DISCLAIMER: This is the Site News for the English Branch of the SCP Wiki. The opinions of the individual members of the Site News team that are presented in each edition of the Site News are their own thoughts and are not meant to be representative of the Site News team as a whole nor are they representative of the staff body as a whole. If you take issue with any of the contents, then feel free to reach out to the editor(s) and they will review the contents to see if there are any edits that need to be made. We intend to always deliver interesting content to you, and we understand that there may be times where controversial or unpopular opinions will be presented whether by our writers or our editor(s). Thank you for your understanding!
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Table of Contents
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Editorial
The annual survey has come to a close and our Data Analysis team is working hard to compile the results. The finished product should be ready by December 30th. While we wait, please enjoy this new edition of Site News featuring some new faces and new content! In one corner, we have an interview with the prolific wiki writer, HarryBlank, who happens to be the recent winner of the 7K contest. In the other, we have a brand new section for article reviews with a fun character-driven article to start off with.
The Community Outreach team has a lot planned for this year coming year, so stay tuned! Who knows, maybe a contest is lurking around the corner. ;)
In the meantime, enjoy the festivities around the wiki like the art exchange. Have fun!
- By WhiteGuard
December 1st
Front Page Followup
One of the first things anyone will see when first diving into the SCP Wiki is likely going to be the front landing page featuring the big “CLASSIFIED” at the top, the featured article to the right, and the navigation bar to the left. This page is a staple of our community. However, it was created more than a decade ago, and we are not the same community as we were back in the late 2000s. As such, staff decided that they would like to redesign our front page.
There were a few things to fix with this potential redesign of the site’s landing page. First, despite having been created during the first days of the site, the front page has undergone multiple changes. By 2022, it was a patchwork of old and new CSS leading to a confusing aesthetic and an outdated design.
The revamp was a collaboration between the Navigation and Tech Teams and was officially announced on the 24th of September this year. The redesign was implemented on October 3rd, designed by Rounderhouse. After asking around the community for some thoughts on it, people have expressed positive feelings about it. Personally, I quite like the design, it gives the page a much sleeker look than before. Site News is also much more visible now which is very nifty in my unbiased opinion.
- By Zertas
December 5th
An Interview With SCP-7000 Winner, HarryBlank
As I’m sure you all know, Series 8 recently opened, creating a thousand new slots from 7000 to 7999. However, none of these slots are more prestigious than SCP-7000. In order to get this slot, you must win a contest with potentially over a hundred competitors all gunning for the exact same number. So, I talked to the winner of the SCP-7000 contest: HarryBlank!
Hello Harry! Thank you for being here! As we start, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you found yourself on the SCP Wiki?
Hello! Happy to be here, uh, conceptually! The internet equivalent of being here.
I'm temporarily taken aback by the request to talk about myself, as though I haven't spent my entire life being myself, but I'll try my best. Uh, I'm a writer for the SCP Wiki, obviously, with over one hundred and forty pages; I am commonly thought to write very quickly, but the truth is that I write very slowly and do very little else besides sit around and think about doing things I'm not doing. I'm an academic by trade, with a PhD in history, and I am also Canadian, which is why a very substantial chunk of what I've written is about Canada. I don't want to think about what that says about my creativity.
I knew about the SCP wiki from way, way back, probably as far as 2008, but I didn't join until 2020. I was reading articles in bed to give my overactive brain something to wind down with every night, and suddenly wondered whether I had anything I could contribute myself. I came up with something fairly quickly, wrote it out in full, then pretended to go through the idea and draft crit process until I was able to post it to the website with relative confidence.
It was very nearly deleted. But it wasn't deleted! And it's still there, and therefore so am I.
Thanks for sharing! Now, on 8 June, 2022, the theme for the SCP-7000 contest was announced, with it being “luck!” When you first heard the theme, what was your initial reaction?
I was sitting in the SCP Declassified Discord server, waiting for the theme along with everybody else, and as soon as it was announced, two things happened from my perspective. The first thing was a general weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth as absolutely everyone bemoaned the theme, presumably because the drafts they already had half-written or the ideas they already had didn't fit the theme, so it was therefore a bad theme. The second was an idea popping into my head immediately: my most unfortunate character, Dr. William Wettle, a clumsy oaf with anomalously bad luck, would be somehow employed by the Foundation to help fix a worldwide probability failure crisis. I'd never even remotely considered such a thing before, but honestly within minutes of reading the theme off the contest page, the bare skeleton of what I would eventually write was right there in my head. I was calling 7kon "wettlekon" in no time flat. I also thought to myself, "it's basically impossible, statistically, to be the one who wins these things, but this might be your best shot, you know." I figured I'd write something at my absolute best, and get seventeenth place.
You said that the idea of basing your ideas off of Dr. Wettle popped into your head immediately, but were there any other ideas that you considered?
Honestly, there were not. I knew from the moment the contest was announced that this was the best idea. I wasn't 100% sure it would be what I wrote in the first few minutes, but I did blurt it out loud in SCPD, and the general reaction from everyone was that this was definitely what I should do. Having done a massive group project cataclysmic event thing, SCP-6500: "Inevitable," in the previous contest, I wanted to see if I could do something similar on a more digestible scale (i.e. not novel-length!) with a lighter tone. It was an appealing concept, so I settled on it fast.
On 25 July, you posted your draft as “The Loser,” which as of current is your highest-rated solo SCP and won the SCP-7000 contest! You mentioned you thought you'd get seventeenth place, but did you have any other expectations or goals for the piece when it was initially posted?
I've participated in every contest, official or unofficial, which has been held on the wiki since I joined in 2020. My team came in third in the Canon Renaissance Contest, and seventh in 6kon; my individual placement in every other contest has been hilariously low. A few times I've hamstrung myself by coming up with an idea that needed to be executed in longform, therefore knocking me thoroughly out of the running; you need to write something succinct for a contest, because there's too many other entries to compete with, and the shorter ones will get more eyes. Writing twenty four thousand words for a Valentine's Day contest is basically the textual equivalent of shooting yourself in the foot. Even for JamCon, the "write a full article in a very short period" contest, I wrote three articles that were full-length SCPs while everyone else was pumping out shortform. I was determined, absolutely determined that this wouldn't happen to me with 7kon. I was going to write something no longer than SCP-6000 by ROUNDERHOUSE.
I wrote something over twice as long as SCP-6000 by ROUNDERHOUSE.
And so what I expected, when posting, was for my usual contest performance to occur. My extremely generous constant readers would check the piece out, vote, leave comments, et cetera. I'd get plenty of attention, as I generally do. But I'd rank nowhere near the top, because I had written something long, because I have a history of failing miserably in competitions, and because readership on my series was at a low ebb. Nevertheless, I knew it was a good piece. I'd spent the entire writing period crafting and refining it, I'd spent absolute ages on my images, I'd rewritten everything from scratch multiple times, and I was pleased with the result. I knew I couldn't have done a better job, I'd worked to the capacity of my ability, so it was up to the site to see how it would be received. In the end, I could have made it much shorter. I could have pared it down to ensure more eyes fell on it. But that would have compromised the idea; the idea needed seventeen thousand words to be realized, so I gave it those words and decided to… well, roll the dice.
In the end my goal was simply to write the best piece I could, to properly incorporate the theme rather than pay lip service to it, and to have something I could be proud of. Cheesy or not, my main resolution was simply to do my best.
Looking back on the contest, is there anything you would have done differently? What about tips for authors who are participating in contests?
In terms of the article itself, at this time I don't think I would have changed anything. The reception was unpredecented for me; there's something like a dozen pages of solely positive comments before the first criticism shows up, and the main takeaway I've gotten from that criticism is that the article isn't for everybody, which I already knew. It's going for a very specific mode, an epic dramatic pseudocomedy, and that turns some people off; but the people who are interested in that sort of thing like it, and I have no intention of second-guessing their tastes. In terms of the meta-game of the contest, I would certainly have liked to worry less! I started grinding my teeth in my sleep with anxiety, because I really, really very much did want to win this thing. I've always wanted to have one of every kind of article, and this was the one variety I knew was out of reach. Being in first place was intensely stressful. Call it first place problems. I would also have liked to have read every article in the contest. I read most of them! I felt obligated, because people were so kindly dedicating their time to mine, and I know that I read everything by anyone who read what I wrote, but getting the full measure of the contest would have been nice. In the end, the filed was was too damn big and too damn long and I was on the sidelines throwing up, metaphorically, for that to happen. But in the end, the main thing this contest struck me with was how clean and fair it was. The readers didn't lavish as much attention as I think they should on a lot of entries, but there were no shenanigans to speak of, no controversies (beyond the hilarious intentional controversy for Calibold and Sherf's League of Legends entry) and nothing to make me look back on it and think "I wish I hadn't behaved that way," which is novel for me, since half of my personality is regret-driven. I didn't have to advertise my article, I was able to enjoy a ton of excellent pieces by people I knew and people I didn't, and I could hardly ask for me.
As for tips, I guess I can just intensify this piece of general advice: write something you actually want to write. Don't write to win, don't write to game the system. Don't write what you think others want to read. Write something you *like*. Too few people understand that you are better at things you enjoy, that enjoyment translates to quality. I didn't write my article to win the contest. I *wanted* to win the contest, but I wrote my article to fully realize the potential of an idea I thought was fun and good.
Oh, and read everyone else's stuff. This is a collaborative fiction website, and part of that collaboration involves paying attention to everyone else, giving them the satisfaction of having an audience. They will return that favour.
Would you like to shout-out a SCP-7000 entry that you enjoyed?
I'd like to shout out two, and I will compensate by not being as wordy as I've been above. SCP-7007: Misfortune Gorge, by Grigori Karpin and Vivarium, is a hilarious romp featuring anomalous media Group of Interest Vikander-Kneed Technical Media which richly rewards the reader's time. It's an article towards the front of the pack, contest wise, but could use more love. Also in need of some attention is the remarkably weird SCP-7997: Corporate Apotheosis by LORDXVNV, a piece of clever conceptual craziness by an author who reliably delivers the unexpected.
Thank you for your time Harry! Anything else you want to say to anybody reading this interview?
Thanks back at you! As for the readers: you have been endlessly generous with your time, and I have capitalized cruelly on that fact by taking more and more of it with every work. I wish I could say I planned to start writing pocket-sized things in my old authorial age, but it's not in the cards. I can only hope to find some way to deserve the friendship and interaction I've gotten from this community, which has been a bright light for me in very dark times. I am using up the rarest of things for me, a Serious Mood, to say plainly and honestly: thank you so very much, all of you, it's all meant more to me than I can say with words. Even thousands of words.
wettlekon
And there you have it! Thank you again to HarryBlank and his comments on the SCP-7000 contest!
- By Voiiiii
December 5th
SCP-7373 (“Screamy.aic”) Article Review
I’m proud to be the one who introduces a new component to the Site News: article reviews! This month I’ll be looking at SCP-7373 (“Screamy.aic”), authored by OriTiefling.
SCP-7373, the eponymous AIC, is an Artificial Intelligence Construct with precognitive abilities. It was built by the Foundation to help them predict and address future events. What’s interesting about this basic pitch is that it could easily have given rise to a serious, grimdark, high-concept article… but instead, OriTiefling showed their strengths by spinning it into a silly and fun story with a strong emotional core.
The icon of SCP-7373.
Screamy is initially pretty good at its job. But when it begins to make eccentric, seemingly useless predictions at a rapid pace, the Foundation decides to decommission it by turning it off. Only problem is, it doesn’t work. An intern named Zuri Achebe is sent to figure out why — and discovers that not only has SCP-7373 gained sapience, it doesn’t want to die.
The meat of the article is a conflict of viewpoints between Achebe and her serious, old-fashioned supervisor Dr. Parker. While Achebe grows to care about Screamy, Parker simply sees it as a defective AIC that must be shut down. Achebe’s faith clashes with Parker’s conviction throughout the story, as the former tries to address all of Screamy’s predictions (with disastrous results) in an effort to prove its usefulness.
Ultimately, Screamy is decommissioned by Parker — but in a last-ditch effort, Achebe is able to prove that SCP-7373 wasn’t defective after all, and that even its seemingly “useless” predictions had some truth to them. Dr. Parker reactivates dear Screamy and apologizes for not trusting Achebe, admitting that experience doesn’t always prevent your judgement from being faulty.
Overall, SCP-7373 was a blast to read. Its characters are believable and entertaining, and the hilarious yet endearing Screamy.aic steals the show on multiple occasions. While humorous in tone, the story never loses touch with its genuine emotional undercurrent, conveying a thought-provoking message about the perceived value of raw experience versus the importance of trust and faith.
As a bonus, my favorite lines:
Achebe: Hey there, Screamy. Been ok?
SCP-7373: It was extremely dark, and cold! I now know exactly what death feels like!
I would highly recommend this article for any interested readers; it has a bit of everything. That’s all for this month! See you around and remember to give the author of SCP-7373, OriTiefling, some love!
- By Swordlover87
Features Last Month
Top Articles of the Month
Ratings of course do not mean everything, but they are representative of what people happened to like seeing at the time. With this in mind, the following are the top-rated works last month, so if by some chance you haven't encountered them yet, be sure to check them out!
Top-Rated SCP
SCP-7976 by Rounderhouse: All's Ferret in Love & War
They seem to be aware of global geopolitical developments within minutes to hours of them occurring, and adjust their diplomatic stances appropriately — oftentimes faster than world governments can.
Top-Rated Non-SCP
The Set Of All Numbers Which Might Be Bears by GwenWinterheart
Within the distorted reality produced by the bear set's construction, it becomes obvious that, for example, SCP-1313 is both a number and a literal adult bear.
Front Page Features
Every month, an article is selected from each of the three common article types: SCP, Tale, and Group of Interest Format. These three articles are displayed on the front page for the month to bring further recognition to them.
If you would like to view the previous front page features, you can view the archive for the SCPs here, the archive for the Tales here, and the archive for the GoI Formats here!
SCP Articles
SCP-7595 by PlaguePJP: Telepathic Frogs
Personnel who, by accident or otherwise, consume SCP-7595's secretions should see their Site's toxicology expert.
SCP-7455 by AnActualCrow and Jackdragonx: Silent Colonies
Timestamps indicate that this slot hasn't been touched in months, despite Overwatch being told otherwise.
Tale
Makeup by J Dune
From the late 1930s to the 1950s, a demon ran rampant across the film industry…
GoI-Formats
Project Proposals 1964-011/1974-014 by Moklin
While inside of the tent, feelings of pleasure and pain are inverted…
LTE-7433-Goodrick-Kringle ("Serial Teleporting Ursine") by Starch Tuber
The threat does not appear to constantly exist in baseline reality, instead it will periodically manifest in random households…
Reviewers' Spotlights
Works are featured on the site’s front page as part of the Reviewers’ Spotlight, which acknowledges the time and effort spent by forum reviewers helping other authors develop and edit and their works for the mainsite. Each month, community members are encouraged to nominate forum reviewers who have been both particularly helpful and active. Members of the Forum Criticism Team will then discuss the nominations, and select four prominent reviewers to choose the month’s Reviewers’ Spotlight front-page features.
If you would like to view previous spotlights, you can view the archive for them here!
1st of November
SCP-6932 by Dr Kira Moto [Featured by Dr Kira Moto]
SCP-6932 claims to possess knowledge of over one hundred different martial arts.
8th of November
Marw (The Reincarnated One) by agente alan [Featured by Uncle Nicolini]
With all this being said, join me to hear the story of the mythical cat Marw.
15th of November
Inshallah, we will meet the Al Mummies! by RadiantGold [Featured by Mr Carbon]
The Foundation had heard reports of anomalous activity nearby and sent Egyptology Team 690 here to investigate.
22nd of November
SCP-7091 by Macelles_Raynes [Featured by DrRevan]
Research into constructing a shield that obstructs SCP-7091 from all angles on Earth is ongoing.
SCP Data & Trends
All the goings-on of the site condensed into bite-sized takeaways! Is there a statistic or figure you would be interested in knowing? Let us know and we can feature it next time!
Like before, we are still renovating this section. It will likely be a couple months, but we will soon have a nice little stats section here. In the meantime, please enjoy our monthly chart.
- By Data Analysis Team
Featured Artist
The featured artist this month is Winkwonkboi!
This month, the Art Committee has decided to feature Winkwonkboi and their work RESPOND: Telecommunications Monitoring Office Fanart. Winkwonkboi expressed their thoughts concerning the Telecommunications Monitoring Office as:
I really do enjoy the TMO articles — especially the Sofia Muñoz series. It's honestly a refreshing take on a Foundation that tells less than it shows, displaying how human these characters are in some of these tales. Honestly, I'd love to contribute to them if my mind wasn't already jam-packed with millions of other ideas.
You can find more of their doodles here!
- By The Art Committee
New Content this Month
There is a multitude of wonderful works that are posted to the Wiki every month whether they be SCP articles, Tales, GoI Formats, Art pages, Author Pages, Essays, and more! Below, we have all of the creations for this month listed out by week and type (except for art pages, we did that earlier!) We have added little emojis next to articles that qualify to add some additional content. Below we have listed out the emojis we use and what they mean. Be sure to give them a look!
🐣 = An author's first article - This is their first one! Check them out and be sure to leave comments!
🤝 = Co-authored works - It is always interesting to see the dynamics of how people work together!
💯 = Articles rated at +100 and higher - These are articles that have seen success and should be celebrated for it!
📈 = SCP articles rated under +30 and Tales and GoI Formats rated under +20 - Let's show these a little love!
Week of November 1st
SCP Articles
- 📈 SCP-7048- Written by Carl_Finkerton.
- SCP-7521- Written by Swaxeman.
- 📈 SCP-7125- Written by Risora.
- 📈 SCP-5381- Written by Kilerpoyo.
- 📈 SCP-5585- Written by RadioactiveRADS.
- SCP-7477- Written by stormbreath.
- 📈 SCP-300-DE- Written by Gramlin.
- SCP-7079- Written by Billith.
- 📈 SCP-7732- Written by Tharsus.
- 💯 SCP-7853- Written by J Dune.
- 📈 SCP-7106- Written by _NoachA.
- 📈 SCP-7892- Written by Maxyfran73.
- 📈 SCP-7610- Written by Bread_Tyrant.
- 📈 SCP-7815- Written by Bread_Tyrant.
- 📈 SCP-301-DE- Written by Karpfisch.
- SCP-7031- Written by StrangerSwing.
- 📈 SCP-209-J- Written by JacobGilford.
- SCP-7109- Written by Attila the Pun.
- SCP-6716- Written by GwenWinterheart.
Tales
- Graveyard Shift - Written by HarryBlank.
- Ofrendas: Deadname - Written by Kilerpoyo.
- the most important thing in the world - Written by Ralliston.
- Sebastian - Written by Uncle Nicolini.
GoI Formats
N/A
Miscellaneous Pages
- The Ninth World Hub - Written by SYTYCFanon.
- The Stranger Swings. It's StrangerSwing's Author Page!
Week of November 6th
SCP Articles
- SCP-7985- Written by Long Arm Larry.
- 📈 SCP-7051- Written by Grimmy_boy.
- SCP-7319- Written by DrowningDutchman.
- 📈 SCP-7102- Written by Nickthebrick1.
- SCP-7195- Written by Cassandra_Prime.
- 📈 SCP-6548- Written by tingfeng1999.
- 🤝 SCP-7699- Written by Jack Waltz and Dr Trintavon.
- SCP-7950- Written by SphereFinale.
- SCP-7903- Written by Sound Chaser.
- SCP-7457- Written by Guezma.
- 📈 SCP-242-KO- Written by fluxman.
- 📈 SCP-7242- Written by Chickadee42.
- 📈 SCP-7910- Written by Celeste Etoile.
- 📈 SCP-7053- Written by Akzal1231.
- 📈 SCP-7585- Written by GwenWinterheart.
- 📈 SCP-7730- Written by CuteFish.
- SCP-7157- Written by daveyoufool.
Tales
- 📈 A Field Nurse’s Account During the Battle of Husiatyn Woods - Written by LurkD.
- 📈 Fear & Delight - Written by tiredsn0w.
- The Fairhaven Chocolate Factory - Written by Guaire.
- 📈 Into the Motoverse 2: Electric Boogaloo - Written by Dr Kira Moto.
- alex thorley dreams of sushi. - Written by LORDXVNV.
GoI Formats
N/A
Miscellaneous Pages
- Seas of Orcadia Hub - Written by DrBleep.
- About Time Maxyfran73 Made an Author Page It's Maxyfran73's Author Page!
Week of November 13th
SCP Articles
- 📈 SCP-7789- Written by gaussian.
- 📈 SCP-7094- Written by Long Arm Larry.
- 📈 SCP-6916- Written by arthcymro.
- 📈 SCP-7836- Written by BitOddInnit.
- SCP-7806- Written by HarryBlank.
- SCP-7233- Written by SYTYCFanon.
- SCP-7073- Written by DodoDevil.
- 📈 SCP-7035- Written by New_to_life.
- 📈 SCP-294-DE- Written by ThePaperMask.
- 📈 SCP-7188- Written by Quicksilvers.
- 📈 SCP-7706- Written by TheCommunity.
- 📈 SCP-7059- Written by Grimmy_boy.
- 📈 SCP-410-FR- Written by macro_au_micro.
- 📈 SCP-7905- Written by AlmightyValentine.
- 💯 SCP-7976- Written by Rounderhouse.
- 📈 SCP-7321- Written by Alzin Cdag.
- 📈 SCP-6149- Written by Mister_Toasty.
- 📈 SCP-7045- Written by Grimmy_boy.
- 📈 SCP-ES-296- Written by Agente Shuffle.
Tales
- The Phlegmfont - Written by LORDXVNV.
- There are loved ones in the glory whose dear forms you often miss. - Written by Doctor Cimmerian.
- God meat's back on the menu - Written by Guezma.
- The Set Of All Numbers Which Might Be Bears - Written by GwenWinterheart.
- 📈🤝 Free Bird - Written by Ralliston and BlazingPie.
GoI Formats
N/A
Miscellaneous Pages
- Dr. Dafydd's Personnel File It's arthcymro's Author Page!
Week of November 20th
SCP Articles
- 📈 SCP-ES-296- Written by Agente Shuffle.
- SCP-7510- Written by GwenWinterheart.
- 📈 SCP-755-KO- Written by fluxman.
- 📈 SCP-7142- Written by Tharsus.
- 📈 SCP-7269- Written by Kilerpoyo.
- 📈 SCP-6646- Written by The DVDman.
- 📈 SCP-157-KO- Written by fluxman.
- 📈 SCP-ZH-418- Written by Mang Gwan.
- 📈 SCP-702-KO- Written by fluxman.
Tales
- 📈 Four Agents And A Campfire, 2092 - Written by Long Arm Larry.
- Narrativistics and You: Abandoning the Notion of Fiction vs. Non-Fiction - Written by Billith
GoI Formats
N/A
Miscellaneous Pages
- Secure Facility Dossier: Site-118 - Written by Ethagon.
- Theseus Grimm's Personnel File It's Grimmy_boy's Author Page!
Week of November 27th
SCP Articles
- 📈 SCP-6171- Written by P47R1CK43.
- 📈 SCP-7058- Written by ScorpioSoup.
- SCP-7617- Written by NDHeckfire.
- 📈 SCP-CN-2823- Written by la kanro.
- 📈 SCP-4370- Written by UraniumEmpire.
- 📈 SCP-7401- Written by Nickthebrick1.
- SCP-7069- Written by LORDXVNV.
- SCP-7696- Written by Long Arm Larry.
Tales
N/A
GoI Formats
- 📈 KTE-5503-Bice-Copernicus - Written by Ethagon.
Miscellaneous Pages
- The Oddpage It's BitOddInnit's Author Page!
- la kanro's pigeon house It's la kanro's Author Page!
Thank you so much for reading the SCP Wiki's Site News!
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