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Ask the Staff (2006)

Spongey34

Was SBM a big hit when it started?
I really don't know how to determine that. Obviously a new site is not going to get a lot of popularity. But we had a smart approach to what we were doing, and I think it payed off. I think it was well received, otherwise we wouldn't be here right now.

Who were the mods back then?
We had a few, but the only former mod who currently comes to the forums is Lord Planktonomaur, who was known as patrick when he was a mod.

Do you love your job as an admin?
Yes.

What did SBM Orig look like?
Like this.

How many months SBM was planned?
Again, about 2 months before it came around for everyone to see.

Who are the banned peoples?
I won't give out names, mostly because I probably only know one. We haven't had to ban anyone really with the exception of one or two, which is nice. There may be about a dozen or so double accounts on the banned list but I wouldn't really count those.

When are you going to stop being lazy?
Never started being lazy.

What inspired you to make SBM?
SpongeBob Area probably served as the biggest inspiration, in terms of an already existing website.

Who is your webhost?
I don't know anybody's name, but we're hosted by LunarPages.

What got you the idea of making SBM?
I had always watched the show but never really payed attention to that fact. Then in December of '03 we learned a movie was coming out; in January there was a new episode, and had recently discovered the online community of SpongeBob.

What's it like being an admin/mod?
It's pretty fun, the nice part is to see everyone happy with your work. Sometimes the admins don't see eye to eye because we're not all the same height, but overall it's pretty cool and always nice to get a good laugh.

How many people have joined SBM?
Over 900 usernames have been registered, though some have been deleted bringing it down to 882 right now. Plus we've made some bots, and factor in double accounts and I guess more than 850 people total. We get twice that many people to visit the site each day, so you all better start registering.

Who created the site?
Thomas (spongedude) and I created SpongeBuddy. ssj4gogita4 created SpongeBob Mania and then I helped out a bit with that site around the time SpongeBuddy came to be. So we were affiliates from the start and then when disaster struck we diced to collaborate and here you are.

What do you like about SBM?
Everything.

Why did you call this site "SpongeBuddy Mania?"
SpongeBuddy comes from a quote by Plankton. SpongeBob Mania = SpongeBuddy = SpongeBuddy Mania.

How are you gonna answer all these silly questions?
I have no idea.

On the homepage of this site you have the important news that has the important news that is from the forums. How did you make the site so that it showed the important news on the homepage and you can see the comments?
It's a javacript that exports the most recent news topic and sends them to the front page.

Would you sell this site? If so, how much till you'd break?
No.

How did you get the pic of the moment onto the site?
Well I wasn't the one to set it all up, so I don't know exactly how it came to be. Although it's easy to figure out; it just involves adding pictures to a certain folder and then editing one of several php files. So it's not something you can just make by yourself.

Do you dedicate a lot of time to this site?
Yes.

Why the username?
I thought of something simple yet almost original. Spongey was always spelled "spongy," but I thought spongey was more correct. Then I added my 2 favorite numbers to better identify myself.

How did you get the attack use and dubloons thing on the side of peoples posts?
Once the RPG is installed, they automatically show up on each skin.

How long did it take to make SBM?
From the first page made to when it came on the net was a little more than 2 months. Actual time spent was probably a few weeks. But a few weeks of building a site is a lot of work.

spongedude

Who makes the skins for the forums?
Well, no one person in particular. The "SBM Original" skin (IPB v1.3), which is no longer up, was patched together my Spongey34 and myself. Carterhawk then offered to create a skin for the site, and he came up with the excellent "Redux" skin, which I then modified (simply changing the image colors and CSS) to make "Moonlight". The "Spongebob" skin was done by ssj4gogita4. As for the seasonal skins (Halloween, Christmas) - those are modified versions of rather nice skins I discovered at Invisionize.

Who made the skins for the site?
We use Mambo as the front-end for our site, and a component which enables us to use the hundreds of html files that contain the transcripts, capsules, pictures, videos, et cetera. The skins are heavily modified versions of skins found at MamboHut. "SpongeBuddy Mania v1" is perhaps the greatest example of this. As for who does them? Basically me - I download and modify them, and then everyone says "Yay!"

Do any of you own any other sites other than Spongebob websites?
I can't speak for the rest of the staff, but as for myself: Yes and no. I try to keep an online portfolio of multimedia work (3D, Design, Video) that I've done, but it's one of those things that I devote a weekend to, and then forget to touch it for a year and a half. I've dabbled in a few site ideas, and I'm always looking for a great concept to start, but as of this moment, SBM is the biggest (and only) site.

On a side note, a few years back (2002-2003) David and I and a few of his buddies from school dabbled in creating a software company. We sloshed together only one sucky program, and the website was terrible too. Some of the comments and emails we got during that period were less than flattering, but it taught us a lot, especially regarding public relations (our image), and the principles of what and what not to do when running a web business/community.

Who is user #1? And how did you have the idea to make SBM?
User #1 is...deleted. :p User number one was...me. The forums, which started April 6, 2004, were created through Fantastico in the cPanel at our then current host. After creating the admin user and setting up the boards, I decided I wanted a different account for myself that wasn't named "admin". So that's why I'm user #2. I then told Spongey34 to sign up...ssj was next. And I decided that it was unnecessary and a potential risk to have an extra admin account - so I simply got rid of it. But bottom line... there's no secret admin who created this place and left. That would be me.

Spongey34 had already started building a site when I became bored, looking for something to do. So I asked if he wanted to create a Spongebob fan-site. "I'm already working on one," he says. I would have to say that Spongebob Mania and Spongebob Area were our two influences. Unfortunately, SBA went under. Meanwhile, SpongeBuddy and Spongebob Mania were both lost in a power surge over a year ago. Ssj4gogita4, weary of starting his site from scratch, decided to call it a day. I was content to leave it as well, but the pressuring of Spongey34 and some of our loyal members, I was convinced to restore the site from an earlier backup. Within a couple months, SpongeBuddy Mania was on the scene, combining the efforts of Spongey34, Ssj4gogita4, and a little help from Carterhawk and I.

How much time and effort did it take to make this site?
It keeps growing, and we keep adding to it, but, of course, the first months were the most gruesome, because we had to add all the base content, and make a name for ourselves. I can't give you a specific time, all I can say is: a lot.

Whats the average time the staff of SBM works on this site a week?
I honestly don't know. We're extremely lazy, and I don't make anyone clock in or out, so...

I do know that the administrators make time everyday for at least an hour, if not more, to moderate, and of course be involved in the community.

Who won in the contest #2?
Well, I normally don't keep track of the contests, that seems to be Ssj's area. But apparently, SpongeBob_SquarePants, er, spongeboy229, no, no, Twitchy, ugh, crap... Sir SpongeBob won. Congratulations to Sir SpongeBob.