History Sandbox / NotabilityVerifiabilityTropability

This means that a work cannot be wholly private, viewable by invitation, or exist only in the mind of its creator. It also has to be released to the public. Works hosted exclusively on chatting platforms like Discord or transmitted via messaging services like email are considered private even if they have free-to-join links. Commercial works are verifiable as long as the general public can pay to watch, read, or play them. This includes works that exist behind online subscriptions (e.g., Patreon tiers).

* '''Creative''' content means that there must be some creative elements to the work. Biographical and documentary works, news reporting, vlogs and blogs, encyclopedic works, and so on are typically not designed with creative expression in mind and thus aren't interesting to us. They can be creative in their presentation and framing: such works would be indexed under NonFiction.

Works that cease to exist are rare thanks to the Internet preserving nearly everything, but it does happen. If it can be shown that a work has been taken down and is no longer available, and there is no extant marketing material, reviews, Let's Plays, or other evidence that can be referred to, our article may be cut or moved to DarthWiki/DarthWiki, depending on the situation. Such cases should be brought up on AskTheTropers or the [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/topics.php forums]].

This means that a work cannot be wholly private, viewable by invitation, or exist only in the mind of its creator. It also has to be released to the public. Works hosted exclusively on chatting platforms like Discord or transmitted via messaging services like email are considered private even they have free-to-join links. Commercial works are verifiable as long as the general public can pay to watch, read, or play them. This includes works that exist behind online subscriptions (e.g., Patreon tiers).

Internet memes are not "community-made works" or fanworks; they don't get their own articles. If they're based on another work, they are AudienceReactions and are troped under MemeticMutation. The same applies to {{Creepypasta}} works without a central story.

User-generated content in videogames that allow freedom of creativity and interaction are not works. However, {{Game Mod}}s that significantly change the narrative may be troped as fan works in the [=VideoGame=] namespace. As noted above, [[LetsPlay Let's Plays]] are not considered "user-generated content" and are not tropable unless they add significant, transformative content that does not exist within the work itself.

As we all know, the purpose of Website/TVTropes is to document tropes used in creative media. However, the fact that a work exists doesn't necessarily mean it can have an article on this site. Before creating such an article, we should confirm that it meets the standards that we have established. The main ones are '''Notability''', '''Verifiability''' and '''Tropability''', and there is a separate, superseding standard in our '''Content Policy'''.

* '''Distinct''' means that only content original to the work itself may be counted. DerivativeWorks may reference or incorporate tropes from other works, but those are not considered and should not be listed as examples. This includes {{Roleplay}}s, [[LetsPlay Let's Plays]], {{Reaction Video}}s, and {{Video Review Show}}s: we can't list the tropes from the thing that is being played, reviewed, or reacted to, only tropes that arise in the work itself.

* '''Narrative''' content is important because we are about storytelling. A vlog or essay may have technical tropes, but unless there's some kind of story being told, it's not interesting from our perspective.

For works that may not have a narrative structure, such as songs, games, and art, tropes distinct to those mediums, such as [[VideoGameTropes gameplay]] or [[GameShowTropes show rules]], may substitute for narrative tropes.

Regardless of any of the above rules, if a work does not pass our Administrivia/ContentPolicy, it may not have an article on the wiki. This includes PornWithoutPlot, works that sexualize children, or works whose main purpose is to pander to {{fetish}}es, including [[{{Gorn}} fetishized violence]].

Regardless of any of the above rules, if a work does not pass our Administrivia/ContentPolicy, it may not have an article on the wiki. This includes PornWithoutPlot, works that sexualize children, or works whose main purpose is to pander to {{fetish}}, including [[{{Gorn}} fetishized violence]].

Regardless of any of the above rules, if a work does not pass our Administrivia/ContentPolicy, it may not have an article on the wiki. This includes PornWithoutPlot, works that sexualize children, or works whose main purpose is to [[FetishFuel pander to fetishes]], including [[{{Gorn}} sexualized violence]].

What about works that don't exist yet, or have ceased to exist? This is where notability starts to come into consideration. To prevent Administrivia/SpeculativeTroping, a commercial work has [[Administrivia/CreatingAWorkPageForAnUpcomingWork specific rules]] for when an article may be created, usually involving a release date and actual content (a trailer or gameplay preview). {{Content Leak}}s are not permitted as source material. Fanfics and other non-commercial projects may be troped by their creators as DarthWiki/UnpublishedWorks, but may not be moved to the wiki proper until they are released.

The language of the work doesn't matter, as long as it can be translated, but all articles on the wiki must be written in English before any [[Administrivia/TVTropesTranslationProject non-English articles]] are created. (Between British and American English, the preference is for the work's country of origin first and [[Administrivia/AmericanAndCommonwealthSpellings whoever writes the article]] second.)

This means that a work cannot be wholly private, viewable by invitation, or exist only in the mind of its creator. It also has to be released to the public. Works hosted exclusively on chatting platforms like Discord or transmitted via messaging services like email are considered private even they have free-to-join links. Commercial works are public and therefore verifiable as long as the general public can pay to watch, read, or play them. This includes works that exist behind online subscriptions (e.g., Patreon tiers).

New {{Works}} appear in the world every day in a large quantity. Website/TVTropes is about documenting tropes used in these works. However, a story existing doesn't necessarily mean it can have a page at this site. Before any given article is published, we should confirm that it meets the standards for being a TV Tropes work article. These standards are '''Notability''', '''Verifiability''' and '''Tropability'''.

Note that even if the work passes all three, its page may be not. If the page isn't of sufficient quality or after a cleanup doesn't have [[Administrivia/HowToCreateAWorkPage sufficient quantity]] of tropes, it goes into the CutList as a stub.

! Notability
The cultural significance, public interest, and/or popularity of a work.

This is not usually a criteria for having a wiki article; we do not apply Website/{{Wikipedia}}'s notability standard. We treat famous and obscure works the same. We also keep works with [[ValuesDissonance controversial views]]. This isn't a question of giving works publicity, if there's content, we document it.

If somebody thinks there's a work that doesn't have a page, [[Administrivia/ListOfShowsThatNeedSummary and it needs one]], they're [[Administrivia/RepairDontRespond free to make it]], as long as it doesn't violate other policies.

Content creators, including fanfic writers, can make pages for own works. However, Administrivia/TheFicMayBeYoursButTheTropePageIsOurs and Administrivia/AutoEroticTroping apply in such case.

[[gold:However, cultural significance can be relevant in some cases, such as deciding to keep articles for works that would otherwise not qualify.]]

! Verifiability
The ability for any random person to check that the trope examples our site claims to be found in a work actually are found in it.

This means that a work cannot be wholly private, viewable by invitation, or exist only in the mind of its creator. It also has to be released to the public. Works hosted exclusively on chatting platforms like Discord and emails are considered private even they have free-to-join links.

We consider "paywalled" works public. A webcomic behind a high subscription tier is no different from buying a ticket to a movie, as long as describing it is within [[Administrivia/AboutImagesAndCopyright fair use]].

Authors can trope their to-be-published-eventually works at DarthWiki/UnpublishedWorks, and works that are confirmed to be deleted with no archive are temporarily moved there, if not cut right away.

The language of the work doesn't matter, as long as it can be translated. But all pages on the wiki must be written in English (Or be posted in designated namespaces as a part of Administrivia/TVTropesTranslationProject). Between British and American English, the preference is for the work's country of origin first and [[Administrivia/AmericanAndCommonwealthSpellings up for the first editor]] second.

If a work is [[Administrivia/CreatingAWorkPageForAnUpcomingWork announced to be released in the future]], to prevent Administrivia/SpeculativeTroping, it doesn't preemptively get a page until it's officially published or has sufficient amount of promotional material to confidently tell what the work has. We also don't trope ContentLeak material until the described content appears in the published work.

! Tropability
The existence of distinct, creative, narrative content in a work.

To be tropable, a work must contain some content that gives rise to tropes in the categories of {{plot|s}} and {{characterization|Tropes}}. If the work is {{derivative|Works}} from another work, only content original to itself counts for this purpose.

To confirm that a work qualifies for a page, it needs [[Administrivia/HowToCreateAWorkPage at least three tropes]] that don't violate Administrivia/HowToWriteAnExample. {{Setting|s}}, {{Paratext}}, and NarrativeFiligree tropes do not count towards the stub bar, nor do {{Trivia}} or AudienceReactions. For works that may not have a narrative structure, such as songs, games, and art, tropes distinct to those mediums, such as [[VideoGameTropes gameplay]] or [[GameShowTropes show rules]], may substitute for narrative tropes. A page that describes only "technical details" is not keepable.

Works that would not pass Administrivia/TheContentPolicy are not allowed, we can't keep works containing PornWithoutPlot, sexualized minors, or mostly FetishFuel, regardless of how much anything else they may have.

Tropes that apply to real people, such as writers or performers, or to the subjects of biographical or documentary works, do not count and [[Administrivia/RealLifeTroping are not allowed]] anyway. {{Creator|s}}/ pages are used to group works they've been involved in, [[Administrivia/CreatorPageGuidelines not the creator's career, appearance and personal life]].

[[gold:NonFiction is a special category that...]]

[[gold:Works consisting of DiscussedTrope like AnalysisChannel...]]

Internet memes are not "Community-made works" or fanworks, they don't get own page. If they're based on another work, they are AudienceReactions and go into MemeticMutation entry. The same applies to {{Creepypasta}} without a central story.

User-generated content in videogames that allow freedom of creativity and interaction are not works. But a LetsPlay that makes own narrative not present in the original game and describing such experience would count as own work. And reverse-engineering the game to significantly change the narrative to something else counts as a GameMod and belongs to [=VideoGame/=] namespace as a fanwork.

[[gold:Someone's WebVideo content is not tropable if they're not making a narrative.]]

[[gold:RealLife events are not works.]]

If somebody thinks there's a work that doesn't have a page [[Administrivia/ListOfShowsThatNeedSummary, and it needs one]], they're [[Administrivia/RepairDontRespond free to make it]], as long as it doesn't violate other policies.

Before any given article is transplanted, we should confirm that it meets the standards for being a TV Tropes work article.

These are the criteria for works to have a work article.

Even if a work qualifies, its page would need [[Administrivia/HowToCreateAWorkPage to be written in sufficient quality]].

!!Notability

This is not usually a criteria for having a wiki article; we do not apply Website/{{Wikipedia}}'s notability standard. We treat famous and obscure works the same. We also can trope works with [[ValuesDissonance controversial views]].

However, cultural significance can be relevant in some cases, such as deciding to keep articles for works that would otherwise not qualify. (Such as?)

Also see Administrivia/TheFicMayBeYoursButTheTropePageIsOurs.

!!Verifiability

This means that a work cannot be wholly private, viewable by invitation, or exist only in the mind of its creator. It also has to be released to the public.

The language of the work doesn't matter, as long as it can be translated.

Also see Administrivia/CreatingAWorkPageForAnUpcomingWork and ContentLeak.

!!Tropability

To be tropable, a work must contain some content that gives rise to tropes in the categories of plot and characterization. If the work is derivative from another work, only content original to itself counts for this purpose.
* Tropes that apply to real people, such as writers or performers, or to the subjects of biographical or documentary works, do not count and [[Administrivia/RealLifeTroping are not allowed]] anyway. Someone's online channel is not tropable if they're not making a narrative.
* Works that would not pass Administrivia/TheContentPolicy are not allowed, we can't trope works containing PornWithoutPlot, sexualized minors, or mostly FetishFuel, regardless of how much anything else they may have.
* Setting, paratext, and narrative filigree tropes do not count, nor do {{Trivia}} or AudienceReactions.
* For works that may not have a narrative structure, such as songs, games, and art, tropes distinct to those mediums, such as [[VideoGameTropes gameplay]], may substitute for narrative tropes.
* MemeticMutation are AudienceReactions and not "Internet-made works", they don't get separate page. The same applies to {{Creepypasta}} without a central story.
* User-generated content in games that allow freedom of interactions are not works. But a LetsPlay that makes own narrative not present in original work and describing such experience is a work.
* Reverse-engineering the game to significantly change the narrative to something else counts as GameMod and belongs to [=VideoGame/=] namespace as a fanwork.
* NonFiction?
* Works consisting of DiscussedTrope?

! Administrivia/ThereIsNoSuchThingAsNotability rewrite

NonFiction? Works consisting of DiscussedTrope?

* Tropes that apply to real people, such as writers or performers, or to the subjects of biographical or documentary works, do not count and [[Administrivia/RealLifeTroping are not allowed]] anyway.

NonFiction?