BZPower
BZPower is the internet’s largest & most trafficked fan-created & fan-run LEGO news, reviews & discussion forum site. Initially founded around the Bion
It was the result of months of planning between the two largest unofficial Bionicle sites on the web and the four key players involved in both. Kanohi Power was a Bionicle news site founded by Mike Edwards, andBZCommunity was a Bionicle discussion forum founded by Jon Reddick. Both Kelly McKiernan and Rich Manzo were administrators & staff members on both sites. Furthermore, by early 2002 the two had started working in a very interconnected manner as sister sites. Stories posted on Kanohi Power direct linked to discussion thread on BZCommunity about the topic, and the two sites featured prominent links to the other on the top right of each page. In May 2002 it was decided that since the four administrators worked together so well, the group should join forces to create one giant Bionicle news, reference and discussion site.
The site and its forum aims to be appropriate for children ages eight and above, shown by its strict moderation policies regarding content, including punishment for the use of vulgarities. One of BZPower’s claims to fame is the member’s easy access to the Bionicle comic and book writer, Greg Farshtey, who is a member on BZPower, and regularly answers questions sent to him by fans, much like the no-longer running “Ask Greg” feature in the Kanoka Club on Bionicle.com. These queries and their answers can be found in the expansive pinned Official Greg Discussion topic in the General Discussion sub-forum. Farshtey has also joined many other Bionicle-themed forums.
Some other well-known features of the main site include an extensive and constantly updated Set Database, daily news, the BZPowercast, and their affiliation with the website Bionicle Sector 01 and the BS01 Wiki, ongoing projects to record all aspects of the Bionicle line, created by BZPower staff member Crystal Matrix.
The BZPower forum is the largest Bionicle-related board on the internet, with more than 32,000 members. Discounting inactive, banned, and post-less members, the number is smaller, although still substantial compared to other forums. There are an average of 200 to 300 members active every day. The forum formerly used Ikonboard, but then switched to Invision Power Board software (due to its increased security), which includes private message systems and several other features. For a long time, the site was known to experience moderate to severe slowdowns throughout the day, but now that the site has been upgraded, lag time is greatly reduced. The forum is almost always active with large numbers of members browsing topics, usually with at least one member for each forum division.