I think I'm done with the site. And not because it was a massive time sink for boring days. Since my visits to Something Awful and Encyclopedia Dramatica began, I've noticed more and more unsettling things about TVT that have made me question the site. For those of you who don't know, Something Awful has a vendetta against TvTropes as it regards the site as a poorly constructed, hard to navigate website that fails to analyze why tropes are used in favor of categorizing them. They also openly mock troper fiction and users from the forums.
This thread [http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3470622] broke it for me. Over a hundred pages of the goons picking apart the absolute worst of the TVT forums. It is the fourth iteration of this lambasting. I know a lot of people don't really care for the derisive attitude that Something Awful can take to a lot of things. As the thread started, I didn't care much for their opinions either, but I followed it since the goons are at least good at providing entertainment. However, as a member on TvTropes, I witnessed the crap they picked out first hand. And I came to grow sick of it.
The site's forums are practically infested with psychopaths. I tried to reason with a few of them in one of the many MANY conversations about cleaning up the wiki, only to be met with hyperbole and petty justifications that quite frankly made me sick. One argument devolved to the point where someone was trying to justify a piece of lolicon by comparing it to the likes of Brave New World or Game of Thrones.
And the SA thread's later comments on how it can cripple your writing skills made me step back a bit. I like writing, and it is something I always want to improve. And looking at the forums for writing and literature on the site, all it seems to do is crush any creativity I might have. Tropes are good tools, but without a proper analysis of why a trope is used, I began to feel that my writing wouldn't improve without moving towards other resources.
Sorry if this is hyperbole, but I'm just about done with the site. It sickens me. While the main pages can still be a lot of fun, and I don't wish to drive anyone from the site, my personal experience with the people in the forums just leaves the whole place with a bad taste in my mouth.
EDIT. Here's a very periphery rundown of how this started. If I cataloged everything, I'd go insane.
Basically, the forum section of the website is an utter cesspit of mysanthropes, a number of banned pedophiles, some balls out stupid people, and really, really shitty writers. This attitude began bleeding over into trope pages, where the creepiness was picked up by a number of the site's critics. The catalyst for the most recent wave of garbage through the forums came from this video.
It comes from a youtube channel that shows just how much tropers need to keep their personal opinions and fetishes from spewing over into the trope pages. Without strong editors, you get the rather disturbing anecdotes and creepy opinions that got the site into trouble with Google's Adsense.
Google basically said "Clean this shit up, or we cut your funding." Cue shitstorm of people yelling thoughtcrime and coming up with ludicrous defenses for works that probably shouldn't be on the wiki in the first place.
2nd Edit
The guy who posted the innocent panties video has a new video up describing some of the comments being made with regard to the clean up. I'm not going to comment, but it's worth looking at. I will add the second part when it shows up.
Just so people know what I'm saying, I am mainly talking about the forums here. I know that assholes exist everywhere, but never before have I been driven from a community on my own volition because I despise the userbase. The front pages are still pretty safe, if clusterfucky. Just avoid the forum for your own sake.
This thread [http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3470622] broke it for me. Over a hundred pages of the goons picking apart the absolute worst of the TVT forums. It is the fourth iteration of this lambasting. I know a lot of people don't really care for the derisive attitude that Something Awful can take to a lot of things. As the thread started, I didn't care much for their opinions either, but I followed it since the goons are at least good at providing entertainment. However, as a member on TvTropes, I witnessed the crap they picked out first hand. And I came to grow sick of it.
The site's forums are practically infested with psychopaths. I tried to reason with a few of them in one of the many MANY conversations about cleaning up the wiki, only to be met with hyperbole and petty justifications that quite frankly made me sick. One argument devolved to the point where someone was trying to justify a piece of lolicon by comparing it to the likes of Brave New World or Game of Thrones.
And the SA thread's later comments on how it can cripple your writing skills made me step back a bit. I like writing, and it is something I always want to improve. And looking at the forums for writing and literature on the site, all it seems to do is crush any creativity I might have. Tropes are good tools, but without a proper analysis of why a trope is used, I began to feel that my writing wouldn't improve without moving towards other resources.
Sorry if this is hyperbole, but I'm just about done with the site. It sickens me. While the main pages can still be a lot of fun, and I don't wish to drive anyone from the site, my personal experience with the people in the forums just leaves the whole place with a bad taste in my mouth.
EDIT. Here's a very periphery rundown of how this started. If I cataloged everything, I'd go insane.
Basically, the forum section of the website is an utter cesspit of mysanthropes, a number of banned pedophiles, some balls out stupid people, and really, really shitty writers. This attitude began bleeding over into trope pages, where the creepiness was picked up by a number of the site's critics. The catalyst for the most recent wave of garbage through the forums came from this video.
It comes from a youtube channel that shows just how much tropers need to keep their personal opinions and fetishes from spewing over into the trope pages. Without strong editors, you get the rather disturbing anecdotes and creepy opinions that got the site into trouble with Google's Adsense.
Google basically said "Clean this shit up, or we cut your funding." Cue shitstorm of people yelling thoughtcrime and coming up with ludicrous defenses for works that probably shouldn't be on the wiki in the first place.
2nd Edit
The guy who posted the innocent panties video has a new video up describing some of the comments being made with regard to the clean up. I'm not going to comment, but it's worth looking at. I will add the second part when it shows up.
Just so people know what I'm saying, I am mainly talking about the forums here. I know that assholes exist everywhere, but never before have I been driven from a community on my own volition because I despise the userbase. The front pages are still pretty safe, if clusterfucky. Just avoid the forum for your own sake.
