Per Ask The Tropers, this thread will be used to reduce the number of old, poorly written drafts on the Trope Launch Pad
. We don't want to discuss on the drafts themselves because that will bump them and mix them with active proposals.
Sandbox for the project: Trope Launch Pad Discard Project
Sandbox for discarded drafts but viable ideas: Trope Idea Salvage Yard
The first sandbox page above contains drafts proposed in the thread that are still pending and drafts that we've decided to leave alone, either with no action or a bump.
The second sandbox page is for awful drafts but viable ideas. According to moderators, badly written but interesting/tropeworthy drafts should remain on the TLP. Rather than allow low-effort drafts to clog TLP, though, the salvage yard was opened to keep just the ideas behind them, in one place.
On this thread, we will mention which drafts we think are unworkable, add enough bombs, and discard (nuke) them. Discarding requires at least 5 bombs. Among the features of "unworkable" drafts:
- There have been no edits for a very long time, or at all
- The draft is low-effort, containing atrocious spelling and grammar and/or little to no examples, e.g. NEVER saw THAT coming (!), Nut-Chuks
- The draft was seemingly created so the sponsor could complain
- The topic is People Sit on Chairs, Too Rare to Trope, a search query created by mistake, etc. and therefore not tropeworthy
- The topic is already sufficiently covered by one or more tropes or is a duplicate of a better-written TLP draft
- The draft is problematic in other ways, such being closely tied to a page that has been historically problematic, e.g. Fetish Fuel, Complete Monster
- There's no discussion currently occurring in the comments to improve the proposal
If we decide to discard a draft after discussion via this thread, whoever does so must provide the discard reason in the comment section of the draft, for transparency's sake. Those looking at the discards section won't think it was nuked for no reason.
Also, check out the sister project, Trope Adoption Drive, where good drafts put Up for Grabs or abandoned can be grabbed, given a bit more improvement, and launched.
Edited by Tabs on Mar 24th 2022 at 12:02:43 PM
Short-Term Projects herald
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Nuked that last one.
Sorry. I bombed and discarded the first one.
Human Bean
I'm bombing Nick Fury Greeting, Sequel named differently and The unassuming villain due to being redundant.
Edited by gc10 on Sep 22nd 2019 at 8:00:40 PM
When you say "redundant" do you mean Yes, We DO Have This One?
I gave supporting good guy who is always wrong a bombs-away bump. Now it has enough bombs to discard. Bye-bye!
Human Bean
^ Yes, I mean Yes, We DO Have This One
Removing The Spinning POV of Nausea, Mouth Mutilation, Antiquenology, Cerebus Equilibrium, Schrodinger's Author and Fail to Succeed as they're redundant.
Edited by gc10 on Sep 22nd 2019 at 11:59:19 AM
Thanks, been lurking here but decided to be involved.
So, I found these drafts.
- Bully Turned Buddy: There is discussion if this is different enough from Reformed Bully to be its own trope.
-
Pundit Inverted V: Basically everybody agrees that this is People Sit on Chairs. -
DelusionalRelationship: It's the same as Self-Proclaimed Love Interest. - Fork You: Seems the same as Fork Fencing.
Edited by ElBuenCuate on Oct 26th 2019 at 5:12:23 AM
Human Bean
I bombed Pundit Inverted V and Fork You. I discarded Delusional Relationship.
I'll check Bully turned Buddy later, but looking at the example, I personally believe it could simply be merged with Reformed Bully, by expanding a bit the meaning of the trope. Besides, some examples are already placed in both pages.
Edited by gc10 on Sep 23rd 2019 at 11:15:35 AM
The draft's description is sparse, but as it is right now, it and Reformed Bully can be distinguished by the "goodness level" of the bully.
A Reformed Bully has become a nicer person but is not necessarily anyone's friend. Or even an important character.
A Bully Turned Buddy isn't necessarily any nicer. Maybe they're still a bully. An example that comes to mind is 13 Going on 30, where the future buddy is still mean, but the protagonist has developed into a backstabbing jerk over the years. The bully is not reformed in any way.
Edited by Tabs on Sep 23rd 2019 at 9:25:20 AM
Glad I found this thread, as someone who likes to scroll on mobile and accidentally clicks the last-page button too often. Here are a couple on the last page that we can probably get rid of:
-
Hereditary Secret Bodyguardis the same but more specific to Legacy of Service -
Build a Skyscraper To Reach the Breach: We have Seal the Breach now. -
Evil Is A Mode: We have Morality Dial.
Edited by Synchronicity on Oct 24th 2019 at 9:57:19 AM
Human Bean
Bombed them all.
- Bump to bomb, with Administrivia.Do We Have This One and a response?
Edited by Malady on Sep 23rd 2019 at 6:20:37 AM
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
Human Bean
It's not necessary to justify every single bomb I think. An explanation is needed only if you're going to definitely discard the draft.
Hereditary secret bodyguard is poorly worked, too specific and already covered enough by other tropes, and didn't change since 2011. I bombed it.
Absurdly Correct, another identical draftwas launched before it. This one can be discarded.
Edited by gc10 on Sep 24th 2019 at 3:12:26 PM
- But bumping means more visibility and therefore more bombs to clear them out faster.
Short-Term Projects herald
Bombed all that arrived today. Motion to discard?
Contains 20% less fat than the leading value brand!
Human Bean
Now that you made me think of that, you're right. We should do that more often.
I'm discarding Build a Skyscraper to reach the Sky
, Evil is a mode and Hereditary secred bodyguard since they're redundant and already covered by existing tropes.
Edited by gc10 on Sep 25th 2019 at 6:40:25 PM
I can't find the query now, but somewhere, it was said that bumping TLP drafts to get them bombed was frowned upon. Or maybe it was bumping multiple drafts at once to get them bombed. That's one of the reasons I created this thread. This way, we can quietly discard drafts that will never make it to tropehood, without bringing unnecessary attention to them on the launch pad itself.
Human Bean
I'm sorry, I wasn't aware of that. I limited myself and bumped only 3 drafts, because I didn't want to crowd the TLP.
I think however, that instead of completely forbid bumping drafts for bombing, enstablishing a limit would be better. Sometimes drafts posted here stay for days before receiving 5 bombs, and considering the growing number of drafts per day (the TLP kept bouncing between 497 and 498 pages, because of continuously added/discarded drafts), it prevents this thread from actually reducing the drafts in the TLP.
That said, I'm not going to bump anymore drafts for bombing, if the rules don't allow it.
- Fake Idealist Villain is already covered by Straw Hypocrite. I bombed it.
- Smart people quote and counter quote is already covered by Quote-to-Quote Combat. It needs a single bomb.
Edited by gc10 on Sep 25th 2019 at 9:55:58 PM
Reading through the TLP Guidelines, bumps for bombs isn't specifically disallowed. I'm just being careful. 
Human Bean
True, the TLP doesn't talk about that. But still, if you say that bumping TLP drafts to get them bombed was frowned upon at, it should be taken note nonetheless. Perhaps that could be more clearly and definitely discussed with the Mods? To have a clearer guideline on that?
I found this drafts that I'm not sure if they are salvagable.
- Peter Jackson Shot "I wide shot to present our main party." I don't know if we have that trope, but this draft a bad name, and only zero context examples.
- It's About Time: "Characters reacting to the main couple finally hooking up."
-
Star Takeover: "The main actor ends with too much control over the production." Was mentioned that may be only an exagerated Wag the Director.
Edited by ElBuenCuate on Oct 26th 2019 at 5:13:18 AM
I dislike the stock phrase-y-ness and stub description, but I can see "It's About Time" be a trope where characters react approvingly to a couple becoming a couple. I can think of an example, too.
Human Bean
I bombed Star Takeover since I think it's redundant and unnecessary. For those other two, I'd rather look around the TLP or the tropes to see whether they're redundant or not.
Redundant drafts, all of which I'm bombing:
-
Rivalry and Enmity Tropes: Redundant with Rivalry Tropes. -
Goofy Gambit: Threadbare description and formatting, redundant with Wounded Gazelle Gambit (as pointed out) -
Related In the Adaptation: We already have, quite literally, Related in the Adaptation -
Occupational Weapon: We have Weapons of Their Trade already. -
Movies in the Hood: We have Hood Film.
Edited by Synchronicity on Oct 24th 2019 at 9:55:21 AM
- Hey! That's my car!
Stock phrase aside, is there anything about this draft that's not already covered by Hero Stole My Bike, Parking Problems, Car Meets House, Watch the Paint Job and The Precious, Precious Car? I'm throwing on a bomb.
- Wizards Wear Long Robes
: This is a Ridiculously Similar Trope to Robe and Wizard Hat. Comments mention this draft "came about as a result of a TRS thread", but I don't know which Trope Repair Shop thread sparked it and I didn't find the Trope Repair Shop thread when I did a perfunctory search. Does anybody else know enough to provide a handy link?
- Instant Vanishing Injury
: We Have This... I Swear..., is it Hollywood Healing or Snap Back or Unexplained Recovery or some other trope? I'm not sure any of those are an exact fit, so I asked for more opinions on Trope Finder
.
- It Was Here When I Got Here
: As a gal who never watches sitcoms, I am in no position to say whether or not it's Too Rare to Trope either.
- Adaptation Divergence
: Yes, We DO Have This One, it's Adaptation Deviation. Bombed.
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.