Edit: just to be clear: I don't think the creepypasta archives should be linked either, but they're already up there. ;)

… We could make Project Crossover a canon or something?

This isn't what canons are used for, really. It doesn't really meet the classification that we've put forth as it's not continuous and it lacks any sort of overarching narrative.

And honestly I don't see how an influx of bad crossover fiction is any worse than an influx of bad SCPs.

The only real difference is that we'd have people writing things that were supposed to be taken at a value we're not accustomed to giving. It's essentially the problem of how many "bad fan fics that are supposed to be bad" can the site support before it hits critical downvote mass and starts slamming all of them. The site's 'fuck it point' for a concept, I guess, similar to 'teeth became shark' and 'consult an alchemist.' We know that "bad fan fics that are supposed to be bad" is what we're going to end up with, after all. It's the sort of pattern the site has. Easier to mock than embrace (compare "Saving Sigguos Potter" to "Time And Relative Dimensions In Containment Protocols", for an example).

If we're going to have a bunch of new kinds of hoops for people to jump through, then there's no reason to bother with promoting it at all. Completely defeats the purpose.

To be honest, the best way to get something like this out there and seen would be for Kaktus to get together with two or three authors who've written them, talk about fanfiction and the Foundation for a while, then have a nice, big news post about the podcast on the front page. It would draw attention, inform listeners, and be easily digestible for the current site members.

As a final note about plagiarism:

The difference between plagiarism and an homage is in owning up to your source material. Newbies should not be demonized for 'plagiarizing' something until they've refused to own up to their choices. They just don't get that it's not something we really do here, which is something that is easy to miss, especially since we've got An Angel of God, A Zombie Plague, and a Dimensional Door in the first ten SCPs, all of which are concepts that pop up in games.

Hopefully, the eventual redo of the Writing Guides (still waiting on people) will help allay that problem.

Edit: Just glanced at the page and the individual entries again. If there's time to be had, can LurkD possibly redo the page into something more presentable? Afterwards, we can link the different tales all back to the hub to make it more visible than just the parent link at the top. Let it spread on its own.

people not knowing crossover source material hasn't ever been the reason that an objectively bad story was left on the site.

I was thinking more along the lines of people not reading drafts that had crossover stuff because they weren't familiar with it. Or someone might post a draft that gets the response, "Seems alright, but I don't know what's going on since I don't know the other work involved" and then get hit with "I don't think you got the portrayal right at all" from someone who knows the reference.

I'm not overly worried about the mainsite reaction.

So long as we have staff there to deal with whatever legwork accompanies making Project Crossover more visible (I'm alright with it being under SCP Library, between Audio Adaptations and Creepy Pasta Archive), I'm fine with it.

How about Project Crossover stuff is required to be sandboxed and reviewed by at least one site writer before posting?

No need for this. I don't think we'll be getting so many more articles that it would warrant more stringent rules. As far as I can remember, people not knowing crossover source material hasn't ever been the reason that an objectively bad story was left on the site. I agree that some guidelines would be beneficial but we really don't need to go overboard.

(not the "you need at least X to write", as that rarely works well.)

Yeah. How about Project Crossover stuff is required to be sandboxed and reviewed by at least one site writer before posting? Basically, I'm just trying to prevent a flood of SCP/MLP/DBZ/etc. stuff hitting the site. Forum crit team's spread thin as it is.

I don't see how an influx of bad crossover fiction is any worse than an influx of bad SCPs.

People generally know how to deal with bad SCPs since SCPs are the staple of the site. Crossovers can be difficult since if a reader isn't familiar with the reference, the confusion might impact the judgment.

And honestly I don't see how an influx of bad crossover fiction is any worse than an influx of bad SCPs. But I wouldn't object to Zyn's rules in bullet points (not the "you need at least X to write", as that rarely works well.)

People not having a good idea of the site and trying to write a buncha crossover stuff would be pretty bad though.

Not really for that extra prerequisite unless we get, like, a massive influx of people who just don't get the site at all.

• Plagiarism is still bad. Writing up a copyrighted character as an SCP straight-up will still get a piece wiped. We do not want anime/superhero/video game characters written up as SCPs etc. etc.
• Just because it's fanfic does not mean standards are lowered. If something's below -10, still wiped.
• Know that even if [insert crossover material] is supes popular, that does not guarantee that all your readers have heard about it, and the tale should still be at least interesting if the person isn't well-versed in the other thing.
• Whatever else people think up.

I'm almost tempted to have a prerequisite "you must have at least one successful page on the site so you have at least minimal knowledge of how to write for the site" requirement, but I'm a little iffy on that… My primary concern is people who write only Project Crossover because they want to tie the Foundation to all sorts of other things and aren't interested in coming up with their own material.

Thoughts?

Athena and I talking:

TL:DR; Athena points out that the crossover page is somewhat hidden from newbs and thinks that we should make it less hidden.

Given that it's not linked from the top bar and I only found it myself via google, she's not exactly wrong.