They're in Troper Tales because they don't belong on the main page. Not exactly sure what policy is on cleaning out TT is, but I'd rather have it there than on the main page.
They lost me. Forgot me. Made you from parts of me. If you're the One, my father's son, what am I supposed to be?As I recall, the only Troper Tales we ever took issue with was Incest Is Relative for...reasons. In general, Troper Tales is a place for tropers to give This Troper, first person experiences.
We also took a chainsaw to Moral Event Horizon and Complete Monster Troper Tales. I'm not saying that Jerkass tales are the same as Complete Monster tales, but it's still the same problem of describing yourself as evil or an asshole in a lame attempt to seem cool or edgy. For that reason I think we should at least prune the ones like "This troper considers himself a jerkass. *insert descriptions of cruelty to others.*" It's not cool and it shouldn't belong here.
A thing of beauty is a joy forever.I don't have a problem with getting rid of the "I'm a jerkass" ones, but I do think getting rid of the Tales section is bad, for the same reason I think getting rid of the Tales section for Complete Monster might have been bad.
Troper Tales for negative Tropes are like a weird form of group therapy. You have a bunch of people talking about how awful things in their lives are. It serves a useful therapeutic purpose besides inducing casual readers into bouts of incredible depression.
"I do think getting rid of the Tales section is bad, for the same reason I think getting rid of the Tales section for Complete Monster might have been bad." - Ramenth
Seeing as how the Complete Monster trope is one that rules against real life examples, and seeing as how, Rule Of Cautious Editing Judgment aside, the notion of it even applying to real life is questionable for a variety of reasons... that might be a case of Analogy Backfire.
However, I agree with your overall point that even for a trope like Jerkass the troper tales section doesn't necessarily have to be scrapped...
Just cut out the lame attention whoring ones, keep the rest. Troper Tales are less vulnerable to flame wars, in my experience, even though everything else should say to the contrary.
Half-Life: Dual Nature, a crossover story of reasonably sized proportions.

A few days ago I brought up this same issue with the Moral Event Horizon trope page: The troper tales page for Jerkass is out of control. We even say on the main page, "No real life examples." What are troper tales but real life examples from a first-person view? It seems like many of the T Ts are tropers trying to seem cool and edgy (by calling themselves a Jerkass) or talking about other forum-goers, names removed. It's bile, plain and simple, and contributes absolutely nothing to the wiki. This is why we deleted Complain About Shows You Don't Like. This, for lack of a better phrase, is Complain about People You Don't Like.
Some examples taken directly from the page:
Blah, blah, blah. There's no need to continue! You see what I mean, right? Natter and bile and some serious negative feelings, none of which belong on this wiki.
What do you guys think?
A thing of beauty is a joy forever.