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So Bad It's Horrible Cleanup

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So Bad, It's Horrible is one of the more flame-bait-y parts of the site, so a cleanup thread is needed to ensure that works aren't added simply because someone doesn't like them.

If you want to list a work under this, keep the following in mind:

  • The work must have very few fans or defenders (both genuine and ironic). It should fail to appeal to any type of audience.
  • Being offensive in its subject matter isn't enough.
  • It isn't horrible just because a certain critic disliked it, though their reviews can be used as sources and citations.
  • The work should have notably poor reviews (e.g., less than 3/10 on IMDb, or single digit scores on Rotten Tomatoes)
  • For a Moral Substitute to qualify, it cannot even appeal to its target demographic.
  • Please be polite while writing and as much as possible, avoid falling into Complaining About Shows You Don't Like. Instead, focus on explaining why the work is horrible.

In addition, per No Recent Examples, Please!, a work must be at least one month old before it can be added, to prevent knee-jerk reactions.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Oct 6th 2024 at 3:34:45 AM

PlasmaPower Piece of Cake. Since: Jan, 2015
Piece of Cake.
#8751: Aug 10th 2025 at 11:23:18 PM

On Horrible.Other, there's this rule before the example starts:

5. And finally, due to moderator decision, No Real Life Examples, Please! For places you can find real-life examples, horrible vehicles are listed under The Alleged Car, horrible pop-up events and amusement parks under Crappy Carnival, horrible software/hardware under Idiot Programming, horrible design under Idiot Design, and other horrible events under Shoddy Shindig.

I'm wondering, where exactly was the moderator decision on this? I don't even see the trope on the NRLEP page or even the LRLEO page. Was this part of the description added unilaterally?

Also, I feel like delegating examples of cars and parks to The Alleged Car and Crappy Carnival/Shoddy Shindig was a mistake. I think I might've brought up The Alleged Car somewhere before in this thread or the NRLEP one, but Shoddy Shindig in also has walls of texts for its RL folder, which I think was the result of just copypasting the examples that used to be on Horrible.Other to over there.

I'm hoping to get some clarification on this before I add the Thomas & Friends 60th Anniversary Party at Hatfield House to one of these pages.

Edited by PlasmaPower on Aug 10th 2025 at 11:27:39 AM

Thomas fans needed! Come join me in the the show's cleanup thread!
WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (3,795/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (3,795/50,000)
#8752: Aug 10th 2025 at 11:32:45 PM

We'd discussed it a lot here and cut a few pages for not describing creative works of some kind.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
PlasmaPower Piece of Cake. Since: Jan, 2015
Piece of Cake.
#8753: Aug 11th 2025 at 12:18:39 AM

At the same time though, I don't think it's ideal to have these entries on the main trope pages like this. I don't know where else we could put them besides a non-Horrible Darth page.

Thomas fans needed! Come join me in the the show's cleanup thread!
GastonRabbit MOD 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)
#8754: Aug 12th 2025 at 9:39:46 PM

The NRLEP paragraph was unilaterally added last year by ~Lumberwood, who isn't a mod, and I do not recall any mod discussion regarding such a restriction. I removed it. If there's discussion to be had, take it to the NRLEP thread.

Edit: Sent a notifier.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Aug 12th 2025 at 11:43:27 AM

I got a rock for Halloween.
PlasmaPower Piece of Cake. Since: Jan, 2015
Piece of Cake.
#8755: Aug 12th 2025 at 9:56:37 PM

Alright, thanks for the clarification. I was wondering if that was discussed beforehand or it was added unilaterally.

Anyways, I'm still wondering if we should make Darth Wiki pages for Crappy Carnival, The Alleged Car, and Shoddy Shindig that aren't part of Horrible. Or if we should keep doing what we've been doing with those entries and putting them on their main pages.

Thomas fans needed! Come join me in the the show's cleanup thread!
mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#8756: Aug 12th 2025 at 10:32:59 PM

I'm not opposed to making them Darth, but only if there's any evidence that them being on the main wiki is an actual problem, since they're not inherently flame bait like Idiot Programming is. Maybe keeping them on the main wiki under their usual Real Life pages will encourage stricter moderation and objectivity?

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (3,795/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (3,795/50,000)
#8757: Aug 12th 2025 at 10:36:41 PM

I am opposed to them being Darth because that feels way too off-mission? Moving them to the trope pages was the compromise, because they aren't creative works. Giving them darth wiki pages is essentially saying we don't care if they're actually works, we just want to bash them.

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)
#8758: Aug 13th 2025 at 5:36:10 AM

As an update regarding that paragraph I removed earlier, I checked posts from last year and while ~Fighteer (paging him in case I'm mistaken about anything here, especially since it was a year ago and mod chat logs don't go back that far) made some posts, I think starting with this one and continuing for at least two posts after that, regarding making SBIH NRLEP, those posts were not posted with the mod hat on, so it appears that he was stating his opinion on what should or shouldn't be allowed.

The issue with the text I removed was that it was added based on posts that a mod posted without the mod hat on. If Fighteer was making an official statement and just neglected to have the mod hat on for those posts, then I'll let him chime in regarding that. (I wouldn't have a problem with making SBIH NRLEP; the issue was the way the notice was added.)

Edit: Just to clarify, I did mean to leave the mod hat off for this post, since I'm just posting what I found regarding discussion in this thread from last year (plus asking for input regarding said discussion) and not doing any mod stuff with this post.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Aug 13th 2025 at 7:39:51 AM

I got a rock for Halloween.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#8759: Aug 13th 2025 at 6:39:12 AM

My post was personal opinion, not mod fiat. I'm not averse to invoking fiat here, but this is not the sort of decision that should ideally be made that way.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
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)
#8760: Aug 13th 2025 at 5:05:54 PM

[up]Ah, OK, that clears things up. Then I guess that goes back to what I said about how further discussion of making this NRLEP (or LRLEO if only certain categories are problematic) should go in the RL cleanup thread (if there doesn't end up being a mod decision instead).

Edited by GastonRabbit on Aug 13th 2025 at 7:06:21 AM

I got a rock for Halloween.
Robwaah007 A very unamused Klonoa Since: Sep, 2020
A very unamused Klonoa
#8761: Aug 14th 2025 at 10:45:01 PM

I'm wondering if the 2018 card game Pug You! could count as SBIH. The gameplay of it is well, you and your friends are dealt cards that say something insulting like "Who's the most likely to call the local suicide crisis line?" (I'm not joking, that is an actual card included in the game), and you lay one of your cards down on the backside and try to get the active player to flip it over, at which point they decide to give turd cards to the friends they think suit that description the most, and that's practically it. The description of the game tries to explain that this is the pugs' revenge on the humans for breeding them into painful deformity, but the actual gameplay does absolutely nothing to tell you this message. From what I've looked online the game has almost no positive reception, since not only is it extremely tasteless, it also lacks any real substance beyond that, and is likely to get stale after a while. Literally the only good thing I can say about this game is that the art direction is nice, and nothing else.
You can see Tom Vasel of The Dice Tower cover it here.

Edited by Robwaah007 on Aug 14th 2025 at 1:49:23 PM

Wahoo!
punkcrow The horrors persist, but so do I (He/Him) from Northwest Indiana Since: Dec, 2020 Relationship Status: I made a point to burn all of the photographs
The horrors persist, but so do I (He/Him)
#8762: Aug 14th 2025 at 11:04:33 PM

[up] Sounds like it counts, yeah — not just because it's extremely tasteless, but also because the gameplay sounds boring.

Cold turkey's getting stale. Tonight I'm eating crow.
mightymewtron Word Up from New New York Since: Oct, 2012 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
Word Up
#8763: Aug 14th 2025 at 11:33:53 PM

The only review site I found (Board Game Geek) gave it a 2.8/10 which sounds dire.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Nen_desharu Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire from Greater Smash Bros. Universe or Toronto Since: Aug, 2020 Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire
#8764: Aug 15th 2025 at 8:55:04 AM

[up]That makes it a clear case of adding it.

Kirby is awesome.
SpaceProtagonist (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Abstaining
#8765: Aug 16th 2025 at 8:42:30 AM

What do you think of adding "Club Penguin Online" to SBIH? It was infamous for terrible administration and the owner being actual pedophile (who could solicit nudes from minors again while expecting to get away with it at the same time. Plus other problems such as:

  • Admin abuse was rampant here to the point that it was comparable to government corruption you’d see within a dictatorship country. Say something bad about the staff or against Riley for being a pedophile, and you would get banned. In addition, there were a few instances where players got banned for no reason.
  • The way moderators ban users for the reasons above caused many players (including those who were loyal to the game) to decide to stick with Club Penguin Rewritten, as they don't ban players for the reasons above.

You know what? Just read this article, it'll tell you everything you need to know.

GearFriedTheKnight BLOCKING - A weapon for the 21st century. from The nearest road that can be raced (Experienced Trainee) Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
BLOCKING - A weapon for the 21st century.
#8766: Aug 16th 2025 at 8:52:01 AM

This feels like nothing but drama importation.

''There's no magic in tuning; yet, it's something that tends to escape from any logic."
fragglelover Since: Jun, 2012
#8767: Aug 16th 2025 at 8:54:36 AM

Pretty sure that we don't add stuff to horrible just because someone involved was a creep, even if it's a moderator on an online game.

This is for stuff like the game being impossible to play (or super boring) because of the rules/technical stuff/etc.

SpaceProtagonist (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Abstaining
#8768: Aug 16th 2025 at 8:56:04 AM

Oh well, just a suggestion. This is why I go to the discussion before adding it or writing it up.

[down][down]That was not the official game. It was a fan version.

Edited by SpaceProtagonist on Aug 16th 2025 at 8:59:16 AM

Shikijika585 (they/he) nuuy from A Kind World Since: Jul, 2019 Relationship Status: It's a Russian taunt
(they/he) nuuy
#8769: Aug 16th 2025 at 8:56:18 AM

that looks like 100% drama importation, srry

I like the rabbit from All Stars F. Mostly frequenting CVD, SBIH/Lewdness cleanups and [Index Name].
worldwidewoomy (Plucky Ensign) Relationship Status: I miss my wife, Tails
#8770: Aug 16th 2025 at 8:57:37 AM

drama importation aside, base game Club Penguin is nowhere near SBIH

Keane2005 Since: Oct, 2024 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#8771: Aug 16th 2025 at 9:02:17 AM

I don’t see anything especially horrible other than the owner being unable to take criticism and occasionally banning people For the Evulz, but I don’t think that alone qualifies for SBIH, assuming it was mostly similar to normal Club Penguin otherwise.

Wafer from the Banjo-Tooie world, meditating (Life not ruined yet) Relationship Status: Non-Canon
#8772: Aug 16th 2025 at 11:10:07 AM

Agreeing with everyone else, this sounds more like Overshadowed by Controversy and even then I'm not sure if it would fully apply because this is the first time I've ever heard of this controversy.

"She is a girl" - THE HAMLET GLUTTON
Libraryseraph uu~ from Canada (Handed A Sword) Relationship Status: Raising My Lily Rank With You
uu~
#8773: Aug 16th 2025 at 11:14:40 AM

I've heard of this incident personally but I don't think this counts as SBIH or that "Qualitypedia" is a particularly reliable source

HAPPY HALLOWEEN FOR MARIA
fragglelover Since: Jun, 2012
#8774: Aug 16th 2025 at 11:17:30 AM

That's another thing- I'm pretty sure that reception wikis aren't allowed to be used as a source (think it's discouraged to even bring them up on pages).

(Sorry if this isn't needed)

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
#8775: Aug 16th 2025 at 12:10:51 PM

[up] I believe it is. IIRC we cut the page for the Crappy Games Wiki a while back due to drama importation or something like that.

Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall

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