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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

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)
#5601: Sep 10th 2022 at 7:48:49 PM

I moved Ambiguous Disorder's thread back because of complaints about how the moves were handled.

I got a rock for Halloween.
Jetbent Captain Catman from California where the wild things are Since: Aug, 2022 Relationship Status: I'm her lunatic and she's my sociopath
Captain Catman
#5602: Sep 10th 2022 at 8:32:18 PM

Seems like Trope Talk is better for determining there’s a problem and gathering consensus while TRS is more for coordinating the efforts of people devoting their time towards doing the actual work?

Edited by Jetbent on Sep 10th 2022 at 8:32:29 AM

60% of the time I work every time
ChloeJessica Since: Jun, 2020 Relationship Status: Awaiting my mail-order bride
#5603: Sep 10th 2022 at 8:37:30 PM

Trope Talk is for identifying problems; TRS is for suggesting, deciding on, and implementing solutions to those problems.

Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
Just stoic wisdom.
#5604: Sep 10th 2022 at 9:12:53 PM

Just a rough wick clean check before going to sleep (opening previews of each page on my phone), looks like there'll be stiff competition for the "fewest wicks remaining" list. Good work, all. I foresee at least two threads closing soon.

Vehicle-Based Characterization | Grief-Induced Split | Locker Mail
amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#5605: Sep 10th 2022 at 9:54:16 PM

Not sure where to put this. Was looking at Nerds Are Innocent and it only had 6 on page examples which makes it an undertroped trope page by our TLP standards. I checked the wicks and while it has 30+ wicks, most aren't examples (sandboxes, indices, etc) and even the few that are, several are ZCE or misuse. I crosswicked what I could but it still has only 9 examples

i checked the draft and it seems like it may have been rogue or stealth launched and never addressed since it only had 1 hat and 5 examples [1].

given ^that, does this need to go through TRS? should it be unlaunched and sent back?

Edited by amathieu13 on Sep 10th 2022 at 12:55:08 PM

ChloeJessica Since: Jun, 2020 Relationship Status: Awaiting my mail-order bride
#5606: Sep 10th 2022 at 9:55:55 PM

sounds like an open and shut Not Thriving case to me.

Walkinshadows Since: Jun, 2012
#5607: Sep 10th 2022 at 10:06:47 PM

It was launched in 2015, that's too long of a time to just unlaunch it.

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)
#5608: Sep 10th 2022 at 10:42:33 PM

I agree that it's too late to unlaunch it.

I got a rock for Halloween.
Tonwen HoMM Fan from Axeoth Since: Dec, 2021 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
HoMM Fan
#5609: Sep 10th 2022 at 11:07:50 PM

Too late to unlaunch, but it's an easy "Not Thriving", which makes sense given it was rogue launched with 5 examples.

"Grandmaster Combat, son!"
amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#5610: Sep 11th 2022 at 1:40:12 AM

ok I'll draft something up and add it to the queue soon

MorganWick (Elder Troper)
#5611: Sep 11th 2022 at 4:41:30 AM

A concern I have with the idea of allowing locked, non-open threads to appear is that, in large numbers, they would drown out the open threads, requiring those threads to have to be bumped constantly to avoid being drowned out by the closed threads.

I was going to suggest creating a view that shows only open threads and making that the default for TRS. You could, say, create an entirely new forum for starting TRS threads, sort of a "reverse morgue", and that might be less work for the devs, but it also might come off as kinda silly and redundant.

I suppose part of my beef with Trope Talk becoming an area for "pre-TRS" discussion is that I always associated Trope Talk with being a place for talking about tropes as tropes, such as when they're done well or badly and how they're used more broadly, as opposed to the discussion pages for talking about the pages themselves, and as such it used to be an area I never ventured into at all, and now I feel obligated to do so.

(I don't mean to imply that this sort of pre-TRS discussion should take place on the discussion page, of course; besides discussion pages being all but abandoned, "is this a real/separate trope?" is a question about the trope, not the page. But I do sometimes wonder if this sort of thing should have a dedicated thread as opposed to cluttering Trope Talk with multiple threads, though that would likely run into the same problem as some of the Projects threads since multiple pre-TRS discussions can be happening at the same time.)

On the other hand, What Goes Where on the Forums says that Trope Talk is for when you can't figure out what the trope is or other fundamental issues that don't "have to change the trope", and that thread is old and un-updated enough that it has a number of red links where Main pages were moved to Administrivia, so I guess it's not completely off-base.

Edited by MorganWick on Sep 11th 2022 at 4:57:37 AM

Noaqiyeum we must dissent (it/they) from across the gulf of space (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
we must dissent (it/they)
#5612: Sep 11th 2022 at 7:25:59 AM

I was going to suggest creating a view that shows only open threads and making that the default for TRS. You could, say, create an entirely new forum for starting TRS threads, sort of a "reverse morgue", and that might be less work for the devs, but it also might come off as kinda silly and redundant.

A Trope NICU?

ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NO
Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
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)
#5614: Sep 11th 2022 at 12:13:56 PM

I checked the wick count for namespaces that have already been cleaned for The Lost Woods, plus VideoGame/ wicks since those probably won't need to be looked at at all (since it's a video game trope), and the amount of wicks that needs to be cleaned (if we don't need to go through the VideoGame/ namespace) is 331 out of 991.

Edit: There are 466 VideoGame/ wicks, for those wondering.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Sep 11th 2022 at 2:47:37 PM

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)
#5615: Sep 11th 2022 at 12:36:51 PM

Credits-Brand Products is done, but we still don't have any free slots, so hold off on the pings.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Sep 11th 2022 at 2:37:01 PM

I got a rock for Halloween.
Berrenta Bejeweled (she/her) (Ten years in the joint) Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs
Bejeweled (she/her)
#5616: Sep 12th 2022 at 10:21:48 PM

Biker Babe has rode into the sunset, which means we got ourselves a new thread to replace it.

...and it's done rather quickly.

Edited by Berrenta on Sep 13th 2022 at 6:57:34 AM

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
#5617: Sep 13th 2022 at 5:52:01 AM

[up] ...Wow, the thread opened and closed while I was asleep. First time that's ever happened.

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)
#5618: Sep 13th 2022 at 5:58:35 AM

I made Tonwen's Beastess thread since the rename of Casual Danger Dialog to Casual Danger Dialogue didn't require wick cleanup (though I added it to Wick Cleaning Projects in case anyone wants to try their hand at it anyway), and I noticed that the threads I've made recently have been unlocked automatically. I don't know if that's because I'm a mod or if the removal of the auto-lock system from Image Pickin was accidentally added to TRS due to a bug, but I accidentally Morgued a previous thread I made due to muscle memory (since the lock menu option is where the unlock option would have been) and had to unlock it and move it back. (I posted about it in the mod chat, so maybe either a different mod or one of the admins could provide some insight as to why my threads aren't locked when I make them.)

Edited by GastonRabbit on Sep 13th 2022 at 7:59:14 AM

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
#5619: Sep 13th 2022 at 5:59:17 AM

For the first time in a while, the queue's below 50 entries!

Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
Just stoic wisdom.
#5620: Sep 13th 2022 at 7:12:08 AM

[up] Heck yeah! And if the last 175 wicks on Absolute Cleavage get done today, we can knock another one off the queue.

Vehicle-Based Characterization | Grief-Induced Split | Locker Mail
amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#5621: Sep 13th 2022 at 8:11:47 AM

[up][up] !!! exciting

also fwiw, I don't think a long queue is necessarily a bad thing. I think it actually shows that there's an increase in interest in the TRS (that and that there's a lot to be fixed). The TRS has been pretty productive since the queue has launched and it streamlined the process to get a slot, which I personally think has made the TRS more approachable.

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)
#5622: Sep 13th 2022 at 10:48:09 AM

We're back to 50 since I'm gonna finally bring Black Sheep out of limbo and TRS it. (As always, the OP is in Sandbox.War Jay 77).

Thought: Should I go forward and do a White Sheep check before my thread is up? I mean it is at the bottom and even at the speed we've been moving I'll have more than enough time to look at the other trope, so I could do it, but is it necessary or would it be best to save White Sheep for after we figure out Black Sheep?

Edited by WarJay77 on Sep 13th 2022 at 1:50:16 PM

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)
#5623: Sep 13th 2022 at 12:24:25 PM

[up]Even though Black Sheep is a preexisting term, the fact that people aren't getting it right makes me wonder if my previous suggestion of renaming it to Black Sheep Of The Family wouldn't be enough, and maybe Family Outcast would be better.

Edit: As for White Sheep, if doing something with it isn't integral to the Black Sheep thread, I wouldn't worry about it and I'd say to give it its own thread in the future.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Sep 13th 2022 at 2:28:47 PM

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
TempestSystem Give me your car keys. from Headspace Since: Jul, 2020 Relationship Status: You cannot grasp the true form
Give me your car keys.
#5625: Sep 13th 2022 at 5:19:40 PM

[how the hell did this post get into this tab -]

Edited by TempestSystem on Sep 13th 2022 at 5:20:03 AM

Whose vehicle is this? Mine now.

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