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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

BackSet1 I <3 Zinnia from I'm sure you'd love to know that, wouldn't you? (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
I <3 Zinnia
#5151: Jul 9th 2022 at 12:15:56 PM

Personally I'd say it's "Unclear Description".

Read Pokemon Ultimate Emerald
Walkinshadows Since: Jun, 2012
#5152: Jul 10th 2022 at 1:40:41 AM

I did a wick check and discovered two problems with Name-face Name. One, 53% of the examples are zero-context, and two, some of the examples are also likely misuse for names ending in "-face". The second problem is more clearly reflected on the trope page than in the wicks.

Edited by Walkinshadows on Jul 10th 2022 at 4:57:25 AM

Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
Just stoic wisdom.
#5153: Jul 10th 2022 at 7:11:45 PM

Most dewicks in the past 3 days: Baleful Polymorph (-25), Rant Inducing Slight (-27), Uncanny Valley (-503)

Fewest remaining wicks: Filk Song (631), Ill Boy (495), Kill Them All (369), And Man Grew Proud (348), Rant Inducing Slight (98)

Stalled project highlights: Humiliation Conga (4692), Ambiguously Brown (4082), It Was His Sled (2733), Doing It for the Art (2198), Bastard Boyfriend (885)

Vehicle-Based Characterization | Grief-Induced Split | Locker Mail
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)
#5154: Jul 10th 2022 at 8:16:47 PM

[up]I took care of a bit of Relationship Writing Fumble, which itself doesn't have an incredibly high amount of wicks (but some are staying under the current name due to the Trope Transplant that was done). Probably won't take long to finish once I get the motivation, but I don't feel up to doing any more at the moment.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Jul 10th 2022 at 10:17:37 AM

I got a rock for Halloween.
isoycrazy Lord of the Blue Star Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: Abstaining
Lord of the Blue Star
#5155: Jul 11th 2022 at 3:40:07 AM

Hello again, I completed the Wick check on McLeaned here. The summary came to Total Summary:
Good examples 34%
Misuse Examples 38%
ZCE or Unclear 18%
Multiple conflicting wicks 6%
Neutral examples 4%
May I open a thread to have this be properly discussed since nearly 3/5ths of the check came up badly used?

Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the "Retromancer"
#5156: Jul 11th 2022 at 3:44:22 AM

Huh, good job. Append yourself and the argument text to respective lists at TRS Queue and wait for a call (when the rest are processed).

Edited by Amonimus on Jul 11th 2022 at 1:44:38 PM

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
isoycrazy Lord of the Blue Star Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: Abstaining
Lord of the Blue Star
#5157: Jul 11th 2022 at 3:56:30 AM

Cool. Thanks. I presume the call will be a PM, correct?

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
#5158: Jul 11th 2022 at 4:12:13 AM

[up] It will be a ping, which takes the form of a PM. Alternatively, some tropers let others launch their threads with their OPs with credit (like I do.)

Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | 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)
#5159: Jul 11th 2022 at 10:08:37 AM

After seeing the results of the wick check, I'd say there's a case for renaming now, possibly by swapping with the redirect I made.

I got a rock for Halloween.
isoycrazy Lord of the Blue Star Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: Abstaining
Lord of the Blue Star
#5160: Jul 11th 2022 at 6:13:59 PM

Thanks for the information about it being permitted to launch without my activating it but gives permission.

MacronNotes (she/her) (Captain) Relationship Status: Less than three
(she/her)
#5161: Jul 12th 2022 at 2:42:16 PM

This is mostly the same as the last list I did. I decided to focus on stalled threads. I removed Weapon Of Choice from the list because I am actively working on it and hope to finish the split over the weekend.

     Pending Final Action List for stalled threads that need non-wick cleaning work 

Macron's notes
Malady (X-Troper)
#5162: Jul 14th 2022 at 1:24:14 PM

So, there's one person that thinks Lazy Bum and The Slacker are the same, which, if true, means that it should be merged, a.k.a a TRS thing.

But probably should get at least a third opinion, so does anyone else agree?

LazyBum: 2401 wicks, TheSlacker: 1577 wicks

Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
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)
#5164: Jul 14th 2022 at 1:43:58 PM

This isn't something I can form a proper opinion on with no comparative wick check.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#5165: Jul 14th 2022 at 1:49:43 PM

You're kidding, right? One person agreeing does not make a decision.

In any case, The Slacker seems to be a more specific trope to the more general Lazy Bum trope.

Edited by Redmess on Jul 14th 2022 at 10:54:35 AM

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
MyFinalEdits Delete message from Parts Unknown (Spin-off Series) Relationship Status: Cast away
Delete message
#5166: Jul 14th 2022 at 2:19:54 PM

I'd prefer such a significant evaluation to be backed up by more than one or two tropers. We've seen many pages added to Tropes Needing TRS just because one person said X about Y trope, and sometimes because the conflict started with one example instead of several.

135 -> 180 -> 273 -> 191 -> 188 -> 230 -> 300 -> 311
WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#5168: Jul 14th 2022 at 3:31:41 PM

I mean that's the point of a wick check and opening a thread. Obviously no decision is going to be made on just the opinions of 2 people.

2 people thinking they're the same is the green light to do a wick check to see if that is born out in the use across the site. Based on that you can open a thread and have us all chime in there

Don't really get the intensity of response to the question.

But to respond to Malady specifically: it warrants a wick check IMO

Malady (X-Troper)
#5169: Jul 14th 2022 at 3:48:53 PM

[up] - Thanks! If it's worth anything, 213 pages wick both of those tropes at once.

Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
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)
#5170: Jul 14th 2022 at 4:57:57 PM

That's why I said we needed a wick check in the first place. But the question was phrased as "do we merge", not "do we check".

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#5171: Jul 14th 2022 at 6:35:43 PM

[up]the question was "does anyone else agree"

I suppose you can take that to mean "agree with a merge", "agree that these two are duplicates", "agree that its worth bringing them in for discussion" from the sentence alone. but it read as the latter two to me given thats how things are always done and this isn't malady's first rodeo (and since the previous sentence ended on discussing the TRS)

In any case, i didn't take issue with your response since mine is essentially the same: do a wick check and come back

Edited by amathieu13 on Jul 14th 2022 at 9:39:06 AM

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)
#5172: Jul 15th 2022 at 4:09:07 AM

I closed The Bus Came Back's thread since cleanup was deferred to a Projects thread, and made The Mayor of Simpleton's Polygon Ceiling thread.

I got a rock for Halloween.
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)
#5173: Jul 16th 2022 at 5:05:40 PM

I recently finished up an Off Model Wick Check and while there's definitely some problems (the usage being way too varied and a decent amount of the wicks either being complaining or just completely random), I can't think of any great solutions. On the check thread, one person suggested we could spin off a Played for Laughs version, and a Trivia move was also suggested, but I'm not sure how viable these ideas are.

Thoughts?

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
Just stoic wisdom.
#5174: Jul 19th 2022 at 6:32:16 AM

Is it too much of a non-issue to bring up Casual Danger Dialog's default spelling? Personally I'd rather the default be Casual Danger Dialogue (its redirect, which contains 40% of the wicks) because "dialog" to me is more of a computer thing while Dialogue is speech.

Vehicle-Based Characterization | Grief-Induced Split | Locker Mail
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
#5175: Jul 19th 2022 at 6:38:02 AM

[up] We brought Role Reprisal and Sempai/Kōhai in for spelling issues, so it doesn't sound impossible.

Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall

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