The first slot in containment fiction series, commonly known as a 001 entry, holds special significance within these creative communities. These entries typically explore the origins of fictional containment organizations, feature large-scope lore elements, and are portrayed as exceptionally classified in-universe materials available only to those with top credentials. The 001 designation is historically regarded as a coveted and prestigious position for containment fiction works.^[1]https://archive.vn/dIUWj#selection-16176.0-16251.7

Most major containment fiction communities have developed their own version of the first slot. Some communities feature a single definitive article occupying this position, while others present multiple proposed variants linked from a central hub page.

SCP Foundation Wiki

Format

On the SCP Foundation’s English Wiki (SCP-EN), the first slot is titled “SCP-001 – Awaiting De-classification [Blocked].” The site currently hosts more than 40 different proposals for SCP-001, each representing a distinct interpretation of what might occupy this prestigious position.

History

4chan and EditThis Era

The concept of SCP-001 as a special designation emerged very early in the community’s development. On September 5, 2007, the same day the first non-173 SCP was posted on 4chan’s /x/ board, users already began speculating about what might occupy the 001 slot, with suggestions ranging from “the cursed bones of Draculajesus” to the final Holder’s Object.^[2]https://archive.fo/wxQgG#selection-3071.194-3071.199, post 258332^[3]https://archive.fo/wxQgG#selection-7309.0-7309.6, post 258332

The first documented reference to SCP-001 in an article appeared on January 20, 2008, when an anonymous user posted SCP-003, which was described as being found near 002 and 001.^[4]http://scparchives.bluesoul.net/x/scp/448755.xml The poster declined to write SCP-001, stating it was “the origin SCP” and would be impossible to define.^[5]post 448826

The earliest complete SCP-001 proposal appeared on January 23, 2008, in a 4chan /x/ thread. The author acknowledged the significance of the slot number by writing: “I came up with this. If you don’t think it’s worthy of being 001, feel free to change the designation to 004, or eight hundred billion, or whatever.”^[6]https://archive.vn/1jSvG#selection-10855.0-10855.182

Evidence suggests an earlier SCP-001 was posted on EditThis on January 21, 2008, but its content has been lost.^[7]http://web.archive.org/web/20080617143706/http://editthis.info/scp_wiki/?title=SCP-001&action=history Community reaction was negative, leading the site administrator to blank the page, lock it, and add the text:

“BLANKED AND LOCKED UNTIL SOMEONE MAKES ONE WORTHY OF THE TITLE OF SCP-001.”^[8]http://web.archive.org/web/20080418041947/http://editthis.info:80/scp_wiki/?title=SCP-001&action=edit

Over the following months, EditThis members began submitting “proposals” for the SCP-001 slot on its talk page. These were eventually moved to dedicated pages with standardized naming conventions (“Proposal: [username]”). Taisajin’s proposal (February 21, 2008) is recognized as the first complete one posted to EditThis, followed by Eberstrom’s (March 2008) and Catalyst’s (April 2008).^[9]http://web.archive.org/web/20080518135653/http://editthis.info/scp_wiki/?title=Talk:SCP-001&action=history^[10]https://web.archive.org/web/20080517171343/http://editthis.info:80/scp_wiki/SCP-001/Proposal:Taisaijin^[11]https://web.archive.org/web/20080519001444/http://editthis.info/scp_wiki/Talk:SCP-001/Proposal:Taisaijin

In May 2008, discussion of SCP-001 continued on /x/, with user “Alan” proposing a contest where the winning entry would take the SCP-001 slot.^[12]https://archive.vn/dIUWj#selection-14148.0-14217.287 Numerous posts in June 2008 debated what would constitute a worthy SCP-001 article, with many proposals attempting to incorporate an origin story for the SCP Foundation.^[13]https://archive.ph/3QlpV#selection-20699.519-20699.613

No official SCP-001 was ever selected on the EditThis wiki, with one user commenting: “No one writes bad SCPs on purpose. The 001 is a placeholder; perhaps someday someone writes something so epic that it cannot be topped. I don’t believe anything that good could be done by merely trying.”^[14]https://archive.vn/dIUWj#selection-15366.0-15417.406

Early discussions about SCP-001 reveal diverse perspectives on what the first slot should represent. Some argued it should be “something kick-ass” or something that “revealed the ‘truth’ behind the universe.”^[15]http://scparchives.bluesoul.net/x/scp/694756.html, archive^[16]https://archive.ph/3QlpV#selection-6875.30-6875.174 Others suggested it should be “the first object found” or “something that was obviously paranormal and dangerous, but could not be contained (at the time), so contact with it lead to the formation of SCP.”^[17]http://scparchives.bluesoul.net/x/scp/694756.html, archive^[18]https://archive.ph/3QlpV#selection-9131.10-9131.250 Some criticized attempts to make SCP-001 overly significant: “All these posts to make SCP 001 wildly powerful or relevant or inter-connected are stupid. 001 should just be the first thing that was found… Everyone who tries to make SCP 001 so much more EPIC than everything else will only fail.”^[19]https://archive.ph/3QlpV#selection-19839.0-19839.1066 Others suggested leaving it empty: “In all honesty, the SCP-001 page would only be done justice if it was never filled in. It should link to a 403 page, or something official and top-secret looking. You know, the scariest thing is someone’s imagination?”^[20]https://archive.ph/3QlpV#selection-22975.10-22975.249

WikiDot Era

When the community migrated to WikiDot, the text for the SCP-001 slot changed to “Awaiting De-classification [Blocked]”.^[21]https://www.diffchecker.com/HQprYcJ4/

On July 26, 2008, WikiDot user Lt Masipag created the SCP-001 page and filled it with Eberstrom’s proposal, sparking controversy.^[22]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-001, rev. 0 The Administrator removed the proposal and added a notice encouraging submissions for SCP-001 with constructive feedback.^[23]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-001, rev. 2, 3

A dedicated page for SCP-001 proposals was created, initially featuring Eberstrom’s, Jonathan Ball’s, and Dr Gears’ proposals.^[24]https://web.archive.org/web/20080915215333/http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/proposals-for-scp-001 Dr Clef added his proposal “The Gate Guardian” in October 2008.^[25]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/dr-clef-s-proposal, rev.0-3

The debate over which proposal should be definitive continued, with several users nominating Dr Clef’s “The Gate Guardian”.^[26]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-95164/dr-clef-s-proposal#post-282698 However, Dr Clef himself argued against making any single proposal the “official” one:

“I just wanted to make a quick statement. There have been a lot of people who have made comments about how they want this proposal to be the Real SCP-001… I guess all I’m REALLY saying in the end is that everyone should be entitled to their own opinion about what the Real SCP-001 is, and making any one of them the Real Deal Officially kinda takes the fun out of it.”^[27]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-95164/dr-clef-s-proposal#post-283427

Dr Clef suggested an in-universe justification that only one entry was the “true” one, with others being false to mislead potential spies.^[28]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-95164/dr-clef-s-proposal#post-282928 He also added the “TOP SECRET” warning introduction and fractal memetic kill agent to the proposals page.^[29]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/archived:proposals-for-scp-001, rev.15

By 2013, users requested that the proposals page become the proper SCP-001 page instead of a standalone redirect. This was approved by staff in 2014, and the initial proposals page was archived.^[30]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/archived:proposals-for-scp-001, rev. 48^[31]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-001, rev.9

RPC Authority

The RPC Authority Wiki currently lists three proposals for RPC-001, under the title “RPC-001 – [RESTRICTED]”.^[32]http://rpcauthority.wikidot.com/rpc-001 Their format is heavily influenced by the SCP Wiki’s approach. Unlike the SCP Foundation’s lore of multiple false entries, all RPC-001 proposals are considered “real” within their universe. Each receives the 001 designation with hyphenated sub-designations assigned chronologically.

The first RPC-001 (RPC-001-1) was the result of an early contest on the RPC.^[33]http://rpcauthority.wikidot.com/rpc-001contesthub The next, RPC-001-2, would be posted three years later in March 2021, effectively opening the slot for multiple entries. As such the RPC staff changed the page to a 001 hub.^[34]http://rpcauthority.wikidot.com/rpc-001, rev.37 RPC-001-3, written by Von Pincier, was submitted shortly thereafter.^[35]http://rpcauthority.wikidot.com/rpc-001-3

In contrast to the SCP Wiki, proposals for the RPC-001 slot must be submitted to and approved by site staff prior to being posted.

Backrooms/Tech Support

Entity-1 and Enigmatic Entities

The Backrooms Wiki’s equivalent to a first slot has evolved significantly since its inception. Unlike the SCP Foundation’s clear designation of SCP-001 proposals, the Backrooms Wiki has developed a different approach to its prestigious first designation. In its current form, the Entity 1 slot is occupied by “The Humans,” an article that identifies humans as “a species of intelligent, nearly hairless, bipedal apes that are among the most widespread and influential sapient lifeforms”, ultimately stating that “Humans are just a chapter in the history of the Backrooms.”^[36]https://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/entity-1

The Entity-1 Contest in August 2020 saw the initial canonizing of Entity 1 proposals. The contest page explicitly stated that “the M.E.G. have decided the Entity 1 slot would best be used for documenting the most dangerous unconfirmed Entities.”^[37]http://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/contest-entity-1-2020 Contest rules specified that Entity-1 proposals must abide by the Entity format and justify themselves as significant enough for the designation in-universe.

In May 2021, the word “proposal” was removed from the Entity-1 page, entries were renamed from “[author]’s proposal” to titles relevant to the works, and the list was renamed to a collection of Enigmatic Entities, then Entities.^[38]http://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/entities

The Entities page has undergone significant reorganization. Entity-1s were transitioned into the broader “Enigmatic Entities” category, which is now defunct.^[39]https://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/system:page-tags/tag/enigmatic-entities^[40]https://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/enigmatic-entities^[41]https://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-13621714/entities#post-4991769 Enigmatic Entities were defined as those “powerful enough to cause widespread destruction or instability.”^[42]https://web.archive.org/web/20220922084417/http://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/enigmatic-entities The Entities page was changed in August 2023 to remove the “Enigmatic Entities” category.^[43]https://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/entities, rev. 653

It should be noted that The Backrooms itself is Level 0 – “Tutorial Level,” which acts as an on-boarding article to familiarize readers with the basics of subsequent Backrooms content.^[44]http://backrooms-wiki.wikidot.com/level-0 Level 0 uses the iconic yellow wallpaper Backrooms photo that has become synonymous with the originative creepypasta.

Liminal Archives

Liminal Archive’s equivalent to the 001 slot is Level 1 – The Halls.^[45]http://liminal-archives.wikidot.com/level-1/ While using similar iconic yellow wallpaper images as the Backrooms Wiki’s Level 0, their article serves a different narrative purpose rather than functioning as an introduction.

Other Communities

The Chaos Insurgency Wiki’s first slot holds no special designation, with the current article “Bell of Entropy” likely occupying this position simply by being the first posted on the site.^[46]http://ci-wiki.wikidot.com/bell-of-entropy

The Wayward Society notably chose not to give any article a “first slot” privilege, organizing content into five sections in its Aberration Catalog.^[47]http://wayward.wikidot.com/aberration-catalog

Trivia

• An early SCP-001 attempt featured compositional qualities similar to The Holders series.^[48]https://archive.vn/dIUWj#selection-15900.0-15969.1550
• The first unofficial writing contest in containment fiction was for the SCP-001 slot.^[49]https://archive.vn/dIUWj#selection-14187.0-14217.287
• Numerous early discussions on 4chan’s /x/ board foreshadowed later official SCP-001 proposals, including concepts similar to “Sheaf of Papers,” “Atonement,” “O5-13,” “The Database,” and others.^[50] jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1800_2_50').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1800_2_50', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });^[51]https://archive.ph/9lmD0#selection-1600.0-1661.7">https://archive.ph/1QlxE#selection-3148.0-3209.7^[52]https://archive.ph/9lmD0#selection-1600.0-1661.7
• Dr Clef posted joke versions of SCP-001 to the slot on April 1st in both 2008 and 2009, describing it as “the Object Classification guidelines for SCP researchers” with “the preternatural ability to cause frustration, anxiety, and long, meandering debates.”^[53]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-001, rev. 4, 20
• The classic “TOP SECRET” introduction, warning, fractal memetic kill agent, and lore element that many SCP-001 proposals are decoys were all added by Dr Clef in 2008.^[54]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/forum/t-95164/dr-clef-s-proposal#post-283954
• A user on /x/ summarized the community’s relationship with the slot by stating: “People have been taking SCP too seriously since it began.”^[55]https://archive.ph/3QlpV
• At RPC, prior to RPC-001-2, users were unsure if the slot would act in the way it did at the SCP Wiki, or simply exist as a definitive entry.
• All RPC-001 entries are/were top 10 articles on the site.

Thank you to Cooldude971, whose past research on SCP-001s is included in the History subsection, and can be found in its original presentation here.