2012
2012 on SBC saw the establishment of SpongeBob Universe, the single most important event (at the time) in SBC's history.
Previous: 2011
Next: 2013
Timeline
January to April
The beginning of 2012 was bumpy. While there were popular features such as VB Experience and the Golden Community Awards, there was tons of conflict throughout the forum and Xat. The most significant one was a fight in Roger's Lightbulb over rebranding SBC, which led to the resignation of tvguy347. Activity was heavily dropping. In February 2012, 70s resigned from his admin position, leaving Wumbology and jjsthekid as the only two administrators. Later, open auditions were held, and CDCB was promoted as an administrator. Things seemed like they were turning around for the community in March 2012, but instead, things got worse.
Lunarpages turned SBC's forum folder off from March 12th, 2012 - March 16th, 2012 (essentially shutting down the forum), due to an overuse of resources and features. It was then impossible to get vBulletin back without risking further trouble with Lunarpages, so SBC was forced to move to new software, phpBB3, which further hurt SBC's activity in March. Many users got lost in the shuffle, with most leaving, and some having their accounts accidentally deleted in the process of moving on such short notice. Despite this, the site tried to pull through with things such as April Fools 2012. However, tvguy returned and fought to get the site on IP.Board, and on April 21st, 2012, it was announced SBC would upgrade to IP.Board, dubbed V8 Orca. This would bring SBC into a new golden age of activity, and the site would try to reshape the image of SpongeBob, which many believe declined after the movie.
May to August
Things got a bit better, with some new members coming. It was then announced Orca would launch June 15th, 2012. A special new feature called the SBC Turntable was launched, which allowed users to share music in a virtual room, and it was a huge hot spot throughout May. There was some trouble however shortly before Orca launched with a SpongeBob crew member, Robert Ryan Cory, joining SBC and being upset that his artwork was criticized. V8 Orca launched on June 15th, 2012, and throughout the rest of the month, brought back some older users, and many new features that would benefit the site. In July, there was an announcement of a new staff restructuring, which would bring a more clean and professional staff in tvguy's Adminstration. The site had a huge bash on July 17th, 2012, for SpongeBob's 13th anniversary, which was a huge success with a trivia contest and xat screening. Orca 8.1 then launched on August 19th, 2012, bringing new features such as Teams 2, Donations, and a new IRC Chat.
September to December
Big events started during come fall 2012. Themoderator election for the positions of Mediator Moderator and Report Moderator, which were taken over by Aquatic Nuggets (as Mediator Moderator) and JCM (as Report Moderator) respectively.
October 2012 continued the Octerror Fest tradition started in 2011. The event was a success with mostly everything planned being followed through on. Such as special Teams Battles, Halloween contests (Scary art and Scary story), and a Masquerade Ball among other things. This event was significant for setting in motion many of SBC's future event philosophies and concepts.
On November 1, 2012, SpongeBob Universe officially became a union. During the last month of 2012, the site celebrated Christmas with holiday skins and special Christmas themed events, including the trivia contests. During mid-December the SBC Teams got a reform - Good Noodles and Krusty Krushers got deleted and replaced with Goofy Goobers, Karate Choppers, Jellyfish Hunters, and Spy Buddies. The year ended with everyone eagerly awaiting the launch of SpongeBob Universe on December 31st, 2012.
Events and Incidents
- SBC Shut Down Spring 2012
- April Fools 2012
- The Robertryan Cory Visit
- Countdown To Orca 2012
- Stop What You Are Doing (SWYAD) (8)
- Octerror Fest 2012
- Christmas 2012
Notable Arrivals
- spongebobfan29 (February 2nd, 2012)
- spongebobandsandy=<3 (February 18th, 2012)
- Ooooooofy (February 19th, 2012)
- Aquatic Nuggets (March 28th, 2012)
- Maxwell's Silver Hammer (July 18th, 2012)
- Michaelmn (July 10th, 2012)
- PatBack (September 11, 2012)
- Prince Darkstar (ACSBehemothHellcat) (October 4th, 2012)
- AcidicDragon (October 21, 2012)
- kevin_ng2010 (November 8, 2012)
Notable Departures
- Spongygirl92 (January 31st, 2012)