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Ask the Tropers:
openIs It Okay to Create a Page About ChatGPT? Web Original
The year 2023 is now the year of A.I., especially ChatGPT and AI Generated Artwork.
If it's okay to make, we could make it self-demonstrative, like so:
TropeGPT: Sure! Here's a page about ChatGPT on TV Tropes.
The Laconic page can also be self-demonstrative too:
A chatbot developed by OpenAI that can write whatever the user asks.
- Troper: How do I go back to the unabridged version?
TropeGPT: Here's a link that will take you back to the unabridged version.
Edited by Oxyrhynchus
openIndexing Question Web Original
Where should one index the character page of a Journal Roleplay? I've seen some people put them on Characters.Play By Post Games, but since according the descriptions Play-by-Post Games and Journal Roleplays are different enough to warrant different tropes and indexes is that a good solution? I'd consider making a separate index page myself, but I don't know how to do so/if it would have to go through the Trope Launch Pad.
openWhen to know a page needs cleanup? Web Original
I've been looking over the page for Hamsters Paradise, as I've been following that particular work, and it seems to me that it could use a little help. Mostly in the grammar department, maybe with the spoiler tagging as well (At the moment it's just the stuff related to the original sketches that spoilered, though it's a little inconsistent. I'm also wondering if it's worth spoilering entries related to the Harmster and Baywulf sagas since they're a little heavier on plot details than the rest of the work).
At the same time, I'm not entirely sure if the issues are great enough that it needs a Cleanup topic, or any discussion at all as opposed to just fixing it myself. Is there a good way to know where to draw the line?
openIs there any restrictions on what can be considered as a character or not? (Vtuber/hololive) Web Original
So over at Characters/Hololive, we had a debate
on whether we should include a particular character in our Characters page, where each character we have there at the moment is a hololive member & a vtuber in their own right (with the exception of one), each having their own Youtube channel.
A while ago somebody added an entry for a non-vtuber character (Anemachi), who is the sister of one of the hololive vtubers (Suisei). Despite not being a vtuber herself, Anemachi has a character portrait and occasionally makes appearances in Suisei's livestream at an average rate of about "once every few months". So you can say she's a somewhat recurring character on Suisei's channel.
Now, a troper had a problem with the inclusion of Anemachi with their reasoning being that she's not a hololive member. What I would like to know is that if there are any rules on TV Tropes that state who should be "worthy" of having a Characters entry or not. Because otherwise I don't see any problem with adding what is essentially a Minor Character into the Characters/Hololive page (with the hololive members themselves being Main Characters), seeing as even one-off characters from all sort of works get entries deliciated to them on TV Tropes.
Edited by Asoktenchearesolved Bloated-if-not-questionable Cowboy Bebop At His Computer example Web Original
On the Trivia page for Jimquisition, there's a Cowboy BeBop at His Computer example that was added and serial tweaked across last November, and while I already take issue with the unwieldy length of the example, I watched the episode it's referring to, and I'm not sure it's accurate. Here's what it is:
- In "Why Emulating Nintendo Games Is Good, Probably"
, Jim kept equating Piracy and Emulation as one in the same throughout the video; which it is not. Piracy would be stealing a game rom to play on an emulator, whereas emulators themselves is the means to play said game. While they can be used to play pirated games, if one is prepared enough, you can just dump the games yourself (something all emulators suggest you do specifically to avoid lawsuits and copyright infringement). Jim doesn't seem to realise that emulators can also do a lot more than just play games. You can outright make homebrew games for that system, mod the game to make it look better with texture packs and custom levels, or use cheat codes to enhance the experience. None of this was mentioned by them, despite being perfectly legal activities to do, and also a draw to emulator enthusiasts. If emulators were the driving issue, Nintendo and other game companies would've attempted to sue them all years agonote and there is a reason most emulators are open source; to prove to the companies and their users that their code is not stolen from outside sources or was made with a leaked companies' data. The premise of the video is also flawed because they claim games media doesn't talk about emulation because it's a taboo subject, and goes off on a tangent about how the media relies too much on connections to get news and review copies. While the observation is mostly true, It doesn't occur to them that a press outlet featuring emulators semi-frequently will inevitably lead to the Streisand Effect; more people pirating games to try out the emulator because they heard it in an article that would otherwise not feature it (something Jim themselves is an example of; Jim went out and bought a handheld game emulator loaded with what they imply are illegitimately obtained roms because they wanted to use an emulator to protest against Nintendo's online service that they found out via a news article via Kotaku).
Except the video doesn't treat piracy and emulation as the same thing. In fact, going off of the way that Jim words themselves, the video acknowledges and understands that piracy is a mere facet of emulation more than it is the same thing. Jim's video treats it as part of the bigger issue of how Nintendo does nothing to make their service worth the money in the face of people being able to access their older games for free illegitimately, and it seems like that's the actual premise of the video more than the topic of gaming media being coy about emulation, especially since the early portion revolves around an article that's being anything but coy about it. More to the point, the video backs this distinction up further by explicitly pointing out that the Kotaku article in question isn't encouraging piracy so much as it's reporting on something that's proven to be possible on emulation software.
From what I can conclude from rewatching the video, this example seems to revolve around a lack of distinction that not only isn't visible anywhere in the video, but wouldn't have been important to the video's point even if it was. It can't just be me noticing this, right?
At the very least, the example looks like it could do with a trim and a tiny bit of grammar cleanup, if we were to keep it.
Edited by Akriloth2160openName changing Web Original
Dravencour changed all spellings of "Freeza" to "Frieza" in Characters.Dragon Ball Z Abridged Movies. His name is officially spelled "Freeza" in this series, a point stressed multiple times. There are far too many examples for me to correct myself, can a mod please revert the changes?
openAbout Fan Works Web Original
What's the stance on indexing Fan Works examples by work on the main page (instead of a sub-page)? For example, this example from a TLP:
Fan Works Batman
- Angel of the Bat: As in canon, Dick Grayson/Nightwing is of Roma descent. He considers himself a Christian, but mentions traveling with the circus never permitted him much time to study his faith. His first scene also shows him to be a trickster, playing off the stereotypes of Roma being superstitious to grill an enemy which ironically is a Double Subversion, considering Roma are also stereotypically connected to deceit.
resolved Serious Business in SCP Foundation Web Original
Yesterday, Doctor Nemesis added following as example of Serious Business.
I removed as being too generic. They add modified version today
And claims that it's no worse than the first entry.
Should it be removed again, and if so, should the first one removed as well?
Note that its entry in SeriousBusiness.Web Original has none of that. It has only one In-Universe example (there were two, but I've just removed the first one).
openDirect to profile move Web Original
So, in my review of several Super Sentai pages, I've noticed a few times a character in the group get called either The Smart Lancer or The Big Lancer (with links to relevant Lancer/Smart Guy/Big Guy pages). It's making me wonder if maybe these 'Lancer combos' should become either full-fledged pages of their own or maybe just side notes on the Lancer page itself. I just wanted to discuss this before launching any Trope pages.
Along with https://saukrit.com/profile-creation-site-list
openCleaning up a Nightmare Fuel page. Web Original
The Nightmare Fuel page for Marble Hornets has a couple entries that focus more on the larger Slenderverse/Slender Man Mythos/Slenderman as a concept, rather than the series itself. I'm wondering if it's a legal move to remove them or edit them way down, given that they aren't entirely relevant. There's also a few entries talking about extra-canonical things like the DVDs and ways real life might make the series scarier, and I'm not sure those should be there either. Any thoughts on what can or should be cut?
Edited by AnomalousEvolutionresolved Fanfic self-recommendation on FanficRecs/RWBY Web Original
(Why do the RWBY pages get so much attention here?)
Skybrigadier, the author of The Reactsverse, recommended Weiss Reacts (the verse's first entry) on RWBY's Fanfic Recs page.
I've removed it from the page, under the assumption that any following recommendations are in reaction (heh) to the illicit self-rec. Allowing Weiss Reacts to stay on the page despite initially being self-recced would set a very bad precedent for fanfic recs pages.
Edited by bwburke94openVinesauce Characters Page Reversion Request (No Longer Needed) Web Original
So, on August 23rd someone tried to restructure the Characters page for Vinesauce, but they've sadly done a bit of a botch job of it and made a mess of the page layout. If it's alright, could I please request a reversion to before those edits were made? It would really save me or someone else the trouble of having fix such major edits manually. Also, sorry if I've done this wrong. I've never done this before and I'm just going on the advice of someone on the discussion page. Edit: Never mind,since this post got no attention I just decided to give it some elbow grease and fix the page myself. Hopefully I did a good enough job.
Edited by BootlegSkeletonopenPossible example Web Original
(Sorry for making so much ATT threads regarding entries i’m just kinda nervous about my contributions and I want to make sure they’re right-)
So I want to add an example for Self-Destruct Mechanism from a You Tube series I’m into, and I just want to make sure it’s a-okay before adding it.
The Final Minutes - Zombie Plague: The Path’s compound locations are fitted with a Magno Loop, an underground ring that acts as the compounds’ defense system. It’s also fitted with Complete Destruction mode, which causes the loop to cycle through all of its defense modes before detonating and vaporizing anything in a 25 kilometer radius.
Here’s the part that the info comes from
, the self destruct mode gets more detail at the 37:13 mark.
openEdit warring troper Web Original
Dr Mc P has repeatedly removed two Shipper on Deck entries from the Critical Role: Wildemount Campaign page on the claim that Shipper on Deck is a YMMV trope (notably both are about the same ship). Vorpoler tried to explain that it isn't but Dr Mc P deleted them again anyway. Dr Mc P eventually added one of the entries back themself but the other is still gone.
openIf a bird fluffs itself up after being dried off, does that count as Fluffy Dry Cat? Web Original
In one Backyard Birds Of Australia video, Cheeky Boy, one of the Laughing Kookaburras, shook himself off to dry, and all his feathers puffed up. Due to having feathers rather than fur, does this count as Fluffy Dry Cat?
Edited by queenieAGopenDo Auto-Erotic Troping rules apply to video examples? Web Original
If, for instance, I were to upload a video example from a You Tube Poop that I made myself some years back, would that be banned? Would I link my Tropers page as one of the Sources like I'd link to WebAnimation.Da Things or Creator.cs188 for theirs (since I don't have enough tropable works to my name to justify a Creator subpage — I know There's No Such Thing as Notability, but I have to draw the line somewhere)?
Edited by LendriMujinaopenIn-Universe Draco in Leather Pants Web Original
I was trying to expand the list of tropes on minor characters for a little known Web Series called Escape the Night and I was wondering, can I use the trope Draco in Leather Pants as an In-Universe trope? I saw people do it with other YMMV tropes, and it fits very much with the character. The character is Colin, a Jerkass and Mr. Fanservice who is rude, selfish and vain, but is idolised by several of the girls simply because of his looks. One of the girls goes through Character Development and realises just how cruel and selfish Colin is, but the other one doesn’t and keeps idolising him. Can I put the Draco in Leather Pants under his character tropes or not?

Near the end of April on the Hilarious in Hindsight page for Zero Punctuation, rundownforge50 added this sub-bullet
to an example that just happened to offhandedly mention Garry's Mod. I figured this seemed like a shoehorn since it didn't strike me as something which later context has made all that much more amusing or entirely relevant to the context given in the parent bullet, so I raised it to the Hindsight Cleanup thread
and was cleared to cut the example
.
Fast forward to today and I check the page's history since it's in my pinned pages list, and I notice that the same troper had added the same example back
the day before, with superficially altered wording that really doesn't help the example's case for being an example of Hilarious in Hindsight.
Speaking to the substance of the example itself, perhaps it would have been an example of Hilarious in Hindsight if the player model was one that Yahtzee himself created and/or frequently used, but a quick glance at the linked workshop page tells me that it isn't. So as far as I'm concerned, the example still seems like a shoehorn.
I won't say one way or another if the readding of the example is a breach of the Edit War policy, if only because the passage of time between the deletion and readding makes it unclear from my perspective. But I'm assuming, given the linked approval from the hindsight cleanup thread, that I'm still clear to cut the example?
Edited by Akriloth2160