Bulbapedia is a community-driven Pokémon
encyclopedia that is based on the
Wiki concept, meaning it may be read and edited by
anyone. It is similar in spirit to
Wikipedia, but is focused solely on documenting
the
Pokémon canon
and the fandom surrounding it.
Its name is a portmanteau of
Bulbagarden, a Pokémon website
which runs Bulbapedia, and
encyclopedia. It is affectionately known
as 'pedia among its contributors.
History
Bulbapedia is by no
means the first Pokémon Wiki; indeed, there are several that
predate Bulbapedia.
Bulbapedia was originally set up by
Zhen Lin
on December 21, 2004.
evkl took the job of
Editor-in-Chief several days later, and has held the title ever
since. There was a two-month period of secret development by select
contributors. Although it was originally intended as a stage for
content development for the
Bulbagarden website, it soon became
clear that it could
eliminate the need for a traditional
website in most areas.
An attempt to recruit early contributors
was launched on December 25, under the pretext of Bulbagarden
looking for writers for "a collaborative and open work environment
which makes interacting with other staff and looking up information
very simple."<sup>
[668]</sup>
It was not very successful, so Bulbapedia proceeded with only a
dozen or so contributors, and reached 100 articles within 3
weeks.
It was eventually opened to the public on February 14,
2005, branded as "Bulbagarden's Valentine's Gift to the
Fandom"<sup>
[669]</sup>.
Productivity grew tenfold as at least 21 articles were created in
the 24 hours following, and the article count reached 1,000 in the
3rd month since opening<sup>
*</sup>.
In April of 2005,
Bulbapedia suffered its first major attack in the form of the
so-called
Great
Bulbapedia Turkey Shoot, followed by another handful of
vandalism incidences in late May of
2005.
Bulbanews
Bulbanews is a primary- and
secondary-source news organization run by
Bulbagarden as a means of
publishing
Pokémon-related news quickly and effectively.
It was started as an offshoot of the
Bulbapedia project, but quickly grew into
its own, trying to differentiate itself by being both easily
accessible and comprehensive depending on the need of the viewer.
Bulbanews is a part of the
BulbaWiki umbrella organization.
External
links
Bulbapedia
Bulbanews
front page
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