Your mama may have had eyes in the back of her head, but our admin team just can't see everything at once. It takes a village to make sure TVTropes is running the way it should, so when it comes to spotting tech snafus, dreaming up a better digital mousetrap, or just diagnosing plain old asshattery, the quicker you let us know something's up, the quicker we can address it. See a bug? Point to it and we'll squash it. Have idea for a new feature? Post in the Tech Wishlist.
NOTE: Do not post duplicate bug queries, please check existing queries to see if your issue has already been reported and then comment on it.
I'm having the same problem, even after clearing my browser (Chrome), rebooting the computer, etc.
Can confirm the problem
Gotta say, probably the most appropriate page to land on.
Edited by AudioSpeaks2 Art Museum Curator and frequent helper of the Web Original deprecation project
Same.
But, are we sure it's not a temporary joke? If it is it's not communicated.
Edited by Amonimus TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
Can confirm it's always sending me to that trope page. Out of all pages, it's honestly funny and pretty fitting.
THE GOLDEN AGE WILL RETURN AGAIN!
The link's URL is calling it "https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/randomitem.php?p=1
" but changing the number after P is not doing anything, at least not for 10.
It didn't have randomitem.php before, previously the target link was already preloaded on each opened page from the list of Main/ pages.
Edited by Amonimus TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
Same here. I must have tried "rebooting" like ten times.
Space Battles Dot Com fanworks (unnoficial) index in my Sandbox.
It's definitely in the site code, not any individual computer or browser, because it's happening to me on two different devices that run drastically different browsers and operating systems - Firefox under Windows 11, and Safari under iOS. I've noticed that the Random Page control sometimes gets stuck in a loop after a few clicks, but this is the first time I've seen it in a one-page loop.
"Narn, Centauri, Human, we all do what we do for the same reason: it seemed like a good idea at the time." - Ambassador G'kar, Babylon 5
Same, I tried on my phone at first then on PC and it's the same thing.
Space Battles Dot Com fanworks (unnoficial) index in my Sandbox.
As already mentioned, it's definitely on site's side since it's the site that put a wrong link to the random button, so it'll be the same regardless of device.
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
Weirdly, the Random Item button works differently on the 'Truth in Television' and 'Reality in Unrealistic' pages, going a different fixed link than randomitem.php. It's still broken (the link never changes), but it's broken differently. It's looking a lot like a prank gone a bit haywire.
Note that the "Random Media" button still works. When you load a page, that button is already "preloaded" with what it links to. If you are on desktop, and you open a page (any page), and hover over the "Random Media" button, it will show (at the bottom of the screen) what it's going to link to.
This used to be the case for the "Random Trope" button as well, but now it only points to "https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/randomitem.php?p=1", as mentioned above.
Yup me too, and my fiancee as well when I asked him to check I thought it was a joke that the page itself was programmed to do until I got him to check.
^^^ Truth in Television and Reality Is Unrealistic have the same error for me, you may had them cached from when they still worked.
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
I kept double checking it wasn't April Fools Day. It's certainly too apt a page for it to be by accident. (aged Firefox on W11)
Happened to me today as well. Cleared cache, but the Random Trope button keeps sending me to the Reboot page. As of time of posting (15:00 GMT), still an issue. Honestly thought that it was a clever prank at first, but... if it had been, 2 or 3 presses would then have let you go to another page as the Rebooting would have worked.
With great power comes awesome baldness.
'T ain't funny, McGee.
(And yes, the Random Trope button appears to be locked on https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/randomitem.php?p=1) (W10, Firefox 123.0)
Same here. Random media is working fine, though.
Same here. Of all the tropes, it had to be Have You Tried Rebooting?. Pretty funny tbh
TV Tropes ruined Faust's life
I don't know if this helps any, but if you copy paste the link https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/randomitem.php?p=1 on the bar and replace the last number with 2, it'll take you to a random work page. Tried it several times. It doesn't work with any other number, if you try a 3 for example it'll go back to Have You Tried Rebooting?.
It's doing the same for me too. Can confirm that Random Media still works fine.
Avatar: Amethio (Pokemon Horizons)
Several more people are talking about it on the trope's discussion page, but I'm not sure if it's an "everyone" problem or a "random users" problem.
Space Battles Dot Com fanworks (unnoficial) index in my Sandbox.
I am also having this issue. Until it's fixed, the button might as well not exist at all, because its primary function is completely broken.
"That we continue to persist at all is a testament to our faith in one another."
Can confirm it's working again.
Clicked the button a few times myself, it's working normally now.
Space Battles Dot Com fanworks (unnoficial) index in my Sandbox.
Working OK for me as well now
It's fine now. I suppose something hanged server-side with that random table (it doesn't pick from the filtered list of pages?) and instead of the result of randomitem.php, it put the url itself.
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
I still think that it's hilarious that the trope it got stuck on was that one.
Am I to understand that the solution to this problem was, in fact, rebooting it?
For whatever reason, the "Random Trope" button has started only sending me to Have You Tried Rebooting?. This started very recently (measured in minutes), but it looks like it isn't just me.