Follow TV Tropes

Following

Not Tropeworthy: The Wiki Rule

Go To

To-do list:

    Original post 
The Wiki Rule is about how the Internet is capable of generating a fan-made wiki on virtually any topic imaginable (movies, books, TV series, comics, fortune cookies, etc.). It is an 11-year-old trivia trope consisting largely of external links and Potholes. This was brought up in a trope talk a few years ago, and it was eventually added to the Tropes Needing TRS because, and I quote, "[a wiki's] existence is not very notable". Here is the Wick Check.

Percentages (70/70):

  • Potholes = 13%
  • Just a weblink = 71%
  • Weblink + some details about the wiki = 13%
  • Misuse = 3%

Analysis: 71% of the sample consists solely of links to wiki sites, just pure links. This is probably motivated by its description, which only requires an existing wiki about a work (with a tvtrope page) to count. The remainder is made up of potholes that mention the trope and other examples with links and a bit more meat on the bones. However, I struggled to find any relevance in these last ones, because they simply discuss the wiki's current state or a few details about it, topics that aren't actually connected to the work itself but to the fandom of the work. Two of them even ask the reader to help expand the wiki, using the trope as some sort of ad. Overall, it appears that the trope doesn't have much to offer as a trivia trope in its current state.

Suggestion:

  • Making it a Definition-Only Page and removing all the standalone examples.
  • As suggested here:
    • Ban examples from being listed on work pages, but allow them on The Wiki Rule page itself.
    • Make it a Just for Fun page.
    • Rework the trope to be about when creators use a fan's wiki as a reference.
  • As suggested in the Tropes Needing TRS post:
    • Require examples that aren't hosted on wiki farms like FANDOM.
  • Other suggestion are welcome.

Wick check:

With more than two-thirds of the sample, The Wiki Rule is a clear offender of the rule Weblinks Are Not Examples.

Trope Repair Shop discussion


    open/close all folders 

     Potholes (9/70) 
  1. DracoInLeatherPants.Video Games: Kane, the leader of the Brotherhood of Nod in the Command & Conquer series. It doesn't help that his motivations seem to change every game, or that the developers themselves seem infected with Evil Is Cool.
    • At one point in the first game, he tells the player that "people believe what the media tells them to believe… and I tell the media what to believe". Quite fitting that this is exactly what happens among the fandom — another cutscene has Kane MST the "origin of Tiberium" scene from the GDI campaign, interrupting it at one point to explain that, as opposed to Dr. Mobius finding it and naming it after the Tiber River the first meteor crashed near, Kane himself actually discovered it first and named it after the Roman emperor Tiberius Caesar. Now, if one were to look up Tiberium on Google, almost every result except the C&C Wiki won't even mention Mobius' version of its discovery and naming, much less assume that that's how it actually was discovered.
  2. Bare-Handed Puppetry: OobiEyes.com, a former online catalogue of unofficial Oobi puppets that closed in 2013, had a YouTube "partnership offer" that gave customers free Oobi eyes if they created web videos with their products. The result was a wide variety of Oobi tributes and spoofs appearing on YouTube, including entire series about bare hand puppet characters. Due to the former popularity of such videos, a wiki exists (of course it does!) for cataloging homemade films starring Oobi puppets.
  3. Characters.Kan Colle Eight: Sports a 16-inch twin gun mount in addition to her aircraft. The wiki even classifies her as an aviation battleship instead of a carrier.
  4. WesternAnimation.Ben 10 Omniverse: As noted by the show's official wiki, Clyde Fife is basically Napoleon Dynamite as a Ben 10 character.
  5. Crunchtastic: Strong Bad from Homestar Runner has coined "extracurriculariffic", and his Sblounskched! candy bar has a "crispety, cookety log" in the middle (a cookie center hollowed out to make room for more "candy matter"). There's a lot more. In fact the Homestar Runner Wiki has a page devoted to all the made-up words!
  6. Fanfic.The Greatest There Was Or Ever Will Be: In the grand tradition of the Internet, the fanfic has its own wiki here.
  7. UnusualEuphemism.Webcomics: This is yet another unintentionally hilarious element of Christian Weston Chandler's critically acclaimed masterpiece Sonichu. There are too many examples to list, but suffice it to say that the comic basically has its own vernacular based on the author's unusual usage of English. Examples include "pickle" for penis, "China" for vagina, and "raincoat" for condom. The CWCki has numerous pages about the words Chris comes up with, if you're really interested.
  8. Official Fan-Submitted Content: Within a loose view of the Disney Ducks Comic Universe canon, certain ideas or fancomics submitted to official creators' blogs and heartily approved by said official creators have got some credit, and are treated as such on the Wiki.
  9. Characters.Pokemon Diamond And Pearl Gym Leaders And Elite Four: In English: Fantina = Phantom. Plus, according to the PokéWiki her name is the same in both English and Spanish. In Spanish, though, Fantina comes from the more obvious word Fantasma note . The wiki also suggests the name is a reference to Fantine from Les Misérables.

     Just a weblink (50/70) 
  1. Trivia.Sam And Max: The Sam & Max Wiki.
  2. Trivia.Magic Kyun Renaissance: Magic Kyun! Renaissance Wikia.
  3. Trivia.Yu Yu Hakusho: This one and this one, although the former is much better. ► The second link is down
  4. Trivia.Fantasy Life: ReveriaExplorer, a database for every item in the game.
  5. Trivia.I Dont Want To Be The Hive Queen: Has one here.
  6. Trivia.Sky Children Of The Light: The Sky wiki is right here!
  7. Trivia.Lightning Returns Final Fantasy XIII: The Final Fantasy Wiki.
  8. Trivia.Changeling The Dreaming: The White Wolf Wiki and Changeling: The Dreaming Wiki.
  9. Trivia.The Lord Of The Rings: The One Wiki To Rule Them All, and The Tolkien Gateway.
  10. Trivia.Scape And Run Parasites: Scape and Run: Parasites Wiki.
  11. Trivia.Lovecraft Country: Lovecraft Country Wiki
  12. Trivia.Farm Ville: The Farmville Wiki.
  13. Trivia.Vib Ribbon: The Vib-Ribbon Wiki.
  14. Trivia.Assassins Creed: Here.
  15. Trivia.One Hundred Percent Orange Juice: The game has an official wiki.
  16. Trivia.Twelve Tails Online: The Thailand 12 Tails Online Wiki and Wikia's 12 Tails Online English Wiki.
  17. Trivia.Shadow Raiders: Shadow Raiders Wiki.
  18. Trivia.Urusei Yatsura: The Urusei Yatsura Wiki.
  19. Trivia.Boss Monster: Here you go.
  20. Trivia.The Moomins: Moomin Wiki
  21. Trivia.Realm Of The Mad God: Right here.
  22. Trivia.Redungeon: Redungeon Wiki | Fandom
  23. Trivia.Choushinsei Flashman: Covered as part of RangerWiki.
  24. Trivia.Danger Days The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys: The Danger Days Wiki, which covers the album, music videos, and comics.
  25. Trivia.Guyver: The Guyver Wiki.
  26. Trivia.Eureka Seven: Eureka Seven Wiki.
  27. Trivia.Akuma No Riddle: Has a wiki here.
  28. Trivia.A Thing Of Vikings: Has one located here.
  29. Trivia.Alchemy Stars: Here is the Fandom Wiki.
  30. Trivia.CSI: The CSI Wiki.
  31. Trivia.Welcome To The Game: Made before the game even came out, here.
  32. Trivia.Dragon Quest Builders: The Dragon Quest Wiki, Wikia Dragon Quest Wiki, and Dragon Quest Builders Wiki.
  33. Trivia.Ninku: Here it is.
  34. Trivia.Huntik Secrets And Seekers: Huntik Wiki
  35. Trivia.The Harlem Globetrotters: The Harlem Globetrotters Wiki.
  36. Trivia.Forever Knight: The Forever Knight Wiki.
  37. Trivia.My Little Pony Tales: My Little Wiki covers Generations 1-4.
  38. Trivia.Outlander: The Outlander Wiki.
  39. Trivia.Temple Run: The Temple Run Wiki.
  40. Trivia.Killing Eve: Killing Eve Wiki
  41. Trivia.Walker: Walker Wiki
  42. Trivia.Perplex City: Has a wiki Here.
  43. Trivia.Coconut Freds Fruit Salad Island: The Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island Wiki.
  44. Trivia.Fig Hunter: Here.
  45. Trivia.Wings Of Fire: The Wings of Fire Wiki and Animus Wiki.
  46. Trivia.Dragon Ball Z Battle Of Gods: The Dragon Ball Wiki.
  47. Trivia.GI Joe Extreme: Joepedia, the G.I. Joe Wiki.
  48. Trivia.Chronicles Of The Kencyrath: http://kencyr.wikia.com
  49. Trivia.Romantically Apocalyptic: Romantically Apocalypse Wiki
  50. Trivia.Ultima I: The Codex of Ultima Wisdom, and Wikia Codex of Editable Wisdom.

     Weblink + some details about the wiki (9/70) 
  1. Trivia.The Raven Cycle: The Raven Boys wikia. It's infamous among the fandom for being a lot more casual than a typical wiki (most character pages are just emotional rambling and fandom jokes rather than objective information).
  2. Website.Questden: The Questden Wiki serves as an summary and index for every quest and has a few extra articles on things like advice for running threads and archived links to the various fanart threads. ► Trivia tropes doesn't go on the main page, otherwise it's fine
  3. Trivia.Sword And Fairy: Softstar Wiki, shared with Xuan-Yuan Sword series.
  4. Trivia.Alien Trilogy: Xenopedia has information on Alien, Predator, and Alien vs. Predator.
  5. Trivia.Little Big Planet: There used to be one on LBPCentral, but it's been down for some time. In the meantime, there's also one on Wikia.
  6. Trivia.Ssalia And The Dragons Of Avienot: Has a wiki here, though without much activity.
  7. Trivia.Bleach Ultimate Alien: Bleach: Ultimate Alien Wiki. Be warned, it is very much incomplete, so some wiki magic love is much appreciated.
  8. Trivia.Yu Gi Oh Forbidden Memories: Yugipedia (which forked from the old wiki in 2018).
  9. Trivia.How To Be A Werewolf: The How to Be a Werewolf Wiki. It could use some help as it just recently was created. ► This example was made in 2020

     Misuse (2/70) 
  1. Trivia.The Descended: Brian has considered making one to keep track of it. Currently averted, though—Brian considers his TV Tropes page to be detailed enough that he doesn't need a wiki of his own. ► Trivia trope can't be played with.
  2. Trivia.Hellfire Commentaries: Averted; they started a wiki, but eventually scrapped it in favor of a TVTropes page. ► Trivia trope can't be played with.


Edited by GastonRabbit on Aug 3rd 2023 at 1:47:12 PM

WarJay77 Bonnie's Artistic Cousin from The Void (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Bonnie's Artistic Cousin
#101: Aug 13th 2023 at 10:44:50 AM

No? It's just... we're removing these examples because we don't find these wiki links worthwhile. Technically it's not a rule but we don't have anywhere else the links could go now.

Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
wingedcatgirl I'm helping! from lurking (Holding A Herring) Relationship Status: Oh my word! I'm gay!
I'm helping!
#102: Aug 13th 2023 at 11:36:33 AM

"This work has a wiki" is no longer considered a thing interesting enough to document.

Trouble Cube continues to be a general-purpose forum for those who desire such a thing.
Amonimus the Retromancer from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the Retromancer
#103: Aug 13th 2023 at 11:58:27 AM

The policy is called Definition-Only Pages, the thing the thread has agreed on.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
WarJay77 Bonnie's Artistic Cousin from The Void (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Bonnie's Artistic Cousin
#104: Aug 13th 2023 at 12:53:21 PM

Well, they were asking about the wiki links themselves, not about use of The Wiki Rule.

Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
BlueXIII This isn't paper Since: Sep, 2017 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
This isn't paper
#105: Aug 13th 2023 at 1:57:02 PM

[ignore]

Edited by BlueXIII on Aug 13th 2023 at 3:57:13 AM

SoyValdo7 I mainly fix indentation issues from La tierra de lagos y volcanes Since: Sep, 2022 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
I mainly fix indentation issues
#106: Aug 16th 2023 at 4:06:55 PM

Trivia.Epic can be found in the related section of TheWiki Rule despite the fact that it doesn't exist. None of the other suggested titles have a wick for The Wiki Rule, so I have no idea what is going on here.

Valdo
WarJay77 Bonnie's Artistic Cousin from The Void (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Bonnie's Artistic Cousin
#107: Aug 16th 2023 at 4:08:48 PM

That's a ghost wick. Just needs to be remade and then cut.

Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
FernandoLemon Nobody Here from Argentina (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: In season
#108: Aug 16th 2023 at 5:31:55 PM

Can I also remove any wicks outside of trivia pages that are external links, such as in the work description?

I'd like to apologize for all this.
FernandoLemon Nobody Here from Argentina (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: In season
#109: Aug 19th 2023 at 4:22:50 AM

[up] still needs an answer.

I also agree with this Jay post, this seems pointless for us to wick.

Edited by FernandoLemon on Aug 19th 2023 at 8:23:58 AM

I'd like to apologize for all this.
Amonimus the Retromancer from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the Retromancer
#110: Aug 19th 2023 at 4:30:52 AM

a "mention of a wiki existing" would technically be a misuse of The Wiki Rule, which is about a phenomena in general, so I support not wicking to it if it can be helped.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
FernandoLemon Nobody Here from Argentina (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: In season
#111: Aug 19th 2023 at 8:50:12 AM

[up] Cool, thanks.

Sub-900 now, I'll send more pages to the Cut List once the current batch is processed.

I'd like to apologize for all this.
FernandoLemon Nobody Here from Argentina (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: In season
#112: Aug 19th 2023 at 12:51:29 PM

We're sub 700 when the Cut List requests are processed.

If anyone wants to finish knocking out Trivia, we're only missing S and the ones that start with "The".

I'd like to apologize for all this.
SoyValdo7 I mainly fix indentation issues from La tierra de lagos y volcanes Since: Sep, 2022 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
I mainly fix indentation issues
#113: Aug 19th 2023 at 4:22:38 PM

I'll see what I can do

Valdo
SoyValdo7 I mainly fix indentation issues from La tierra de lagos y volcanes Since: Sep, 2022 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
I mainly fix indentation issues
#114: Aug 19th 2023 at 5:17:47 PM

It's done. Now all that's left is to wait until they're cut. Two wicks were from locked pages, so I requested their removal in the Locked pages thread. Also, I found that Trivia.Foundation directly names the trope. Is that allowed?

Edited by SoyValdo7 on Aug 19th 2023 at 6:18:08 AM

Valdo
MacronNotes (she/her) (Captain) Relationship Status: Less than three
(she/her)
#115: Aug 19th 2023 at 5:21:28 PM

It's being used as a term so it's fine.

I did the rest of the cuts and will do the locked pages shortly. Does this mean that we are done?

Macron's notes
FernandoLemon Nobody Here from Argentina (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: In season
#116: Aug 19th 2023 at 5:26:10 PM

No, we still have to clean sinkholes. Use Sandbox.The Dewicking Rule to mark which namespaces are done. Sample:

Just cut those.

Edited by FernandoLemon on Aug 19th 2023 at 9:27:10 AM

I'd like to apologize for all this.
FernandoLemon Nobody Here from Argentina (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: In season
#117: Aug 19th 2023 at 5:56:58 PM

A lot of work pages have the wiki link in the description instead of the trivia page. If it's outside this site's mission, I assume I can remove those too, correct? (I don't mean just the wick, that's obvious; I mean the entire paragraph.)

Edited by FernandoLemon on Aug 19th 2023 at 9:59:12 AM

I'd like to apologize for all this.
Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
Just stoic wisdom.
#118: Aug 20th 2023 at 2:18:49 PM

<350 wicks. Of the lower wick counts, this one's been going down the fastest.

Vehicle-Based Characterization | Grief-Induced Split | Locker Mail
FernandoLemon Nobody Here from Argentina (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: In season
Berrenta How sweet it is from Texas Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
How sweet it is
#120: Aug 21st 2023 at 9:21:46 AM

[up]Go ahead and remove those cases. [tup]

Edited by Berrenta on Aug 21st 2023 at 11:22:21 AM

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report
MissConduct Chew. from Duwang (Rule of Seven) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
MacronNotes (she/her) (Captain) Relationship Status: Less than three
Add Post

Trope Repair Shop: The Wiki Rule
31st Jul '23 12:32:03 AM

Crown Description:

  • The Wiki Rule is about how the Internet is capable of generating a fan-made wiki on virtually any topic imaginable (movies, books, TV series, comics, fortune cookies, etc.). It is an 11-year-old trivia trope consisting largely of external links and Potholes. This was brought up in a trope talk a few years ago, and it was eventually added to the Tropes Needing TRS because, and I quote, "[a wiki's] existence is not very notable". Here is the Wick Check.
  • 71% of the sample consists solely of links to wiki sites, just pure links. This is probably motivated by its description, which only requires an existing wiki about a work (with a tvtrope page) to count. The remainder is made up of potholes that mention the trope and other examples with links and a bit more meat on the bones. However, I struggled to find any relevance in these last ones, because they simply discuss the wiki's current state or a few details about it, topics that aren't actually connected to the work itself but to the fandom of the work. Two of them even ask the reader to help expand the wiki, using the trope as some sort of ad. Overall, it appears that the trope doesn't have much to offer as a trivia trope in its current state.
  • What should be done with The Wiki Rule?

Total posts: 122
Top