Quizilla is a user generated online

ONLINE

ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....

 quiz

Quiz

A quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which the players attempt to answer questions correctly. In some countries, a quiz is also a brief assessment used in education and similar fields to measure growth in knowledge, abilities, and/or skills.Quizzes are usually scored in points and many...

 website

Website

A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

. It originally started as a website for quizzes, such as personality quiz

Personality quiz

A personality quiz is a series of questions that intends to reveal something about the person who answers them. The personality quiz, unlike a knowledge quiz, has no definite set of right or wrong answers...

zes. Many users were posting "quizzes" that were actually chapters of fan fiction

Fan fiction

Fan fiction is a broadly-defined term for fan labor regarding stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator...

, 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

Viacom

Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...

's MTV Networks

MTV Networks

MTV Networks is a division of media conglomerate Viacom that oversees the operations of many television channels and Internet brands, including the original MTV channel in the United States...

 announced it had bought Quizilla for an undisclosed sum of money.

Timeline

• The site was created on August 4, 2002.
• In late July 2005, the site got a new design with a red background. (It originally had a blue-and-white design.)
• A game
  Game
  A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
  
   page was added, which included puzzles and a Napoleon Dynamite
  Napoleon Dynamite
  Napoleon Dynamite is a 2004 comedy film co-written and directed by Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess and stars Jon Heder as Napoleon Dynamite. The film was Jared Hess' first full-length feature and is partially adapted from his earlier short film, Peluca....
  
  -themed hangman
  Hangman (game)
  Hangman is a paper and pencil guessing game for two or more players. One player thinks of a word and the other tries to guess it by suggesting letters.-Overview:...
  
   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. This is similar to the popular MySpace layout at that time.
• Poll
  Opinion poll
  An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence...
  
  s 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
  Viacom
  Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
  
  's MTV Networks
  MTV Networks
  MTV Networks is a division of media conglomerate Viacom that oversees the operations of many television channels and Internet brands, including the original MTV channel in the United States...
  
  .
• 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 the prior year.
• Also in May 2008, Quizilla's original logo - Penny the pencil monster - was taken away along with the old layout.
• On September 28, 2009, The N network was renamed to TeenNick.
• Since August 31, 2010, the URLs quizilla.com and quizilla.teennick.com redirect to MTV's website.
• On September 2, 2010, Quizilla is back to normal.
• Since December 15, 2010, all Quizilla searches were typed as "Not found"
• On December 20, 2010, Quizilla search is back to normal.
• On March 7, 2011, the URLs quizilla.com and quizilla.teenick.com redirected to HTTP 500 Server Error
• On March 8, 2011, Quizilla is back to normal
• On March 23, 2011, it said "Not found"
• On March 28, 2011, it said "Error", then it went back to normal.
• On June 13, 2011, no categories working.
• On July 8, 2011, the search is not working and no stories or quizzes appear.
• On July 10, 2011, stories users have created are missing
• On July 13, 2011, Most of the stories are back up
• On July 14, 2011, Problems publishing stories and quizzes
• On July 21, 2011, the URLs quizilla.com and quizilla.teenick.com redirected to HTTP 500 Server Error
• On July 21, 2011, the USL is back to normal
• On August 3, 2011, it said "Error" but then it went right
• On August 11, 2011, the URLs quizilla.com and quizilla.teenick.com redirected to HTTP 500 Server Error
• On August 11, 2011, the URLS quizilla.com and quizilla.teenick.com are back to normal.
• On August 11, 2011, the URLs quizilla.com and quizilla.teenick.com redirected to HTTP 500 Server Error quiz results
• On August 12, 2011, the URLs quizilla.com and quizilla.teenick.com redirected to HTTP 500 Server Error
• On August 14, 2011, An error occurred while processing your request. on quizilla
• On September 9, 2011, Quizilla left the 'Most Popular Stories' section void. "This list is currently empty. Please check back soon."
• On September 26, 2011, opening any quizilla page redirects to "Service Unavailable"
• On November 19, 2011, no stories, poems, quizzes, etc. were on the "Most Popular," "Top Rated," "Ultimate," or "Newest" lists
• On November 20, 2011, the URLs quizilla.com and quizilla.teenick.com redirected to HTTP 500 Server Error.
• On November 21, 2011, the URL quizilla.teennick.com directed to a new quiz site linked with Teen Nick
• On November 30, 2011, Quizilla has put quizzes, stories, poems, etc. back on the "Most Popular," "Top Rated," "Ultimate," and "Newest" lists

Past Games

Various games exist on Quizilla: (Most of these have been removed)

• Puzzled PopStar:

Games with puzzles of music artists have been available to play. When completed, the puzzles reveal clips from music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

s. Current puzzles are of:

• • Beyoncé
  • My Chemical Romance
    My Chemical Romance
    My Chemical Romance is an American alternative rock band from New Jersey, formed in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way and have a diverse sound incorporating elements of punk, emo, glam metal, and progressive rock...
    
    
  • Kelly Clarkson
    Kelly Clarkson
    Kelly Brianne Clarkson is an American pop rock singer-songwriter and actress. Clarkson came into prominence after becoming the winner of the inaugural season of the television series American Idol in 2002 and would later become the runner-up in the television special World Idol in 2003.In 2003,...
    
    
  • Mariah Carey
    Mariah Carey
    Mariah Carey is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She made her recording debut with the release of her eponymous studio album in 1990, under the guidance of Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola, whom she later married in 1993...
    
    
  • Shakira
    Shakira
    Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll , known professionally as Shakira , is a Colombian singer who emerged in the music scene of Colombia and Latin America in the early 1990s...
    
    
  • Pussycat Dolls
    Pussycat Dolls
    The Pussycat Dolls are an American pop girl group and dance ensemble based in Los Angeles; currently consisting of Lauren Bennett, Vanessa Curry, Kristal "Lyndriette" Smith, Tiffany "Taz" Zavala, Kia Hampton and Paula Van Oppen. The Pussycat Dolls were founded by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995...
    
    

• Puzzled Photo:

A jigsaw puzzle

Jigsaw puzzle

A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of numerous small, often oddly shaped, interlocking and tessellating pieces.Each piece usually has a small part of a picture on it; when complete, a jigsaw puzzle produces a complete picture...

 could be created using an uploaded image.

• Magic 8 Ball:

This game has a space to type a question, to which an answer is randomly selected. Custom magic 8 ball games can also be made. The magic 8 ball provides random information on your questions although it cannot hear them it can always provide you with an answer!

• Let Them Sing it for You:

Sound bites from music artists are played to correspond with typed words.

• Sweet Hangman:

Basic Hangman games could be played, using phrases related to Napoleon Dynamite

Napoleon Dynamite

Napoleon Dynamite is a 2004 comedy film co-written and directed by Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess and stars Jon Heder as Napoleon Dynamite. The film was Jared Hess' first full-length feature and is partially adapted from his earlier short film, Peluca....

. Custom hangman games could also be created.

• Whack-A-Duff:

A game resembling Whac-A-Mole

Whac-A-Mole

Whac-A-Mole is an arcade redemption game. A typical Whac-A-Mole machine consists of a large, waist-level cabinet with five holes in its top and a large, soft, black mallet. Each hole contains a single plastic mole and the machinery necessary to move it up and down. Once the game starts, the moles...

 in which Hilary Duff

Hilary Duff

Hilary Erhard Duff is an American actress, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, and author. After working in local theater plays and television commercials in her childhood, she achieved fame playing the title role in the Disney Channel television series Lizzie McGuire. She also reprised her role in...

 and her sister were hit (This game temporarily showed up on the game page as "What A Duff".) This was also an insult to the many fans of Lizzie McGuire

Lizzie McGuire

Lizzie McGuire is an American teen sitcom which premiered on the Disney Channel on January 12, 2001 and ended February 14, 2004. A total of 65 episodes were produced and aired. Its target demographic was preteens and adolescents...

 and Hilary Duff

Hilary Duff

Hilary Erhard Duff is an American actress, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, and author. After working in local theater plays and television commercials in her childhood, she achieved fame playing the title role in the Disney Channel television series Lizzie McGuire. She also reprised her role in...

 and that game had to be taken off.

Forums

Quizilla's message boards, introduced due to popular request, acted as a community

Community

The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...

 for Quizilla users. There were different sections, like anime, books, poetry, and movies, to discuss different topics. There had 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.

Many forums users despair over the new Quizilla layout, commonly referred to as 'the new 'zilla'- and also question why the link to the forums had been made even less visible, put at the bottom of the Quizilla page. As of 2009, the forums link had been completely removed from the main Quizilla page.

For about six months, or longer, a forum bug prevented new users from joining, and whether or not this bug would be repaired within a conceivable timeframe remained unclear. However, on the 5th of April 2010, a user on the forums noticed that a new member had joined, and created a thread stating as such. When the other regular members were informed, it was much to their joy, and they proceeded to comment on the thread, mainly oversizing their fonts and/or creating new accounts and posting with those.

A bug still remained where users were unable to change their avatars. Much like the bug mentioned above, it was unclear as to when it would be edited and fixed.

There was a 'Zillapedia' section here, as if to make up for the original Zillapedia section (see below). It is for users to post threads querying what various words mean (such as glomp, lemon and n00b) but also to share interesting vocabulary they have discovered. This section was little used, though.

The forums still sported the red, striped background, and had the Penny the Pencil Monster logo.

Themes

Themes were removed after the new change. Users could no longer use HTML to customize their stories, quizzes, poems, etc.

Zillapedia

Zillapedia was a section of Quizilla that used wiki

Wiki

A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...

 software. Users were able to create entries that provide information, define words, or serve humorous purposes. Zillapedia closely resembled the Urban Dictionary

Urban Dictionary

Urban Dictionary is a Web-based dictionary of slang words and phrases, which contained over 6 million definitions . Submissions are regulated by volunteer editors and rated by site visitors...

 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

Fashion accessory

Fashion accessories are decorative items that supplement and complement clothes, such as jewelery, gloves, handbags, hats, belts, scarves, wigs, watches, sunglasses, pins, stockings, bow ties, hand fans, leg warmers, leggings, neckties, suspenders, and tights....

, and gift

Gift

A gift or a present is the transfer of something without the expectation of receiving something in return. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation of reciprocity, a gift is meant to be free. In many human societies, the act of mutually exchanging money, goods, etc. may contribute to...

s by choosing design details, such as color

Color

Color or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, green, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...

 and graphics.
This option is no longer available.

Bugs

Since the Quizilla change there has been a unusual big amount of bugs

Bugs

Bugs may refer to:*Heteroptera, the taxonomic order, to which belong "true bugs" insects*arthropods, an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and jointed appendages*Bugs Bunny, an animated cartoon character...

and problems in the website. One bug users find particularly infuriating is the 'Save as Draft' problem. Instead of actually saving the creation that the user typed up, it either publishes the work anyway or deletes it altogether.

This can be avoided as following: Paste your story into the Quizilla story editor or (be sure to have it saved elsewhere), go to the second tab (do not click the 'next' button) and add tags. Then, go to the third tab (again, do not click the 'next' button) and publish your content. If you click the 'Save as Draft' button, Quizilla will give an error and possibly erase your work.
The trick is not to click any of the buttons on the bottom side of the story-editor screen but the publish button.

Quizilla Issues

Quizilla is well known for its problems. A huge issue when Quizilla was purchased by MTV Networks was dubbed by Quizilla users as "The Great Quizilla Scare". The website was unaccessable by the public for several days. When people were finally able to log back on, they ran into some issues.

Every story, quiz, poll, etc. had been deleted. This problem was fixed in the next few weeks after the website's MTV modifications, but some users had already given up on Quizilla. Less than 20% of the content was permanently deleted, but nearly everything on the website had changed. The website's background was different, there were more links to game websites, the options to add themes and video to stories and accounts had vanished, and the much loved Penny-The-Pencil-Monster logo had been replaced.

To this day, many people remain upset over the modifications, but the ability to post content still exists, drawing more users to it every day. Quizilla has only deleted all content once since this issue, and everything was returned in the next week.

Still, Quizilla users fear losing everything they have worked hard to create. If you are looking to create something on Quizilla, you should see the "Bugs" Section above.