TV Tropes Wants to Get a Makeover With Kickstarter's Help

In this weekly column, we look at the latest from the world of crowdfunding to see what's worth backing on sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

That's because some of the most interesting new products we've seen, ranging from fun oddities to what could conceivably be the next big thing, have come from these sites instead of big companies.

Not every project we highlight has to be the next Oculus Rift virtual reality headset or Pebble smartwatch - some of the projects we pick are just fun and weird. And of course, there is always the chance that a project will not work out even if it gets funded. But if you're willing to take a risk and can afford to write off a little money, then there's a lot to look at and maybe fund.

One project that definitely won't change the world, but is still worth supporting because it is a lot of fun, is the TV Tropes Kickstarter.

It has been called the best website on the Internet and that's not an entirely unfair characterisation - TV Tropes is the Wikipedia of fun, and you can easily lose a couple of days while browsing through the site. There's even a relevant XKCD strip about the site.

With a 10-year history, TV Tropes' original website has started to grow a little long in the tooth, and it was definitely due for a redesign - and fittingly enough for a site that relies heavily on crowdsourced content, the funds for the redesign are also coming from Kickstarter.

You can see the pitch video here:

A $50,000 (approximately Rs. 31 lakh) goal would allow for a database overhaul, new design and mobile optimisation, amongst many other changes. There's not much to "get", apart from a few collectibles like T-shirts and calendars for fairly high pledges, but you'll be helping millions of people enjoy the new and improved TV Tropes website, which is pretty cool.

The project has already hit its funding goals, but it will continue to accept pledges until December 31, and if it hits stretch goals, then the project will give TV Tropes additional servers, see the development of an API so that the community can contribute in new ways, and original content. It's a pretty cool effort and one where you don't have to worry about your money disappearing, because, honestly, there's no product per se here. But the next time you have time to kill, visit TV Tropes, and you'll see why this is worth backing.

To see more projects with actual products you can back, click here.