NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Bolt (website)

In 1996 bolt.com was started as a teen community, by Dan Pelson and Jane Mount as part of Concrete Media. Image File history File links Bolt2logo. ... Image File history File links Bolt2logo. ... Image File history File links Oldbolt. ... Image File history File links Oldbolt. ...

In 2002 the badges that were created slowly started leaning towards company sponsored badges, which lead to Bolt becoming more commercial and secretly sneaking ads into the users activities. Some notable ones are the Verizon Wireless, Gillette, and Sony badges

In 2004, bolt.com revamped its site during the summer and officially unveiled itself July 15, 2004. Some notable changes include:

Bolt plus feature was retired along with the badge, (at the time it cost $24.95 a year and you got a bolt.com T-shirt) Some features that were only accessible to Bolt Plus users that were now opened to all users include:

Creating personal avatars
Use of signatures
Use of emoticons in posts
Saving Bolt notes.
Use of the Whiteboard
Photo limits varied before then from 10, 20, 32, 64 to virtually unlimited now. At one time Kodak was a sponsor, but when they left in late 2003, the photo upload limit dropped down to 10 for regular users.

Badge icons nearly doubled in size when they appeared in user profiles and were no longer chronologically ordered, but instead alphabetized.

In 2004, bolt.com finally re-opened the clubs after they were suspended in July and officially unveiled itself September 14, 2004. Some of the notable changes include:

The removal of HTML customization on the main club page.
The removal of HTML in the club news, a popular feature that may have contributed to the fall in popularity of Bolt.

The teen community was Bolt Media's main property until 2006, when a new media-sharing site took the name bolt.com.

On February 12, 2007 the New York Times reported that Bolt Media had agreed to a sale to GoFish, an online video competitor. This sale was to finance settlement of a lawsuit with Universal. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/technology/12bolt.html?_r=1&oref=slogin The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Universal Studios (sometimes called Universal Pictures or Universal City Studios), a subsidiary of NBC Universal, is one of the major American film studios. ...

On Friday March 30th, 2007 it was announced that Bolt2.com would shutdown on April 6th, 2007, ending more than 10 years of operations. Here is the goodbye letter posted on the site to members of the community. [1]

Well, the time had come. We have decided that it is time to officially say good-bye to Bolt2. In the past few years Bolt Media has explored new ideas, and grown in a different direction. As we continue to move in this direction it has become necessary that we need to make some difficult choices.

One of which is the closure of Bolt2. Although we value our loyal members, we are clearly moving in a new direction and need to focus our energies there. We recognize that many of you have been on the site for up to 10 years, and would like to thank you for your support and for allowing us to be a part of your lives. We hope you are able to take the time to reflect on the people who you may have met through Bolt2 and maintain these friendships after the site is down.

Much like pulling off a band-aid, the closure will be short and hopefully not too painful. The site will officially close on Friday, April 6th at noon (eastern standard time).

Again, we would like to express our gratitude for your continued support of Bolt2. You have been a valuable part of our lives, and we hope to see you on Bolt in the future.

On July 30, 2007, Digital Music News reported that the GoFish buyout of Bolt had been abandoned. [2] This was later confirmed by GoFish in a press release [3]. Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...

On August 14, 2007 Bolt.com was apparently closed as Bolt Media had ceased operations. The following message was posted on bolt.com:

Please be advised that the operations of Bolt, Inc. and Bolt.com have ceased. Net Revolution, Inc. and Bolt, Inc. have executed an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors effective as of August 14, 2007. Please direct any creditor related questions or comments to the Assignee's office to the attention of: Development Specialists, Inc. 345 California Street Suite 1150 San Francisco, California 94104-2664 Att: George E. Shoup, III Email: gshoup@dsi.biz The Notice of Assignment will be mailed to all known creditors in the near future. If you are interested in acquiring this site or other assets of Bolt or Net Revolution please contact, gshoup@dsi.biz.

bolt.com

Upgrades and Promotions

bolt2.com was to be called classicbolt.com
Bolt member LoLiEpOpPe for 7 years was the highest ranking badge collector until she was dethroned in April 2006 by o0oBaByDoLLo0o.
The Badge Race Club featured Bolt members in reality series based eliminations for collecting badges.
Bolt.com had an email service that launched twice and was removed twice. For a short time, it had video capabilties. The video feature is now a prominent feature in the new bolt.com and is not available on the bolt2.com site.
Bolt created a website for 7-up called Gulpit.com in November 25, 2002 that featured bottle caps instead of badges. It was poorly maintained and only visited when a bottle cap was offered that also featured a badge. After 3 bottle caps the site was never updated again. It has since been taken down as of March 4, 2005.
Bolt users created a site called Boltsucks.com in response to the message board being taken down during the revamp in 2004. During this time, they created their own badges, including a very vulgar badge for telling off a bolt staff member. Boltsucks.com was shutdown a year later.
A club was created to promote a FOX show Wonderfalls in February 2004. A badge was given to members who joined to help spread the word of the show to increase viewership and the show's ratings. The show was cancelled in early April and the club was quickly deleted.
Bolt2 used to have "radio stations" and members who submitted songs that they wanted to hear on Bolt Radio received the bolt dj badge.
Aanderud, also known as Deanna, died on December 30, 2006. Her death was publicized on bolt.com, and a MySpace page (now defunct) was set up in dedication to Deanna.

7 Up is a brand of a lemon-lime flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. ... is the 329th day of the year (330th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... Wonderfalls is a television series whose plot centers on Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas), a recent Brown University graduate with a philosophy degree who holds a dead-end job as a sales clerk at a Niagara Falls gift shop. ... is the 364th day of the year (365th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays full 2006 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... MySpace is a social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos. ...

Version 1.0

Old Bolt menu

The original bolt was renamed bolt2 on March 6, 2006. It was marketed towards kids, preteens, and younger teens to create content, meet people, and play games in a safe, no pressure, and age-appropriate environment. Bolt2.com was originally organized around games, pop culture and self-discovery. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...

However, as members aged and stayed with the site, more and more members were college students and/or between 18-24. These members tended to be more interested in current events, hot news issues, religion and politics, and kept the message boards active with lively heated debate. Many members had known each other for several years and have formed close bonds with their fellow "regs." When Boltfolio, soon to become the new Bolt.com was introduced, members were at first very willing to aid Bolt Media in improving the site. Tensions soon flared between Bolt Media and the supporters of the classic Bolt system as Bolt Media slowly started to turn their full attention to the new Bolt.com. Very few members were willing to make the switch, and after the demise of Bolt2, few stayed on to post on the new Bolt website.

The site features included a daily horoscope, chat rooms, message boards, tagbooks, faceoffs, photo albums, user-submitted content such as concert reviews and a sex & dating blog and a Bolt store that sells merchandise. The site previously hosted a free e-mail service, but it was discontinued due to email companies such as Yahoo and Google providing between 1 and nearly 3 gigabytes of email storage for free, rendering Bolt's email service obsolete.

Version 2.0

Bolt.com's second iteration was originally known as Boltfolio, a Bolt Media property launched in late 2005. Touted by itself as the leader of the "cult of creativity", Boltfolio intended to provide a one-stop shop for creative users to upload their own photos, videos, and music, as well as write blogs or record directly from a webcam. The original aim was to provide a simple set of tools that would attract users of like-minded creative sites such as DeviantArt, YouTube, and Flickr. The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. ... YouTube is a popular video sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips. ... Flickr is a photo sharing website and web services suite, and an online community platform, which is generally considered an early example of a Web 2. ...

In December of 2005 Bolt Media finalized a deal to purchase InterMedia Inc., a small company focused on a video-sharing site, Yashi. Yashi and Boltfolio were integrated into one site, and in March of 2006 Bolt Media opted to focus the company on this new property. Thus Boltfolio became Bolt.com, bumping the existing Bolt.com site to the URL Bolt2.com. As 2006 wore on, creative Bolt members were featured less and less on the site, taking a back seat to videos produced by Bolt staff, popular music videos, and viral videos that also were appearing on competing video sites.

On October 17, 2006, one week after announcing a revenue-sharing deal with YouTube, Universal Music filed suit against Bolt Media and another video site, Grouper. Universal contended that both sites allowed and promoted their users to swap pirated Music Videos. Several weeks later, Bolt removed the music section from their site, without any explanation. YouTube is a popular video sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips. ... Universal Music Group (UMG) is the largest major label in the record industry, with a 23% market share. ... Genera Acanthistius Alphestes Anyperidon Caprodon Cephalopholis Cromileptes Dermatolepis Epinephelus Gonioplectrus Gracila HypoplectrodesLiopropoma Mycteroperca Niphon Paranthias Plectropomus Saloptia Triso Variola For the computer program, see Grouper (Windows application). ...

In February of 2007, Bolt Media announced that it would be selling itself to GoFish, another online video company, for $30 million. According to Aaron Cohen, Bolt's CEO, Bolt would once again change its focus from uploaded content to content creation; saying that the former was no longer "interesting business." Cohen and Bolt president Jay Gould are also involved in a new project, called WikiYou, which has received seed funding from First Round Capital and Mayfield Fund.NewTeeVee Article Please wikify (format) this article or section as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...

The American Idol Effect

In 2003 Bolt was the official message board for FOX's American Idol during the second season. This created a swarm a new members signing up to only talk about American Idol. This did not sit well with the veterans. FOX later created and maintained their own message boards for the third season, but cross promotion still continued with AI sponsored quizzes, avatars, and badges. By the fourth season, the cross promotion was gone, but the message boards were still created and maintained. There were no message boards created for the fifth season of American Idol. This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... AMERICAN IDOL HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO DEATH OF SIMON ...

External links

Bolt.com

References

Review Journal
Detnews
fuseaction
Wall Street Journal
Adage
ValleyWag

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