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Difference between revisions of "The Sonic Stadium"

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(The First Years (2000-2001))
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The website was launched on 24th October 2000 with an extensive Games section and a Links page. Additional sections that appeared shortly after launch included a 'Cheat Cavern', online shop, News section and an Artwork download page. The first thing visitors saw on the homepage was a three-paragraph introduction from Dreadknux, with a light-hearted message that cemented his editorial style as friendly and approachable. Within three weeks The Sonic Stadium had received over 70 unique visits, a number that pleased Dreadknux considering the little fanfare the site enjoyed when it launched.
 
The website was launched on 24th October 2000 with an extensive Games section and a Links page. Additional sections that appeared shortly after launch included a 'Cheat Cavern', online shop, News section and an Artwork download page. The first thing visitors saw on the homepage was a three-paragraph introduction from Dreadknux, with a light-hearted message that cemented his editorial style as friendly and approachable. Within three weeks The Sonic Stadium had received over 70 unique visits, a number that pleased Dreadknux considering the little fanfare the site enjoyed when it launched.
  
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===2001 and beyond...===
 
Recognition for the website's fresh editorial and light British twist on the ''[[Sonic]]'' and [[Sonic Team]] world never truly came into fruition until nearly a year after the site's launch, in June 2001. The Sonic Stadium had then released a formidable vat of information on the game of the moment, ''[[Sonic Adventure 2]]''; as well as having Dreadknux take the plunge into events and innovations that would not only increase popularity in The Sonic Stadium (usually referred to as it's shorthand namesake, 'TSS'), but benefit the Sonic community in general.
 
Recognition for the website's fresh editorial and light British twist on the ''[[Sonic]]'' and [[Sonic Team]] world never truly came into fruition until nearly a year after the site's launch, in June 2001. The Sonic Stadium had then released a formidable vat of information on the game of the moment, ''[[Sonic Adventure 2]]''; as well as having Dreadknux take the plunge into events and innovations that would not only increase popularity in The Sonic Stadium (usually referred to as it's shorthand namesake, 'TSS'), but benefit the Sonic community in general.
  

Revision as of 10:08, 9 January 2008

Template:Infobox Website

The Sonic Stadium is a British information resource, created by Dreadknux in 2000. Originally launched as a simple platform for the webmaster to write what he knew about the Sonic franchise, it is known today for its up-to-date coverage of new products, bustling community and inspired social online and offline events. It is considered by many to be the most popular Sonic the Hedgehog related website in the world.

History

The birth of The Sonic Stadium began in 1999, when Dreadknux first joined the Online Sonic Community. With his interest in the Sonic franchise rekindled by becoming a regular visitor at The Moogle Cavern, Dreadknux became aware of many other fansites that were dedicated to the series. General information websites such as Sonic HQ, The Sonic Foundation and Shadow of a Hedgehog inspired the would-be webmaster to create his own page. His goal at the time was simply to write about the games he had played and loved as a child.

The First Years (2000-2001)

Upon getting access to a home computer with limited Internet capabilities, Dreadknux started work on his then unnamed website in March 2000. It was initially planned to have a few pages online to help build momentum later, but eventually more game pages were added and the recent release of Sonic Adventure urged the webmaster to write a review on the Dreamcast classic.

A domain name was registered for http://www.sonic-stadium.com in early October via the help of webmaster friend 'ElectroSonic Dan' (webmaster of SonicRoms.org. The domain was registered on the NameZero registration service and aimed to redirect users visiting the URL to the Angelfire account that Dreadknux was using for The Sonic Stadium.

The website was launched on 24th October 2000 with an extensive Games section and a Links page. Additional sections that appeared shortly after launch included a 'Cheat Cavern', online shop, News section and an Artwork download page. The first thing visitors saw on the homepage was a three-paragraph introduction from Dreadknux, with a light-hearted message that cemented his editorial style as friendly and approachable. Within three weeks The Sonic Stadium had received over 70 unique visits, a number that pleased Dreadknux considering the little fanfare the site enjoyed when it launched.

2001 and beyond...

Recognition for the website's fresh editorial and light British twist on the Sonic and Sonic Team world never truly came into fruition until nearly a year after the site's launch, in June 2001. The Sonic Stadium had then released a formidable vat of information on the game of the moment, Sonic Adventure 2; as well as having Dreadknux take the plunge into events and innovations that would not only increase popularity in The Sonic Stadium (usually referred to as it's shorthand namesake, 'TSS'), but benefit the Sonic community in general.

The first two innovations to arrive to The Sonic Stadium via Dreadknux was The Sonic Fan Club, and the now legendary 'Sonic Site Awards' annual awards ceremony. The former was an attempt to bring all fan creation aspects of Sonic the Hedgehog into one portal - Fan Games, Fanart, Fiction, Hoaxes... it was the first site to maintain a fan portal with almost every fan creative outlet. The idea came where Dreadknux saw fan fairs on other sites, but only covered one or two things such as only Fanart or just Fiction and Hoaxes. The Sonic Fan Club has been under reconstruction for an interactive new interface, but the early concept of it brought other, larger sites at the time to follow suit.

The Sonic Site Awards was an event that would change the community for the better; an annual awards ceremony that saluted the efforts of the smaller, lesser known Sonic websites, while still giving recognition for hard work made by webmasters of larger Sonic sites. The aim was the allow smaller Sonic sites to get attention - a privelidge The Sonic Stadium was hardly allowed when faced against massive sites such as Sonic HQ or The Sonic Foundation at the time.

The Sonic Stadium continues to go on apace, and has caught on a large following from both the site, the "SSMB" Forums and other innovative events Dreadknux has since created. TSS stands as one of the most popularwebsites for general Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic Team information, and most certainly the premier British website. With content increasing every day; information, Q&A, screens, movies, music, cheats and guides, history pages, cartoons and comics and even with it's own Network of hosted sites that all offer something inventive and new to the Sonic community, The Sonic Stadium has come a long way since it's launch way back in 2000.

Since then...

Around the start of 2005, core staff began developing a system to link sites on the Sonic Stadium, along with their member functions, together using a centralized script. This allows each site on the network to use features such as the forum-style user bar and makes creation of a new site more simple due to existing tools such as skins and existing functions. It also enables them to let members interact with the sites using their SSMB forum accounts, rather than being anonymous or having to register on another script. This project was given the title "Project Grandslam". As of October 2005, part of the Sonic Stadium uses this system, as does the whole of Sonic News, the Sonic Site Awards and FastFeet Media.

In October 2005, Svend Joscelyne (Dreadknux) approached some representatives of SEGA Europe at a low-key event. This was the first time in the online community that official sources recognised and wished to build a rapport with a fansite. This led to a relationship between official source and unofficial fansites that grows stronger by the day. In November 2005, The Sonic Stadium held a special "Shadow Week" wherein the website design changed and SEGA offered many fansites copies of the Shadow the Hedgehog game to give away as prizes.


Websites on the Sonic Stadium Network

Current Staff

As of January 2007:

Head staff

  • Dreadknux (Svend Joscelyne) - founder, head administrator
  • Roareye (Rory Joscelyne) - founder and head of Sonic Spriters Network, moderator for SSN forum
  • Roarey Raccoon (Allan Fildes) - head of Sonic Stadium Message Board
  • FastFeet (Graham Seward) - founder and head of FastFeet Media, moderator for FFM forum
  • Hawkz (Andrew Hawkes) - head of SEGASonic Radio, moderator for FFM forum
  • B'man (Ian Bennett) - technical administrator for network, head programmer

Other Staff

Sonic Stadium Message Board

SEGASonic Radio

Ex-Staff

  • Biafra Republic - ex-head of Sonic Fan Club
  • Gameforce2005 (Liam Hamill) - ex-SSMB Moderator and Sonic News Reporter (2004 - 2005)
  • SparkyTK - ex-SSMB Moderator (2005)
  • Chimpo - ex-SSMB Moderator (2005 - 2006)
  • Maia - ex-SSMB Moderator (2005 - 2006)
  • Tweaker - ex-SSMB Moderator and Sonic News Reporter (2006-2007)
  • Hogfather - ex-SSMB Moderator (2005 - 2007)
  • Cake - ex-SSMB Moderator (2006)
  • Aoi - ex-SSMB Moderator (2005 - 2007)
  • Stray - ex-SSMB Moderator (2005 - 2006)
  • BirdieGryphon - ex-SSMB Moderator (2006)

Sonic News

FastFeet Media

  • ManicVJ (Adam Bennett) - head of SegaSonic:TV
  • Logokas (Lauri Keps) - developer of FastFeet Media Player

SEGASonic Radio