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Bulbagarden: Difference between revisions
→History: And a vastly improved history section. Slightly more critical of where we once were, and slightly more specific about what we now are.
Pokemaster97 (talk | contribs) (→Other noteworthy staff: I doesn't make sense to keep having to change their activity status.) |
(→History: And a vastly improved history section. Slightly more critical of where we once were, and slightly more specific about what we now are.) |
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==History== | ==History== | ||
The | The current Bulbagarden website is the successor site to Bulbagarden.com, a first-generation pokemon fansite that existed around 1999-2000, competing back then with such sites as The Pokémasters (TPM), Azure Heights, and the original [[Universal Pokémon Network|UPN]]. | ||
===Death and Revival: 2001-2002=== | |||
The original site was shut down at the beginning of 2001, when the collapse of the {{wp|dot-com_bubble|dot-com bubble}} caused severe web advertising trouble for the vast majority of pokémon sites, including most of Bulbagarden's major rivals. The advertisign issue left Bulba unable to pay for the server. The files were held in stasis on the server until the beginning of February, during which time the (then) forum head admin [[Archaic]] launched a desperate bid to fund the server for just one more month, enough to be allowed access to the files again and to make a forum backup. | |||
In late 2002, following significant downtime on the part of [[Serebii.net]], ''Mozz'' and Archaic began to plan for the revival of Bulbagarden, with Mozz providing the initial funding. They obtained permission from Bulba, and Archaic began inviting staff members and well-known users from other fansites to join the staff for the new site. A large group of staff members of The Pokemasters, dissatisfied with the situation on that site at the time, chose to join Archaic's project. | |||
===Early Years: 2003-2005=== | |||
Bulbagarden officially opened to the public on January 1, 2003 as ''bulbagarden.com'', although only [[Bulbagarden forums]] existed at the time. Efforts to establish a website were made throughout 2003-2004, but while a pilot site was completed, the full version never actually went online. Morevoer, despite the forum's quick initial growth, the lack of a website as well as the slumping fandom following the end of the [[original series]] and the release of [[Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire]] resulted in long period of low activitity. | |||
In early 2004, the Bulbagarden.com domain name expired and was promptly squatted. After many attempts to reestablish the site at Bulbagarden.com, it was decided to move to a .net domain name, becoming (as it is today) Bulbagarden.net. In addition, the inability of Archaic and the staff to get the site working and the expenses related to the form server cost led Mozz to repeatedly threaten to end the site's hosting. | |||
===Bulbapedia and growth: 2005 onward=== | |||
In 2005, Bulbagarden's fortunes began to turn when {{u|evkl}} proposed that, instead of a regular website, Bulbagarden should turn toward a user-edited {{wp|wiki}} approach. With the assistance of {{u|ZhenLin}}, [[Bulbapedia]] was created. It rapidly grew over the next few years, and with its growth, Bulbagarden was finally able to firmly establish its presence in the fandom, just in time for the release of [[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]]. To complete the forum and bulbapedia, a second wiki-based project, [[Bulbanews]], was soon added. | |||
As of 2013, Bulbagarden.net is now a major pokémon fansite, with an {{wp|Alexa_internet|Alexa}} ranking placing it among the 50 most visited video game websites in the world, and has been cited in professional studies and publications. Archaic is still the webmaster, seconded by a team of [[vice-webmaster|vice-webmasters]], as well as by the staff of the various ''projects'' of Bulbagarden (Bulbapedia, Bulbanews and Bulbagarden Forums). | |||
==Site Organization== | |||
==Network== | ==Network== | ||