All The Tropes:Clear, Concise, Witty: Difference between revisions

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The platonic ideal for trope-naming. These are to trope names much as Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics are to Artificial Intelligence:

The name of a trope must be clear, so that readers can intuitively guess the definition at a glance;
The name of a trope should be concise, so long as conciseness does not conflict with clarity, defined above;
The name of a trope should aim for witty, provided it does not conflict with either of the first two.

The specific order of these items is very important: Names that fail in clarity will attract misuse more often than names which are overly long (but clear), or so clinically devoid of humor that it should be a crime. It's no mere hyperbole, either, but a proven fact—renames are proposed (and evaluated) on the grounds of active misuse or misleading titles more often than any other criterion.

That said, we also acknowledge that sometimes a good trope name can fail to meet these requirements. It's an undeniable fact that many legacy trope names did—but it's also a fact that some of those names are now practically standard terminology not only within the troping community but in the literary/writing world at large. We're not going to be annoying pedants and reject a good name just because it doesn't fit these rules. But try to follow them, anyway.

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+The platonic ideal for trope-naming.  These are to trope names much as [[Isaac Asimov]]'s [[Three Laws of Robotics]] are to [[Artificial Intelligence]]:
-{{trope}}
+# The name of a trope must be '''clear''', so that readers can intuitively guess the definition at a glance;
-The official [[TV Tropes]] trope-naming mantra, [[Catch Phrase|signature line]] of the tropes webmaster [[Tropers/Fast Eddie|Fast Eddie]], and laconic guidelines of [[Naming a Trope]]. These are to trope names much as [[Isaac Asimov]]'s [[Three Laws of Robotics]] are to [[Artificial Intelligence]]:
-# The name of a trope must be '''clear''', so that readers can intuitively [[Guess That Trope|guess the definition]] at a glance;
 # The name of a trope should be '''concise''', so long as conciseness does not conflict with clarity, defined above;
 # The name of a trope should aim for '''witty''', provided it does not conflict with either of the first two.
-The specific order of these items is very important: Names that fail in clarity will attract misuse more often than names which are overly long (but clear), or so clinically devoid of humor that it [[There Should Be a Law|should be a crime]]. It's no mere hyperbole, either, but a proven fact of our [[Trope Repair Shop]] -- renames are proposed (and evaluated) on the grounds of active misuse or misleading titles more often than any other criterion.
+The specific order of these items is very important: Names that fail in clarity will attract misuse more often than names which are overly long (but clear), or so clinically devoid of humor that it [[There Should Be a Law|should be a crime]]. It's no mere hyperbole, either, but a proven fact—renames are proposed (and evaluated) on the grounds of active misuse or misleading titles more often than any other criterion.
+That said, we also acknowledge that sometimes a good trope name can fail to meet these requirements.  It's an undeniable fact that many legacy trope names did—but it's also a fact that some of those names are now practically standard terminology not only within the troping community but in the literary/writing world at large.  We're not going to be annoying pedants and reject a good name ''just'' because it doesn't fit these rules.  But try to follow them, anyway.
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 [[Category:Predefined Messages]]
-[[Category:Clear Concise Witty]]
+[[Category:Clear, Concise, Witty]]
-[[Category:Trope]]
+[[Category:Administrivia]]
+[[Category:Wiki Policy]]