SCP-4838 / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page SCP-4838.

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Author Post

aismallard 02 Jul 2019 18:46

+ Image credits

houses.jpeg

Growing up, I did not see domestic violence as very gendered. However, reading The Gift of Fear made me realize just how much more socially and structurally vulnerable women are to this sort of violence.

Another thing the book noted was that fear does not come from the content of what is done, but its context. I have tried to craft all of Green's messages such that, if they were sent by people in a loving and stable relationship, they would be as the description says: "innocuous or even heartwarming". But in context, they're horrifying.

The Foundation is right about there being a cognitohazard. However:

Spoilers

It doesn't affect Harker, it affects everybody but her. It renders others unable to perceive the context of the situation, and therefore they don't see her as being in any harm.

If your fear instincts are telling you a situation is dangerous, it's probably right. Stay safe.

Thanks to KindlyTurtleClem for their critique.

T Rutherford 02 Jul 2019 19:03

God. Big +1

I was already pleased with it after my first read, but after hitting that spoiler? This is an excellent, chilling take on abusive / violent relationships. Excellent work.

P.S. And I only just read the title. You son of a bitch, I'd +1 again for the dark-humored pun.

Last edited on 02 Jul 2019 19:17 by T Rutherford Show more

devonmartin 02 Jul 2019 20:25

This is good. +1

EDIT: Accidentally doubleposted. Sorry about that.

Last edited on 02 Jul 2019 20:53 by devonmartin Show more

devonmartin 02 Jul 2019 20:51

This is good. +1

Talon Black 02 Jul 2019 23:17

How do you format the SCP like That?

Yamatto 03 Jul 2019 17:46

The final message converted me from upvoting to no voting, it seems nonsensical in the context, (as well as being physically implausible). The crushing terror of being Cassandra'd by your stalker is excellent, just that last damn paragraph.

nuhrii 12 Jul 2019 05:57

I didn't pick up any of the information in the author's spoiler section. Without that knowledge, this is quite a bland article that ends in her boyfriend godmoding, knocking out an entire site's worth of personnel and goring her. I propose making the content of your spoiler section a little bit more obvious/hinted at.

Also, after this attack, wouldn't the Foundation definitely want to find the guy who did this? I doubt this'd be classified as 'neutralized' after the final event. More like 'reclassifying to Euclid/Keter until we found and contained the bloke'.

Neutral vote.

Last edited on 12 Jul 2019 05:58 by nuhrii Show more

Disagreement

(account deleted) 31 Jul 2019 12:35

I have to disagree. The point of the article is that the SCP file is written by a researcher, who in-universe would be unaware of the purpose of the cognitohazard. Making the spoilers a little more on obvious would ruin the effect. I think that the author spoiler post is sufficient.

Finally, the Foundation simply wouldn't care anymore
The letters/messages, as well as the person that they're affecting, are gone. Therefore the anomaly is neutralized.

Also to aismallard: Well done, +1. The messages' tone helped me understand your article.

---

Wear it like a haaaaaaaaat!

Last edited on 31 Jul 2019 12:36 by (account deleted) Show more

Adobe Bryant 14 Jul 2019 08:33

hmm…

despite their innocuous or even heartwarming content

must've been a male researcher

ModernMajorGeneral 16 Jul 2019 09:39

This is pretty good, but I noticed a problem; the author post spoiler section doesn't affect the Foundation's reaction at all, they still locked her in a secure facility under surveillance and armed guard. The response wouldn't have been any different if they were appropriately concerned, and you couldn't have expected them to do much better with the invisible super threat which destroys all the cameras and knocks out all the guards. It renders the cognitohazard irrelevant from a narrative point of view, but also undermines the social point about the consequences of not taking stalking seriously. A line or two about her being in a low-security facility or lax surveillance measures might have helped this.

aismallard 16 Jul 2019 17:40

I think that's a fair criticism. I tried to focus on the fact that they were looking at emotional countermeasures rather than actually looking for the larger source of the anomaly, but I agree that with regards to containment it doesn't change much.

sachiel187 17 Jul 2019 20:08

this was already an interesting article, but then you hit me with that author spoiler. definitely a WOW moment. emphatic +1, and i love the message of the story too.

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