User:AMK152/bio

Biography

Beginnings (1999-2007)

I began watching SpongeBob SquarePants since the beginning. I often played SpongeBob-related games on Nickelodeon.com and watched the same episodes over and over again. "Band Geeks" was among my favorite episodes for several years. On December 2, 2005, I joined Wikipedia. I had a particular interest in the SpongeBob-related articles on the online encyclopedia. I began making contributions to the articles. I was involved in reverting fake episodes and seasons in the early days of 2006, when such vandalism was common. I worked with several other editors who contributed to the SpongeBob SquarePants articles. Among those I worked with was ForestH2. On June 6, 2006, ForestH2 and I founded WikiProject SpongeBob SquarePants, for the purposes of managing and improving all SpongeBob-related articles on Wikipedia. The WikiProject grew to over 100 members within a year.

Crisis at Wikipedia (2007)

On May 8, 2007, a crisis began that threatened the status of the episode articles on Wikipedia. A Wikipedia user made an argument that individual episode articles on Wikipedia are not notable enough for their own article:

Single episode articles do not need to exist for most series. Only certain shows of high regard (The Simpsons, Dr. Who), that can have actual information, need them. An episode needs to be capable of having more than just a plot summary; along with a nice, concise plot summary, they need to have at least well sourced development, and reception sections. Examples of this can be found here, here, and in any of the episode articles here. Obviously, they won't just pop up for every episode article, but it is easy to tell that this is very unlikely to happen for this series. I plan on doing this in five days if no concerns are brought up. If they are brought up, I will address them.

The Proposer (May 8, 2007)

I and one other Project member tried to counter the argument and negotiate with the proposer. My opening arguments began like this:

SpongeBob is as high regard of a show as the Simpsons. It is a very notable and popular show, and many of the episodes are notable as well. What about all the work put into the episode articles, plot summeries [sic] and some production details? People have put in a lot of effort on trying to improve these articles. Yes, quotes belong on Wikiquote. Trivia is trying to downsize. Some trivia even includes production details. I have looked at some Simpson episode articles and saw that they look pretty much the same as SpongeBob, except the name of the show and that the Simpsons includes more production details. SpongeBob does have information on production details, and if you look at a few of the articles you'll see them.

- AMK152 (May 9, 2007)

I offered a compromise, by creating an article for each season. However, the proposer scrutinized what he called fan "cruft."

There really is no point for season pages. All of this can easily be stuck under the current episode list. You do not need to list cast for single episodes; it's pointless cruft. Each episode needs a three line plot summary at most. That and the basic information is all it needs. No images would be used either. Scene removals are trivia; they do not constitute the true information needed anyways. You need deep analysis of how the plot was devised, what went into it, and stuff like that.

The Proposer went on to say that only I and other user were concerned with the episode articles. The discussion continued into my 16th birthday. I advocated for the need to preserve the information, while the The Proposer scrutinized the mass amount of SpongeBob information as "pointless" and that "few people care."

On May 14, 2007, The Proposer redirected all SpongeBob episode articles to the main episode list. This, in turn, threatened all SpongeBob-images that became orphaned. Orphaned images are deleted by Wikipedia administrators. Over the course of the following week, I managed to save all the orphaned images, mostly title cards, to my computer. Once the redirection occurred, it sparked outrage over those who may have not known about the impending crisis. Other contributors at WikiProject SpongeBob joined in on the discussion. Among those who joined this discussion were SpongeSebastian, who made an incredibly great argument for the usefulness of the SpongeBob articles:

SpongeBob SquarePants is a very popular show, why it always comes in the top 15 Neilson ratings. Obviously, it deserves its own episode articles. People would want to find out more about SpongeBob episodes, so they'll turn to their favorite source of information: Wikipedia. However, they instead find themselves being redirected to an episode list. The episode list itself isn't helpful at all. It only provides the episode title, a brief summary, an airdate, and that's pretty much it. The examples of a proper Wikipedia episode article from House and The Simpsons are featured articles. What do you expect? It's not like the only goal of every Wikipedia article is to gain featured status. That's only for a few articles. All of the vandalism that goes on in the articles has nothing to do with anything and can be easily fixed. As for images, I am trying to encorage people to upload proper screenshots so that the articles look good, but I don't have a DVD-playing computer or a video capture card so I can't do that myself. Images just give a helpful illustration to support the article. Some people may say that you can easily go to TV.com and use their information, but believe me, most of the articles that Wikipedia had contained more information than what TV.com provided. TV.com is mostly helpful for reviews and such. Wikipedia articles are supposed to be helpful, not perfect. It's ridiculous to fight over whether something's perfect or not. I didn't see anything wrong with SpongeBob having episode articles and so didn't most of everyone else. This discussion not that shows of high regard should have articles. What makes you think SpongeBob isn't of high regard? Read what I said earlier please. Anyway, I said all I wanted to say. I'm just saying that SpongeBob episode list is pointless without episode articles.

- SpongeSebastian (May 18, 2007)

Sometime during the debates, The Proposer gave me a link to the SpongeBob wiki at Wikia. That was among my last resorts, as I continued to fight for the articles on Wikipedia.

Exploring Wikia (May 2007 - August 2007)

Back in 2006, I had requested that a SpongeBob wiki be created on Wikia. However, his request was denied because Wikia didn't believe that a SpongeBob Wiki would be large enough. Instead, the Wikia staff member pointed me toward the Nickelodeon Wiki. I was annoyed and convinced that a SpongeBob Wiki could be a huge project with hundreds or even thousands of articles. I copied a few articles over to the Nickelodeon wiki, but realized that it wasn't working out, so I continued on Wikipedia. On May 29, 2007, I returned to Wikia to discover that a SpongeBob SquarePants Wiki had been created by Haldir. Haldir, however, was inactive. I made very few edits on the new wiki during the summer of 2007. By the end of the summer, I had made no progress on Wikipedia. Other articles, including character articles, were disappearing.

Migration to Wikia (August 2007 - October 2007)

Without success on Wikipedia, I decided to embrace Wikia and the new SpongeBob SquarePants Wiki. I began to seriously migrate articles on the afternoon of August 27, 2007. The bulk of the migration took place in late August. I migrated several articles from late August to early October of 2007.

Shift to Administering the Wiki (October 2007 - July 2008)

On October 6, 2007, I was migrating more articles to the wiki. A user named Fad began to vandalize and upload inappropriate images on the wiki. With Haldir (the only administrator of the wiki) inactive, I had little control over the vandal. With the help of a member of Wikia's staff, I was granted sysop powers the same day. I continued to migrate articles from Wikipedia, and soon contributors at the wiki began to help out with the articles. In early 2008, Rgoodermote joined the wiki with several ideas on how to improve the articles. I became a bureaucrat on February 4, 2008 and promoted Rgoodermote to the administration.

Increasing Growth of Content (July 2008 - July 2009)

At first, I disliked the use of the new Monaco skin. However, I later realized that the use of the Monaco skin marked the first part of the golden years at Wikia. Activity increased and more users joined the administration. Article content began growing even more.

The Quiet Years (July 2009 - June 2012)

I continued as a bureaucrat at the SpongeBob SquarePants Wiki. Others joined the administration, and other came and resigned or left the wiki. During this period of time, everyone quietly edited, there were some large improvements to templates.

SpongeBob Universe (June 2012 - January 2013)

In late June of 2012, Dylan posted at the Forum of the SpongeBob SquarePants about a collaboration with SBC. I contacted Dylan, and we began corresponding over the summer and fall of 2012. Very early on in the discussions, on June 25, 2012, I gave the suggestion of "SpongeBob Universe" to be used as the name of the collaborative project.

SpongeBob Universe became official on November 1, 2012, when the founding document was accepted. Discussions and preparations were made for a January 1, 2013 launch of SpongeBob Universe, which was not ready by the time New Year's Day arrived.

Project Cleanup (January 2013 - June 2013)

With SBU on hiatus, I began to focus on Project Cleanup at the wiki, in order to improve the articles and design. AW10 and I came up with several proposals and AW10 with several designs, which continue to this day.

End of SpongeBob Universe (June 2013 - August 2013)

In June 2013, I began migrating articles to the new wiki at SBU. However, things didn't go as planned. SBU was never updated, there were a few arguments. I saw that SBU was not productive for the wiki. We abandoned SBU on August 21, 2013.

Post-SBU (August 2013 - December 2013)

After SBU, we began to settled back down and focus on the wiki. More and more people contributed to ideas and the wiki continued to grow.

Discussion Crisis (December 2013 - present)

Currently, discussions have begun to heat up. By late January 2014, the discussions were reaching a breaking point that I have begun to write up ideas on my computer to settle things down.