BZpower's golden days

[Franz Joseph Haydn]

I wouldnt go so far as to say it was mad, but I saw a lot of familiar faces all the time. Now I barely see anyone I know besides staff, and I've been too far down the Reddit rabbit hole now for too long to even know for sure if they remember me. Everything's slow and painful now and I'm hoping to Gods that the return of Bionicle we think is going to happen will bring back the actrivity that I knew and loved. I can go down the forum list and mark every forum as read now and I never could back then., except rarely.

[Element Lord of Milk]

I actually don't remember caring all that much about proto. Although that could be because I think the only time mine ever changed was when I became a premier member.

[Reya]

Oh, man, I just remembered... back then, your proto level was a HUGE deal. Gaining or losing proto was everything to a member... I remember feeling sick when I got deproto'd the first time. It was devastating. So was the second time. I remember gnashing my teeth for days because I didn't agree with the rationale behind my deproto. It was a misunderstanding, I tell you! A simple misunderstanding, taken out of context! You have to believe meee...

 

- Heir

Agreed. I remember initially, I would read over my posts carefully to ensure I wasn't breaking some kind of rule or something. Alot of people judged you on your proto levels. I remember rules in B/S/T like 'No deal if you do not have atleast neutral proto levels' or something along those lines.

 

The golden age was just really a busy time. Alot of the times you wrote a post but the forums were to busy to upload it making you frustrated. Actually frustration is something I would heavily associate with the golden age.

 

B/S/T was also alot busier back then. :'(

[Gatanui]

Oh, man, I just remembered... back then, your proto level was a HUGE deal. Gaining or losing proto was everything to a member... I remember feeling sick when I got deproto'd the first time. It was devastating. So was the second time. I remember gnashing my teeth for days because I didn't agree with the rationale behind my deproto. It was a misunderstanding, I tell you! A simple misunderstanding, taken out of context! You have to believe meee...

 

- Heir

Oh my, I remember those days. That great feeling when you got a proto boost and even more so when your proto bar filled up!

 

-Gata

[Cambion]

back in the day, post count was also a big deal. people would have competitions to see who could post more in a single day.

 

...although you know, they probably still would if it weren't for the fact that we have (comparatively) so few topics to post in nowadays.

Edited August 9, 2014 by Arc

[Taka Nuvia]

back in the day, post count was also a big deal. people would have competitions to see who could post more in a single day.

 

...although you know, they probably still would if it weren't for the fact that we have (comparatively) so few topics to post in nowadays.

 

I think it's gotten a bit better recently, though.

 

I don't, however, miss the constant competition to be among the day's top 20 posters. That was crazy.

[fishers64]

I don't, however, miss the constant competition to be among the day's top 20 posters. That was crazy.

 

Or the competition to get your topic on the top 10 hot topics list. Especially in General Discussion. People weren't actually thinking and making high-quality topics. What a mess.

[Akuna Toa of Sonics]

Before Bionicle ended, BZP was much more active. There were more comic makers, more GD threads, and more everything. I remember when I posted so much that I broke 2 posts per day for my PPD count. Posting and proto essentially meant everything; they were the equivalent of being a Mythic member over at Bungie years ago.

Honestly, old BZP was one of the most active forums I've ever seen.

Edited August 9, 2014 by Akuna Toa of Sonics

[Phauxx Lightning]

There was a whole lot more of... well, everything pretty much. BZP hasn't really changed too much, I think a lot of change that did happen seemed to be brought by BIONICLE ending and consequently a lot less members staying with the site.

 

The site used to look different didn't it? I remember the look of the old site. The memories...

[Heir of the Chronicler]

That's a good way of putting it- BZP was like it is today, only more so.

 

And, yeah, after the dark ages down time, the forum switched to a somewhat different format from the classic InvisionFree template it had always used.

 

- Heir

[ToaKapura1234]

I only joined as the Golden Age ended, shortly before the downtime. I actually quit before the downtime then decided to come back months later. The forums looked different and everyone was talking about some downtime thing. But, more on topic I mostly agree with Sumiki. The only plus side was that library and comics weren't graveyards. I mean 90% of the stuff was glorified spam, but better 10% good than 0% anything.

[flynn58]

I wish we had stuck with the original InvisionFree template, that one was cool and reminds me of the 90s.

[Than the Moa]

BZPower never on an invision free template as it was never hosted on invisonfree. There was a period where it was on a default skin due to upgrading the forum software and the old skin becoming incompatible.

 

As for the current skin, it was modernized take on the original skin. It could probably be updated with some new tricks at some point, but it'll likely remain largely the same. And if you want the default invison skin, you could always just switch to it.

[Kaxix]

Well, if Bionicle is really returning, everyone will able to experience a new era of golden days.

 

Probably the most exciting thing for me were the sets discussions after the first official images.

[Mr. House]

The most stark thing I remember were the 100+ page player RPGs, and the times when the BZPRPG had five new pages a day.

[Franco]

I recall the times when games ruled Makuta a playable race.

[Mr. House]

I recall the times when games ruled Makuta a playable race.

 

Good lord, I once had three. At once.

[Roki]

BZP was a very different place. 

When I joined in 2002 the feel was somewhat similar to how it is currently, many people knew each other and recognition of other active members was fairly easy. 
Within a month of my joining we hit the 3000th Member ('Toa of the Seas' if I remember correctly), then the 5000th in the following two months. 

Membership continued to grow and the community grew busier and more lively as it became an amazing hive of activity. 
New forums were being created fairly regularly to incorporate new areas of content and discussion. 

I'd say around 2004-7 the place exploded into much more of a city feel. The community developed somewhat of a society around it, with some members becoming celebrities based upon post count, writing a good story or making a popular sprite kit.
Fads occurred fairly frequently and would rapidly spread throughout the member-base.
Art and BBC contests became more frequent and had more participants each successive time. Crazy 250 page discussions about elements, masks and matoran ran wild in S&T with amazing theories, occasionally resulting in member based suggestions becoming canon.

Greg occasionally posted and answered questions almost daily. This might not sound like a big deal, but having a direct line to the person in control of the franchise and having regular conversations with him was amazing.

I don't think there's really anyway to explain it properly, but hopefully if you stick around over the next few years, you might see for yourself.

- Roki