# SCP Foundation

**Type:** Collaborative fiction community and protocol
**Founded:** 2008 (originated 2007 on 4chan /x/ board)
**Status:** Active
**License:** CC BY-SA (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike)
**Scale:** 9,800+ SCP objects, 6,300+ Tales, 16 language branches
**Recognition:** Potentially the largest collaborative writing project in human history (American Journalism Review, 2022)

## Overview

SCP Foundation is a collaborative fiction project centered on documenting fictional paranormal anomalies through standardized "containment report" format. The project operates as a protocol-governed creative commons without central creative authority.

## Governance Architecture

**Four-layer quality system:**
1. Greenlight Policy: New authors pitch concepts to Ideas Critique Forum, require greenlight from 2 experienced reviewers before drafting
2. Post-publication community voting: -10 threshold triggers deletion review, -20 enables immediate deletion
3. Staff deletion authority: 3 staff votes + 24-hour timer = deletion; emergency bypass for plagiarism/AI content/malicious material
4. Cultural norms: Clinical tone convention, standardized formatting

**Staff role:** Infrastructure only (discipline, licensing, moderation, technical) — NOT creative direction. Creative direction emerges from community voting and cultural norms.

**Canon model:** "There is no official canon." Operates as "conglomerate of intersecting canons, each with its own internal coherence." No canonical hierarchy enables infinite expansion without continuity errors.

**AI policy:** Permanent ban on AI-generated content. Summary deletion + permanent ban for violators.

## Protocol Features

1. Fixed format (standardized containment report structure)
2. Open IP (CC-BY-SA licensing)
3. Scalable contributions (single article = complete contribution)
4. Passive theme (paranormal anomalies = everyday life)
5. Thin curation (quality gates without creative gatekeeping)
6. Organizational center (single wiki prevents fragmentation)

## Timeline

- **2007** — First SCP article (SCP-173) posted anonymously on 4chan /x/ board
- **2008** — Community migrated to Wikidot, establishing permanent wiki infrastructure
- **2025** — Reached 9,800+ SCP objects and 6,300+ Tales across 16 language branches