Link to article: Footnotes with Intent: Keeping Them Optional.
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[[>]] [[module Rate]] [[/>]] [[module CSS]] .footnotes-footer { display: none; } [[/module]] @@ @@ [[toc]] @@ @@ @@ @@ [[=]] + Footnotes with Intent: Keeping Them Optional //How to make tiny notes do big work.// [[/=]] The purpose of this essay is to help keep footnotes genuinely optional. The goal is cleaner, more accessible SCPs that read smoothly even if readers ignore every note. This guide is for **standard SCP articles**. Other formats, such as certain tales and GOI formats like [https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/serpent-s-hand-hub Serpent's Hand], often use footnotes differently. Follow those formats' examples and style guides when writing in those formats. [[code]] This is a sentence![[footnote]]And this is the note![[/footnote]] [[/code]] ---- [[=]] +++ What Are Footnotes For? [[/=]] Think of footnotes as polite asides or bonus content. They are there for readers who want a little extra context, and the page should still make sense if those readers skip them all. **Here is the rule of thumb that matters:** if removing a note takes away information that is essential to understanding the article, that information belongs in the main text, not in a footnote. ---- [[=]] +++ Action lives in the line; context lives in the footnote [[/=]] Many lines in SCP writing are little decisions. "Do this. Do not do that. If X happens, do Y." When a line tells someone what to do, it should also give the reason right there, so the reader is not forced to peek at the bottom of the page before they can act. After that, a note can add a tiny, optional extra. If you like comparisons, treat the note like DVD extras: nice if you want them, and skippable if you don’t. Example 1 > Maintain chamber at cold-storage settings; above this point SCP-XXXX becomes mobile.[[footnote]]Finding based on Tests 19 through 23.[[/footnote]] Example 2 > Initiate Mask Protocol. Staff must speak through transceivers to avoid direct speech reception.[[footnote]] Full procedure in Appendix A. [[/footnote]] Example 3 > The recovered note labels the site ‘yabai,’ which implies both danger and thrill.[[footnote]]Closest English term is ‘sketchy.’[[/footnote]] In every case, the sentence carries the story and function. The note adds a small, skippable gloss. ---- [[=]] +++ Deciding what goes where [[/=]] A simple way to place information is to use the **tired staffer test**. Read your paragraph aloud and picture a Containment Specialist at the end of a very long shift. Ask what they need to know right now to act safely. That goes in the line. Ask what would help a colleague who has time to care about details. That goes in a footnote. If you cannot answer any of those questions, you probably have extra decoration that can be cut. This test helps you avoid two common mistakes, which sit on the same spectrum: **The Porcupine:** A vague sentence hiding a pointy stack of notes that actually carry the meaning. > **[BAD]:** Keep personnel at a safe distance. [[footnote]]Minimum distance is fifteen meters. Within this range the entity imitates the observer’s voice. Line of sight speeds the effect. See Tests 19 to 23.[[/footnote]] The weight needs to be moved to the sentence: > **[BETTER]:** Maintain a minimum distance of fifteen meters. Within this range the entity imitates the observer’s voice within seconds. [[footnote]]Onset is faster with line of sight. See Tests 19 to 23.[[/footnote]] **The Echo:** A clear line followed by a note that repeats it with extra words. > **[BAD]:** Do not photograph the object.[[footnote]]Photographs continue the anomaly even after deletion.[[/footnote]] The footnote needs to support the sentence with additional context: > **[BETTER]:** Do not photograph the object. Captured images keep the anomaly active. [[footnote]]Reported even after files were wiped.[[/footnote]] ---- [[=]] +++ Voice and diegesis [[/=]] Your notes should usually sound like the rest of the file: calm, precise, and clinical. Sometimes a different speaker needs to chime in. When that happens, label the voice in a few words so readers can place it and then get out of the way. > Archivist’s note: terminology retained for continuity. > Medical note: usage follows Site-19 triage criteria. > Policy: classified per RAISA section 3.2. If you plan a tone break for effect, mark it clearly and keep it brief. You still want the page to read like a single document prepared by professionals, even when a particular aside is from one of those professionals with a specific remit. ---- [[=]] +++ Writing notes that read cleanly [[/=]] Keep notes short and simple, one sentence is usually best. Put the marker where the help is needed: on the word if you are defining it, or after the period if the note covers the whole sentence. Use a few well-placed notes, not a cluster. Write in plain language and avoid jargon or symbols. Use clear link text like "See Incident C-12 summary," not "click here." If the content wants a table, list, or image, keep it in the main sentence. Notes should also be easy for screen readers,[[footnote]]Software that reads pages aloud.[[/footnote]] so keep punctuation and wording straightforward. **Remember placement: put the footnote after punctuation marks.[[footnote]] Like this! [[/footnote]]** Below are a few common repairs to show the idea: > **[BAD]:** The specimen exhibits crypsis via ‘leucistic melanism’.[[footnote]]Here ‘leucistic melanism’ means reduced overall pigment with species-typical dark patterning retained. It differs from albinism, which removes pigment production, and from melanism, which increases it. The look often comes from patchy melanocyte loss along pattern boundaries; eyes usually stay pigmented, and multi-chromatophore species may keep structural hues.[[/footnote]] The footnote is far too verbose and bloated, it can be much shorter and sharper: > **[BETTER]:** The specimen exhibits crypsis via leucistic melanism. [[footnote]]Partial pigment loss with retained pattern contrast.[[/footnote]] Another example: > **[BAD]:** Only memetics-trained staff may handle the object. [[footnote]]Untrained staff report an intrusive urge to keep looking, often phrased as 'just one more glance'; fixation builds with attention and eases once the object is out of view.[[/footnote]] The note hides the useful reason for the rule, runs long, and mixes several ideas, this should be moved back to the main paragraph: > **[BETTER]:** Only memetics-trained staff may handle the object. Untrained staff report intrusive urges to look again. [[footnote]]Common wording is ‘just one more glance.’[[/footnote]] ---- [[=]] +++ Using footnotes to heighten horror [[/=]] Horror notes only work if they stay optional. That sounds like it clashes with the core rule, so let’s make it explicit: a horror note should not carry the scare by itself. The line must read cleanly and make sense without the note. If a beat is essential to understanding or to the scene’s intended impact, put a clear version in the line and let the note add a quiet aftertaste. Good uses keep the action or fact in the sentence and let the note season it: > Subject was consumed during testing.[[footnote]] Autopsy describes an internal oral structure. [[/footnote]] > Wing C requires Level-3 clearance following Incident C-12.[[footnote]] Clearance was added after the wing was built around the object. [[/footnote]] > Recovered from a farmhouse in █████ County.[[footnote]] Third documented recovery within the same parish. [[/footnote]] > Audio drops to silence at 14:32. No source is detectable.[[footnote]] Silence profile matches a human whisper with no speaker on any channel. [[/footnote]] You can keep horror notes brief and rare so the unease comes from what’s left unsaid. ---- [[=]] +++ Redaction, spoilers, and playing fair [[/=]] Readers should never feel like they have to chase footnotes to understand your plot. Notes can explain why something is hidden without undoing the concealment. > Interviewee █████ stated that containment was viable.[[footnote]] Name withheld per HR policy. [[/footnote]] If identity or content matters to understanding, put the essential part in the sentence and keep the specifics elsewhere. You can often meet in the middle with a partial disclosure that shares just enough to make sense, and keeps the rest hidden. > Coordinates partially redacted.[[footnote]] Northing verified. Easting withheld pending decontamination. [[/footnote]] ---- [[=]] +++ Workshop: three more repairs [[/=]] **Stakes hidden in a note** > **[BAD]:** Activate Evacuation Protocol when readings change.[[footnote]] Dose rate above 5 mSv per hour. [[/footnote]] > **[BETTER]:** Activate Evacuation Protocol if dose rate exceeds 5 mSv per hour.[[footnote]] Threshold set by Site-19 safety standard. [[/footnote]] **Lore cluttered inside a note** > **[BAD]:** Recovered in █████ County.[[footnote]] Five owners between 1983 and 1991, including a school custodian and two private collectors; custody records are inconsistent. [[/footnote]] > **[BETTER]:** Recovered in █████ County.[[footnote]] Ownership is partially documented from 1983 to 1991. [[/footnote]] **Vague instruction with horror tucked in a note** > **[BAD]:** Limit direct observation.[[footnote]] Eye contact makes it adopt the observer’s face. [[/footnote]] > **[BETTER]:** Avoid eye contact. The entity adopts the observer’s facial features when looked at.[[footnote]] Resemblance fades when attention breaks. [[/footnote]] ---- [[=]] +++ Accessibility and mobile considerations [[/=]] A lot of people read on phones or with screen readers. Short notes that sit exactly where the clarification belongs are easier to tap and easier to hear. Nested or chained notes make it hard to get back to the main line, so keep things flat. Pop-ups do not handle wide formatting or long code strings very gracefully, and they sound messy when read aloud, so keep the typography simple. A quick check helps catch trouble early. Delete every footnote and read the page. If the document still makes sense and the actions are clear, your placement is working. If the page collapses, move the load bearing information into the body and leave only the gloss in the notes. This also reveals tone problems, because a sentence that was leaning on a clever footnote for voice will suddenly feel thin when the note is gone. ---- [[=]] +++ Closing [[/=]] Use footnotes with intent. Let the sentence carry action and outcome so no one has to guess. Let the note add a small piece of context for the reader who wants it. When you are not sure, take the note away and see what happens. If the paragraph still stands and the reader still knows what to do, the note is doing the right kind of work. If everything wobbles, the sentence needs to say more. @@ @@ @@ @@ @@ @@