I am very interested by this. Would you be willing to open it up for collaborative efforts with other users? Perhaps expanding/adding to the already stated topics, or createing a more detailed section for each. I think this may evolve in to another "new hire manual" section, if it grows as well as i am hoping it will.
Dr. Mackenzie's Documentation Tips / Discussion
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Sure!
I actually wrote this on a whim at 1 AM, and it's really just the two main points I tell people when they ask for critiques on IRC.
This looks like it could be quite helpful. I know I probably will end up running my next SCP through this before I post it (not sure if it'll help, but it can't hurt too much). Thank you for putting it up, and I'll keep an eye out for any changes to it.
I really dislike most of this. To me, it makes it feel too much like a process, do this this and this, and you end up with an SCP. I prefer to leave such things open ended.
Admin, SCP Wiki
I'm still not clear after reading this and looking at the referred entries what "collaborative contribution log" actually means. Can that be clarified, please?
Basically, a collaborative contribution log is an SCP test results log that is open for new entries written by anyone, not just the creator of the page.
They are tagged with "collaboration", and can be searched as so: http://www.scp-wiki.net/system:page-tags/tag/collaboration#pages
Some examples are the following:
http://www.scp-wiki.net/experiment-log-914
http://www.scp-wiki.net/experiment-log-423-a
http://www.scp-wiki.net/experiment-log-261-ad-de
Apart from the age bit, which seems like an unnecessary personal diatribe, this essay holds up pretty well in the broad strokes. If you're looking for layout tips and tricks you could do a heck of a lot worse than this.
Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you!
Goals
Should be:
• Creepy- plays on a phobia or primal fear, is innately “wrong”
• Mysterious- Where’s it from? How’s it work? Inspires curiosity
• Hard to handle or contain, could do bad stuff if it got out
• Idea should be describable in two sentences or there’s too much fluff in your article
Format
• Containment procedures act as a hook, sets tone, introduces (ideas for) anomalous properties
o >Avoid name drops, censorship
• Description
o >Start with physical description, then anomalous properties, then source and (then)
status if these add insight to the object
• Test logs/addenda/incident logs add insight to the object, can’t be just ‘cause, and definitely
can’t be tone breaking
o >Beware “make your own test log” stuff
Helpful hints
• If you feel like you’re forgetting about the foundation's tone, REMEMBER TO MAINTAIN THE
TONE
• Use the sandbox, IRC, and forums
• Don’t force yourself to write, take your time
• Read a whole bunch of stuff, and try to find good articles when you can
Also, you should do one of these on tales. I've been meaning to write one, and these essays are pretty helpful.
Also, you should do one of these on tales.
Tales are very, very hard to write guides for because they're such a different beast from articles. Tales have no set "standard" format. Tales can be written from any perspective so long as they're done well—first person, second person, third person, etc. Tales can be written about concepts or characters that are only tangentially related to the Foundation'verse. Tales can be multi-chaptered or multi-part or written in very casual tone. And so on.
Maybe an essay on how to write certain kinds of tales, such as slice-of-life in the Foundation or things involving action, but there's really a lot more freedom in tales so it's hard to write guidelines that aren't obvious like "use proper grammar/mechanics" and "write interesting, not boring stuff".
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page revision: 3, last edited: 22 Sep 2018 03:57
