Why Quizilla closed?

Meta
Title:	Why Quizilla closed?
Creator:	LStryker
Date(s):	September 2014
Medium:	online
Fandom:
Topic:	Quizilla
External Links:	Why Quizilla closed? | Quotev, Archived version (this link is from someone who reposted it, the original post is gone.)
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Why Quizilla closed? was an essay by LStryker.

It was posted "on Quizilla" in September 2014, shortly before the site shut down. Another fan posted the essay to their page at www.quotev.com.

The Essay

I'm sure we all remember the "Glory Days" of Quizilla before things got out of hand. I myself joined in late 2007 under a different account and was thrilled to have finally found a community so quirky, fun, and supportive to be a part of. You all can relate to this. :)

Now I'm going to give you all a taste of Quizilla history. The website was originally started by this guy named Matthew Nielsen. He was an IT or information tech dude who one day in late August of 2002 "abused" a format called XML (extensible markup language) to create Quizilla. In less than a year, Quizilla reached such success that it had over 330,000 users with above 9Million pageloads a day and more than 50 Million images used on the site. A HUGE success. Nielson later sold the website to Gorilla Nation Media in May of 2005 which in some way was a subsection of Nickelodeon's TeenNick.

In October of 2006, Quizilla was sold again to Viacom aka the MTV Network. Things were actually airtight for almost an entire year until "Big Changes" started to occur. In December of 2007 it was announced that the old site layout (which consisted of allowing users to customize their creations exclusively) was to change. The change didn't occur, however, until May of 2008 (the next year). As promised, the layout was changed to what it is today and Quizilla's original logo so-called "Penny the Pencil Monster" (an account which hosted the site's blog) was also taken away. Users as you can imagine were very uneasy about this change but being that the content was still creatable no one felt much need to complain. Later MTV Network slapped the label TeenNick on everything to cover up changes to draw attention from itself.

Fast forward to November of 2011. This moment in Quizilla history will forever be known as the "Great Fall of Quizilla" (or as I refer to it, the Great Folly of Quizilla). For just under two weeks every user who had creations prior to 2010 had those works deleted. Everyone was in a flurried panic. A week into the trouble, no one could even reach the website because it redirected to an empty page on TeenNick's main site. Floods of users started to fear the worst of the site. It wasn't until the very end of November (2011) that we could access the website and everyone was delighted to find their creations returned properly to their profiles. TeenNick *cough* Viacom issued an apology on the main site about the issues with a promise that such a thing would never occur once more. And it never had.

Things on Quizilla were relatively normal for the next two and a half years. In mid-2012 a surge of love stories made in quiz format, more commonly known as WWYFF and WWFFYs , flooded the site's database. Everyone was happy. Everyone was absofreakinglutely content. Nothing big had changed and nothing should change. But as all things must, change always has a natural way of coming about. In 2013, many users had begun to drop Quizilla. They were growing up, the majority of them now being college age. They simply didn't have time for Quizilla anymore and besides, any newcomers would just as well as fill their shoes in their wake. The site would of course always be a part of their child and teen hoods; a fond memory drifting slowly away on the breeze of the future.

Before long 2014 rolled around. The user quota suddenly had a major influx of new writers and even some of the 'oldies' returned briefly to reminisce. WWYFF writers had literally taken over the website, but everyone couldn't have been happier...that is until late May of 2014 hit. Everyone had told themselves in 2011 that nothing could possibly be far worse than "The Great Fall of Quizilla" but they quickly found this notion to be wrong. Quite wrong. A new problem arose and it was one that would never be resolved:

The Captcha Issue:

This instilled a very new terror in Quizillians. They found themselves unable to publish any content and were very upset. Many complained to and begged TeenNick for the captcha to return to their browsers (hell, I even wrote a physical letter to BOTH TeenNick and MTV); but their pleas were not to be heard. So the Quizillians set about finding a solution and very quickly they stumbled upon one. "Just use Internet Explorer." That was the only remedy to the issue as captcha still revealed itself there, but even with this medicine 'Zillians were as wary as ever. "If captcha has disappeared", many thought, "would our creations do the same once more?" Their question went unanswered for four and a half long months (May-Sept).

We fast forward to current day. September of 2014. Quizilla has reached a lagged state. WWYFFs and poems and stories and polls and other whatnot were still being published, but at slower rates. Everyone was still trucking on, but many had lost hope that captcha would ever return to faster browsers and had left for other freer writing website without captcha. And then came the news that no Quizillian (unless you are as skeptical as Me) expected. A pop-up reared its fat, ugly head onto the homepage saying:

HEADS UP! On October 1st, Quizilla will be officially closing up shop. We want to thank you for being a fan of the site.

Disdain filled many a Quizillians' heart, but sadly many had seen this coming (though perhaps at a much later date).

You may be wondering, why has this user LStryker written a memoir to her fellow writers of Quizilla? Why should I have even bothered to read it? And my response is, "Because. That's right. BECAUSE."

Education on events is key, friends. I want everyone to know about Quizilla's history and why it has fallen. When this website closes, I don't want you all to remember Quizilla with remorse or even hate. No. I want you to walk away from this with good memories and feelings.

Quizilla for me, my friends, sibling, and Y.O.U. has been a fantastic let out. Here we have hidden from s and bullies. Here we have created a loving and supportive community. Here we have made long and short-tern friends. And here is a place that so many of us have grown up in. When you hit the LOG OUT button for the ver last time, I want to feel accomplished and happy. For a time YOU were important in a non-physical place and you learned so much there. Now, you are older and wiser and braver. You are ready to take on the world as it is. Feel proud of yourself and all that you've done.

When the world beats you down, you can think of all of your fondest memories. Go ahead. Reminisce those great "Glory Days" of the fine, fun Quizilla that Matthew Nielsen originally created for us. Like so many of the able things that have happened in our lives; Quizilla is just as if not more of a fond memory for our impressionable minds as we age into successful people. And when you've returned to your happiest state, you can move forward and be the most amazing you that you can be.

Thank You for taking the time to read this and for all of those amazing, memorable years. I won't forget what this site has done for me as I'm sure you all won't.