Why Tvtropes?

You know what I really love?

Tvtropes.org.

You know what I really hate?

Tvtropes.org.

What I like about is that its "YMMV" - Your Milegae May Vary tab - can let me see what people disagree on when it comes to a fictional work and what it did well, what it did wrong, so then I can extrapolate the information and adjust my own writing so that I do it well.

I also like that it inform me of series I've never heard of before, and then give me a pretty good idea of what's in store if I decide to get into that series before I make that decision. I never would have got into My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic without Tvtropes.

What I don't like - and I mean, I really, really don't like - is when people default to Tvtropes' Tropes when it comes to discussing writing and writing well.

The last THREE conversation I had with a certain family member, I didn't get away without her using the word "Trope" at least once, or even outright naming a Trope.

Recently, a fan of mine commented on a story with a link to Tvtropes as well.

This was all fine, because this people knew me well enough to know that I got onto Tvtropes frequently enough to know that I would know what they were talking about.

But I saw something just recently that made me just say "Enough!"

And that something was a forum in the "Authors helping Authors" group posted recently.

Someone was asking for help with a clopfic. And that's fine. Just because its clop doesn't mean you can't make it a good story, as I attempt to show with my own M-rated stories: there's always a story within the intimacy in my stories.

A lot of people, myself included, replied and tried to help him along.

Then, shortly after I posted my reply, there was another reply that started with this:

*rolls eyes* you're all useless.

He then launched into a tirade which, it may just me reading too much into it, but it seemed like it he was just describe the Tvtropes "Ikea Erotica".

He then linked to it and quoted it in his reply.

And again, it maaaay just be me, but it really seemed like he was harping on everyone else for not having previously already mentioned and/or linked to the relevant Tvtropes article.

Which irritates me greatly, as the quality of someone's writing advice shouldn't be judge on whether or not they include tropes!

Know something? It it was fine with my friends, because they know me, they had hints from my dialogue that I prrrrobably went to the website. But on that reply, it had no idea how familiar with Tvtropes the OP was, or if the OP even knew how the site worked, or the very basic premise of the site. If they don't understand it, if they're not familiar with it, then giving "help" based around a Trope is as much help as saying absolutely nothing at all.

To me, if you can't - if you can't make your point, give your advice, or dole your criticism without using Tvtropes' Tropes, it severely cheapens your words if you have to reinforce them using a - a meta site. Why are your words not good enough on their own to convey what you mean without having to namecheck a trope? If your ability to advise hinges on a Tvtrope, than your ability to advise probably is not that great.

So, why Tvtropes?

Afterthought: I suppose I just really wanted to say that just because someone isn't using Tvtropes in their advice, that alone shouldn't make their advice bad.