Topic on All The Tropes talk:Why Fork TV Tropes

While discussing articles on here off-site with another friend group, they mentioned the use of "hugbox" as something that didn't exactly give them confidence.

Perhaps they would be good enough to present their concerns directly, rather than going through an intermediary. That way, their concerns can be made clear and debated, and perhaps somebody cam be persuaded to change their position.

As for the complaint... I decided to refresh my memory on what "hugbox" means. Merriam-Webster does not define the word. Wikipedia has an article about a literal box that hugs someone, with this hatnote:

For metaphorical "hug boxes" in media, see Echo chamber (media).

The first sentence on that page is {{quote}In discussions of news media, an echo chamber refers to situations in which beliefs are amplified or reinforced by communication and repetition inside a closed system and insulated from rebuttal.}}

As far as I can tell (having never had an account at TV Tropes, I'm going by secondhand accounts), the term appears to be an accurate description of the site at the time of the fork.

Is it pejorative? That depends on the definition of "pejorative" that you're using - "having negative connotations" or "tending to disparage or belittle". (Both definitions are quoted from Merriam-Webster.)

I agree that the term has negative connotations, and I submit that it is being used specifically to invoke those negative connotations. It describes a major distinction between TV Tropes and All The Tropes as of the time of the fork, and any group is by nature unconsciously or consciously biased toward itself.

I dispute the idea that the term is being used to disparage or belittle. It is simply a statement of opinion based on the experiences of the people who wrote the page, and those people did have accounts at TV Tropes. The proposition is that, by refusing to allow dissent, the moderators of TV Tropes at the time turned that wiki into an echo chamber - the sentence merely uses one word instead of two. As far as I know, there is no equivalent term that does not have the negative connotations that "echo chamber" and "hugbox" share.

As for this setting a particular tone... well, I can't speak for the other mods on this, but I personally like that particular tone. If somebody is going to be so offended by the use of a single word that they don't want to participate at All The Tropes, then in my opinion and by my experience they are not sufficiently mature to be able to respect other people's points of view. And respecting other people's points of view is a core policy of All The Tropes.

My vote is to leave the wording as it stands.