Website Review: The SCP Foundation

I believe this is a Cracked Spines first. Today, I'm going to give a little review/overview of one of my favorite sites. It has a user-generated content base with reading material ranging from science fiction/fantasy to horror. The site is called The SCP Foundation. I came across it by accident one night and spent a few subsequent nights reading as many entries as possible. Some of it is very good and the site is quite organized for the type of content it produces.

The SCP Foundation is a fictional organization that handles unusual objects and creatures. Think of it as a website version of that warehouse show, but obviously better or I would not be writing about it. Every item in the foundation's possession has a file on this website. When users generate a file, they have to follow a strict format that makes even me cringe and I have dealt with some lengthy client requirements in my day. I'm relatively sure that the users do this for a love of writing as well. If there is pay involved, I have not found a single word about it.

Now, each of these files can just be a description or it can contain notes that are like miniature short stories. Some of them are only a few sentences long. Others would amount to several pages in print format. There are files among them that were clearly written by very talented writers who, in my opinion, should really branch out from free content production. I've had my skin crawl more than once reading SCP. Nothing utterly rubbish makes it through as far as I can tell, but there are some blah entries. These don't even evoke the slightest curiosity. That is the worst. At any rate, there appears to be a filtering process in place that does a relatively good job. I can't even remember seeing a typo, but I'll admit that editing is not my strong suit.

If you are a fan of science fiction or you are a writer looking for a place to stretch your limbs, you might want to check this site out. It appears to have a decent-size fan base online and I'm definitely part of it at this point. Happy reading.

Shelly Barclay