Main Tropes Index

The addition of minor details about fictional works to entries to which they only mildly apply. Can be found on Wikipedia in almost any topic, under the heading "In Fiction" or "In Popular Culture." The name comes from cruft, which is computer geek slang for "garbage".

For instance:

A scientific article on wormholes is very likely to pick up a few mentions of Star Trek and Stargate SG-1
A page on naked mole-rats will almost always get a blurb on Rufus from Kim Possible
A page on poisonous mushrooms may mention Genshiken's Show Within A Show, Kujibiki Unbalance