"No Recent Examples Please" cleanup

Per the "Is this an example?" thread, shouldn't Signature Scene have a waiting period to prevent knee-jerk reactions? I'm thinking a month might be sufficient, but it could also vary depending on the medium, and it doesn't help that perception may change over time.

I wouldn’t object to a waiting period on the Signature Scene trope.

That sounds reasonable.

I actually think the idea of Signature Scene having a waiting period would work.

I also agree that Signature Scene would benefit from a waiting period.

A waiting period, yes, but I don't think a month is enough. It takes time to coalesce on something like "I'll have what she's having" as the scene everyone remembers from the work.

Yeah, I feel like a longer time period is needed to see if the work makes any imprint on pop culture, let alone one memorable scene. I would even say a year.

I have been yanking Darker and Edgier from various unreleased work pages because people can't help but claim "the trailer was SO dark and the actors said so" in entries. I think you need the full work to compare if there really is a Tone Shift since Trailers Always Lie. Petition to wait until release?

(Maybe Lighter and Softer has this same problem but I personally haven’t seen it around. I think DAE is more of a “badge of honor” than LAS.)

I support waiting until release for Darker and Edgier. As for Lighter and Softer, I feel that including it would be the right call. While it may not have the sane level of misuse, there's still the possibility that our expectations get subverted.

Regarding Signature Scene, I don't have a problem going longer than a month. I proposed one month mostly to curtail knee-jerk reactions, but if more time is needed for proper evaluation, I don't see the harm in a longer window.

Would three months work for Signature Scene? I don't think we need to wait longer than that (but of course I could be wrong)

Edited by MacronNotes on Nov 4th 2022 at 8:03:46 AM

I think three to six months is fine.

Regarding Chuck Cunningham Syndrome, I've thought it over and I agree that there should be no examples from works that haven't concluded, unless creator confirmed. (I edited my original post.)

Also, Star-Derailing Role still needs voted on. (Five years, unless the actor retires).

Edited by thecarolinabull01 on Nov 4th 2022 at 3:51:03 PM

Regarding Chuck Cunningham Syndrome, what about long runners? I feel if the show's been on for 20 years and we haven't seen Alice since year three, it's safe to assume she won't be back.

I dunno, there's a whole conversation about fanservice and fan call backs in these long runners lately e.g. MCU entry #35 bringing out some character who appeared in MCU entry #2^note not speaking of existing characters here, but a general trend but who was never explicitly written out because they weren't the main character.

Edited by Synchronicity on Nov 5th 2022 at 12:10:14 PM

Signature Scene having at least a six-month wait (like Overshadowed by Controversy which also requires that long to see if it sticks).

Per ATT, Content Leak must wait until the work is out. Two questions:

1. Might Content Leak need a longer wait as, for video game examples at least, it may take days before most gamers get to the point the leak can be verified?
2. Do items that must wait until the work is released fall under "No Recent Examples"? If not are they worth getting their own list?

1. I'd say no because a lot of games aren't that long and don't need that much time to verify examples. For those that are, theoretically, someone could download the game the second it's released and sink all their time into it and find the content in a day.
2. Are there a lot of items that fit this description, aside the ones that are plainly obvious and/or already stated on Creating a Work Page for an Upcoming Work?

Since What Happened to the Mouse? is about characters that permanently disappear from the story, should there be a wait period in episodic works? I saw some examples where a character was Out of Focus for a while, but reappeared after the example was created meaning their fate was no longer ambiguous. I was thinking until after the work was completed. Maybe a more standard wait period for Long-Runners, or an exception for characters of the week that have zero expectations to return?

What Happened to the Mouse? is when a character or plotline is dropped because they're unimportant to the current main story. If it's a Sequel Hook than it too big to count.

It can be on a per episode basis as if it's addressed later it's still this in said episode. For waits I say wait until the current story arc is concluded.

Relating, how long do we give Aborted Arc to decide the arc is abandoned as opposed to back burner? I'm also wondering if, like Author's Saving Throw, it needs confirmation it was intended as a arc but scrapped.

I'm thinking 5 years for Aborted Arc to make sure that the arc is actually aborted, but again, there have many cases of formerly aborted arcs being completed decades after the arc was aborted.

We should also need to define how long an arc has to be aborted for Plot Archaeology to be valid.

Edited by Nen_desharu on Nov 16th 2022 at 11:39:16 AM

we can't see the future and if the arc gets picked up later we can always adjust the page. 5 years seems fine to me.

Some AA examples from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:

• Starting with Season 4 the Tree of Harmony was introduced and increasingly built up, becoming more important to the plot and even gaining a sentient form. The last we see of this form is in Uprooted when the Young Six building a treehouse at its location revives it (roll with it) and it tells them their actions have made it more powerful than before. With that it promptly vanishes from the storyline save for the Treehouse appearing as a backdrop in a couple more scenes, and plays no more roll whatsoever in the story. Even the Young Six's Big Damn Heroes moment in the Series Finale has nothing to do with the tree or its sentient spirit, and there's no mention of it in the Distant Finale either.

As this was the final Season, would the 5 year wait apply as the work ending means there's no chance of it being resolved? And if it gets resolved in other works is it still AA in the original? (I question if this is AA as the creators knew this would be the final Season so this there would be no time to do more, this laking resolution seemed plan as opposed to plans changing. Is that a question for elsewhere?)

Makes sense. Five years or the end of the show.

Whichever comes first or whichever comes last?

whichever comes first, i would think.

(x4)For the first question, I feel so because the work in question over and thus the arc can't be resolved. For your second question, I guess it still is an Aborted Arc in the original.

For Content Leak, the important part is that the leak is verified by official material, which doesn't necessarily require the work's release in certain edge cases (e.g. Smash Bros. fighters).

I would like to suggest that Even Better Sequel and Surprisingly Improved Sequel be added to the "No Recent Examples, Please!" list. I think they should as they are similar reaction tropes to Contested Sequel, which is on the list, except they have to do with positive reactions instead of negative ones and could easily be used for knee jerk reactions. I also think True Art Is Angsty should be added as well, since it also has to do with a reaction to a work and thus is open to the same issues.

I think all of these tropes should have the mandatory waiting period that Contested Sequel has of six months.