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2013 brought SBC to unprecedented heights of activity, with 60 users logging in regularly in the first half of the year, a feat never attained by the Community before. While successful at some points, 2013 is regarded as SBC's worst year due to the two failures of the SpongeBob Universe project and the peak of SBC's drama.

Previous: 2012

Next: 2014

Timeline

January to April

The beginning of the year saw the release of SpongeBob Universe on January 1, 2013 and the release of Orca 8.3. Almost immediately following the release of the incomplete SBU, the popularity and hype of the site collapsed. Aquatic Nuggets became a Manager and Old Man Jenkins became a Cashier respectively on January 18th, 2013. A new Representative had to be chosen due to OMJ becoming a Cashier, and an election was held, which Crushingmayhem won. The forum redecorated for Valentine's Day in February. During February, a new signature rule was put in place limiting the sizes of images in signatures. March was extremely active and proved to be an eventful month with the first ever March Madness 2013. In the end, the Goofy Goobers won. Near the end of March, a Representative election was held. ExKizuna, ClassicNickelodeonFan1, and UnlimitedCha became new Representatives.

On April 1st, 2013, the site had its annual April Fools prank, where the staff posted as SpongeBob characters and the forum names were messed with, much like 2012's. On the night of April 18th, 2013, a prank was pulled by several staff members, claiming the site had been taken over. The incident has been now coined as "Hack-E Sack Prank", which was the name of the topic made regarding it. Many users were frustrated with the joke, not finding it funny. The staff later apologized for the event after much debate.

A Member Appreciation Day event, also known as Customer Appreciation Day, was held April 27, 2013 to make up for the prank and give users a much deserved gift. It was an extreme success.

May to September

The first Spin-Off Festival in over two years began on May 31, 2013 and ended on June 10, 2013, kicking off summer activities. In June, a staff shakeup in which two long-serving administrators (TVGuy347 and jjsthekid) resigned and left their posts on June 5, 2013, due to a fight in a SpongeBob Jeopardy! game. tvguy chose Aquatic Nuggets as the succeeding Director in Chief, and Nuggets in turn selected Clappy as jjs's successor.

In July 2013, SBU relaunched along with Oceans. Oceans 9 received a mixed feedback, but SBU had failed yet again because of incomplete features. During July 2013, controversy involving spin-offs became widespread on the board due to the increasing amount of joke works. On August 10th, 2013, tvguy and jjs both returned to the staff.

On August 23rd, SBC shut down because the server fee wasn't paid. It returned on August 27th. On September 1st, Nuggets launched the Good Fridays project to rejuvenate interest in SBC's upcoming plans. On September 14th, 2013, an SBC After Dark event was held which turned out to be a success.

October to December

In October 2013, Octerror Fest returned again and was a moderate success, although not as active or successful as 2012's was due to several features not panning out. SpongeBob Universe continued showing little to no signs of progression and over November 2013 to December 2013, staff contemplated (and eventually decided on) disbanding it. Another Christmas event was also held in December, which closed out the year.

Events and Incidents

Notable Arrivals

Site Successes, Features, and Versions

  • Orca 8.3 (January 1st, 2013)
    • SpongeBob Universe Version 1 (January 1st, 2013)
  • Oceans 9 (July 20, 2013)
    • SpongeBob Universe Version 2 (SBU Squared) (July 20, 2013)
  • Shoutbox
  • SpongeBoard