PF Information and FAQ sticky post
Hi! This post is intended to serve as a source of information for Project Foundation (PF), and hopefully answer any questions you may have about the project. This page is a living document, and as such will be updated as events warrant.
Click here to view the project plan for Project Foundation.
Current Project Activity: Resource Gathering (Phase 1)
Before posting a question in this category, please make sure you read through this post and the other threads in the "General Information" category. We don't mind answering questions, but we do tend to get snippy about answering the same questions over and over when the question was right here the whole time, man. (Once we, you know, open the category to posting by anybody.)
Frequently Asked Questions
What's Project Foundation, anyway?
Project Foundation is the name for the project to migrate the English-language SCP Foundation wiki (SCP-EN) off of Wikidot onto some other platform.
Why move? What's wrong with Wikidot? Why not just stay on Wikidot?
Wikidot has stability issues and is no longer actively developed. It will not be around forever— not moving off Wikidot is tantamount to a death sentence for the wiki. Migrating means we would not be subject to the existential threat of Wikidot disappearing. Secondarily, with our own platform, we would more likely be able to implement features that would be impossible to put in while on Wikidot.
What all would move?
All pages (articles, tales, essays, author pages, etc.) would be migrated. So would votes (that is, each individual user's vote on every page) and the forum, in some form. Basically, any data you can see, it'll almost certainly get migrated.
If this is specifically for -EN, what's going to happen to the other international branches?
The hope is that the other branches will join -EN on the new platform. We'll try to integrate features that support the various requirements of the different branches, and we would be thrilled to get volunteers for PF from the -INT community. Whether a branch decides to migrate to the new platform is ultimately up to the administration of each respective branch, but PF will be designed with the intention of having all the branches on the same platform.
You keep using the word "platform". What is that?
The platform for PF is the combination of hardware and software that will be required to develop, host, and administer the new website (whatever form it takes) that will become the new internet home of SCP-EN. It includes (but is not limited to) the server(s) the site will run on, the network connections between the site and the internet, the software that will actually run the website, and databases to store data in.
How much will all that cost?
We won't have any sort of accurate estimate till we decide on the particulars of the new platform. A very rough first-order estimate is on the order of US$1,000 to $10,000 to start with, but please do not take that as gospel. A more helpful estimate, honestly, is "somewhere between 'a boatload' and 'a metric shitload' of money".
Where are we going to get that kind of money?
Couldn't tell you. Well, more accurately, we have several ideas for how to raise the money, as well as how to establish a steady revenue stream, but nothing has been decided on this front. Also, this decision (among others) will be affected by whether and how we incorporate.
Wait. What?
Incorporation in some form is an option. So is applying for tax-exempt status. Like most everything else, though, no decision has been made yet.
This is a lot of stuff happening— how long is all this expected to take?
Years. Again, we don't have a precise estimate, but personally, if we can get settled into the new place within five years, I will be ecstatic.
What's going to happen to the Wikidot site after migration?
We'll probably set up a custom header that says "this is an archive site", with a link to the new site, that'll show up on every page, and then set the whole site to read-only. There's currently no plan to delete this site.
How can I help?
Glad you asked! Check out the various Recruitment threads, and if you have one of the skill sets we're looking for (and there are a bunch!), please, sign up!
PF Feature Request sticky post
Project Foundation will not be built in a vacuum. At the end of the day, if it weren't for y'all, the members of the SCP community, there would be no site to migrate. So, the PF team wants to know what features you would like to see on the new SCP site.
A few caveats before posting:
- Just because a feature is suggested, there is no guarantee it will make it into the final version of PF. Possible reasons a suggestion would not get implemented: technical limitations, financial limitations, contradiction to best practices, and philosophical differences, among other reasons.
- If you suggest a feature, please explain why you believe the feature should be implemented. Note that "because I think it would be cool" *is* a valid reason for supporting a feature.
- The rules of critiquing articles apply to critiquing suggestions posted here: criticize the idea, not the author; explain why you disagree with a suggestion, where possible; and be civil.
- Please do not suggest any silly or patently absurd features. This is not to discourage pie-in-the-sky pipe dreams (things that would be theoretically possible given sufficient time, energy, and money), 'cos hey, dream big. But suggestions that are wholly outside the realm of possibility (such as a button on the site that will deliver a literal pie through the sky to you1) will be considered spam and treated accordingly.
- Just because an idea has already been suggested, that doesn't mean you can't suggest/support the idea also. It would help us gauge support for particular features if people said "yes, I would love if [this feature that was suggested] was put in".