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

Apologies for the page-top, but given how often do we have the "Not Thriving" threads clogging up the TRS, do you think we need a thread dedicated to fixing/purging non-thriving tropes?

You know, similarly how we have The Grand Unified Appearance Trope Clean-up for, well, cleaning up appearance tropes. I'm suggesting making another thread like that for fixing/purging tropes that are not thriving.

Vi: Well, it's not like we're getting attacked by a giant wasp spider guardian! | Leif: Never combine those words ever again.

I second that, if only because so many of these tropes are an easy cut.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

Thirded. Sounds like something we could easily take care of off-TRS.

Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

Fourthed, I think it would work.

TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall

That's actually a reason I'm against moving it away from this subforum. There's a strong perception that TRS is too slow/intractable to make change, that all efforts get lost in discussion and end up making no changes. There's also the perception that TRS is cut-happy, and such a thread would inevitably gain the same complaint.

TRS should be the place for problem tropes, and some problems are more easily solved than others.

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Incidentally, I'm sure that ~Berrenta or I will be opening a few more threads soon. Sorry for not doing so earlier.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

I mean, the Appearance Trope thread doesn't have that problem...and if the issue is that we keep cutting stub trope pages, then I'm not seeing a reason to not move it to a new thread. For better or worse, those tropes will still end up being cut; does it really matter where we decide on that?

Plus, I do think it'd be a lot easier to justify opening larger threads if we could move "not thriving" tropes elsewhere like we, again, already do with appearance tropes.

I've said this before, but I actually hate when a lot of threads open at once. TRS burnout hits hard and there's a reason so many threads are still stuck in the projects mode. Once new things open, everyone flocks to those new things and ignores the old things. That's why I'm generally opposed to opening threads unless another one has closed- an Equivalent Exchange, so to speak. I feel like we're spread thin enough as it is, and though moving "not thriving" threads somewhere else won't technically fix the burnout issue (since the work would still need to be done), it would clear up space and make it a lot easier for people to focus on bigger, older threads.

Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

Took the words right out of my mouth. The fact that there are so many "not thriving" threads that flock people away from the bigger threads with bigger issues, resulting in them being buried below and get stuck in limbo or projects mode, is the reason why I proposed the decision to make a separate thread in the first place. Right now we have about 34 unopened threads, and 16 of them have "not thriving" listed as a problem. That's right, almost a half of the currently unopened threads have "not thriving" listed as an issue. And I'm sure more will arrive and continue diverting people's attention from other tropes with bigger issues. I think moving them away from TRS would be a better idea, so that they would not divert people's attention from the bigger threads.

Vi: Well, it's not like we're getting attacked by a giant wasp spider guardian! | Leif: Never combine those words ever again.

Not to mention how frustrating it is to see these tropes clog up space that can be saved for more complex and problematic discussions. Though I guess I'm partly to blame for that. I sometimes throw a "not thriving" trope up on TRS because it often doesn't require a long wick check (especially when the trope barely has any wicks at all) and I assume it would be opened earlier to get out of the way quicker, but that's not always the case.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

I have two objections against moving these topics away from TRS.

One, I am concerned that by removing all easy topics from TRS we only leave the difficult ones, reinforcing the perception of blockage and thus scaring participants away.

Two, cutting a trope is a big deal, even if it's a small one, and I'd like to see in-depth analysis.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

I don’t know if moving the easy tropes out of TRS will force people to do the more difficult stuff that needs a lot of manpower. But on the other hand, I don't think getting rid of the easy tropes won't scare people away from TRS because it's always the same group of people doing the grunt work because it's not fun, haha. New people are mostly interested in the discussion stage (not saying that's a bad thing).

It’s annoying to see people flock to the new threads that are less complex or starving tropes but nothing can really be done about that I guess. I just ignore the new threads completely and work on the older threads that just need wick cleaning every other day.

Edited by MacronNotes on Apr 5th 2021 at 11:46:25 AM

Macron's notes

People who are scared of difficult stuff tend to be scared of TRS altogether anyway. They usually don't come for the very quick and easy threads because we usually don't need to promote those for further input. They come for the threads dealing with big tropes which are controversial to change.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

Regarding Guide Dang It!, I misread the opening post at the time. I may not have been completely awake when I read it.

Edit: Also, regarding the Not Thriving threads, I don't have a strong opinion on whether they should get a dedicated thread, but I do agree that they're easy to get out of the way. My first TRS thread was a Not Thriving thread for Where They Were, and merging it with How We Got Here didn't take long at all (I'm pretty sure the Three-Day Rule just had to take effect before the grunt work could be done).

Edited by GastonRabbit on Apr 5th 2021 at 10:58:48 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

I'm just confused now then at why some alternative venues (like the appearance thread) are accepted, but suggesting similar for another type of "bad page" is being rejected. I'm not seeing much difference except the one thread is older.

Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

I guess because those threads are centered around the same specific problem (attracting ZCE, and in the case of the "Badass" thread, too vague definitions)? "Not thriving" tropes can be failures for a variety of reasons, though it's usually easier to figure them out.

Edited by mightymewtron on Apr 5th 2021 at 12:57:01 PM

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

There's also the fact that they need to have active posters. Berrenta's animal tropes cleanup thread had to be closed due to very low activity.

Edit: Also, the Badass Tropes cleanup project was mainly formed because so many of those tropes turned out to be Chairs due to merely being arbitrary combinations of Badass and another trait, with no direct connection between the two.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Apr 5th 2021 at 3:48:03 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

IIRC, The Animal Tropes thread was closed because she realized it wasn't needed, not because of inactivity.

Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

Fair enough, but when she revived it, the last post before the bump was from either 2016 or 2017, and there weren't very many posts before that one.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

True, but project threads can be revived with little effort.

Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

Ambiguously Gay still has the commented-out mod notice not to remove the banner until the TRS thread is resolved, but the TRS thread clocked out a couple of weeks ago, and the banner's been missing. Can we remove the note?

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

Removed the banner notice.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

There are two duplicate threads for Arc Break. Don't know if this has been discussed before, just wanted to make everyone aware.

TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall

Just saw. Closed the newer one.

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report

Been clocking a few old threads. Got a quickie opened up as well.

As for other threads, morgued Up To Eleven plus a thread that clocked out.

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report

Currently we have 37 unopened threads. I'll go through and throw out some of the poorly argued ones, but I think that's a little too many.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Indeed, that's way too many. Perhaps we should put in a notice to halt thread creation for the time being.

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report