FreezeWarp
06-16-2009, 05:14 PM
Pokezam, although it may not seem like much of a site, has had quite the history as it developed over time. This history will now be told for everybody interested to hear, and for everyone interested to comment.
Volume 1. Site History
Chapter I. The Shortened History of the APCC
Sean Cooper, or as some know him Alakazam, exists to be the original founder of Pokezam. He started the site in 1999 on Angelfire, a free websites service that makes it easy to host your own content without any knowledge of HTML, similar to freewebs. He later moved his site to various other services where hosting didn't cost much. However, the APCC's development was frequently halted by server moves, crashes, and all kinds of downtime. Eventually, Alakazam simply gave up on the site after having the domain name, the-apcc.com, stolen from him in 2004.
Chapter II. Pokezam Appears
In May of 2006, Sean Cooper felt that it would be great to have his old site back up and running again. However, with the old domain stolen, and with the problem of his old domain constantly being though of as the APPC, he believed that it would be a good time to switch domains. With a friend, he came up with the domain "Pokezam".
Chapter III. Monopolizing
Without having much time for building content, and with the lack of visitors, Cooper felt it would be hard to keep the site running. However, a rather popular site at the time, Pokemon Source, soon fell into his hands when the webmaster was no longer interested in Pokemon. He choose to hire a co-webmaster, Bobby, for this domain, however this eventually turned fruitless when Bobby opened his own site. To this end, he choose to redirect Pokemon Source to Pokezam entirely
Chapter IV. Zamcast
Trying to think of interesting things to do for Pokezam, Cooper soon came up with the idea to create his own podcast, the Zamcast, based somewhat on the idea of Bulbagarden's podcast, the Bulbacast.
However, at first Cooper found himself doing the show alone, until later hiring Kater, who himself had had a podcast with many people, some of which joined the Zamcast even.
Unfortunately, at first the Zamcast turned out to be a troubled affair. Many people were unable to attend, while many others didn't know anything about Pokemon. Likewise, Skype proved to be a problem, triggering a switch to GizmoProject, then later back to Skype.
Presently, the Zamcast remains fairly innactive, however some members are hopeful of bringing it back to its former glory.
Chapter V. Pokezam Forums
The Pokezam Forums were soon created to allow many of the fans of Pokezam to be able to talk to people, hang out, and relax a little. However, this forum also became the prime spot for feuds to be conducted, and often in public. However, at the moment the forums lack in activity, though this is changing. After all, you are here. :D
Chapter VI. Change of Hands
Soon, Cooper was contacted by a fellow named Greg Freeman. He propsed a deal where he could put Google Ads on Pokezam and in turn provide funding for the site. Eventually, Freeman completely bought the site, and started to run it on his own servers, making things run much more steadily. It also allowed for the above mentioned forum to be created.
Similar to how ownership in the site changed, the webmaster of Pokezam changed from Cooper to a developer who had been with the site for two years, FreezeWarp. He has since ran most of the site, hiring staff, updating content, and similar things. However, this change is not necissarly permanent, as Alakazam has had dreams of returning to the site, albeit without much like due to being very busy in his everyday life.
Chapter VII. ZamAccess
ZamAccess, a project to make Pokezam a much greater service to many people, was started initally by Legedary Arcanine. It would better intergrate the forums into the site, creating immense potential for development. However, this project soon seemed to die out when Legendary Arcanine had to take a leave for personel reasons.
Eventually, though, FreezeWarp tried to take over the project with some very basic changes. First of all, collapsing menus were added to the site to make it more compact and easier to view. Likewise, the look was changed to that of the forum's and three different layouts were offered - a normal look, a simple look, and a mobile look, great for those using IPhones and Blackberrys.
Chapter VIII. PokeBattlers
A member of the Pokezam staff, Adam Haskell, also known as Kaboom, soon decided to create an online game called PokeBattlers which would be in many ways similiar to an MMORPG. Although with many tries and failures, the site eventually became a big hit after recruiting Akai and Pokemaster, two staff members of Pokezam at the time. However, hosting became a problem and Pokebattlers, previously run independently, merged into Pokezam. Although this was great for a while, feuds broke out and the site broke off again, causing a loss of visitors to the forum.
At the moment, a new project is being started by FreezeWarp which will have similarities to PokeBattlers. Though this project is still very early in development, it shows promise and should become a reality in a few months.
Chapter IX. Current State of Affairs
Presently, Pokezam does fairly well with frequent traffic and a rather high level of popularity. The forums have also been gaining in activity, and many new projects have been started, including ZamFights, ZamSprites, and the renewel of the Zamcast, set to feature FreezeWarp and Alakazam on the first episode of the third season. None the less, help is always wanted, and if you can help out in any way, then submit any content you think would be useful for the site. Likewise, to help out the forums, stay active and you could become a super moderator.
For those wishing to learn about the APCC, the early Pokezam, head over to Pokezam's Site History written by Alakazam (http://www.pokezam.com/site/sitehistory/).
Volume 1. Site History
Chapter I. The Shortened History of the APCC
Sean Cooper, or as some know him Alakazam, exists to be the original founder of Pokezam. He started the site in 1999 on Angelfire, a free websites service that makes it easy to host your own content without any knowledge of HTML, similar to freewebs. He later moved his site to various other services where hosting didn't cost much. However, the APCC's development was frequently halted by server moves, crashes, and all kinds of downtime. Eventually, Alakazam simply gave up on the site after having the domain name, the-apcc.com, stolen from him in 2004.
Chapter II. Pokezam Appears
In May of 2006, Sean Cooper felt that it would be great to have his old site back up and running again. However, with the old domain stolen, and with the problem of his old domain constantly being though of as the APPC, he believed that it would be a good time to switch domains. With a friend, he came up with the domain "Pokezam".
Chapter III. Monopolizing
Without having much time for building content, and with the lack of visitors, Cooper felt it would be hard to keep the site running. However, a rather popular site at the time, Pokemon Source, soon fell into his hands when the webmaster was no longer interested in Pokemon. He choose to hire a co-webmaster, Bobby, for this domain, however this eventually turned fruitless when Bobby opened his own site. To this end, he choose to redirect Pokemon Source to Pokezam entirely
Chapter IV. Zamcast
Trying to think of interesting things to do for Pokezam, Cooper soon came up with the idea to create his own podcast, the Zamcast, based somewhat on the idea of Bulbagarden's podcast, the Bulbacast.
However, at first Cooper found himself doing the show alone, until later hiring Kater, who himself had had a podcast with many people, some of which joined the Zamcast even.
Unfortunately, at first the Zamcast turned out to be a troubled affair. Many people were unable to attend, while many others didn't know anything about Pokemon. Likewise, Skype proved to be a problem, triggering a switch to GizmoProject, then later back to Skype.
Presently, the Zamcast remains fairly innactive, however some members are hopeful of bringing it back to its former glory.
Chapter V. Pokezam Forums
The Pokezam Forums were soon created to allow many of the fans of Pokezam to be able to talk to people, hang out, and relax a little. However, this forum also became the prime spot for feuds to be conducted, and often in public. However, at the moment the forums lack in activity, though this is changing. After all, you are here. :D
Chapter VI. Change of Hands
Soon, Cooper was contacted by a fellow named Greg Freeman. He propsed a deal where he could put Google Ads on Pokezam and in turn provide funding for the site. Eventually, Freeman completely bought the site, and started to run it on his own servers, making things run much more steadily. It also allowed for the above mentioned forum to be created.
Similar to how ownership in the site changed, the webmaster of Pokezam changed from Cooper to a developer who had been with the site for two years, FreezeWarp. He has since ran most of the site, hiring staff, updating content, and similar things. However, this change is not necissarly permanent, as Alakazam has had dreams of returning to the site, albeit without much like due to being very busy in his everyday life.
Chapter VII. ZamAccess
ZamAccess, a project to make Pokezam a much greater service to many people, was started initally by Legedary Arcanine. It would better intergrate the forums into the site, creating immense potential for development. However, this project soon seemed to die out when Legendary Arcanine had to take a leave for personel reasons.
Eventually, though, FreezeWarp tried to take over the project with some very basic changes. First of all, collapsing menus were added to the site to make it more compact and easier to view. Likewise, the look was changed to that of the forum's and three different layouts were offered - a normal look, a simple look, and a mobile look, great for those using IPhones and Blackberrys.
Chapter VIII. PokeBattlers
A member of the Pokezam staff, Adam Haskell, also known as Kaboom, soon decided to create an online game called PokeBattlers which would be in many ways similiar to an MMORPG. Although with many tries and failures, the site eventually became a big hit after recruiting Akai and Pokemaster, two staff members of Pokezam at the time. However, hosting became a problem and Pokebattlers, previously run independently, merged into Pokezam. Although this was great for a while, feuds broke out and the site broke off again, causing a loss of visitors to the forum.
At the moment, a new project is being started by FreezeWarp which will have similarities to PokeBattlers. Though this project is still very early in development, it shows promise and should become a reality in a few months.
Chapter IX. Current State of Affairs
Presently, Pokezam does fairly well with frequent traffic and a rather high level of popularity. The forums have also been gaining in activity, and many new projects have been started, including ZamFights, ZamSprites, and the renewel of the Zamcast, set to feature FreezeWarp and Alakazam on the first episode of the third season. None the less, help is always wanted, and if you can help out in any way, then submit any content you think would be useful for the site. Likewise, to help out the forums, stay active and you could become a super moderator.
For those wishing to learn about the APCC, the early Pokezam, head over to Pokezam's Site History written by Alakazam (http://www.pokezam.com/site/sitehistory/).