Harmony Incident

 

The Harmony Incident also referred to as “Community Vote on Harmony’s Articles 2021”, “The Fate of Harmony’s Articles”, or the “Harmony Article Fiasco”, is an internal crisis to the SCP Wiki that took place in February 2021. It was a response to the long-time staff member and author formerly known as Roget / RJB_R and her request to remove her 200+ articles from the Wiki. The result of the event was the uninterrupted cohesion of SCP’s body of literature, but at the cost of the invalidation and supplanting of an eleven-year long core principle within SCP Wiki rules, protocol, and culture that gave an author the right to remove their works from the Wiki’s collection of articles upon request, i.e. the Fishmonger incident.

When a similar incident occurred around four years later with Wikidot user Kalinin, the staff complied with the deletion request despite it including many works that interrupted cohesion of SCP’s body of literature. This sparked further debate within the community as to how to handle these situations more properly in the future.[1]https://05command.wikidot.com/forum/t-17018475/discussion-on-the-preservation-of-important-works[2]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-17018474/discussion-on-the-preservation-of-important-works#post-6771529[3]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSa45CzSqFE[4]https://www.reddit.com/r/SCP/comments/1ij1jj6/whats_up_with_the_new_kalinin_mass_deletion/

 

Timeline of Events

December 2020 – January 2021

On 29 Dec 2020, the WikiDot user formerly known as “Roget” and “RJB_R” created a new Wikidot account with the name pixelatedHarmony and began posting a rapid succession of coldposted tales and articles, as well as forum commentaries.[5]https://www.wikidot.com/user:info/do-the-right-thing These works addressed themes including subversion, dehumanization, hierarchy, anarchy, transgender issues, and emotional relationships.[6]http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13989369/spreadsheets-and-railcars[7]http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13989303/anarchists-lockpick[8]http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13989292/transgender-dysphoria-blues[9]http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-1790933/what-are-your-unusual-headcanons#post-4881104[10]http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/sc-11-11-1-i/ The writings were characterized by critics as concise, direct, emotionally resonant, and employing authoritative language structures. Despite mixed reception, pixelatedHarmony established an author page on January 25, 2021.[11]http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/pixelatedharmonyauthorpage

During subsequent weeks, pixelatedHarmony engaged in community discussions that drew administrative attention due to reported behavioral concerns.[12]http://05command.wikidot.com/forum/t-13988307/non-disciplinary-record-pixelatedharmony-rjb-r, archive In late January, site administration publicly disclosed on this disciplinary thread that pixelatedHarmony was the pseudonym of former staff member Roget/RJB_R, who had resigned from administrative duties in October 2020.[13]http://05command.wikidot.com/forum/t-13827758/smell-ya-later, archive Administrative notices indicated that pixelatedHarmony had improperly tagged content and had employed communication that approached, but did not technically violate, the site’s Criticism Policy.

 

February 14, 2021

pixelatedHarmony published a work titled “The Final Days of a Good Machine” as part of the CupidCon 2021 event, describing it as “my first masterpiece” and announcing it would be their final contribution to the SCP Wiki.[14]http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-14003873/1001-words-from-a-world-in-love-again#post-4897798 In subsequent comments, pixelatedHarmony expressed discomfort with the site’s quantitative metrics for evaluating content quality, stating: “I am nauseated by the notion of instigating a list of numbers and statistics next to something I wrote.”[15]http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-5797485/complaints-thread#post-4898101

The same day, pixelatedHarmony posted multiple critical responses to other contributors’ works. While some offered praise, others delivered direct critiques regarding perceived weaknesses in dialogue construction and narrative engagement.[16]http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-14004442/scp-5779#post-4898520[17]http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-14003690/scp-5171#post-4898554

 

February 15, 2021

pixelatedHarmony published “An Open Letter” on the SCP Wiki (later removed for violating content guidelines), in which they claimed responsibility for establishing problematic engagement patterns within the community. The letter stated: “I disrupted [the community culture] by relentlessly begging for readers, which was just playing the numbers game for upvotes and I openly admitted to that fact.”[18]http://web.archive.org/web/20210215211957/http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/i-figured-out-what-i-need-to-say

A specter is haunting SCP. The specter is me.

I depersonalized myself to the point that I used everybody I knew here for the validation I couldn’t give myself. Not the person who I am now, but the persona I used to be. I was Roget, the Writerbot.

It’s not just a “me” thing. When I arrived in this community the culture of reading and writing worked in concert, hand-in-hand. I disrupted that by relentlessly begging for readers, which was just playing the numbers game for upvotes and I openly admitted to that fact.

As a matter of fact, I happilly [sic] admitted to it for a long time, and even when I later pretended otherwise, I hadn’t changed. I am the instigator for why so many SCPs sit with a handful of comments at best, unless you optimize your begging or have patience and time, the disparity stems from me. I saw it happen. I was there, and I was doing it on purpose. Not for the wider goal of community change, I didn’t reckon with that or would have cared enough to stop if I did, all I cared about was knowing that I had the biggest numbers.

I am responsible for the hurt, I am hurting it too. This isn’t a mic drop, and I am not going anywhere. I’m just done with the walking on eggshells. I’m finished with lies. Please. Let’s stop counting so much, and reading too little. It’s not too late to try.

I love everybody here. I hope that I have a place here, that I didn’t only know your love when I was sick.

 

February 16, 2021

Administrative action escalated from non-disciplinary to disciplinary interventions, citing pixelatedHarmony’s approach to criticism as “hostile” and “unproductive.”[19]http://05command.wikidot.com/forum/t-14006267/disciplinary-record-pixelatedharmony Three staff members (Modern_Erasmus, DrBleep, and Toumey Tombstone) recommended membership revocation, which was subsequently implemented.[20]https://05command.wikidot.com/forum/t-886884/harassment-team-log-of-bans#post-4902656

Following this action, pixelatedHarmony edited their author page to request deletion of all previous works published under the pseudonym Roget/RJB_R, while preserving material published as pixelatedHarmony. The request specified: “I would like to request that Dr. Roget’s personnel file, my non-fiction material […] and all of my SCPs be deleted from their current places on the SCP Wiki, immediately.”[21]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13983737/pixelatedharmonyauthorpage, archive

Today is the end of my involvement with the community, but I hope, not all the people of SCP. If I am dear to you do not be afraid to find me. I am not far away, bu[t] I cannot be here any longer. My masterpiece was the last story I had to make and if anybody would like to finish the Computer Chronicles or any of my other drafts I started in this short second act, I make all material in my sandbox available to be used as you see fit.

I would like to request that Dr. Roget’s personnel file, my non-fiction material (excepting for all of my contributions to HOTUS and all original primary source materials I created such as the interview with “The Administrator” and the files attached to some of those pages) and all of my SCPs be deleted from their current places on the SCP Wiki, immediately. The same for the tales. Everything I posted under the account named RJB_R, and not applying to that which I wrote using this account about which I am requesting nothing other than they be treated the same as anyone else’s work.

To be clear- don’t delete anything listed on pixelatedharmonyauthorpage

In addition, I would like the author attribution which I have on all collaborations to be extinguished, and authorship rights to my rewrites restored to their original authors or assigned as Modern_Erasmus sees fit.

Do not delete anything I wrote in Conwell’s collaborations, my pictures on Troy’s author page, contributions to Gears’ Day, and Leveritas can have New Tech Issues if he wants it.

The living will present on Dr. Roget’s personnel file is no longer valid. I bequeath all of the deleted content which I no longer wish to have associated with my name to the SCP Wiki community at large, to be remixed and revitalized as they see fit.

I would like a neutral space not owned by anybody in the community be created to accommodate this public material, or that an existing one like GitHub or pasteboard or another site not controlled by any one person or WikiDot, all other details however the executors of this action see fit.

Any author may post my words to the wiki again as they were, but please don’t, I would personally take that as a slap in the face and seek you out to hold you accountable for it on an individual basis. So don’t make me do that I’m trying to make a clean break, okay?

I do not wish for accreditation other than the bare minimum in terms of credit and how many places it is placed in that is technically required by law.

I hope that everybody enjoys all of the empty slots. Nothing would make me happier than to know that you filled them with articles that made you happy to write, to replace the things I wrote for outside validation because I couldn’t feel happy by myself. Let that be my final legacy.

I hope when you see that unique number next to the others you have and will write, that you think of me, and all we have accomplished together in the next decade and the one going on after that on and on, until the sun sets.

Never forget, the SCP Foundation will always belong to everybody. Thank you for your time. I had the time of my life.

Harmony, formerly Roget, your eternal friend and admirer

Oh, and to answer the last ask the person above you a question I will ever answer, I hope that I find someplace new that I belong after the pandemic is over.

 

February 17, 2021

Staff addressed the community on the in a forum thread titled “Town Hall Meeting: Mass Deletion Request”, that made Harmony’s request more widely known.[22]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-14007108/town-hall-meeting:mass-deletion-request, archive Two messages from SCP user and Admin Dexanote informed Harmony and the community that no deletions would take place until March in order “to not cause irreparable damage to the site and literal months of authorial chaos.”[23]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13983737/pixelatedharmonyauthorpage#post-4892553 According to Dexanote, staff was aware of the request and were discussing how best to proceed. The ability to comment on Harmony’s author page was quickly suspended with a page lock on the same day, “to prevent further misunderstanding and fragmentary discussion.”[24]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13983737/pixelatedharmonyauthorpage#post-4900848

pixelatedHarmony joined and contributed to a KiwiFarms discussion thread regarding the SCP Wiki.[25]https://archive.ph/CavqN

 

February 18, 2021

SCP Wiki administration permanently banned pixelatedHarmony, citing “harassment of multiple users, including doxxing, emotional manipulation, and accusations of hatred.”[26]http://05command.wikidot.com/forum/t-886884/harassment-team-log-of-bans#post-4902656 On March 5, 2021, the user changed their Wikidot username to “do_the_right_thing.”[27]https://archive.ph/VHxAh#selection-935.6-937.10

 

Community Response

pixelatedHarmony’s deletion request represented approximately 2% of the SCP Wiki’s content, including over 200 SCPs, tales, GoI formats, and two SCP-001 proposals.[28]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-14007108/town-hall-meeting:mass-deletion-request The request generated significant controversy, with opposing viewpoints on whether to honor author autonomy or preserve site integrity.[29]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13983737/pixelatedharmonyauthorpage[30]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-14007108/town-hall-meeting:mass-deletion-request

 

Arguments Against Deletion:

  • Mass deletion would disrupt site continuity, particularly for interconnected narratives
  • Canonical elements would be compromised
  • Significant maintenance issues would arise from broken cross-references
  • The request contradicted the spirit of the Creative Commons license
  • The request entailed significant work for site staff

Arguments For Deletion:

  • Author autonomy had been a longstanding site principle
  • Previous precedent established author right to remove content
  • The author’s express wishes deserved respect
  • Public pressure campaigns against authors were inappropriate

 

On February 19, 2021, SCP Wiki administration opened an unprecedented community vote to determine the disposition of pixelatedHarmony’s content.[31]http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-14008356/community-vote:fate-of-harmony-s-articles, archive This marked the first instance where such a controversial decision was delegated to the general membership. The voting period lasted one week, with three proposals under consideration:

Proposal 1 (“Status Quo”)

  • Retain all works on the site
  • Potentially reassign attribution to a neutral account
  • Allow anyone to rewrite the content per author instructions

Proposal 2 (Complete Removal)

  • Delete all works from the site
  • Archive content on an alternative platform
  • Reserve emptied slots for future allocation

Proposal 3 (Conditional Restoration)

  • Delete all works initially
  • Restore selected works upon request under a neutral account
  • Maintain critical narrative elements

 

Vote

The voting period was open for one week. Three proposals were given as options by staff. A user was asked to rank the proposals in order of most preferred to least. The total would be tallied at the end of the voting period and the proposal with the most points was to decide “the fate of Harmony’s articles”.

Results

With 259 participants voting:

  • Proposal 1: 591 points
  • Proposal 2: 185 points
  • Proposal 3: 256 points

Consequently, all pixelatedHarmony/Roget works remained on the site with original attribution.[32]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-14008356/community-vote:fate-of-harmony-s-articles#post-4911532 “Addendum 1A” failed to pass, which would have de-attributed the articles from the RJB_R name and reattributed them under a new name.

 

Aftermath and Criticism

The voting process and administrative handling of the situation generated criticism from multiple perspectives:

  • Some members questioned the appropriateness of delegating this decision to community vote
  • Critics argued that administration had abdicated responsibility for a difficult decision
  • The process contradicted previously established author rights
  • The voting methodology (Borda count) was criticized for potentially biasing results
  • Some members viewed the situation as evidence of administrative prioritization of content preservation over author rights
  • At least one staff member reportedly left the community permanently in protest

Following this incident, administration committed to revisiting policies regarding content deletion and author autonomy, as well as improving transparency in administrative decision-making through regular town hall discussions.

 

Trivia

  • Inter-dependence upon other SCPs has been a perennial point of contentious tug-and-pull in the history of the SCP Wiki. In the early /x/ days, it was recommended cross-referencing was avoided so as to not become like The Holders. Despite this, many early SCPs (e.g. SCP-002/SCP-003) featured cross-references. By the move to WikiDot, cross-references made in early SCPs had to be edited to remove them as older SCPs were eventually deleted, e.g. in SCP-004, where this comment is found: “This is one of the reasons we try not to reference other SCPs. If an article stands alone, it doesn’t matter if other articles are deleted, but if they’re all cross referenced then the editing becomes a headache and we miss things.”[33]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76555/scp-004#post-672084
  • In Harmony’s disciplinary post, staff noted “hostile” and “unproductive” criticism of a user’s guide on blackboxing/redacting. Harmony edited the post in question several times to soften the language; 25 revisions in just over an hour.
  • Harmony’s requested to remove all articles and tales was part of a series of actions seemingly meant to distance herself from her past: “…all I want a clean break from the fake person I used to make life a spectator sport so I can share my truth with all of you.”[34]http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13966114/summary:what-remarkable-achievements-you-ve-made-in-2020#post-4881179[35]http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13966416/january-2021-intros-writers#post-4882802
  • During the vote regarding Harmony’s articles, site staff stated that regardless of the outcome, policy would be revisited that would remove the blanket-deletion-upon-request policy that had been upheld as a core principles of the wiki and its structure and operations since the removal of articles by early SCP author The_Fishmonger in 2010. Such a change would “replac[e] it with a more nuanced policy that will still allow us to show we highly respect author autonomy while not also allowing for deletions that would severely damage the community.” This was not the case, and the next major deletion request (from user Kalinin in 2025) was enacted without debate or vote from the community.
  • 259 people voted in the community vote for Harmony’s articles. Staff released a Google Document to ensure transparency.[36]https://archive.ph/IUjKx
  • The Harmony Incident was the spiritual successor to the Fishmonger incident, which established the mantra of “no canon”. The 2021 vote didn’t establish canon in turn, but it acknowledged that some works had transcended individual authorship to become essential components of a shared narrative framework—that certain contributions had become so foundational to the shared universe that they were essentially treated as canonical. The community’s preference to maintain these works against the author’s wishes suggests they had transitioned from individual contributions to community canon.
  • In April 2021, and again in June 2024, pixelatedHarmony posted on her Tumblr blog to explain in more detail her thoughts when requesting the deletions of her articles.[37]archive
  • Harmony’s apology essay “An Open Letter” was deleted by staff because she refused to add a rating module to it.[38]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13990214/deletions-71:farewell-to-all-the-earthly-remains#post-4899752[39]https://archive.ph/f1NCV#selection-337.366-337.556

References

References
↑1 https://05command.wikidot.com/forum/t-17018475/discussion-on-the-preservation-of-important-works
↑2 https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-17018474/discussion-on-the-preservation-of-important-works#post-6771529
↑3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSa45CzSqFE
↑4 https://www.reddit.com/r/SCP/comments/1ij1jj6/whats_up_with_the_new_kalinin_mass_deletion/
↑5 https://www.wikidot.com/user:info/do-the-right-thing
↑6 http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13989369/spreadsheets-and-railcars
↑7 http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13989303/anarchists-lockpick
↑8 http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13989292/transgender-dysphoria-blues
↑9 http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-1790933/what-are-your-unusual-headcanons#post-4881104
↑10 http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/sc-11-11-1-i/
↑11 http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/pixelatedharmonyauthorpage
↑12 http://05command.wikidot.com/forum/t-13988307/non-disciplinary-record-pixelatedharmony-rjb-r, archive
↑13 http://05command.wikidot.com/forum/t-13827758/smell-ya-later, archive
↑14 http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-14003873/1001-words-from-a-world-in-love-again#post-4897798
↑15 http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-5797485/complaints-thread#post-4898101
↑16 http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-14004442/scp-5779#post-4898520
↑17 http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-14003690/scp-5171#post-4898554
↑18 http://web.archive.org/web/20210215211957/http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/i-figured-out-what-i-need-to-say
↑19 http://05command.wikidot.com/forum/t-14006267/disciplinary-record-pixelatedharmony
↑20 https://05command.wikidot.com/forum/t-886884/harassment-team-log-of-bans#post-4902656
↑21 https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13983737/pixelatedharmonyauthorpage, archive
↑22 https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-14007108/town-hall-meeting:mass-deletion-request, archive
↑23 https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13983737/pixelatedharmonyauthorpage#post-4892553
↑24 https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13983737/pixelatedharmonyauthorpage#post-4900848
↑25 https://archive.ph/CavqN
↑26 http://05command.wikidot.com/forum/t-886884/harassment-team-log-of-bans#post-4902656
↑27 https://archive.ph/VHxAh#selection-935.6-937.10
↑28, ↑30 https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-14007108/town-hall-meeting:mass-deletion-request
↑29 https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13983737/pixelatedharmonyauthorpage
↑31 http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-14008356/community-vote:fate-of-harmony-s-articles, archive
↑32 https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-14008356/community-vote:fate-of-harmony-s-articles#post-4911532
↑33 https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-76555/scp-004#post-672084
↑34 http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13966114/summary:what-remarkable-achievements-you-ve-made-in-2020#post-4881179
↑35 http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13966416/january-2021-intros-writers#post-4882802
↑36 https://archive.ph/IUjKx
↑37 archive
↑38 https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13990214/deletions-71:farewell-to-all-the-earthly-remains#post-4899752
↑39 https://archive.ph/f1NCV#selection-337.366-337.556