TV Tropes

TV Tropes
The words "tv tropes" with a lampshade on the second "t" in reference to lampshading, or talking about tropes already happening, in fiction.
Screenshot as of July 16, 2020
Type of site
Wiki
Available in13 languages[1]
Owner
URLtvtropes.org
CommercialAd-supported
RegistrationRequired for all features other than viewing
Users16.000+[3]
LaunchedApril 2004; 20 years ago (2004-04)
Current statusActive
Content license
CC BY-NC-SA[4] from July 2012
Written inPmWiki (very heavily modified with no current source code used)[5][6]

TV Tropes is a wiki that collects and documents descriptions and examples of plot conventions and devices, which it refers to as tropes, within many creative works.[7] Since its establishment in 2004, the site has shifted focus from covering various tropes to those in general media, toys, writings, and their associated fandoms, as well as some non-media subjects such as history, geography, and politics.[8][9] The nature of the site as a provider of commentary on pop culture and fiction has attracted attention and criticism from several web personalities and blogs. Users of the site's community are called "Tropers", which primarily consist of 18-34 year olds.[10][11]

From April 2008 until July 2012, TV Tropes published free content.[12] After that, the site modified its license to allow only non-commercial distribution of its content but continued to host the prior submissions under a new distribution license.[13][14]

The TV Tropes website runs on its own wiki engine software, an extremely modified version of PmWiki to the point where the PmWiki website lists that it "no longer uses PmWiki in any way; the only trace that remains is in the URL" and that "no code is in use"[15] but is not open source.[5] Before October 2010, it was possible to edit anonymously; however, registration is now mandatory for all other activities besides viewing the website.[16] It has two subwikis meant to categorize the more informal tropes and is held to less rigorous standards. Darth Wiki, named after Darth Vader from Star Wars as a play on "the dark side" of TV Tropes, is a resource for more criticism-based trope examples or common ways the wiki is inappropriately edited, and Sugar Wiki is about praise-based tropes, such as funny or heartwarming moments, and is meant to be "the sweet side" of TV Tropes.

  1. ^ "Language Indices - TV Tropes". TV Tropes. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Ownership FAQ". TV Tropes. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
  3. ^ Tropes, TV. "Page Counts". TV Tropes. TV Tropes Inc. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  4. ^ "Administrivia: Welcome to TV Tropes". TV Tropes. Archived from the original on May 7, 2014. Retrieved May 15, 2014. "Your Rights (Legal Stuff)"
  5. ^ a b "What Pm Wiki theme does this site use?". TV Tropes. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  6. ^ "PmWiki Users". PmWiki. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  7. ^ Cagle, Kurt (April 1, 2009). "From Mary Sue to Magnificent Bastards: TV Tropes and Spontaneous Linked Data". Semantic Universe. Archived from the original on November 3, 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
  8. ^ "The Current - TVTropes.org: Harnessing the might of the people to analyze fiction". Thecurrentonline.com. Archived from the original on August 2, 2009. Retrieved May 18, 2010.
  9. ^ Pincus-Roth, Zachary (February 28, 2010). "TV Tropes identifies where you've seen it all before". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 3, 2010. Retrieved March 1, 2010.
  10. ^ "tvtropes.org". Similarweb. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  11. ^ "Troper Demographics". TV Tropes. Retrieved August 9, 2023.
  12. ^ "TV Tropes Home Page". TVTropes.org. Archived from the original on April 22, 2008. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  13. ^ "TV Tropes Home Page". TVTropes.org. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  14. ^ "TV Tropes Relicensed its Content - Without Permit". Soylent News. May 15, 2014. Archived from the original on October 5, 2015. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  15. ^ "PmWiki Users". Pmwiki. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
  16. ^ "The Google Incident / Archive". TV Tropes. Archived from the original on May 16, 2014. Retrieved May 16, 2014.