Wanderers Library History Essay
The Wanderers' Library is the only officially recognized spin-off of the SCP Wiki. It is a writing community dedicated to writing weird fiction. This is how it was created and survived, occasionally thrived, and continues on into the present day.
Formation and Founding
I wanted somewhere for weird and surreal stories that didn't necessarily have to lean into horror or the 'tacti-cool' aesthetic of SCP. So I thought, hey, if SCP has their records, why not another organization too? So I came up with the original idea of the Wanderer's Library as a place outside of time and space used by the Serpent's Hand to record knowledge and meet.
- Pair Of Ducks
The Wanderers' Library was established on February 11, 2010, by its first administrators 'Pair Of Ducks' and 'DrEverettMann'. They were both writers and staff members of the SCP Wiki who were feeling constrained by the strict format and an expectation for gritty realism.
There had been a few other attempts at the time to make spin-off communities based groups within the Foundation universe but none of them were terribly successful. An unofficial Marshall, Carter & Dark site was hardly able to get off the ground. Even the GOC wiki, which had plenty of content and was run by DrClef and Aelanna, two of the most prolific SCP authors ever, was eventually folded back into the main site.
What about the Wanderers' Library has allowed it to survive for so long? There have been plenty of lean periods throughout its existence, with content and community activity slowing to a trickle, but it has never dried out completely. It is because, unlike most spin-off sites, it provides an opportunity to write something different than what could be written on the SCP Wiki.
Historically, when folks decide the SCP Wiki isn't for them and make their own version, they go about it in the laziest way possible: Leave the format and fictional framework in place, usually to the point of being identical, and then change the names so that it's not as blatant of a rip-off. While you might be able to draw a crowd of people who enjoy the ideas of the SCP Wiki but have some personal beef with the community, it will never result in a truly independent creative space because it's all based in reaction.
The Wanderers' Library, on the other hand, does not need to defend itself against any accusations of being derivative as it is so obviously and compellingly original that nobody with an ounce of credibility would think of making such an accusation.
Early Period(2010-2012)
After its formation, the Library quickly assembled a cadre of some of the SCP Wiki's most talented writers. This contributed to a high-quality foundation of original works. Dr. Burns wrote "There Were Six Of Us Once" and Mann kicked off the long-running 'Walk of Afromos Longjourney' series to name just a small number of the stories written during this initial creative explosion.
But it would unfortunately be short-lived. The Wanderers' Library proved to be a flavor-of-the-month sort of deal. While there was a lot of initial interest and excitement, ultimately most of the writers drifted back to the more active and populous SCP Wiki community, leaving only the truly dedicated to contribute to the Library.
This established a pattern that still continues to this day. The Library makes a splash in some form or another, whether it be through a contest, a site redesign, or a particularly well-written work of fiction. This inspires a flurry of activity but ultimately doesn't lead to any long-term community expansion.
Despite its distinct feel, fiction, and structure, the Library still has to compete for attention with the SCP Wiki among most of its members. This in turn leads to the majority of community members and writers paying more attention to the SCP Wiki when there's not something exciting happening.
It is a cyclical pattern that has haunted the Library since its inception, and one which it may yet one day be able to break out of. For now, let it sit in the back of your mind as defining why, after reaching repeated pinnacles of success, the Library waxes and wanes in almost equivalent fashions.
The First Age
By early 2012, whatever momentum the Library had going for it was gone. There were few users, and even fewer of them were actively engaged in the Library alone.
This was when a pair of reform-minded staff members from the SCP Wiki were placed in charge of the site.
TroyL and thedeadlymoose both had profound impacts on the SCP Wiki and their influence on both that platform and the Wanderers' Library is still being felt to this day.
The Long Dark
we all just had life shit happen at around the same time
-rumetzen
It was just as soon as the Library had reached its greatest success, with an apparent sustained interest by a coalition of Foundation-based and home-grown writers, that everything fell apart. The imminent collapse wasn't obvious at the time, and even in hindsight seems, on the surface, to be baffling.
The Fictionalized Life Stories contest was the first alarm bell, with the contest garnering not even half as many entries as the previous Group of Interest contest.
Never felt dead though. More like it was asleep.
DrBalthazaar
The Rediscovery and Second Age
Black Highlighter is the reason that the Wanderers' Library was able to escape half a decade of steep decline. The format, originally known as nuSCP, was controversial among the SCP Wiki's elite, even as it was embraced by many writers.
In an effort to show how much more effective a replacement for Sigma-9 could be, Dust Jacket was developed as a showcase for what it could bring to the table. This led directly to the rebranding of the theme as "Black Highlighter" which has continued to be a popular albeit controversial choice for authors looking to spice up their SCP aesthetics.
This was only the first prong of trying to make the Library relevant again. An entirely new cadre of staff was brought up.
The rebirth of the Library was officially consecrated by the 2019 Reshelving Project. It was the first community-driven event and while not being an official contest, it still led to the camaraderie and bonding which serves as the bedrock for any and every growing community.
Interviews:
PM Rogay: Howdy Dox, wanted to pick your brain about the early history of the Library if you have the time
PM IClimbClouds: Oh hey! I'm not sure I remember all that much but sure! What's up?
PM Rogay: So the whole site was your idea yeah?
AM IClimbClouds: Sorry, busy night. But yeah, more or less. From what I recall, it began after a discussion about some SCPs we felt didn't fit the tone of the site, but still had interesting concepts. I wanted somewhere for weird and surreal stories that didn't necessarily have to lean into horror or the 'tacti-cool' aesthetic of SCP. So I thought, hey, if SCP has their records, why not another organization too? So I came up with the original idea of the Wanderer's Library as a place outside of time and space used by the Serpent's Hand to record knowledge and meet. A lot of the details - about the docents, etc - were Mann's ideas though iirc. Unfortunately I didn't get to stick with the Wanderer's Library for long - shortly after starting it is when I had some personal/family things get complicated and I didn't have regular internet access for a long while, much less time to build up the Library, so Mann largely took over.
AM Rogay: What do you think of the current state of the Library?
AM Rogay: And you’re all good my friend I was at work when I first messaged you so I was also otherwise occupied
AM IClimbClouds: Honestly not informed enough to have an opinion <_<
AM Rogay: Just like first impressions looking at it
AM IClimbClouds: Well just first impressions is it looks pretty cool! I really haven't read many articles but clicking around what I saw def looked pretty neat.
AM Rogay: Also, if you’ll indulge me for a moment, I just wanted to say that I’m eternally grateful for you for making the Library, it’s a special space in the SCP community and I have enjoyed all the time I’ve spent with it over the years :slight_smile:
AM IClimbClouds: heh, my pleasure! I only regret I wasn't able to be more involved :slight_smile:
AM Rogay: Hey, you got the ball rolling, we couldn’t have done it without you!
AM Rogay: Oh I also wanted to ask, was the GOC spinoff that existed for awhile started anytime around when the Library was?
AM IClimbClouds: huh as far as I know The Library was the first spin-off site
AM IClimbClouds: I don't even recall the GOC from among the "GOI lore" from back then, but it's been a long time.
10:17 PM] Rogay: Hey so I’m thinking of writing a WL history and I wanted to get your perspective on your time here in the new golden age of the WL
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: sure, what do you need
PM Rogay: So what was your first experience with the WL
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: first one that i can like, remember, is joined the irc room and looking at a few random entries on the site and the sorting system
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: i remember Gaffsey used to pop in every so often back then
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: and rum, back when he still used irc
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: i critted one of gaff's thingies in the irc room
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: the Heresiographer piece, and found i really liked the aesthetic and such
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: this was back before dustjacket shudder
PM Rogay: When did you move from knowing about it to wanting to participate?
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: i think it was when rum was in chat one time and i was bored so i made a mockup of a modernized theme for the site
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: the interim theme we used before dustjacket, if you remember
PM Rogay: Yessir
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: oh, wait, it was before that
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: the site still had the red sigma 9 rating module
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: so i made a green one for the site
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: and asked rum to unlock the theme so i could edit it in
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: and he liked it and that was my first contribution to wl lol
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: a css fix
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: after that was when i made the interim theme
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: and critted a few more pieces that went up over the course of a few months
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: but it sort of fell out of my mind as i got more into scp
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: then rum contacted you and me with the google doc
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: and you know everything after that
PM Rogay: Well tell it to me from your perspective
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: oh
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: well i remember before rum made the doc, mac had been posting weekly or daily reviews on stuff on the site
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: and that had been pretty effective as a sort of life support for the site
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: keeping it form being totally dead
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: and then in March of 2019 he sent the doc to me and we had a little discussion about it
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: i suggested some nav changes and css shifts and he said he had woed working on some stuff
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: and i pitched the idea for a discord server to him - he was hesitant but willing, so he made the server later that month i think
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: the launch was messy because we kind of pushed it out before we were totally prepared lol
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: if you remember
PM Rogay: Yeah lol
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: had people coming in before everything was set up so we nuked the general chat and remade it lul
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: i was still a mod back then
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: and we'd successfully gotten people to know that hey, wl is open and alive again
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: but nobody was actually posting
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: and i figured that asking people to post stuff to a site they had no idea what was about would be bad so i suggested the reshelving, which would also allow me to make a new nav system
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: two birds, one stone
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: and it went well
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: i think that was the first non writing project in the community i basically had full creative control over
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: and it showed me that fuck yeah, i could do it
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: back then chat was like literally 4 people
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: me, windy, ryker, and avelon
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: what a glow up lol
PM Rogay: Those were Wild West days
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: sure were
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: and then we did wanderer's station and everything blew the fuck up lmao
PM Rogay: What was that experience like for you? Putting together the reshelving and then the Station
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: it was fun! but new - i hadnt ever done anything like that. discussing the rules and stuff, putting it all together, running hype and advertising and promotion, pulling in entries
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: it was fun and good learning but stressful lol
PM Rogay: Do you have any specific anecdotes or recollections that you remember fondly?
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: i remember that i talked to like, half a dozen of my friends that run big scp communities and timed the drop of the contest phenomenally
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: it was in the zone between two major SCP contests, and it got posted to scpd, r/scp, 19, r/dmfs19, and some other places at the same time
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: and we just instantly got a shitton of people joining
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: the server
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: that was really satisfying
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: i also remember when we were still making the page, it turned out me and avelon had dramatically misunderstood what we both wanted for the page to look like
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: so i had to use them communication skills to come to a compromise
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: in generally i think it really acclimated me to working with a staff team
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: because tbh i'm not a team player kind of dude
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: i like doing my own thing without having to rely on others or get permission
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: but yeah contest showed me that hey there's advantages to working in teams
PM Rogay: You know I am very impressed now knowing that you didn’t have the prior experience you were cool as a cucumber like you’d done it a hundred times before
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: lol
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: fake it till you make it is my life motto
PM Rogay: You make it look easy
PM ROUNDERHOUSE.: https://tenor.com/view/azizansari-dirtoffyourhshoulder-brushitoff-sharp-gif-4491573
PM Rogay: What’s been the most difficult thing for ya in running the WL?
AM ROUNDERHOUSE.: i think realizing that it'll slowly grow
i'm not a patient person by nature so i kind of want it to blow up NOW
AM ROUNDERHOUSE.: so accepting that hey, it's a slow road
AM ROUNDERHOUSE.: but we'll get there
AM ROUNDERHOUSE.: also diffrentiating it from scp but thats less so
AM Rogay: Any anecdotes you would wanna share about doing the Wanderers Station or anything like that?
AM ROUNDERHOUSE.: nothing important springs to mind, sorry :pensive:
AM Rogay: What do you make of the Library’s long period of inactivity like why do you think it just barely clung to life for so long
AM ROUNDERHOUSE.: an overattachment to SCP
at that stage all its staff were SCP staff, writers were SCP writers, and there was little to no homegrown community or infrastructure
and once those people got bored and went back to their main chick, WL was left by the wayside
it was always viewed as a offshoot of SCP where you could post more freeform stuff rather than something independent
AM ROUNDERHOUSE.: now we've got an active albeit small homegrown community and staffers
AM Rogay: Avelon rules
AM ROUNDERHOUSE.: avelon hili and mal are the future
AM Rogay: It’s exciting to be a part of a WL that has a future and not just a present
AM ROUNDERHOUSE.: amen
AM Rogay: Got a nice quote from Dox to open history of WL with
AM ROUNDERHOUSE.: do tell
AM Rogay:
AM Rogay: Going to use the middle section
AM Rogay: Because it tells people what the WL is and is a nice statement of identity and a clear starting point for the WL conceptually
AM ROUNDERHOUSE.: hella
AM ROUNDERHOUSE.: i look forward to seeing this
AM Rogay: I’m trying to coax a quote about the current WL to make a bookend
AM ROUNDERHOUSE.: lol
AM ROUNDERHOUSE.: maybe get one from the pages
AM ROUNDERHOUSE.: nice sense of progression
AM ROUNDERHOUSE.: original founder of the site starts it, new homegrown staff closes it out
10:48 PM] Rogay: Boop
PM rumetzen: sup fam
PM Rogay: I’m starting to do the work to write a Library history essay
PM rumetzen: ooh hell yeah
PM Rogay: What was your first experience with the Library?
PM rumetzen: hmmmm it's been a while lol
PM rumetzen: Found it from the GOI page
PM rumetzen: I think I joined it and SCP at the same time
PM Rogay: Do you remember much of what it was like to be a member in those days?
PM rumetzen: I remember being a bit turned off at first by some of the more experimental writing
PM rumetzen: I can't remember the name of it exactly but there was something that was just like weird fragments of experimental verse. I think it got deleted
PM rumetzen: and Bright's thing about the brothers with the statue pic
PM rumetzen: slow but active
PM rumetzen: I wanted to write something for it but couldn't think of anything so I just decided to try writing a play script since it seemed like it would fit in well there
PM rumetzen: Moose gave me some feedback on it iirc
PM rumetzen: back then it was basically just
PM rumetzen: you, troy, moose, bunton, plilt
PM rumetzen: and a couple of lurkers
PM rumetzen: oh and probably gaffs too, I think he joined around when I did?
PM rumetzen: sorry a lot of this stuff is vague lol, it's been 8 years
PM Rogay: I think Trar was there too?
PM rumetzen: Yeah that sounds right
PM Rogay: Balth was around too
PM rumetzen: mhm
PM rumetzen: oh uh what was her name
PM rumetzen: began with a p
PM rumetzen: wrote a lot of poetry i think
PM rumetzen: she was in far recon
PM rumetzen: i think she hung around there
PM Rogay: PunkCat!
PM rumetzen: no she came later I think
PM rumetzen: padri or something like that?
PM Rogay: God I haven’t thought about her in ages
PM rumetzen: I do miss punkcat tho lol
PM Rogay: Yeah!!!!!
PM Rogay: Padri got mad we wouldn’t keep old FR as a legacy game or something
PM rumetzen: I think Padri left because of the Wilt stuff
PM Rogay: Probably so
PM Rogay: Wilt was doing WL stuff I think the whole thing with him might’ve been one of the catalysts for the long dark age
PM rumetzen: yeah
PM Rogay: Which I’m still trying to think of a branding for it in the essay
PM Rogay: Working title for that section is the long night
PM rumetzen: also if it doesn't sound arrogant to say so I think me joining the military did too because I left for a while and never hit my same level of activity
PM rumetzen: and was one of the few active members
PM rumetzen: I think I like long night better than dark ages
PM Rogay: Yeah I remember being sad you were gone
PM rumetzen: like we all just had life shit happen at around the same time i think
PM Rogay: What do you remember about the long period of inactivity? 2013 to 2018 is the rough timeline of the depression
PM rumetzen: not much since I wasn't that active lol
PM rumetzen: hmm
PM rumetzen: I mean me and gaffs tried to kickstart it a few times
11:16 PM] Rogay: Hey Mann you got time to talk WL history?
PM Mann: Sure.
PM Rogay: Do you remember much about how the WL came to be? What the thought process and prior discussion was?
PM Mann: So, there was this SCP. I can't remember much about it. I don't think it was terribly good as I recall. It was based on an illustration someone had made. Something about a demon and its brides. Anyway, the content wasn't very important. The fact that it was based on a drawing was. People felt that using an illustration rather than a photograph (either original or digitally altered) was immersion breaking. Which is fair. But it occurred to me that there are a lot of really cool pictures out there, and it was a shame that that source of inspiration was cut out.
PM Mann: Remember that this was back before we really thought about licensing or the rights to stuff. It was the wild west. If someone found a cool picture, they'd just grab it-steal it-and use it for their article. We wouldn't realize how much of a problem that would eventually present until much later.
PM Mann: Anyway, that was the genesis of the project. I wanted a place where you could post stories based on pictures you found.
PM Mann: But it still needed a framing device. I talked to Paradox about it. I believe he had the idea of using the Serpent's Hand, a Group of Interest he'd used in a couple of articles on the Wiki, but still fairly undefined in the fiction.
PM Mann: I came up with the idea of a transdimensional library. A place between worlds where you could find any sort of book, even ones from other worlds. Where the SCP Foundation largely came to the universe from a position of horror, the Library would explore it from a position of Wonder. It would largely be the same universe, but the perspective would be different.
PM Mann: I had the idea of organizing things into books, each with its own vague themes. Some of these would have a somewhat set structure, like Bestiary of Howe or the Journal of the Walk, others would be more freeform, catch-all sort of thing. There would also be a separate section. Where most of these were stories that one would find inside the Library, these would be stories about the Library and its patrons. The idea was to have the same sort of article/tale separation there.
PM Rogay: Did the Serpents Hand exist yet at this point?
PM Mann: Yes. Like I said, 'Dox had used it in a couple of articles on the main SCP wiki. Song of Genesis, for example.
PM Rogay: Ah right on right on.
PM Mann: L.S. had been mentioned back in 2008, when the SCP wiki was still brand-spanking new.
PM Rogay: Dox said to me that he handed things off to you mostly after it was founded, what was that like for you?
PM Mann: On the one hand, I'd kind of hoped to see more of his stuff on there. But we soon had other people writing for it, and I was having fun coming up with lore and ideas, especially in the RPs. It was a lot of fun in the early days. I had lots of ideas for things, and I was still writing a lot at that point.
PM Rogay: Who were the active writers in those days?
PM Mann: Hmm. It's hard to remember exactly. Like, I'm trying to bring to mind some of the early writers, but the first four or five years kind of blend together now.
PM Rogay: Well we can shift gears. How big of a part was the RP in the beginning?
PM Mann: Pretty big once it got going. Honestly, there were times when it seemed it was getting bigger than the Library itself. However, you do run into the issue that very few people care about RP sites outside of the people participating, so it did gradually fade away once we stopped playing.
PM Rogay: Did events in the game influence the writing on the site?
PM Mann: To an extent. Certainly I think a lot of people started writing on the site because they got into the RP.
PM Mann: Thinking back to it, I think at the start of the site, we had an initial flurry when we started, and then it kind of stopped for a while. I don't think we had a lot of activity around 2011. You can check stories by date, but I want to say there was a gap until around 2012, and that's when we really got a second wave of writers. Rumetzen, Trar, Gears. Even some idiot who kept writing about royal cabbages or somesuch nonsense.
PM Rogay: :smirk:
PM Rogay: What do you think caused the gap there?
PM Mann: I didn't advertise very effectively. I didn't want to spam the wiki, and I think a lot of people just didn't find out about it. As well, I don't think we had quite enough examples from different writers just yet. That led people to come to the site, look around, and not quite understand what they were supposed to do there.
PM Mann: I think once we had more content, that became less of an issue.
PM Mann: Plus, we had a lot more "big name authors" from the SCP wiki on the site, many of whom are fairly aggressive about self-advertising.
PM Rogay: How did Troy and Moose come to start managing things?
PM Mann: So, this kind of narrative-heavy structure is like catnip to Moose. Troy I think was drawn more by the lack of good structure or planning. Moose saw something they wanted to make succeed. Troy saw something that wasn't succeeding, and he knew how to fix that.
AM Mann: That's just my best guess, of course. You'd have to ask them to find out exactly.
AM Mann: As to how, I believe they just said, "Hey Mann, you want me to make that project work?" and I was like, "Sure. You can't do worse than me!"
AM Rogay: What do you think caused the steep decline after that renaissance period with the GoI contest
AM Mann: I think to a large extent the SCP Foundation drew a lot of the energy and time that the Library needed from the admins, myself included. The Foundation can be very exhausting sometimes. We didn't end up giving enough attention to keeping it going, and so it didn't. It's no coincidence that its current renaissance comes at a time when it has staff that are very frequently pushing new ideas for stories and getting authors excited about writing for the site.
AM Rogay: What would you say has been your favorite moment in running the WL?
AM Mann: I'd say during that first Renaissance, when I really started seeing people starting to follow through on the potential of the site.
AM Rogay: Where do you see the WL’s future taking it?
AM Mann: That depends entirely on the authors.
AM Mann: I do think there will always be a place for the Library, unlike the other spin-off sites, which have pretty much all either died or been folded into the mainsite.
AM Rogay: What gives the WL its staying power? Why was it and not, say, the GOC Wiki the site that wouldn’t die?
AM Mann: What was on the GOC that you couldn't have on the main site? As it turns out, nothing, once we started having GoI-specific formats and tales.
AM Mann: On the other hand, half the stories you just couldn't put on the SCP wiki because they don't touch on known parts of the SCP universe.
AM Mann: The Library offers that narrative space where you can put a totally oddball piece of fiction in and still say "Yeah, this would make sense here" while still being in the Foundation universe. The SCP mainsite just doesn't have room for that thematically.
AM Rogay: What’s your favorite entry or just the first that comes to mind?
AM Mann: I'm still a big fan of A Loaf Story.
AM Rogay: Loaf Story is pretty good
AM Rogay: I usually show people There Were Six Of Us Once when I wanna show them the site
AM Mann: Yeah, Burns knocked it out of the park on that. I wish he'd written more for the site.
AM Rogay: It’s still good even without the picture
AM Rogay: Is there anything else you think is worth mentioning that I haven’t asked you about?
AM Mann: I think that covers it pretty well.
AM Rogay: Right on
AM Rogay: I’m going to try to have something this week, I’ll keep you abreast of my progress
AM Mann: Righto.
Do not edit other writers' sandboxes without permission.
