Functionally speaking, this is already an implicit logical consequence of not allowing going above current Series, and there being a limited number of main slots overall. I don't believe this is an overstep of our current maintenance or curational duty either, as this did have precedence all the way back in Series 1 and the SCP-1000 contest (give or take pre-Series 2 weirdness on numbering). What we'd do for this is just formalize the procedure for hitting that actual case and hash out the details.

Between aligning schedule according to CO's desired timeline, allowing people to post SCPs continually, or letting Staff not go crazy with overhead burden, its pick two of three.

I don't think this proposal helps in terms of staff workload, simply because of how much work it will be to rename all the pages after we do the next kcon. I know people don't want to rush 10K but as people have pointed out, this could mean we fill up series 11 before it even opens, which would be very funny but probably not great for the contest team either.

I will say running out of slots during the kcon is less of an issue, we've planned well enough to avoid that in the past but I really don't think people would mind waiting less than 1 month to post, since the focus will be on the contest anyway.

I have no idea on what the contest team has planned, but I have suggested in the past that 10kcon onwards would be a good time to start open up multiple series at a time, however I do think that should be planned properly. Either give 11XXX and 12XXX to 2nd and 3rd place in the 10k Contest (since they less special numbers), or (my preferred option) just have multiple themes such that we're basically running 2 or 3 kcons simultaneously, but authors can only enter 1. I'm not saying everyone will like it, but this would address the complaint that the entries can be a bit samey, and also give authors the freedom to pick the theme.

After considering all the options, I think you'll just have to do 10Kcon earlier than planned.

I have my guesses as to what this solution entails, but until it officially leaves admin discussions it is immaterial to this proposal. As such, please consider this exclusively a proposal for handling the problem leading into 10k.

1. freeze scp posting when series 10 fills up and make everyone sit on drafts or write tales. this idea has been met with mixed community reception, but it's a solution that seems like it would produce less hassle apart from people being mad about it.
2. open series 11 without running 10kon and just reserve the 10000 slot, along with 15 or 20 of the most desirable contest slots (10100, 10500, 10999, etc.), until such time as the contest has been completed. i can't really think of a downside to this one besides having to tell low-placing entrants that they're not entitled to a particular number.

these all just kick the can of people posting too fast down the road, but that's the aim here, right? we only feel forced into this position because we want 10kon to align with scp's 20th anniversary. if we think the volume of posting is worth doing something about more permanently, we can have that conversation after 10kon wraps up.

Given some recent revelations regarding the speed at which we're filling up the current available series, I think we need to have a formal discussion with how to handle the availability of open slots prior to the start of the 10kcon, which is not scheduled until summer of next year.

There's roughly 400 slots in Series 10, with roughly 50 in Series 9. Over half of the available slots have been filled since 9K in October, meaining we are certainly going to run out of space long before the contest team is prepared to begin 10k.

Of course, we could always force through an early 10kcon, but that would be an undue burden on contest staff and seriously throw a spanner in the works with regards to current event scheduling. The team, I imagine, is beleagured as it is, and I think this would not be an ideal solution.

I would like to propose what I feel is a simple fix: allowing for SCPs to be posted outside the standard range, using the title in place of the URL, and creating a tag to denote these until such time as 10k concludes, contest winners given their chosen slots, and the new series opens.

I'd like to discuss the feasibility/acceptability of this as an option. Purely mechanical, it does not upset or reconfigure site operations or standards beyond a temporary url change. 10K opens, the winner and runner ups are allowed their chosen slots, then Outside-Range scps can be moved into mainlist urls.

It should be on the author to move their own work once 10k opens to the public, but barring that, a new tag "outside-range' could be applied to these for ease of finding. Once a certain time period has passed, staff can move these SCPs if the author is absent.

To give a concrete example, once slots are filled, an author would post their SCP, "The Murder Hat" thusly:

https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-murder-hat

Within the confines of the file, it is up to the author to determine how they'll refer to their subject¹, but functionally, they'd occupy a url outside the mainlist in the same way tales do. Beyond changing to actual numbers post 10kcon, there's no additonal work needed. (Well, a listpage could be made for readers to browse these works, perhaps ordered alphabetically, but that's it.)

Do note this is not an open discussion of site standards. It is not a discussion regarding deletions caps. It is not a discussion for the removal of any works. Please stay on-topic.