The WikiDot Blackout of 2022 was an interruption in WikiDot services beginning on May 19, 2022. It was the longest WikiDot outage known to date and arrested all activity on all major containment fiction platforms for its duration, as well as third-party applications, such as the WikiDot notification service.^[1]https://archive.ph/NbBQB

This event significantly impacted numerous online fiction communities, particularly those focused on containment fiction. An official announcement from the SCP INT Discord server later attributed the outage to a lone hacker from Belarus.^[2]https://discord.com/channels/170860185328418816/449184256451805184/978720683645370478

The outage affected a majority of containment fiction sites that relied upon WikiDot, including but not limited to:

• The SCP Foundation Wiki
• The RPC Authority Wiki
• The Backrooms Wiki
• Liminal Archives
• O5 Command

Timeline of Events

Initial Outage (May 19, 2022)

On the morning of May 19, 2022, all WikiDot sites displayed a generic error message asking users to reload the page and noting that WikiDot might be “under stress.”^[3]https://web.archive.org/web/20220519154658/https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/new-pages-feed At approximately 8AM CST, the official WikiDot Twitter account (inactive since October 10, 2018) confirmed a server-wide issue.^[4]https://archive.ph/ty3nf#selection-821.6-842.0 Two hours later, they indicated the damage was more extensive than initially thought, though they assured users no data had been lost and backups were available.

Within hours, WikiDot made a critical announcement attributing the incident to hackers:^[5]https://archive.ph/ty3nf#selection-411.0-411.267

“Wikidot has been hit by hackers and all traces lead to Russian Federation. The data seem intact, but hackers left quite a mess. We need to scan literally everything to make sure Wikidot is secure before re-enabling it… It will take a while… Will keep you posted!”

Approximately twelve hours later, the WikiDot team provided an update suggesting the situation wasn’t as severe as initially feared, but indicated they would need to restore some data from backups to ensure clean systems.^[6]https://archive.ph/ty3nf#selection-147.0-147.228 During this period, all WikiDot sites displayed a message attributing the attack to hackers from the Russian Federation.^[7]https://archive.ph/ty3nf

Community Response and Recovery Attempts

The WikiDot Twitter account saw significant growth during the outage, with estimates ranging from 700 to over 3,000 new followers. The tweet announcing the hack received over 1,000 likes, 316 retweets, and 116 quote retweets in its first 24 hours.^[8]https://twitter.com/wikidot/status/1527328951625867284?cxt=HHwWqICjjdzllLIqAAAA, https://archive.ph/QHgOt Many questioned the attribution to Russian hackers, citing concerns about IP tracing reliability given VPN usage and questioning potential motives.^[9]https://twitter.com/TuftoSCP/status/1527334246137749522?cxt=HHwWpICjpfOZl7IqAAAA, https://archive.ph/5Lvjg, … Continue reading^[10]https://twitter.com/woedenaz/status/1527343457978949633, https://web.archive.org/web/20220520143027/https://twitter.com/woedenaz/status/152734345797894963

Restoration Attempts

On May 23rd, WikiDot announced plans to bring the service back online that day, noting that search and email notifications would be temporarily disabled.^[11]https://archive.ph/d63eF However, the day ended without restoration, with the team citing unexpected data inconsistencies.^[12]https://archive.ph/AjFxA

On May 24th, the developer team announced they had resolved a database issue that had been preventing restoration:

“Really good news: we have finally nailed a bug that prevented our database from working correctly. It was most likely an upstream issue with database indexes and was not related to the hack. Anyway, we’re launching Wikidot in a few hours after we run the final checks!”

The platform was restored approximately 3 hours later.^[13]https://archive.ph/LudAR The SCP Wiki temporarily paused new page submissions to assess damage and ensure stability, reopening for publication on May 25th.^[14]https://archive.ph/GkXEM

Geoblock Controversy

On May 24th, reports began circulating that users from Russia and Belarus were unable to access WikiDot.^[15]https://archive.ph/JFRaJ The SCP-RU official Twitter confirmed this development.^[16]https://archive.ph/U5fOj WikiDot subsequently confirmed implementing a geoblock, citing recent hacking events, increased abuse from Russia, state-level disinformation, the war in Ukraine, and “disrespect of human rights and sovereignty” as justification for closing access from Russian and Belarusian territories.^[17]https://archive.ph/m8Kkm This decision faced significant community backlash.^[18]https://archive.ph/m8Kkm^[19]https://archive.ph/s5Zka^[20]https://archive.ph/sVJ3r A Twitter survey indicated approximately 60% disapproval, 25% uncertainty, and 19% support for the decision.^[21]https://archive.ph/kQ31i

Impact and Response

Community Reaction

The outage prompted containment fiction communities to:

1. Create backups of articles and data^[22]https://archive.ph/d3wit^[23]https://archive.ph/4WwNu
2. Criticize WikiDot’s technological instability and outdated infrastructure^[24]https://archive.ph/WELD8^[25]https://archive.ph/Wspms
3. Respond with relative calmness and humor, creating numerous memes shared via Twitter^[26]https://archive.ph/OKGqz^[27]https://archive.ph/iyESH

SCP-RU Response

In response to the geoblock, SCP-RU:

1. Established a redirect URL as a temporary measure^[28]https://web.archive.org/web/20220604134819/https://scpfoundation.net/^[29]https://archive.ph/AMikO
2. Created a static, read-only site
3. Canceled an in-progress contest due to the sanctions^[30]https://archive.ph/oZWAY
4. Established donations via a fundraising platform to support migration to their own platform^[31]https://archive.ph/Ur2cv^[32]https://boosty.to/scpfanpage

Official Statements

The SCP-EN branch addressed the geoblock in their June 2022 Site News, noting that SCP-INT was working to request removal of the geoblock and asking their userbase to “stand with SCP-RU.”^[33]https://archive.ph/ZIlfg

The international community released a significant statement via Discord revealing new information about the incident:^[34]https://discord.com/channels/170860185328418816/449184256451805184/978720683645370478

“Regarding the recent Wikidot outage, a user from Belarus has been claiming responsibility for hacking the platform. INT staff have been in contact with the user, and there is circumstantial evidence which corroborates his claims. If the claims prove to be true, we will discuss significant disciplinary action towards the user. We do not condone or approve his illegal actions, and ask the community not to speculate on the event, as it could quickly result in the spread of misinformation.

Additionally, we are actively communicating with Wikidot to remove the geoblock currently placed on Russian and Belarusian users, and restore functionality to all branches. We are strongly opposed to Wikidot’s new geoblock policy, as the measure does nothing to prevent security incidents of this nature in future, while definitely harming the legitimate participants of our project.”

 

Long-Term Outcomes

Criticism of Community Response

Some critics noted a disparity in the English-speaking world’s public support for the Russian branch compared to past incidents. Unlike the previous #StandwithSCPRU campaign (which raised over $160,000 in legal support), no comparable official campaign emerged from the SCP-EN branch in response to the geoblock. Limited discussion appeared on platforms such as r/SCP.^[35]https://archive.ph/hsYmg This was partially addressed in the SCP Wiki’s October 2022 Site News.^[36]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/news-10-2022#toc12

RU Migration and Independence

Following the geoblock, the Russian branch accelerated development of an independent platform through their GitHub repository.^[37]https://github.com/SCPru/RuFoundation^[38]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/news-10-2022#toc12 A local, -RU-ran fundraiser was established via the Boosty platform, reusing the #StandWithSCPRU hashtag.^[39]https://boosty.to/scpfanpage^[40]https://archive.ph/7MQ8B The fundraiser explained that while WikiDot’s problems had long made it clear that more reliable solutions were needed, recent events had forced them to accelerate their migration plans. The administration sought funds to pay technical specialists, though they emphasized that work would continue regardless of money raised, with financial support primarily helping to speed up the process and potentially improve results.^[41]https://archive.ph/7MQ8B

An update on May 25, 2022 announced SCP-RU as WikiDot-independent, making it the first branch to achieve digital independence, ahead of SCP-EN’s Project Foundation and WikiJump engine.^[42]https://archive.ph/7MQ8B#selection-2285.0-2291.8^[43]https://github.com/scpwiki/wikijump (For more information, see Project Foundation.)

As of November 2022, the fundraiser had raised over 222,000 rubles (>$3,600).^[44]https://archive.ph/rHVhe#selection-4641.0-4641.7 The site became fully functional, regularly featuring new SCP-RU entries and translations of SCP-EN articles. Current issues can be tracked on their GitHub,^[45]https://github.com/SCPru/RuFoundation/issues and the platform’s code remains open source.^[46]https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/news-10-2022#toc12