History Main / SturgeonsLaw

Often the phrase is followed by the even more cynical addendum, "... including the other 10%." Rarely, a more optimistic (but even more stratifying) second clause is added: ''"...but the remaining 10% [[SoCoolItsAwesome is worth dying for]]."''

This is Sturgeon's Revelation, but common usage has it that this phrase is what is meant when the Law is cited. The actual quote for the Law is, "Nothing is always absolutely so."

May be OlderThanTheyThink; Creator/BenjaminDisraeli wrote in 1870: "Books are fatal: they are the curse of the human race. Nine-tenths of existing books are nonsense, and the clever books are the refutation of that nonsense."

This is [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law Sturgeon's Revelation]], but common usage has it that this phrase is what is meant when the Law is cited. The actual quote for the Law is, "Nothing is always absolutely so."

This is Sturgeon's Revelation, but common usage has it that this phrase is what is meant when the Law is cited. The actual quote for the Law is, "Nothing is always absolutely so."

Sturgeon's Law is particularly obvious when the barriers to entry -- the whims of publishers -- are removed. Self-publishing, especially in the virtually cost-free environment of the Internet, makes the cruddy 90% visible to the public; it no longer languishes in an aspiring writer's desk drawer. This often leads to the false impression that FanFic attracts poor writers; the fact is that the poor writers have ''always'' been out there, but until recently, their poor writing had few outlets to the public. As one writer put it, "flipping through [[FanFictionDotNet Fanfiction.net]] is like flipping through hell with an occasional slice of the heavenly cheesecake thrown in."

* Crawford's Corollary: ''Should you ever find that less than 90% seem to be [crud], your standard is set too high and should be adjusted.''

* Crawford's Corollary: ''Should you ever find that less than 90% seem to be [crud], your standard is set too low and should be adjusted.''

* [[Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico Ruri]]'s Law: ''"The vast majority of people are idiots".'' or, in other words, ''You're probably crud.''

* Video Game Corollary: ''If a video game has user-created content, then 90% of it will be based on [[VideoGamePerversityPotential male or female genitalia]] or "[[VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet LittleBig]][[GodwinsLaw Holocaust.]]"'''

* [[MartianSuccessorNadesico Ruri]]'s Law: ''"The vast majority of people are idiots".'' or, in other words, ''You're probably crud.''

* Ghetto Corollary: ''A "respectable" genre will always be judged by the 10% of good works, but a stigmatized genre will always be judged by the 90% of bad works.'' (See the GhettoIndex for examples of such stigmatized genres.)

->''Well now, home entertainment was my baby's wish\\

There's fifty-seven channels and nothin' on''

See also SturgeonsTropes -- tropes that aren't in and of themselves bad, but are usually done badly.

This law comes from an observation on Sturgeon's part; when he saw that critics were calling 90% of Sci-Fi crap, he flipped it on them instead and stated that [[SoWasX 90% of ''anything'' is crap]].

This law comes from an observation on Sturgeon's part; when he saw that critics were calling 90% of Sci-Fi crap, he flipped it on them instead and stated that 90% of ''anything'' is crap.

This law comes from an observation on Sturgeon's part; when he saw that critics were calling 90% of Sci-Fi crap, he flipped it on them instead and stated that 90% of anything is crap.

* Corollary 2: ''The best science fiction is as good as the best fiction in any field.'' (Note: It is clear this doesn't ''necessarily'' follow from the Revelation- sci fi has minor advantages and disadvantages compared to other genres, and differing amounts of literature compared to other genres. If a thousand write sci fi, but a hundred thousand write real world, do the maths.)

* Ghetto Corollary: ''A "respectable" genre will always be judged by the 10% of good works, but a stigmatized genre will always be judged by the 90% of bad works.'' (see the GhettoIndex for examples of such stigmatized genres)

** TvTropes Second Corollary: ''The other 90% of crud is further divided into [[LoveItOrHateIt "Subjective Crud,"]] [[SoBadItsGood "Crud You]] [[GuiltyPleasure Like Anyway"]], and [[EpicFail "Total]] [[DarthWiki/SoBadItsHorrible Crud."]] The exact proportions of this division have never been researched, and most likely vary by the individual for reasons mentioned above.''

* [[MartianSuccessorNadesico Ruri]]'s Law:'' "The vast majority of people are idiots".'' or, in other words, ''You're probably crud.''

This law comes from an observation on Sturgeon's part; when he saw that critics were calling 90% of Sci-Fi crap, he flipped it on them instead and stated that 90% of *anything* is crap.

There is a related principle actually observed in economics, the Pareto Principle or "80-20 rule": 80% of the work is done by 20% of the group. This makes sense if you think about it: in a given group there will be, for whatever reason, variation in the capability of its constituent individuals, and by and large, variation tends to take the form of a bell-curve distribution: the vast majority are average or near-average, with occurrence correlating to rarity. So, if you take that curve (representing the number of individuals at each level of performance) and multiply by said level of performance, you get a plot showing how the total amount of work done is distributed among the various levels of performance, which will obviously be skewing towards the higher-performance end. The rule is an approximation and the exact ratio will vary with the situation, but the general principle is very widespread in situations involving normal and power law distributions. The principal is also used in Statistical Process Control, a mathematical approach to quality control, stating that generally, 80% of total defects are caused by 20% of known failure modes.

** TvTropes Second Corollary: ''The other 90% of crud is further divided into [[LoveItOrHateIt "Subjective Crud,"]] [[SoBadItsGood "Crud You]] [[GuiltyPleasure Like Anyway"]], and [[EpicFail "Total]] [[DarthWiki/SoBadItsHorrible Crud."]] The exact proportions of this division have never been researched, and most likely varies by the individual for reasons mentioned above.''

* Video Game Corollary: ''If a video game has user-created content, then 90% of it will be based on [[VideoGamePerversityPotential male or female genitalia]] or "[[VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet LittleBig]][[GodwinsLaw Holocaust.]]"''
* [[MartianSuccessorNadesico Ruri]]'s Law:'' "The vast majority of people are idiots".'' or, in other words, ''You're probably crud.''