BZPower
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BZPower (officially launched June 20, 2002) is the largest fansite and internet forum for the LEGO toy line, Bionicle, on the internet, and is best known for its forum for discussion in all areas of Bionicle.
Origin
BZPower was the result of months of planning between the two largest unofficial Bionicle sites on the web and the four key players involved in both. Kanohi Power was a Bionicle news site founded by Mike Edwards double-check last name, and BZCommunity was a Bionicle discussion forum founded by Jon Reddick. Both Kelly McKiernan and Rich Manzo were administrators & staff members on both sites. Furthermore, by early 2002 the two had started working in a very interconnected manner as sister sites. Stories posted on Kanohi Power direct linked to discussion thread on BZCommunity about the topic, and the two sites featured prominent links to the other on the top right of each page. In May 2002 it was decided that since the four administrators worked together so well, the group should join forces to create one giant Bionicle news, reference and discussion site.
The site and its forum aims to be appropriate for children ages eight and above, shown by its strict moderation policies regarding content, including punishment for the use of vulgarities. One of BZPower's claims to fame is the member's easy access to the Bionicle comic and book writer, Greg Farshtey, who is a member on BZPower, and regularly answers questions sent to him by fans, much like the no-longer running "Ask Greg" feature in the Kanoka Club on Bionicle.com. These queries and their answers can be found in the expansive pinned Official Greg Discussion topic in the General Discussion sub-forum. Farshtey has also joined many other Bionicle-themed forums.
Some other well-known features of the main site include an extensive and constantly updated Set Database, daily news, the BZPowercast (which is a sort of "Talk_show" or discussion by BZPower Administrator Dimensioneer that has not been updated since May of 2003), and their affiliation with the website Bionicle Sector 01 and the BS01 Wiki, ongoing projects to record all aspects of the Bionicle line, created by BZPower staff member Crystal Matrix. The wiki is now run by BZPower user Swert and the site is now run by BZPower staff member Pekel. The same server that hosts all of BZPower also hosts Bionicle Sector 01. Currently, Bionicle Sector 01 and its Wiki are offline due to a reason that the BS01 and BZP staff cannot reveal.
The BZPower forum is the largest Bionicle-related board on the internet, with more than 32,000 members. Discounting inactive, banned, and post-less members, the number is smaller, although still substantial compared to other forums. There are an average of 200 to 300 members active every day. The forum formerly used Ikonboard, but then switched to Invision Power Board software (due to its increased security), which includes private message systems and several other features. The BZPower forum currently runs on Invision Power Board v2.1.7. For a long time, the site was known to experience moderate to severe slowdowns throughout the day, but now that the site has been upgraded, lag time is greatly reduced. The forum is almost always active with large numbers of members browsing topics, usually with at least one member for each forum division.
Staff
BZPower has a staff currently consisting of 39 members that encompasses all areas of the web site. For a complete list of the BZPower Staff, visit its affiliate site's Wiki entry here on the Bionicle Sector 01 Wiki.
Administrators
The Administrator group is the highest staff position on BZPower. "Admins" own the site and have total power over all aspects of it. BZP Administrators control the entire web site and pay for it.
- Binkmeister - News Editor and programmer
- Dimensioneer - BZCommunity founder and also the person in charge of the Premier Membership program.
- Bionicle Rex
- Bionicle Rex left BZPower on June_15 2005, but after newly appointed Administrator Ninjo needed to take time off for personal issues, Bionicle Rex returned to his post in Ninjo's absence. On February_13, 2006, Bionicle Rex announced that he would be returning for good as an administrator on BZP.
- Ninjo (Operations Chief and head of Forum Leaders group)
- Ninjo is currently inactive. Forum Administrators have total power on BZPower's Forums.
- Mfuss903
- Black Six
Global Moderators
The Global Moderator(often abbreviated as GM) group is right below Forum Administrators. They are basically moderators who have access to moderate all forums. In the past, they were discouraged from using their power in forums other than the ones they were assigned to, except for emergencies, but now they are encouraged to do so, as the population of BZPower has exploded over the last several months, requiring more and more moderation. There are currently three Global Moderators:
- Tufi Piyufi
- Kaiapu
- Polo X
Criticism
Among the large Bionicle fansites, BZPower receives much criticism. While the majority of this criticism is based on allegedly unfair bannings and restrictions, it is notable that the second most popular Bionicle fansite, Mask of Destiny, had a community that was once referred to by its members as "a haven for banned BZPower members". Other complaints have been raised about the policy disallowing linkage to other Bionicle forums, or the strict anti-spam rules. The most recent outbreak of large criticism of BZPower staff arrived after a semi-public arguement between author Greg Farshtey and a BZPower administrator in early 2006. Members were upset when Bionicle Rex told Greg that if he restarted a topic without his approval again he would no longer be invited to BZPower [1] (it should be noted that Mr. Farshtey has apologized for his mistake, and that this is still a private matter between him and the administration). In these cases, site administration considers the policies justified by the large number of fans who accept them, among other reasons, while critics tend to appeal to a minority that justifiably prefers other policies. Many members are also upset about the frequency with which the site is down due to overactivity, though not much can be done about this.
