Scioly.org:History
| Introduction to |
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| Using the Forums |
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| Editing the Wiki |
| Events and Games |
| Site Features |
Scioly.org started in 1998 and originally had about 10 members subscribed to it. Features included state pages, a question-and-answer panel, a Java chatroom, and even event pages that may have been the forerunners to the present wiki.
Since its formation, many changes have been made to the site in appearance, function, and staffing. This page contains a complete history of the site, complete with pictures and text.
Timeline
General Site
Scioly.org - First Generation
The first edition of the site was launched in 1998. As seen in the pictures, it included event pages for many events as well as chat and question-and-answer panels.
Scioly.org - Second Generation
Around 2000, a new layout of the homepage began, hosted by Charles. There were multiple ways to join: one could subscribe directly by email or email the people in charge to request to be added. That board was extremely successful and had 52 pages of topics, 22935 hits, and a live chat twice a week.
Scioly.org - Third Generation
The homepage of the SOSC (the colloquial name of the forum back then) changed yet again in October of the same year. Even more features were added during the change, including Team of the Week, Editorials, a more organized Event Info, and even Competition by State Info. Team of the Week was written by Linda (who later became a mod in the forums). This board had around 300 topics and almost 22,300 hits. There were five people in charge of the board:
- Ben: Webmaster, Main Page Design
- Jim R: Webmaster, Main Page Design
- Linda: Webmaster, Team of the Week, Editorials, Weekly Sections, News, Photographer
- Eric: Webmaster, Main Page Design, Logo Design, Trajectory Page
- Charles: Server and Domain Administrator
They were an enterprising bunch, selling SOSC buttons.
Scioly.org - Fourth Generation
Around October 2, 2001, they added a bulletin board similar to the current site. This bulletin board had 175 members and 281 topics; it even reached 1,858 posts. There are very few members still around from that time - they include Jim_R, Uncle Fester, Deltahat, and Matthew. This time, the layout changed to a blue one similar to the current one The admins (Jim_R, Linda, and Charles) received easily identifiable colored nicks. This version became very popular, acquiring 1,230 members, 2,208 topics, 36,163 posts, and 363,781 views. In this period of prosperity the OBB board was implemented; this is now known as the OBB archive.
Scioly.org - Fifth Generation
The fifth generation board was created in June 2008. Dark Sabre added new staff for better moderation of the forums; this is when gh, SiegeLord, bah, and eak227, exemplary members of the OBB forums, were honored. Also added were improved chat engines. The board has been ran very smoothly, accumulating 25,000 members, 3,200 topics, and 245,000 posts (and counting). The new site also features a score tracker made by Tehkubix and an image gallery on which pictures are hosted.
In May 2011, general operation of the site was passed on to starpug and robotman09 (now known as robotman). Over the next three years, several staff joined the team: Eaststroudsburg13, RandomPerson, AlphaTauri, foreverphysics, iwonder, Schrodingerscat, and Paradox21. In addition to moderating the forums and wiki, iwonder managed the image gallery while foreverphysics and mnstrviola organized an annual summer resource exchange known as the Scioly Summer Study Session. Along with the announcement of iwonder's promotion to Gallery Administrator, the site upgraded to a new chat client, Kiwi IRC. In August 2014, a quizzing application was added to the site, allowing users to add and answer questions.
The following season, new staff included John Richardsim, bernard, and Unome. In November 2015, general operation of the site was passed on to bernard. John Richardsim brought back the feature of Team of the Week in January 2016, and teams featured in the feature can be found at the Team of the Week Archive.
Scioly.org - Present Generation
The present generation board was created in December 2016. The site transitioned to a new server on December 4th. Under the new site admin, bernard, the homepage, wiki, and forums were redesigned on December 25th, giving the site a cleaner and simpler appearance.
On August 26th of 2020, the site switched from using IRC as its primary chat service to using Discord, with announcements being posted on both the forums and Instagram.
The OBB Archive and the Wiki
OBB Archive and Original Wiki
Around April 2006, the SOSC name was put to rest and the site officially changed its name to Scioly.org. The homepage was also moved to the OBB forum during this time—this board reached 10474 members, 177,009 posts, and 9,087 topics. Dark Sabre was also promoted to Administrator during this move.
This version of the site had tons of great features including a calendar, the present wiki, birthdays, team forums, and collapsible forums.
Wiki
During the summer of 2010 a new wiki skin was created and implemented to give a single look throughout the site. The wiki's layout has been updated several times since then, with the change to the current layout occurring on August 3rd, 2020. Below are screenshots of what the main page of the wiki looked like in the past.
| 2010 | 2010-2014 |
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| 2014-2017 | 2017-2020 |
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| 2020-Present | |
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The wiki has also undergone feature updates in the past, adding functionality and quality of life upgrades. Shortly before the layout update in August 2020, the Scioly.org wiki was updated with Lua functionality. This allowed more possibilities for templates, making it easier to organize and create pages.
Board Organization
The forums are split into six sections as of the 2019-2020 season.
- Event Forums is the home of all event-related topics. This forum is split further into forums for Lab, Building and Study events, with an additional forum for Question Marathons. Most events simply have one thread under their proper forum, though events under the Building Events forum typically have entire subforums since many competitors have a wide variety of questions about these events.
- Competition Forums hosts forums for Invitationals, Regionals & States, and Nationals, as well as boards for Alumni. The General Competition forum can also be found here, for competition-related questions that don't quite fit anywhere else.
- Off-topic Forums holds General Chat, Posting Games and the Polling Place. These boards were formerly combined with the Event Forums under a section known as "The Student Forums", but were split off to make them more accessible. General Chat is for any non-competition related threads, and posting games is for any activities or games that take place on the forums. Polling Place is a section that allows any user to ask questions to the community about whatever topics they'd like.
- Administrative is the forum for announcements and feedback on updates to Scioly.org. Exalted users may also find a separate subforum for discussion under this section.
The final two sections are Team Forums and the Archives. Team forums may be created upon request, and are only visible to registered members of a team. The Archives hold any threads related to past seasons made in Event Forums or Competition Forums (with the exception of General Competition). Threads in these forums are archived at the end of the season to ensure that the most up-to-date information is always available. However, threads in General Competition and other boards remain in place so that a wide variety of information is accessible to new competitors.
Staffing Changes History
- Main page: Scioly.org:Staff
Shortcuts
SO:SL
SO:STAFFLIST
gh, bah, and Siegelord were promoted to Administrator positions.
Zekebud was added as a Moderator and andrewwski was added as an Administrator on April 6, 2009.
jander14indoor was added as a Moderator.
fleet130 was added as a Moderator.
Starpug was added as a Wiki Moderator on April 6, 2009.
Robotman09 was added as a Wiki Moderator on January 23, 2010.
Aia was added as a Gallery Mod around May 1, 2010.
starpug and Robotman09 were promoted to Moderators on March 31, 2011.
starpug and robotman09 were promoted to Administrators on May 30, 2011.
EASTstroudsburg13 and zyzzyva98 were added as Wiki Moderators on June 13, 2011.
zyzzyva98 and RandomPerson were promoted to Moderators on April 5, 2012.
EASTstroudsburg13 was promoted to Moderator on August 29, 2012.
AlphaTauri was added as a Moderator on September 19, 2012.
zyzzyva98 was promoted to Administrator on October 24, 2012.
foreverphysics was added as Wiki Moderator on March 15, 2013.
iwonder was added as moderator and mnstrviola as Wiki Moderator on September 16, 2013.
iwonder was promoted to Gallery Administrator on December 2, 2013.
EASTstroudsburg13 was promoted to Administrator on February 6, 2014.
Schrodingerscat was added as Moderator on March 9, 2014.
Paradox21 was added as Moderator on June 23, 2014.
foreverphysics was promoted to Moderator and John Richardsim was added as Wiki Moderator on September 7, 2014.
bernard was added as Moderator on May 13, 2015.
bernard was promoted to Administrator on November 9, 2015.
Unome was promoted to Wiki Moderator on March 26, 2016.
Schrodingerscat was promoted to administrator, Unome was promoted to Moderator, and Person was promoted to Wiki Moderator on September 5th, 2017.
Person was promoted to Moderator; windu34, pikachu4919, and Adi1008 were added as Moderators; and NeilMehta was added as Wiki Moderator on June 25, 2018.
pepperonipi was added as Wiki Moderator on December 6, 2019.
gz839918 was added as a Moderator, and HugoTroop and Tailsfan101 were added as Wiki Moderators on April 3, 2020.
pepperonipi was promoted to Moderator, jaspattack was added as Wiki Moderator, and samy-oak-tree was added as Gallery Moderator on September 7, 2020.
gz839918 was promoted to Administrator on February 11, 2021.
Tailsfan101 was removed from the staff team and unexalted on May 14, 2021. An announcement was posted on the same day.
Achievements
- Main page: Scioly.org:Exalted Members
Registered users can earn certain achievements for posting frequently on the forums or helping around the site. On the forums, there is a star system that is based on how many "useful" posts a user has made. Post count reflects posts made in event or competition forums - any posts not made in General Chat or Posting Games counts as "useful".
1 star: any registered member
2 stars: 10 "useful" posts or more
3 stars: 50 "useful" posts or more
4 stars: 150 "useful" posts or more or Exalted Members
5 stars: Moderators
6 stars: Administrators
Users may also be exalted for their contributions to the site, awarding medals that are displayed below the stars on the forums. There are several ways to earn medals - contributing to the forums and wiki, uploading images to the Image Gallery, contributing tests to the Test Exchange, or otherwise substantially contributing to the site. There are currently 124 Exalted Members on Scioly.org.
Links
All info came from the Way Back Machine
First Generation: First Generation Site, First Generation Wiki
Second Generation: Second Generation Site, Second Generation Forum
Third Generation: Third Generation Site
Fourth Generation: Fourth Generation Site
Fifth Generation: Fifth Generation Site