The Sonic Stadium
From Sonic Retro
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.
Contents
History
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.
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
- [The Sonic Stadium] - main site
- [Sonic Stadium Message Board] - network forum
- [Sonic Spriters Network] - spriting/pixel art information
- [Sonic Site Awards] - July-October awards program
- [FastFeet Media] - FTP/media portal (founded by FastFeet)
- [SEGASonic Radio] - radio station (powered by Zone Radio 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
- Chris (Chris Greening) - administrator
- Cyberblade, Flint (L. Hiltunen), Shazra, Violet, Remz, Flyboy Fox, Way Past Cool - moderators
SEGASonic Radio
- Hawkz (Andrew Hawkes), Dreadknux (Svend Joscelyne) - Heads
- Roarey, Hawkz, Dreadknux, Iceman, Hypersonic, CosmicFalcon, Turbo, Slingerland - DJ's
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