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All The Tropes:How to Write An Example: Difference between revisions
All The Tropes:How to Write An Example (view source)
Revision as of 13:46, 10 October 2021
, 2 years ago→Things to Avoid
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* '''Write From A Generic Time Frame:''' Don't be surprised that an example has not been listed -- just list it yourself. Saying "This Troper is surprised that (show/movie/anime/webcomic) has not been listed yet..." then going on to talk about it is nonsensical because, hey, now we have. Your "Surprised it is not listed yet" example may become closer to the top of the page instead of the bottom within a few weeks time.
* '''[[All The Tropes:Examples Are Not Recent|Don't Use the Word "Recent"]]:''' TV episodes and comic book issues (and some movies) come out on different dates in different parts of the world, so what is to you the most recent episode might be old hat to someone in America or Japan, or it might be several months away from being seen in the UK or Australia. Besides, its status as "recent" is going to be outdated fairly soon. Instead, refer to the episode or issue by name ("Joey Uses A Trope"), number (X-Men #8), or (rough) date ("during the second season", "an arc in late 1997", "during the continuity reboot") if you feel that information is important.
** It's best to avoid reference to the time at which you wrote your example. This dates your comment considerably and does little except distract the reader.
** If you do this anyway, expect to see the {{tl|when}} tag added to the example.
* '''[[All The Tropes:Examples Are Not Local|Don't Use the Word "Local"]]:''' As we just said, works may appear in different parts of the world, and some may not find themselves widely distributed, either by chance or design. On the other hand, All The Tropes' readership is ''global''. If you are citing a work which was only available in one country, state/province or city, ''explicitly include that location'' (and as much other information as you can). An example which says something like "a commercial for a local firm did X" tells later readers nothing that they can use to find the work and see it for themselves. Indeed, it might qualify for outright deletion because it is so vague.
** If you do this anyway, expect to see the {{tl|where}} tag added to the example.
* '''Don't Use Internet Acronyms:''' AFAIK,<ref>And for All I Know</ref> [[IIRC]],<ref>[[Sugar Wiki|Isn't It Really Cool]]</ref> [[BTW]],<ref>[[Booker T. Washington]]... and by now you should have realized that abbreviations have multiple meanings, which is why we say "Don't Use Internet Acronyms"</ref> and the like have no place in an example. In fact, if you remove one of these while leaving the rest of the example intact, not only does the example lose no information at all, it actually becomes ''more'' comprehensible because people who aren't familiar with Net slang don't have to go look up the acronym. And since these acronyms are meant to make texting and forum posting quicker, when you see it here it makes the page seem like you didn't put a lot of effort into it. Despite the relaxed attitude, we are still trying to be well written.
* '''Don't Use Acronyms For Show Titles:''' It's generally a bad idea, since an acronym of a title won't be readily recognized by non-fans (and might even be used in multiple fandoms), nor will it be automatically linked to the show's media page. The only exception is if a media page describes the common acronym, and you are editing ''that'' page. In the general wiki use the full name. (This wiki's [[meta:Terms of Use|TOS]] might allow discussing playing [[Tales of Symphonia|TOS]] while watching [[Star Trek: The Original Series|TOS]], but this particular bullet point asks that you refrain from using abbreviations if you do.)
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