The Fall of Quizilla

The Fall of Quizilla A quick search of "I hate new Quizilla" brings up page after page of impassioned rants from enraged Quizillians. Ever since the site's "new design" in 2006, users complain that Quizilla.com has never been quite the same. The site's latest malfunction, however, seems to have been the straw that broke the Zilla's back.

On Sunday, August 31, 2010, the site suffered a sudden and unexplained shut-down that resulted in many user's accounts being wiped clean and countless stories lost. To top off the sudden deleting rampage, all links began taking users to a 404 error page...on MTV.com.

Quizilla being owned by MTV isn't new information. Viacom, a US media-centered corporation that also owns MTV, bought Quizilla back in 2006. However the line between MTV and Quizilla has always been clearly drawn, which is why users were appalled to find themselves being directed to MTV whenever they attempted to type in Quizilla's address. Suddenly the threat of a complete merging of Quizilla and Viacom was a reality. This problem persisted until September 2nd, when the 404 pages and redirects finally disappeared.

But for how long?

All the stories that were lost were never recovered. Which left Quizillians wondering: What if it happens again? This is why many long-time users are finally giving up all together on the monster once called Quizilla, and are abandoning it for new, better-managed sites.

One of the "new sites" that has become the destination of many online immigrants is Mibba.com. However Mibba isn't the only refuge for these lost writers.

FictionPress.com and FanFiction.net were both created long before Quizilla, and are popular sources of online stories. However the massive size of these sites and the lack of customization leaves many feeling that the atmosphere is too impersonal and lacks the closer-knit sense of community found on smaller sites.

StoryWrite and FicWad are both slightly less-polished versions of FictionPress, but worth checking out for the writer still caught in between sites.

DeviantArt.com and LiveJournal offer more freedom, but since both sites focus on multiple topics and not just writing, writers often feel their work goes unnoticed. The sites are not without positive aspects, however. They also hold a tighter sense of community (if the user is willing to do enough searching for it) and boast original fiction, fanfiction, poetry, and more. There are virtually limitless possibilities.

WritersCafe, on the other hand, is a more serious site that is still in between big and small, and focuses mainly on original fiction and poetry: a target that some users find difficult to pinpoint other places.

An ex-Quizillian doesn't necessarily have to venture far from Quizilla, however, to find a new refuge. The Quizilla Forums, although taken off the main site, are still active. The forum is far enough removed from the main site to still host a close and generally enjoyable community. The forum's story sections (both Original and Fanfiction) are noticeably slow, but still active. The rest of the forums are full of topics ranging from music and television to advice and politics, and are posted in on a daily basis. For Quizillians looking to achieve a more writer-focused community while still remaining moderately close to the original Quizilla standards, there's user-created forums.

Trivium, a new writing-based forum created by ex-Quizillians, has been advertising itself across Quizilla, trying to garner new members. The site, powered by InvisionFree, describes itself as "An online community for people who enjoy fiction, fantasy, friendly discussions, and fantastic things. Without really awful corporate ownage." The forum's set-up is vaguely reminiscent of the original Quizilla forums mixed with the Ultimate Storylist forums, allowing users to post their stories and receive feedback while still having a large section of non-writing related topics. The design is clean and organized, and the set-up promises what may turn into a more relaxed alternative to Quizilla.

The Ultimate Storylist, considered one of the original Quizilla offshoots, originated back in 2007, and although relatively small (only 750 registered members) it enjoyed a period of healthy activity. Nowadays, however, the forum has become sadly abandoned. The main website is still open, and still lists a collection of online stories deemed "the best" of Quizilla. However updates have become a rare occurrence.

These are only a fraction of alternative writing sites. New sites and communities are popping up every day. A former Quizilla member even claims to be in the process of building what will eventually become a "new" kind of Quizilla, but much better. So what line of action should displaced ex-Quizillians take? Will there ever be a substitute for the site they grew to love? Or is there something even better waiting out there? Only some online adventuring will answer that. With so many options, though, finding a new site shouldn't be a difficult task at all.

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