This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/hobbydrama by /u/Armascout on 2025-03-31 03:31:58+00:00.
Background
This is something that happened a few years ago but is still an active discussion due to the complexity of it.
For those unaware the SCP Foundation is an online collaborative horror writing project. It’s been around since 2008 and is about the aforementioned organization and its efforts to protect the world from anomalous threats.
Part of the writing for the site involves what are called author avatars. Basically characters who are members of the foundation that are representatives of the authors. This is something entirely optional but back in the early years of the site it was very common for contributors to do.
Several of the popular characters on the wiki such as Dr. Gears, Dr. Clef, Dr. Kondraki, etc are all author avatars.
One of if not THE most popular author avatar was Dr. Bright.
Dr. Bright
Dr. Bright was the in universe author avatar for site contributor Admin Bright who was a member of the site for over a decade including being staff for many years.
The character of Dr. Bright was an immortal researcher who had the ability to possess others through the use of an amulet that contained their soul.
Due to the versatile nature of the character they were incredibly popular and used in many articles and tales many of which were not created by Admin Bright.
Some of the best works featuring Bright such as “The Executions of Dr. Bright” weren’t even written by Admin Bright. Admin Bright created the character but others took them and made great stories using them.
Something that should be noted is that SCP is not always serious and grimdark. There are sections on the wiki for less serious SCPs and stories. These are -Js (joke SCPs) and more comical or goofy tales that use regular SCPs. This side is sometimes called “lolfoundation” but it depends on who you talk to.
One of if not the most popular things about Dr. Bright was his “List of things Dr. Bright is no longer allowed to do at the Foundation”
This was a joke list that was not representative of the Dr. Bright character but rather just things Admin Bright felt were either funny or made for funny implications.
Entries included but were not limited too:
- If an SCP file says never to do something, it is not because we want to control your mind.
Yes it is. - No, it’s not, and Dr. Bright may not edit this document.
- Dr. Bright is not from an alternate timeline.
- Dr. Bright cannot issue orders to “preserve the timeline”.
- Or to “corrupt the timeline”.
- Or to “screw with those history nerds”.
- Chainsaws are not the solution to every question.
- Nor is ‘More Chainsaws’.
- Or “Chainsaw cannons”
- Except for that one time. And yes, it was awesome.
By the time of its deletion this list had 280 different entries in it.
This list became the representative for the Dr. Bright character and many fans offsite (myself included) saw him as a Bugs Bunny type jokester of the foundation.
Videos reading or illustrating the “Bright List” have MILLIONS of views.
Onsite the list was more mixed with some contributors liking it and others not.
Particular scrutiny came to entries with more concerning implications or overtly sexual themes such as
- Dr. Bright must never come in contact with anyone under the age of 18.
Let him contact them. It’s the only way they’ll learn. Just because it is a learning experience, does not mean anyone needs to come in contact with Bright. - Bright is not allowed to administer spankings to Dr. Rights as punishment, as it only causes more rules to be broken.
No, it doesn’t matter that they are both “consenting adults”, no matter how much either of them argue otherwise.
Dr. Rights is not allowed to spank the monkey.
Nor is she allowed to shock the monkey.
Or anything else related to the monkey.
This was something that remained mostly onsite and the division regarding it didn’t become more widely known until later.
The Drama
During the time that Admin Bright was a member of staff they were in charge of the Anti-Harassment Team. Aka the group of people responsible for making sure site staff, contributors, etc weren’t using their position or involved in harassing others.
In 2020 Admin Bright retired from staff.
Two years later they were banned when it came out that they had used their position to sexually harass members of the community including minors.
Bright had used their position as head of the anti harassment team to hide their abuse for YEARS.
The Aftermath
Following the downfall of Admin Bright the community had to decide what to do regarding the list.
For a year it remained with a warning message about its contents.
Some authors who had previously used Dr. Bright went back to their earlier works and either wrote him out or (in the case of djkaktus) replaced them with a “Dr. Ellias Shaw. Who serves the same purpose as Bright but isn’t named after Admin Bright.
However the list itself still remained. When they were banned it had come out Admin Bright had used the list as a way to lure victims or a form of credibility.
In 2023 a retiring staff member deleted the list before retiring. It was reinstated afterward but this caused discussion regarding it to reemerge.
Ultimately the list was deleted with a message replacing it regarding Bright’s actions and as an apology from site staff for inadvertently allowing Bright to get away with abuse for years.
Today
Today Dr. Bright is seen as a stain on the site’s history.
People still debate whether Bright’s contributions should be deleted. It should be noted their work isn’t SUPER PROLIFIC but the Bright character is used in hundreds if not thousands of different tales, articles, media, etc. Completely rewriting everything to remove them would be virtually impossible.
It’s not the site author’s faults that Dr. Bright is named after a staff member who was abusive. They couldn’t have known.
The issue is that SCP isn’t limited to the wiki. There are millions of “offsite fans” on youtube, tiktok, twitter, etc who aren’t aware of Admin Brights actions. These fans sometimes still reference Dr. Bright, unaware of their creators actions.
There’s a network of SCP: Secret Laboratory servers named “Dr. Brights Facility” they were founded before everything about Admin Bright came out to the public but they are stuck being associated with them due to no fault of their own.
There are some members of the community who believe Dr. Brights work should be deleted or that works containing the character should be rewritten.
There are others who believe they should be kept but with warnings regarding Admin Brights behavior.
My thoughts
Until relatively recently I was an offsite fan but I was vaguely aware of the Dr. Bright drama. I think it really sucks that the community has to give up this character (even writing stuff with the Dr. Shaw replacement is generally discouraged). But it’s entirely understandable.
What are your thoughts?