Follow TV Tropes

Ask The Tropers

Go To

Have a question about how the TVTropes wiki works? No one knows this community better than the people in it, so ask away! Ask the Tropers is the page you come to when you have a question burning in your brain and the support pages didn't help. It's not for everything, though. For a list of all the resources for your questions, click here. You can also go to this Directory thread for ongoing cleanup projects.

Ask the Tropers:

Trope Related Question:

Make Private (For security bugs or stuff only for moderators)

XFllo Since: Aug, 2012
20th Jan, 2019 03:24:57 PM

I've looked at the page, and my God, is it horrible.

We trope fiction and stories. That's the focus. Meta discussion of fiction and fandom are ok, too. But troping news and real life like this? No. At least I think so. And the focus are pedophiles... Disgusting. (Not to mention the page has ZCE and Natter/Indentation issues.)

rjd1922 Since: May, 2013
20th Jan, 2019 03:58:10 PM

I don't find it repulsive that the pedophiles are Unintentionally Sympathetic considering the show's ethically questionable entrapment tactics. Even Charlie Brooker feels sorry for them.

Keet cleanup
Reymma Since: Feb, 2015
20th Jan, 2019 04:13:26 PM

I would recommend either cutting out the tropes (and maybe making it Useful Notes), or reducing it to tropes about how its stories are framed; either way we need to cut any character tropes for the real people on the show.

But the reason the segment became so infamous was that it was drawing sympathy for the predators (or just frustration that it was getting in the way of police procedures).

Stories don't tell us monsters exist; we knew that already. They show us that monsters can be trademarked and milked for years.
rjd1922 Since: May, 2013
XFllo Since: Aug, 2012
22nd Jan, 2019 08:22:35 AM

^ Yes. (IMO) Or perhaps the mod team will decide if it's kosher or not.

Fighteer MOD (Time Abyss)
22nd Jan, 2019 11:36:50 AM

The standard policies have been correctly stated above, so unless there is a lot of work involved in cleaning the article or there is some argument over what should stay, I don't see the need for TRS or a projects thread.

Absolutely remove anything that tropes RL people, their actions and behavior, and the opinions portrayed on the show.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
XFllo Since: Aug, 2012
22nd Jan, 2019 02:05:14 PM

OK, so I took my editing saw and cut a lot of it. If anyone would be so kind, please have a look whether it's acceptable. Perhaps I deleted too much? Or more should be removed?

(ETA: I haven't checked/cut the subpages. Any volunteers?)

Edited by XFllo
Acebrock Since: Dec, 2009
23rd Jan, 2019 01:20:07 AM

I think the subpages Funny.Dateline and NightmareFuel.Dateline, which seem to exclusively about real people, should be cut with extreme prejudice. Also is that picture really necessary? (admittedly, neither here nor there, but y'know, it feels a bit wrong to me).

Anyway, anyone disagree with cutting those subpages or should I doom 'em?

Edit: Okay, on a quick reread, I think I found one example on the funny page that could be salvaged. On the funny page for The Late Show With Conan O'Brian. It's about a parody segment he did about the "To catch a predator" segments, and I'm not sure it belongs on the Dateline funny page

Edited by Acebrock My troper wall
Fighteer MOD (Time Abyss)
23rd Jan, 2019 03:55:44 AM

^ Agreed; that belongs on the Conan page. It should be fine to cut both subpages.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
XFllo Since: Aug, 2012
23rd Jan, 2019 08:49:06 AM

^ I agree with cutting those subpages (Funny and Nightmare). What about YMMV? I'd cut most of it as well...

Pichu-kun Since: Jan, 2001
23rd Jan, 2019 08:54:20 AM

The page seems to near solely focus on the To Catch A Predator segment so why not split it?

XFllo Since: Aug, 2012
23rd Jan, 2019 09:11:58 AM

^ Because it's precisely that segment that's extremely problematic. We don't want to trope real life criminals, although they might appear in story-like news segments. The fact that those criminals are peadophiles or ephebophiles/hebephiles makes it even worse.

ETA: What about headscratchers? I'd cutlist it as well.

Edited by XFllo
Primis Since: Nov, 2010
23rd Jan, 2019 02:32:08 PM

I'd go ahead and cut the subpages.

I started an Image Pickin' thread here, to replace the image. It's already got enough votes, so I went ahead and swapped it in.

rjd1922 Since: May, 2013
24th Jan, 2019 04:02:05 PM

Wikipedia calls To Catch a Predator a reality television series, but do our rules apply differently to it because the predators aren't consentual participants?

Keet cleanup
XFllo Since: Aug, 2012
25th Jan, 2019 02:49:32 AM

^ I believe it's the subject matter.

SamCurt Since: Jan, 2001
25th Jan, 2019 09:44:01 AM

On any case, do anyone thing the subject in question should be referred to P5?

Scientia et Libertas | Per Aspera ad Astra Nova
Primis Since: Nov, 2010
25th Jan, 2019 10:08:48 AM

^ I thought about that, but I wasn't sure so I brought it up here in ATT.

Fighteer MOD (Time Abyss)
25th Jan, 2019 11:44:25 AM

I don't see why the P5 would need to get involved. This is a mainstream television program and it isn't showing us offensive material directly. It's not like they are broadcasting CP for everyone to gawk at in the guise of journalism. The subject matter is prurient but not pornographic in and of itself.

I thought we had settled on deleting all content that describes real people in terms of tropes, anyway. What is left behind afterwards that is still problematic?

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Top