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Downrated because an island of killer birds just doesn't seem all that interesting or scary. Also, how does this qualify as Euclid? I would classify something like this as safe.
There are a few plusses to the SCP, though. The containment procedure is good for such an SCP, for instance.
In the end, though, the effect just isn't that interesting.
No, I had not. That'll teach me. Although the document was interesting, a way to make it better would be to create a document that shows somebody getting illede by whatever the birds are trying to protect them from. If I can remove my down vote, I will.
EDIT: Downvote removed. It's still not interesting enough for me to up vote, but the attached document did exactly what the SCP needed to stay interesting.
Killed? Ah, but I do not have a film crew. And I don't think an MTF member would be able to write down the exact context of a situation while they are under attack. Are you suggesting an after action report? If so, I was considering it earlier, but I forgoed it to provide unknown_background_entity with more of a shroud for its actions.
I was expecting this to suck, frankly, but I really like it. Upvoted.
Sorry, but I feel as though I am missing something. It's an island of hostile birds. People landing on it seem to disappear and claim there is something bad on the island, perhaps with the implication that the island is protecting something.
Reminds somewhat of "Lost". I think an isolated island based SCP has a lot of potential, but currently, this article is the very definition of meh. I will be happy to remove my downvote should someone explain to me otherwise.
It is not that the birds are protecting something from people, it is that the birds are protecting people from that something.
I cannot infer that from the information given in the article.
And, even when working on that premise, so what? There isn't enough information about why the island is protecting people from itself to make it interesting. For all I know, the island could be trying to stop people from figuring out what the secret recipe to Kentucky Fried Chicken is.
A good article leaves just enough information that a reader will begin to wildly speculate as to what the missing information is. The classic example of this is SCP-231. As it stands, I have no idea as to why the contents of this island are even important, let alone why humans should be protected from them.
I cannot infer that from the information given in the article.
It's directly stated in the article, dude. Reading comprehension.
Thank you pooryoric. I am surprised where others downvote, you upvote.
I'm shaky about it, honestly.
I feel like this is a case of good writing shoring up an otherwise bland concept that would probably have made a better Tale, but it stands up for itself and fits in okay, so upvoted unless you change something awful.
Where? I've been through the whole article multiple times now, and i can see no such statement. Is there some missing document or addendia that I'm not seeing here?
Dude Document-930-1 did you read it? Here is a quote:
"Our rafts were destroyed by the rocks, not the birds. They did not kill a single one of us, and the injuries they did inflict were only on our arms and legs, not our necks or throats. I don't think anymore, that they were trying to kill us, or harm us. They were trying to protect us. To get us away from this hell."
Right there man, the bold was added by me.
Forgive me, but I feel I'm not expressing myself clearly.
The following facts are assumed:
Given these facts, a lost, confused seaman, likely suffering from hunger, thirst and sleep deprivation, has come to the conclusion that the birds are there explicitly to protect humans.
Given the same facts, I, as a reader, do not infer the same thing. My reading of this SCP gives me a different impression of it's purpose than the impressions of characters in it. Although this, in and of itself, is not necessarily a bad thing, for me it doesn't work in this instance.
I might like it - going to chew it around a bit first, though.
One thing:
22.778███°S, 134.913███°W hides a distance I can throw a baseball. Not left left handed, but still…
Recalculated: It's less then 500ft diagonal. Less then 3 acres. Anyway, not easy to hide an island in that…
I have added additional black boxies to increase this to 5000, thank you Bland.
*cough* Um, that's still less then a mile. In mostly empty ocean.
I'd suggest getting rid of everything after the decimal point.
An actual island was used as the basis for these coordinates. I shall comply with your recommendation nonetheless.
I have a spelling checker.
It came with my pea sea.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye can knot sea.
Eye ran this poem threw it,
Your sure reel glad two no.
Its vary polished in it's weigh.
My checker tolled me sew.
A checker is a bless sing,
It freeze yew lodes of thyme.
It helps me right awl stiles two reed,
And aides me when I rime.
Each frays come posed up on my screen
eye trussed too bee a joule.
The checker pours o'er every word
To cheque sum spelling rule.
Bee fore a veiling checker's Hour
spelling mite decline,
And if we're lacks oar have a laps,
We wood bee maid too wine.
Butt now bee cause my spelling
Is checked with such grate flair,
Their are no fault's with in my cite,
Of nun eye am a ware.
Now spelling does knot phase me,
It does knot bring a tier.
My pay purrs awl due glad den
With wrapped word's fare as hear.
To rite with care is quite a feet
Of witch won should be proud,
And wee mussed dew the best wee can,
Sew flaw's are knot aloud.
Sow ewe can sea why aye dew prays,
Such soft wear four pea seas,
And why eye brake in two averse
Buy righting too pleas.
— Sauce Unknown
See also
Do you have to copy+dump lyrics into every forum thread?
Nobody forced you to click the collapsible. Don't be a whiner.
True, but it does work in Firefox, Chrome and Safari.
I don't recognize yours, actually.
Yeah, I'm not familiar with it either.
if your reading this your gay
It's a scriptkiddie DOS thinger, because he wants us to think he's 1337. Just ignore him.
Sophos, no one on this wiki is ever required to alter their posts so they can make things more convenient for your too-good-for-a-normal-browser-look-how-much-of-a-hacker-I-am poser interface. Again, stop whining.
Actually, Yoric….he's using a Linux variant, and that's the browser that comes with it. It's got nothing to do with him being a poser, or anything of the sort. So, your allegations that it's a "scriptkiddie DOS thinger" are, more or less, completely unfounded.
Nobody on this wiki is required to alter posts, true, but copy/pasting a useless string of lyrics that don't even apply to the argument you raised in the first place? There was no call for it in the first place.
It's a minimal console-based browser called elinks, not a scriptkiddie DOS thinger or a poser interface or <insert ad hominem here>. Different people have different needs and uses for software.
I was originally asking why you were posting off-topic walls of text because it was a bunch of random lyrics about a bad spellchecker in reply to him correcting a typo that wasn't really relevant to 930 (and in that other discussion page), not because I could still see it even though you put it behind a collapsible.
I'm afraid I have to downvote, I'm not seeing what other people are seeing in this. A bunch of birds on an island trying to drive people away from a mystery thing is just not very interesting or frightening. The twist that the birds are trying to "protect" people by driving them away is a little too hard to believe. I mean I can understand a survivor having that impression but that's just silly.
The mystery predator is the main danger here and it's hardly discussed at all. It's a standard boogeyman only it attracts birds who try to contain it themselves.
Wait, that is it! The birds are making their own birdy little Foundation. Secure, Contain, Peck.
No wait that is seriously terrible.
The birds get talked about, but they're not the real threat. Somehow, this worked well for me. +1.
I'm afraid I'm going to downvote this. My major problem is that the actual threat is buried in in a collapsible addendum, with the rest of the article dealing with the thing that aren't the threat. The island is only important because the beast is on there. The birds are only important because they are keeping the beast isolated.
The collapsible was removed. Would there be any other way in which I would be able to make this article redeemable for you?
I suggest not worrying about it, since the article is at +13. You can't please everyone.
I sort of agree with the comments. As it stands, this seems a rather unstable mystery. Why can't the Foundation send in some robot to see what it is that's attacking people. That's the real threat here. I mean, I like what you do with the birds (though it is a tad silly), but this needs to have a bit more meat on it.
Would you have any recommendations to solving this problem?
Not really anything detailed, I'm afraid. This article is all about what happens around an SCP, and has almost nothing about the SCP itself, beyond the fact that it apparently likes bushes. Perhaps play on its relationship with the birds? After, the warning birds have to land at some point. Why aren't they all messily killed as soon as they do?
As I've said to you on IRC, the article feels like a skeleton despite its content.
I do think an armed/armoured team of Foundation agents exploring the island to figure out what's living there would add more value to the article as a whole. Something that would make the reader feel “Damn, I'm so glad it's stuck on an island. Totally warrants the artillery fire mentioned in the containment procedures.” without being too over the top. Just something to think about.
Edit: I think the comparison I want to make is with The Architect. By itself, you know everything you need to know about 184 but you just sit there wanting more. Then BAM, the exploration log hits you. It only gives you a glimpse of its capabilities and the beginning of the events that occured in its retrieval mission. No need to go into extra detail explaining what it is, just give us a loooong taste without actually being arbitrarily vague.
I've been thinking - the Foundation has been around for a long time. Anytime I see a story that has an early date to it, someone does another that pushes it back further.
Add to that that the fact that many articles are VERY vague as to date.
I'm wondering if you can have this as if it was written in the 1960s or earlier. Or parts written earlier where every decade they try to figure it out - and the closer they get, the worse the mystery becomes to solve.
Dunno. But rereading that, suddenly I'M starting to sound like "Previously, on LOST…."
I concur with the suggestions made here.
It seems that the point of this article is that there is something on the island that is the REAL threat, and the island itself is some sort of natural containment site for it.
A few minor alterations would certainly improve this article for me. Perhaps making some heavily redacted remarks about the entity on the island as SCP-930-2, and say that SCPS-Guardian is to shell the crap out of it if they even so much as catch a wiff of it on radar.
Though I like this, and I upvoted, I have no objection at all to the calls for more detail, so long as you keep what's already good.
