Rose:
I think the idea itself is a rose since it plays on the game that everyone knows about well and I have a special place in my heart for articles that take something mundane or silly and make them uncomfortable (See SCP-5346). However, I do think there are some areas to improve upon.
Thorn 1:
SCP fundamentals
The article is so short that any fundamental flaws jump right out of the page at the reader. Personally, I don't understand why the SCP-XXXX is the posters and the SCP-XXXX-1 is the kid and not the other way around. In my reading of the article, it seemed that the kid is the one with the anomaly surrounding them by way of having posters appear and making people search for them rather than the posters having the anomalous effect. I also have issues with the fact that the article is classified as "Safe" when it appears that the posters aren't really contained as much as they are gathered and tossed in a locker as they show up.
Thorn 2:
Clinical tone
You have various issues of clinical tone that really stand out in such a short article. I will outline specific cases below and give suggestions of how this can be fixed.
SCP-XXXX instances are kept in a standard containment locker at Site-64.
Recovered instances of SCP-XXXX are to be stored in a standard containment locker at Site-64.
The MTF Pi-1 (“City Slickers”) unit deployed to Portland, Oregon is to be recalled immediately.
I don't understand why this is in the ConProcs… This should go into an update or description or something. Recalling the MTF unit is an event or action and not a continuous containment procedure that belongs in this section.
MTF Pi-1 (“City Slickers”) is to monitor the suburbs of Portland, Oregon for any instances of SCP-XXXX. (footnote: MTF Pi-1 (“City Slickers”) was ordered to withdraw from the search for instances of SCP-XXXX on DD/MM/YYYY.)
SCP-XXXX refers to all missing person posters depicting 7-year-old Waldo Emerson, designated SCP-XXXX-1.
Just a casual thought: European audiences call wheres waldo wheres wally. Just a thing that came to mind while reading this/
SCP personnel stationed in Portland, Oregon became aware of an unusual tendency for residents of the city to discuss the possible whereabouts of SCP-XXXX-1, and a thorough survey revealed that this phenomenon affected just over 80% of residents.
This is more of a discovery log than a description. I'm hearing about discovery before I even know what it does and why I care about how the Foundation knows about it.
Foundation personnel stationed in Portland, Oregon first became aware of SCP-XXXX when local law enforcement alerted them to a high number of strange inquiries into the whereabouts of SCP-XXXX-1. According to this initial report, law enforcement had received inquiries about SCP-XXXX-1 from just over 80% of the residents in the area.
30 instances of SCP-XXXX were located and contained, after which interest in SCP-XXXX-1 dropped significantly. It is assumed that exposure to SCP-XXXX causes an anomalous proclivity to search for SCP-XXXX-1.
This reads as if the Foundation doesn't actually think that the posters are anomalous or that they don't really know what the posters do. And yet they went around tearing down posters of a missing child…
##blue|Exposure to SCP-XXXX appears to cause a proclivity for those who see it to search for SCP-XXXX-1 beyond a normal amount. MTF Pi-1 (“City Slickers”) have thus far retrieved 30 instances of SCP-XXXX and, as a result, Local law enforcement have noted a significant drop in interest of SCP-XXXX-1.
Testing to determine the exact properties and range of SCP-XXXX’s effect is scheduled for 2020/10/28.
I don't understand what this adds to the article… The update doesn't occur after this date so I can assume that the updates aren't due to the testing and there is no other closure to this line. So why is it here?
A unit of MTF Pi-1 (“City Slickers”) will remain deployed in Portland, Oregon until such time as SCP-XXXX-1 is found.
I assume this is meant to reveal that the author now is searching for SCP-XXXX-1 and has thus become influenced by SCP-XXXX. But there is nothing that points to this or makes it feel like a reveal. There is just as much information of this direction as there is that they could have realized that SCP-XXXX-1 is a real kid and needs to actually be located.
Modifying secure containment procedures without prior authorization is strictly prohibited. Any further attempts to modify SCP-XXXX’s containment procedures will result in disciplinary action.
All this does is point the reader to reread the ConProcs for changes. But the new colour of the ConProcs already does this. The big yellow box only takes up mental space and distracts the reader from where they should be looking.
