Topic on Trope Workshop talk:Source Control

Resolved by deleting trope candidate.

"Source Control" has a very specific meaning -- it's a particular type of software used by developers and programmers. For instance, see the page "What is Source Control?" at Amazon Web Services. Anyone seeing this name is going to think it's a page on this kind of software, not superpowers, and be either confused or disappointed.

-- Looney Toons, admin

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• Wikipedia: Source control
• Microsoft: What is source control?
• Perforce Software, Inc.: What Is Source Control? Exploring Source Control Management Tools

Agreed. we are not TV Tropes, we do not use Real Life terms to mean something other than what the rest of the world means.

Since the description states that this is the manipulation of a Power Source, I propose Power Manipulation as the new name. I like names that are Exactly What It Says on the Tin.

I think Power Manipulation is a good one!

Unless/until something better is offered, I'm cool with that too.

I agree to renaming away from "Source Control", but not to "Power Manipulation". Power Manipulation to me sounds like a meta-power about, well, manipulating powers, an encompassment and supertrope of things like granting powers, De-Power, Discard and Draw, changing the functions and parameters of powers, Power Copying, Power Nullifier, that sort of thing. I've no idea what to rename to, though.

Power Manipulation to me sounds like a meta-power about, well, manipulating powers,

Isn't that what this trope is, though? (The description isn't very clear, but that's the feeling that I'm getting from what's written.)

Or do we have to make a distinction between "Power Manipulation" and "Powers Manipulation"?

What the description seems to be saying to me is that it's about abilities that operate through controlling and manipulating a source of energy. Not about manipulating and altering a superpower.

Tagging @Kuma because this is his proposal and pagemaker should be the one to explain what he's getting at.

Thank you, GentlemensDame883, for mentioning me. The trope is supposed to be about a Power Source used in a setting. The most common I have found is where they are used for powers and magic. Some are used to power technology, like Xenogears. That said, I suggest it be renamed 'Power Source Control' as that would help it become less confusing with the real-life terms or how it makes it sound like a trope about powers that can manipulate other powers.

The phrase "Source Control" is the issue here. It has a Real Life meaning that has nothing to do with this trope. Using it here would be like using one particular person's sobriquet as the name of the trope Sobriquet... which we fixed years ago. Let's not need to fix something new.

EDIT: And don't all powers have a power source? Is this a case of People Sit on Chairs?

I'm inclined to agree with you, Rob. I reread the description, such as it is, and unless there is something critical which Kuma has left out (as he has done in previous trope candidates) the trope boils down to "using a power, somehow". The description is so unspecific and vague that it doesn't seem to be about anything other than having a power and using it.

I think before we can rename this trope, we actually have to find out what the hell Kuma actually means, and I don't want to have to wait a couple years before Kuma once again explains that what he wrote isn't what the trope is really about and somehow implies we're all idiots for not realizing that when he wrote "orange" he obviously meant "earthquake".

Meanwhile, I'm going to make this clear -- I will do everything in my power to block this candidate until it has a) an actual description that makes sense to the average reader and describes a clear and unique pattern in story-telling, and b) has a name, be it clever or straightforward, that actually corresponds to the page content.

I will repeat it from my post about the other discussion about the trope: I focused too much on one aspect of what I wanted to show, but now I have come to what I needed to become understandable. I changed it so that there is a focus on how a power source affects the setting, making sure that there is a focus on world-building, along with changes to the examples. I have already made changes today. I also suggest a name that could help describe the trope, 'Power Source Function,' to help describe how a power source is used in the setting.

I changed it so that there is a focus on how a power source affects the setting,

I would never have guessed that this was the intended meaning of the trope. In fact, as long as the word "Control" is in the trope name, I would have guessed the exact opposite.

@Kuma, you really need to learn how to express yourself in the English language before submitting any more trope candidates.

Okay, so, could I use my sandbox and have others people help to see if I could put it in the Trope Workshop?

Agreed. You have a bad habit of writing trope candidates that don't actually describe what you think you're writing about.

That said, I still think this candidate is People Sit on Chairs, because it boils down to "There is an energy. It's used to power things." And the (new) main text is more of a list than a description.

No, not impressed.