Quizilla
Quizilla was a user generated quiz website. It originally started as a website for quizzes. Many users were posting "quizzes" that were actually chapters of fan fiction, so a legitimate section for stories was added even though it is not always used. In 2005 and 2006, the website underwent multiple major changes and additions, including a section for poems and lyrics. On October 16, 2006, Viacom's MTV Networks (Teen Nick) announced it had bought Quizilla for an undisclosed sum of money. After selling to TeenNick the site went from a free writing site to a PG rated site. Due to the sudden changes, a lot of the users' work was deleted, which caused a large amount of people to abandon the site.[1] In September 2014, Quizilla announced it was shutting down on October 1.
Timeline
- The site was created on August 4, 2002, by Matthew Nielsen.[2]
- In late July 2005, the site got a new design with a red background.[3] (It originally had a blue-and-white design.[4])
- A game page was added, which included puzzles and a Napoleon Dynamite-themed hangman game.
- In October 2005, many new features under request were added such as poems, Zillapedia, an astrology section, and much more.
- In December 2005, a "tag" feature was added and feature that allowed users to label content.
- In January 2006, "themes," sets of fonts, backgrounds, etc., could be applied to content.
- Polls could be made starting in February 2006.
- In April 2006, message boards were added after numerous requests.
- In August 2006, new story and poem editors were made available. Also, new sections were added for lyrics and "scored quizzes."
- In October 2006, the site was bought by Viacom's MTV Networks.[1]
- In December 2007, the site announced the site layout and content would be changed
- In early May 2008, the site completely changed the site layout and content, as promised in December of the previous year, and the site's original logo - Penny the pencil monster - was removed.
- On September 28, 2009, The N network was renamed to TeenNick.
- On September 9, 2011, Quizilla left the 'Most Popular Stories' section void. After this, many people joined the site to post fanfiction stories, many started ending up on the "Most Popular Stories" list, because so many people were reading them.
- On November 19, 2011, no stories, poems, quizzes, etc. were on the "Most Popular," "Top Rated," "Ultimate," or "Newest" lists.
- On November 21, 2011, the URL quizilla.teennick.com directed to a new quiz site linked with Teen Nick.
- On November 30, 2011, Quizilla put quizzes, stories, poems, etc. back on the "Most Popular," "Top Rated," "Ultimate," and "Newest" lists.
- On February 11, 2014, not as many works were being posted, believed to be due either to a system hack or the fact that many users had moved to less restrictive sites.
- In September 2014, the site announced it was shutting down on October 1st due to the drop in active users.
- As of October 2014, the site is now closed down.
Forums
Quizilla's message boards, introduced due to popular request, acted as a community for Quizilla users. There were different sections, such as anime, books, poetry, and movies, to discuss different topics. There were been many changes to the forum since its launch in April 2006, most noticeably in the types of content permitted on the forums, when a series of controversial threads called for a rapid increase in monitoring and rule enforcement.
As of late May 2012, the forums were removed from the site indefinitely.
Zillapedia
Zillapedia was a section of Quizilla that used wiki software. Users were able to create entries that provide information, define words, or serve humorous purposes. Zillapedia closely resembled the Urban Dictionary in many ways, and it had similar functions to Wikipedia. It has since been deleted from Quizilla.
Shop
The Quizilla Shop section allowed people to customize clothing, accessories, and gifts by choosing design details, such as color and graphics.
