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All-Purpose Policy and Meta discussion: Administrivia.Trope Repair Shop

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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

WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#4676: May 8th 2022 at 11:45:32 AM

Nate, it sounds like you're talking about the on-page examples. Are you? Because what you're supposed to check are the wicks on other pages, from the related tab.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
Just stoic wisdom.
#4677: May 8th 2022 at 7:32:44 PM

Updated the Wick Clean Projects' wick counts again even though it's definitely overkill to do so only three days after previously having checked through 'em all, but it's almost stress-relieving in a way to know that the wick tallies are fully up-to-date.

Vehicle-Based Characterization | Grief-Induced Split | Locker Mail
Walkinshadows Since: Jun, 2012
#4678: May 8th 2022 at 7:47:10 PM

Hey, if you get bored cleaning those wicks, I know another wick cleaning project that needs more attention....

NateTheGreat Since: Jan, 2001
#4679: May 9th 2022 at 7:36:11 AM

Yeah, that never occurred to me. I might need help restoring the draft to the queue so I can do that...

WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#4680: May 9th 2022 at 11:28:39 AM

Why not do the wick check first to make sure there's even a problem? That makes more sense than doing the check afterward and trying to fit it into your OP.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
GastonRabbit C'est la vie. (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
C'est la vie. (he/him)
#4681: May 9th 2022 at 12:11:00 PM

I moved Main.Leap Day to UsefulNotes.Leap Day (technically the latter was originally moved from Sandbox.Leap Day 2), so wick cleanup probably won't take long since the former doesn't have too many wicks.

I got a rock for Halloween.
GastonRabbit C'est la vie. (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
C'est la vie. (he/him)
#4682: May 9th 2022 at 1:00:59 PM

Paging ~GoldenCityBird since a slot opened now that Leap Day's thread is done.

I got a rock for Halloween.
Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the "Retromancer"
#4683: May 9th 2022 at 1:24:57 PM

You can tell why the queue is good because the new jumped-in thread sounds like a Trope Talk question and I also don't understand the problem since O.C. Stand-in seems to be an objective trope.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
GastonRabbit C'est la vie. (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
C'est la vie. (he/him)
#4684: May 9th 2022 at 1:30:28 PM

I closed that thread since it was barebones and had no wick check, so hopefully the previous ping didn't go to waste.

I got a rock for Halloween.
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
#4685: May 9th 2022 at 5:25:51 PM

If ~GoldenCityBird isn't available, next up on the queue is ~Tonwen

Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#4686: May 9th 2022 at 7:15:30 PM

So, I finished a wick check on Sensory Abuse here. What I've noticed is that there's no real clear bashing issue (though several examples still have a negative spin), but there is a problem with it not being specified if the creator did it intentionally or not (as the description implies is a requirement), and a majority of the examples are just sound based, which makes me wonder if there's room for a split.

What do we think? TRS worthy? And if so, what do?

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the "Retromancer"
#4687: May 9th 2022 at 7:18:19 PM

The page sounds like an index for all the things that makes viewers uncomfortable, like Camera Screw and Vomit Indiscretion Shot.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
NateTheGreat Since: Jan, 2001
#4688: May 9th 2022 at 8:46:17 PM

Award-Bait Song wick check, Part One:

(As in the previous draft, "A" means a genuine sparkly end credits song, "B" means a popular song from a movie soundtrack, "C" is generic romantic/inspirational pop music)

  • Actor Inspired Heroism-pothole to "Let it Go", which I don't think fits in A, B, or C as it's a demo that's under discussion and not the actual Idina Menzel version
  • Album Closure-NINA's song "The Distance", C
  • Almost Kiss-"I Will Always Be With You" from All Dogs Go To Heaven, B
  • Aluminum Christmas Trees-"Lesbian Seagull" from Beavis and Butthead Do America, a parody of A
  • B Side-"Take My Breath Away" from Top Gun, a genuine A
  • Bodyguard Crush-the caption for the movie poster potholes to "I Will Always Love You" from the movie "The Bodyguard." The song itself is A, but I think it's inappropriate for a page image to pothole to other trope pages.
  • Breakaway Pop Hit-pothole as a related page, this is okay
  • Chewing The Scenery-reference to "The Song That Goes Like This" from Spamalot, which is a parody of B, NOT A
  • Cover Version-"Stand By Me" was remade as a sparkly cover for a video game, A
  • Creative Closing Credits-a reference to their use in closing credits, okay
  • Credits Medley-mention is made that in the Lord of the Rings movie said medley comes after the Award-Bait Song. I think this is okay, discussion needed.
  • Cult Soundtrack-Mention of "Let It Go" again, which is B
  • Dance Of Romance-The song mentioned is within the actual movie, which is B
  • Diegetic Switch-"The Journey Home" (misreferenced on the page as "The Journey Begins") from Ace Combat 5. Listening to the song I don't think it counts as "sparkly", just generic inspirational. C.
  • Discredited Trope-Discussion of the trope itself. Okay.
  • Disneyfication-Musical numbers from The Thief and the Cobbler, B
  • Distant Duet-"For Longer Than Forever" from Swan Princess, B
  • Do Well But Not Perfect-a gag based on Celine Dion's "Ashes", which is a parody of A used as though it was A.
  • Door Closes Ending-"Let it Go" AGAIN. Still B!

You see what I mean about scope drift?

Edited by NateTheGreat on May 9th 2022 at 9:47:00 AM

Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the "Retromancer"
#4689: May 9th 2022 at 9:05:23 PM

I understand that there are a few different types of popular songs, and that it's worth discussing, but not that there's an urgent problem. Sorry if it's not an answer you expect, but to my understanding this still doesn't look like a wick check.

I realize current system may have some differences, apparently, but I can only understand arguments with "Correct Category, according to the trope description: x/50 examples, Misuse Categories: x/50 examples" folders, because that's what How to Do a Wick Check asks to do, see this one for an example.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#4690: May 9th 2022 at 9:47:14 PM

Are you just going straight down the list? It's best to randomize it, and get a sample of wicks from a variety of namespaces.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
GoldenCityBird from the UK Since: Oct, 2018
#4691: May 10th 2022 at 1:35:01 AM

Realised I forgot to add "can launch without me" stuff to my TRS queue thing.

TRS Wick Cleaning
GastonRabbit C'est la vie. (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
C'est la vie. (he/him)
#4692: May 10th 2022 at 2:22:29 AM

[up]Not a big deal. Since you gave permission in this thread, I can make the thread if I'm the next mod to close a thread (which I might be if I finish up Murphy's Law).

I got a rock for Halloween.
Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
Just stoic wisdom.
#4693: May 10th 2022 at 7:37:48 PM

Thoughts on looking at Memetic Badass? I was wondering if a noteworthy chunk of them were in-universe examples, but doing a quick random check, a lot are potholes that I wouldn't know what to do with if I were to categorize them...

Vehicle-Based Characterization | Grief-Induced Split | Locker Mail
WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#4694: May 10th 2022 at 7:39:53 PM

Personally, I just chuck potholes like that in the ZCE bin. If you can't glean from context how it's used, it can't go anywhere else.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
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
#4695: May 10th 2022 at 7:41:12 PM

[up][up] Wouldn't be surprised if there's a problem. The "Badass" tropes have had issues for years. We had a megathread for dealing with them that got retired along with the Appearance Tropes thread in favor of TRS recently. I'm planning to take Badass Adorable in at some point myself actually since that was on the agenda for the Badass thread before its closure.

Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#4696: May 10th 2022 at 7:57:12 PM

yup the badass and awesome tropes are all suffering from lack of specificity IMO. they probably all need a once over via TRS, but it's a daunting task to say the least

Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
Just stoic wisdom.
#4697: May 10th 2022 at 8:11:50 PM

Agh and I stumbled upon that while working on character sheet creation, so now that's two projects! But I guess I can start MB when I make this go live.

Vehicle-Based Characterization | Grief-Induced Split | Locker Mail
Walkinshadows Since: Jun, 2012
#4698: May 10th 2022 at 8:24:57 PM

[up][up] It really. Cleaning the wicks for Badass Beard and Badass Mustache was a nightmare. I'm glad we resolved it, though.

Edited by Walkinshadows on May 10th 2022 at 11:25:19 AM

Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
Just stoic wisdom.
#4699: May 11th 2022 at 7:48:54 AM

So Memetic Badass is listed as "trivia: put on YMMV page." What if it's put on a third option beyond YMMV or Main, like Funny?

Vehicle-Based Characterization | Grief-Induced Split | Locker Mail
WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#4700: May 11th 2022 at 12:58:09 PM

Funny is an Audience Reaction, thus a YMMV-type trope. Subjective pages in general allow YMMV and Audience Reaction tropes to be mentioned.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall

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