A Excellent Wiki Site: TV Tropes

A lot of sites on the web have taken the Wiki idea, and ran with it, none more successfully than Wikipedia of course. I have to say that I have visited a lot of these sites over the past few years, most of which are based on documenting a single topic in minute detail (especially the ones based on pop culture).

But I think one of the best wiki-based sites out there at the moment is TV Tropes, a place I didn't even know existed until it became the basis for an XKCD strip.

And the strip gets it right... it is like crack. I mean, I go there every day to look up things and just browse around.

TV Tropes is a site that breaks down almost every kind of narrative form, from film, literature and television to animation, video games and even professional wrestling into its component parts.

For instance, if I was curious about a movie... say, RoboCop, and I wanted to know some of the specific themes that were explored in the storytelling, I can just look it up on TV Tropes, and read through the itemized list of tropes, each of which is hyperlinked to a page devoted to that trope.

And because it is a wiki, if anyone thinks of new things to add to an entry, they are free to do so. But there is a certain amount of informality to the whole thing which makes it somewhat refreshing. In the words on the front page of the site, "We are not Wikipedia. We're a buttload more informal." It isn't just major works that are allowed on the site either... almost any narrative can have a page and be listed under the various categories, and if you are a fan of something, you can start a page dedicated to it, and perhaps through the wonders of Wiki Magic, a mighty page may emerge from your humble stub.

And there are trope categories that, while they don't specifically discuss a theme in a work, are still interesting to read. For example, there are sections about Fridge Logic (about plot holes you notice just after you've seen a particular work), and the Crowning Moments series (Awesome, Heartwarming, Funny along with a music one too). It is a site that just keeps expanding with the addition of excellent content daily.

Of course, I am not just a casual browser of the site anymore... I am also an active member of the editing community, so I am naturally very enthused by the whole thing.

Tags: tv tropes, robocop, wikipedia, crowning moment, awesome, wiki, funny, heartwarming, funny, pop culture, xkcd