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.
When I see What An Idiot, I feel like the tropers in question expect all characters to be quick-thinking, maximum IQ geniuses not crunched for time or limited by experience or knowledge.
Contains 20% less fat than the leading value brand!Raging Higher should've brought this to the Discussion to discuss it itself. They've been around for quite a while with a pretty big edit history too, dating all the way back to 2016. Ignoring the name of the user itself(which sounds admittedly bad), they should know rules like that by now due to being a long-time troper. I am not finding where they might've been reported before, so this might be just a one-time thing and didn't go over every rule, though.
I don't know if the examples are valid or not, but they should be brought to the Discussion as is for others to fully discuss. Also, the fact this page is so big makes me think a lot of it is more complaining(besides the misuse you noted).
...It's weird having so many websites and no way to properly display now, lol.Since this is now an Edit War could a mod intervene as those seem to really nitpicking stuff.
"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."Honestly, I generally just don't even read What An Idiot entries. They're invariably absurd and infuriating nitpicking that assumes omniscience on the part of characters.
There’s a clean up thread here.
Edited by costanton11Thanks, but from what I can see the thread isn't very active. I could move those to Discussion but: a) those pages usually are a graveyard, and b) I'm pretty sure that only the tropers who made the additions (i.e. those with a hateboner against the films) will reply.
- Fly, robin, fly! - ...I'm trying!I still have yet to hear why What An Idiot is different enough from Idiot Ball (since non-OOC idiocy is exempt, making it redundant) to be worth being it's own trope. If What An Idiot the the repose to every Stupidity Trope, what's the value as anything other than complaining?
Thoughts on moving What An Idiot a Just for Fun or Darth Wiki? It would keep them for those inclined while enabling cleanup.
In-universe examples should be put under more specific tropes.
I think Idiot Ball is for intentional, plot-mandated examples, while What An Idiot is for unintentional examples and is an Audience Reaction.
This, of course, pushes Distinction Without a Difference in practice and perhaps would work better as a Definition Only Page.
Edited by Brainulator9 Contains 20% less fat than the leading value brand!Idiot Ball is about OOC idiocy (because the plot would stop otherwise). The first sentence on the page: "A moment where a normally competent character suddenly becomes incompetent which fuels an episode or a small plot line."
What An Idiot require audiences expect an intelligent decision instead of the idiotic one, meaning normally idiotic characters are exempt meaning there is no real difference.
Edited by Ferot_Dreadnaught
There were some lengthy additions to WhatAnIdiot.Star Wars recently. Long story short, they were nitpicking on insignificant details. I trimmed some of them down and removed a the rest as misuses of WaI, only for another troper to restore them.
Could someone else get a look at the page? I'll admit, I am getting annoyed at all the "fans" bringing their negativity to the Star Wars pages, so I'm rather quick to reach for the axe. It'd be nice to have another opinion.