Difference between revisions of "The SpongeBob Community"

|data3 = 14 years, 2 months and 4 days (as of October 19th, 2023)

|data4 = Forums, Discord, [[SpongeCraft Frontiers]], [[SBC Music]], [[Clubs]], [[SpongeBob Pictionary]]

'''[http://www.thesbcommunity.com/forums/ The SpongeBob Community]''' is a forum founded by [[terminoob]] on August 15, [[2009]]. It initially formed as an alternative forum for banned members from the SpongeBob boards on TV.com after several incidents involving the moderators there. The forum currently runs on Invision Power Suite, on version 4.7.14. In recent years, the community has seen the focus shift toward its Discord as the central activity hub, but the forum still holds value and purpose.

The SpongeBob Community was created after [[Forum Attack 2009|incidents on the TV.com SpongeBob Boards]] left several members banned. Originally made with the intent of exclusively hosting banned or suspended members, the site became a all-purpose SpongeBob forum within months of its creation, at the disapproval of founder [[terminoob]]. The site had a plain white skin as its default design until terminoob gave power to [[that70sguy92]] as the main admin. This set the stage for the [[The SBC Renaissance|power struggle between terminoob and 70s]] that would divide the forums until mid-2010, when terminoob resigned as Main Administrator.

Although 70s had essentially run the Community since its inception, terminoob returned as a Main Administrator in early 2010. With two heads of the forum with vastly differing opinions, 70s had consolidated power in terminoob's absence and developed a close working relationship with member [[iDylan|tvguy347]], who is credited with giving 70s the inspiration to forge forward with SBC at a point of low activity. terminoob was left out of the loop as the partnership between tvguy and 70s strengthened. Expressing his distaste at a regular member playing such an active role in the staff, terminoob attempted to become more involved. He instituted a number of strict policies and repeatedly referred to his founders' status in order to enforce such policies. Relations between 70s and terminoob were further strained with the promotion of the site's first moderators (tvguy347, [[jjsthekid]], and [[spongebobs1fan]]) in January 2010. On June 20, 2010, 70s briefly gave tvguy administrative powers for the purpose of investigating a bug on the site. Upon hearing this news, terminoob promptly resigned the same day, stating he was out of the loop and hated what the site was becoming. He had assumed he would regain control from 70s upon his return to the forums, and at being relegated to a secondary role, saw he had no reason to remain on staff.   

Seen as a new beginning for the Community, 70s assumed full political control of SBC. He restructured the staff immediately, promoting [[jjsthekid]] and tvguy347 as admins and four new moderators. He also relaxed the rules and removed several of terminoob's harsher policies. However, due to terminoob remaining the founder of the site on Forumotion, he retained irremovable administrative power and the ability to delete the site. This issue persisted later in the month of July 2010, when terminoob threatened to delete the forums unless tvguy was removed as an administrator. tvguy was briefly removed as an admin, replaced by [[ExKizuna]], and later reinstated as the fourth administrator. 70s oversaw escalated tensions with rival forum, [[SpongeBuddy Mania]], including the most hostile period in SBM-SBC relations in its history. On November 25, 2010, a large fight occurred in SBC's thread on SBM, resulting in a makeshift treaty composed by SBM's PhilipB. The following day, November 27, 2010, SBC was attacked by SBM members in a 32-minute [[Pokemon SBC Forum Attack|spam raid]]. 70s responded vigorously, vowing to holds those responsible accountable. The rivalry between the two forums intensified with SBM's v3 Christmas release, following several days later by SBC's [[V5 Dolphin|V5]]. The close proximity of the releases caused an uproar on SBM, members accusing SBC of allegedly ripping off SBM's design. Deteriorating relations between 70s and tvguy ultimately resulted in [[The SpongeBob Community Civil War|tvguy staging a coup]], forcing 70s's removal as Main Admin. SBC's activity suffered thereafter as a result.  

The drama following the Civil War, coupled with a slow site running on vBulletin, crippled SBC's activity. Following the coup that removed 70s, tvguy became the de facto lead administrator of SBC but was soon embroiled in site-wide controversy following the [[Roger's Lightbulb Fight 2012|Roger's Lightbulb incident]] in early 2012, prompting his own resignation. 70s had been reinstated as an admin in December, but abdicated administrative responsibility and had essentially left the site by January. He resigned from the staff altogether in February 2012, leaving [[Wumbology]] and jjs as the sole members of the admin panel. Turmoil continued to grip the site and in March, SBC was shut down for a week by LunarPages for overusing its resources – a direct result of vBulletin. Activity was at an all-time low as SBC moved onto phpBB3, free forum software. CDCB was hired as a new administrator a week after 70s's resignation. SBC was in the wilderness, without a clear leader, without direction, and slowly dying. tvguy spoke to 70s about this, and the two agreed they could not let the site die, and so reunited to redevelop the Community. The new push was called [[Orca 8|the Orca Project]], although 70s quickly fell out of planning and the new SBC was forged primarily between tvguy and MDPP.

Launched on June 15, 2012, Orca pumped new life into the site, featuring games and a chat party on the Xat the night of the release. Orca received universal acclaim and the site's activity rebounded considerably. tvguy sent out emails to old members and pivoted SBC back towards SpongeBob – ironic, considering the reason he had resigned earlier in the year was because others had disagreed with him about turning the site into a My Little Pony forum. tvguy assumed full control as the new main admin, now called the [[Director in Chief]] with several self-placed democratic restraints on his power to avoid another power struggle. A [[2012 Staff Restructuring|complete staff restructuring]] occurred in July 2012, with CDCB fired, CDCB, MDPP, and ssj4gogita4 promoted as administrators. terminoob returned as a moderator, alongside Jelly, [[SpongeSebastian|SpongeSebestian]], and [[teenj12]]. 70s became Chairman of the newly created [[Representative Board of SBC]].

Jjsthekid came into power as SBC began to grow out of the vision for the site established by tvguy, which was dominated by SpongeBob Universe and Orca. He oversaw the release of [[Starfish 11]] on September 25, 2015, the first release not influenced by any Orca design elements, as well as the first not designed by tvguy. Starfish received critical acclaim and was lauded as the greatest SBC release since Orca three years earlier. Jjs also ushered in a new period of peace on SBC, devoid of the drama that existed on the site for most of its history. Immensely popular with forum members, jjs is deeply rooted in the Community and has overseen an unprecedented number of forum events, including [[March Madness]], [[Camp SBC]], [[The Fry Cook Games]], Freebooter February, [[Summer Knights]], [[July of Justice]], the return of [[Spin-Off Festival|Spin Off Festivals]], [[May Mayhem]], and the reintroduction of things like [[Customer Appreciation Weekend]]. His tenure has also included new site features such as the launch of [[SpongeCraft]], [[SBC Music|SBC Music 2.0]], the revival of [[Wheel of Fortune]], and [[Clubs]].

For a time, jjs maintained the most stable administrative panel in SBC history. He, JCM, and MDPP served as the admins of SBC for nearly 2 years, the longest any group of admins have served together consecutively (without resignations or removal). Cream became the first female administrator in SBC history in 2017, as well as the first new SBC admin in over 2 years at the time of her promotion, also a record. However, following [[Metalgate]] in June 2018, the first real drama of jjs's tenure, both [[Cream]] and [[Metal Snake]] resigned. Later in the same month, MDPP resigned as an administrator amidst the events of the [[Third SBC Renaissance]], widely viewed as the most serious series of events in SBC's history. Jjs's leadership throughout the emotionally charged crisis was praised by the community.  

Jjs is both the longest-serving admin and lead admin in SBC history, having served as an admin for 12 years and as lead admin for 8 years.

 

* The Fry Cooks group existed originally from 2010 to 2012 before being dissolved and was revived in 2018 with a new panel of Cha, JCM, and Patty Sponge (the former Chairperson of the Board, former admin, and former moderator respectively).