick Check Project thread
to collect evidence if you need help.
- Depending on a trope (or non-trope) in question, a wick check may be determined to not be required, such as for tropes that are not thriving (per the standards for trope health listed on the Wick page). However, there is no problem if you want to do one anyway.
For a more detailed introduction to this forum, click here.
For related projects, see Wick Cleaning Projects and the Wick Check Project.
For a list of wiki pages related to thread outcomes, see the following:
Edited by GastonRabbit on Aug 12th 2025 at 11:35:13 AM
Yeah, batch threads are pretty hard.
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper WallFair enough, expanded the description. Also put another entry in the queue because Just Pennies a Day is just rotting in Pages Needing Wiki Magic.
Are Orphaned Series, Wrap It Up and Cut Short "Trivia actually"?
TroperWall / WikiMagic CleanupAlright, so I haven't been getting to wick checks lately because I was on vacation in Chicago for a week and didn't have time.
I'm now back home and I want to potentially take one of four tropes to TRS, none of which have completed wick checks and one of which I will be picking. I am asking the community here to help pick which of the four tropes they would like to see me take first.
- Old Shame suffers from similarities to Creator Backlash, and is misused for any work a creator is ashamed of (instead of works the creator actively wants people to forget about). I haven't started that wick check, but 76 wicks would need checking.
- Keep Circulating the Tapes has a wick check ongoing (that I started) with 70 wicks needing checking. That trope suffers from misuse for works that were once unavailable legally but are now available legally, along with some examples possibly overlapping with other tropes. This was the one I initially picked for the queue, but I'm now having second thoughts.
- Abandonware is a Trivia item in the Main namespace, and I've been alternately told a wick check is or isn't needed for it. If one is needed, 50 wicks need checking.
- Loony Fan suffers from misuse, with the intended definition being "an obsessive nut who follows the main characters around" per Tropes Needing TRS, but the actual usage often being for fans who don't follow the characters around, or even non-fans sometimes. A wick check was started by me in the link, but I never got to it. 50 wicks need checking.
Which one should I pick? The spot currently occupied on the queue by Keep Circulating the Tapes will go to the one everyone wants me to do.
Edited by themayorofsimpleton on Mar 20th 2022 at 4:00:50 AM
Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper WallIt's hard to say without having a wick check and OP prepared, at least for me, because it's easier to identify problems and solutions when wicks are done.
I guess otherwise, Abandonware seems easiest to knock out?
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
I was leaning towards that myself. Do I still need a wick check for it?
I was mainly asking in the sense of, which trope should I do a wick check on first?
Edited by themayorofsimpleton on Mar 20th 2022 at 4:03:42 AM
Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper WallAgreeing with WarJay. I don't feel particularly strongly about any of those tropes so my gut is to suggest going with whichever one is in the worse off state that needs more immediate attention, which is hard to say w/o a wick check.
Yeah thinking about it more you're both right.
Didn't get a response, so I'll ask again: does Abandonware need a wick check? I'm doing that one next if not (because that's quick); I may not take in KCTT yet because I'm not sure how I'm going to TRS it.
Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper WallThe description of Abandonware sounds like trivia to me as old games/software that are no longer being officially sold or supported anywhere can't be observed within a work (aside from in-universe examples obviously). So, I think you might be able to go without a wick check for that one.
Edited by MacronNotes on Mar 20th 2022 at 9:05:29 AM
Macron's notesI was the one who added Abandonware to Tropes Needing TRS under "Actually Trivia" because it's background information on a work that surfaces quite a while after its release. I'm not sure if it counts as a subtrope of Keep Circulating the Tapes, but it's at least a related concept because both involve works that are no longer officially circulated.
I got a rock for Halloween.I think we need to split Award-Bait Song. I'm seeing the following:
- Closing credits pop covers of songs within the movie, usually pushed into the romantic or inspirational genre. I think this was the original intent of the trope. I don't think that this phenomenon really existed before "Somewhere Out There" from "An American Tail", it was codified by the Disney Renaissance later.
- Original pop songs in the closing credits of a movie, not usually a musical. By all means a valid trope, but it needs to be split from Category One. Most parodies seem to be of this group. Most of the anime examples also seem to be of this group.
- Popular songs from musicals that won awards. Most pre-1990 film examples are in this camp. I don't think that this is a valid trope. Of course every songwriter wants to win a Grammy, but there's a difference between "I want to win" and "I'm going to shill to the Grammy people." Most of the pre-Renaissance Disney examples are of this group. In general I think "performed by the film (or stage) cast within the film (or stage show)" is just Awesome Music, and we already have pages for that. Exceptions can be made for parodies or deliberate homages ("Love Led Us Here" from Muppet Treasure Island springs to mind immediately).
- Popular romantic/inspirational pop songs. Split off Grammy Award Bait Song for that stuff, it's a different trope.
- Songs written for a specific live performance. Also Awesome Music.
TLDR; I think the current page has been expanded to "any song from a movie/TV/anime/game soundtrack that wins (or at least is nominated) for an award". This is just too broad.
Edited by NateTheGreat on Mar 20th 2022 at 9:05:16 AM
you can add that post to TRS Queue along with a wick check and when a slot opens up, someone will ping you to start a thread
Butterfly Knife's thread is done, so paging ~The Mayor of Simpleton since the first entry (for Graf von Tirol) is currently on hold. Since the former doesn't want the thread launched without permission, I'll wait for them to get my PM instead of doing what I did last time.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 21st 2022 at 3:17:55 AM
I got a rock for Halloween.Looks like Berserk Button will close soon, so paging ~Eiryu who’s next.
Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper WallBerserk Button's thread has been resolved. I started Eiryu's thread without them since they said they were fine with someone starting their thread on Sandbox.TRS Queue.
Macron's notesJust thought I'd mention that I don't think School Study Media's thread will take long to get out of the way once it's time to dewick it, but I announced in the thread that we're waiting until the 24th to call the crowner because such a large shift happened with the vote ratios in the span of less than a day (the top option went below consensus range because of arguments against the merge, while moving to Useful Notes went above consensus range).
We delayed calling a crowner last month or so due to a previous crowner experiencing a similar shift.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 21st 2022 at 5:13:15 AM
I got a rock for Halloween.I closed Contemptible Cover's thread because I finished its wick cleanup, so I made a thread for Sim Sim Salabim that was proposed by Synchronicity, who gave permission for others to make it via the TRS Queue.
I got a rock for Halloween.The first two entries on the TRS Queue are on hold, so paging ~Piterpicher since Breathe on the Fan's thread was closed.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 23rd 2022 at 12:34:41 PM
I got a rock for Halloween.I closed Knight of Cerebus's thread after it was pointed out that there was a cleanup thread to defer the work to, so paging ~Graf von Tirol.
On the subject of the cleanup thread, does anyone think it should be moved from Short-Term to Long-Term? Disregard. I went ahead and moved the Knight of Cerebus cleanup thread to Long-Term, and someone else posted saying to go ahead and do it right as I was doing it, which I thought was amusing.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 25th 2022 at 11:36:47 AM
I got a rock for Halloween.
, but "yes" for the record.
Edited by Amonimus on Mar 25th 2022 at 7:37:23 PM
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup~Master N: Regarding Asshole Victim, based on the discussion here
, we'll also need to take care to either put it in as "unclear definition" or just note how inconsistent and vague the description is. It seems that there's reason to believe the other definition is correct, and I think it'd be disingenuous to ignore how hard the description is to parse (and how easy it is to interpret to fit a specific idea of what it means).
Obviously on that thread I said I'd be making the TRS, but that's just because I forgot I handed it over to you, and I still don't want to take it over completely since I still have other projects on my plate. I just want to make sure the bases are covered.
The thread for Im Alive became the first "test subject" for an idea I brought up with the other mods of waiving the Three-Day Rule for certain Not Thriving threads (ones that both have overwhelming consensus and are clearly problematic in some way, such as how this thread was for a stock phrase and Stock Phrases Are Not Tropes). I should probably add that whether to waive the Three-Day Rule will be a group decision and not something I decide on my own; I just happen to be the one who came up with the idea.
With that tangent out of the way, paging ~War Jay 77 since the first listing in the queue is on hold until tomorrow.
I got a rock for Halloween.

I commented as much on the TT thread, but I think the OP needs beefing. The problem with 'batch threads' such as this is that people really hate thinking of solutions for multiple pages so they don't get as much engagement. So to help stave that off I would list the subpages as well as where you think each one should be (Music/ or Main/) and why.