My first SCP: I'm kind of excited for it! I may release a Tale about this skip later, but for now I'm happy with what is there.
For the record, your PHP wouldn't compile, and your HTML is improperly formatted.
Also, HTML isn't generally sent through a websocket.
Beyond that, you've got tone issues left and right, and overall, I'm not sure why Dr. Wondertainment would produce something like this. .
Also, very few people know about SCP-055. Most people can only remember for a few minutes, unless they're in the anti-memetics division, which most people don't even know exists.
EDIT: I'm not sure what you mean by "It's a format trick". I'm saying the HTML and PHP that's showing in your article (as in, the stuff that crashes from the websocket buffer being overrun) isn't valid PHP or HTML.
I think what DoomSmith is saying is that it's showing up exactly as they intended. It's not supposed to be valid code. A quick look at the page source shows that the "error" you're seeing is actually text in the article.
In other words, it is not and was not intended to be actual code. It just looks like code.
Initially I didn't like this because I thought you left too many details vague, then I thought about it for a minute and realized that wanting answers just feeds it. +1
On a side note, it's been a while since I used PHP, but would an error really cause it to dump its source code like that? It seems pretty weird that the foundation would use something with a security hole like that if that were the case.
Under certain circumstances yes, though not usually. I imagine the foundation would have some weird way of parsing code and excessive error handling; something that isn't exactly HTML but near it. That's what I was going for here.
It's a very interesting idea, and I believe it was executed well. My only problem was with the first line in the containment procedures,
Object is to be contained in Sealed Containment Locker
- Instead of "Object", you should probably say "SCP-3107"
Space is a whole lot of stuff and a whole lot of not-stuff — charles sagen
Caught a couple errors.
This error in measurement is a result of the 21,493 individual scratches on the surface of SCP-XXX.
Very well. We can continue this tomarrow.
This was creepy. +1, though I'm not really sure what purpose the format screw in the description serves.
I can understand the morale of the story.
But the characters seem far too childish and overreactive to be researchers. I don't understand why they would think repeatedly bashing the D-class would make two chimes happen, when every time in past it only double-chimed on the first action.
Then there's lines like:
I think we've finally branched into new territory with chime interactions.
and
Dr. Winslow: Did we get that on tape!? Three chimes! I can't believe it!
These sound unbelivably stupid for researchers. There's no real justification for it either - from what I see, it's solely 'the Foundation hired drop-kicks'. There's no justification for the excessive measurements in the description, either.
-1
Based on this sentence:
"Knowing the difference between what he was and what he is now"
I took it that they didn't used to be like that.
I'm rather impressed with how meticulously this was structured. The format-screw feels fresh for how it impacts the narrative, and the anomaly is framed perfectly.
I'm going to have to downvote, regretably. I was pretty immersed through the whole thing, and I enjoyed the final test and how everything was wrapped up…but that final note blows the whole thing by throwing all deft and subtlety out the window to beat the reader over the head with the point. I think this should have been called before diving into unneeded explanation.
That being said, really looking forward to your future work.
Upon revisiting this, I feel the need to reverse my vote. Earlier, I felt the final note was too expository, when now I'm starting to think it's a necessary evil.
Rereading the thread, it seems that some stylistic choices that contribute to the work's fridge brilliance are being singled out as problems… I feel that this would have been exacerbated without the final reveal.
Damn shame this one didn't have much of an audience. +1.
Was close to upvoting. Final note let me down, for reasons similar to shaggy's. I broadly agree with Jack Ike's criticisms too, but not quite as vociferously as was expressed in that comment. In addition to some of the dialogue, the level of precision (number of significant figures) felt a bit cartoonish and implausible.
Another point I'd make is that I felt you could have more directly addressed the actual anomaly - the obsession it generates. The final note only describes it in imprecise, literary terms, and doesn't bite into it properly.
Reminded me of the Mirror of Doubt, but not in a way that made me feel like this lacked originality.
I have to disagree. Here the excess of pointless information and lack of direct explanation is indeed in the fridge logic of the article:
3107 affects curious people. It made Dr. Winslow produce an extremely large amount of pointless data about it. But to redact the description, another curious person must interact with data about 3107, risking themselves.
So Dr. Roscranz won't delve into the description. Not containing direct data on the object, other parts of the article are safe for him to handle.