Not Self-Explanatory
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"I think she should be condemned," Resource bluntly stated. "She has severe metal fatigue, her wiring is substandard, her guns are completely inadequate for accurate shooting, and her engineering compartments are basically a demilitarized zone." |
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A troper hits upon a concept they think is universal, which has nevertheless evaded the wiki's attention until now. So they post a proposal in the Trope Workshop, with a title and... not much else. "It pretty much explains itself," they say.
Occasionally that title is something like "Love At First Sight", which can be easily Wiki Magicked into a good article (assuming the concept doesn't already exist under a thoroughly confusing name.)
Most of the time, unfortunately, the title is overly vague or completely opaque to everyone but the original poster — anything but Self Explanatory. Sure, we know what theremins are, but how exactly are they a trope? And what the heck are "Southies?" We're not idiots, but we're not mind readers either. If it really is self-explanatory, then you could say it is, but explain it anyway, because some of us Viewers are Morons.
The moral of the story: Explaining yourself never hurts, and it's the best way to prevent your thread from dying prematurely of confusion.
A corollary of this is that no example is obvious, even if it's from Neon Genesis Evangelion. No, especially if it's from Neon Genesis Evangelion. You should also not make a Zero Context Example, "One word: X", or "X. That is all." Even if, for instance, you put your Axis Powers Hetalia References into Anime and Manga section, most readers, seeing "Russia. Just Russia." will be thinking of a country.
Another corollary is to not assume the exact nature of a trope based on its title alone (especially one that's not SPOON certified[2]). Read the description before you make any comments or examples.
If you're looking for the trope about semantically self-explanatory media titles, see Exactly What It Says on the Tin. See also Fan Myopia, a big cause of this.
- ↑ More Things Involving Shipgirls That Are No Longer Allowed is Kantai Collection fanfiction. The reference is to Ghostbusters.
- ↑ MOD: Whatever SPOON is. Something from The Other Tropes Wiki, I'm guessing.