For those who have their hearts set on being loyal followers of all things Pokemon, the Bulbapedia website is the place to go. The website is full of all kinds of information about the Pokemon character and because it is community based, you will be able to get all kinds of trivia and unique facts to increase your knowledge. With this background, read on to discover 10 things you didn’t know about Bulbapedia.
1. It is part of BulbaGarden.
BulbaGarden preceded Bulbapedia by about 4 years. Named after the time when Ash failed to evolve into a Pokemon, it didn’t get the type of success its creator had hoped for and was abandoned less than a year later. It was quickly picked up by another fanboy and came back to life in 2002. In its current form, the website hosts wikis, a Pokémon forum, and an art gallery available to everyone with Bulbapedia being one of the major attractions.
2. There are 37,940 articles on a range of Pokémon-related topics — and counting.
This number is quite amazing given there is competition across the web of people who are also hosting Pokemon sites. You will be hard pressed to find this number of articles that also covers the width and breadth of Pokemon-related information. Because the site is primarily user-generated content, the library is sure to expand on a weekly basis.
3. You can create a template in Bulbapedia.
Templates are a way to link pages together and access them more quickly in Bulbapedia. But there are some rules you have to understand before creating your own templates. The rules are more syntax-based, meaning you have to know the specific characters and symbols to use to properly link your templates.
You can link to Adventures with the syntax {{adv}}, a Pokemon species with {{p}}, a Pokemon ability with {{a}}, or simply an article with {{an}}. It is simple once you get the knack, and there are other syntaxes you can use, but you cannot create your own.
4. Usernames are rarely allowed to be changed.
For some people this is a big problem since they don’t first take the time to carefully think through their unique username before creating an account. The rule is that it requires the review and approval of an Editorial Board member. The reason the website gives is because it drains server resources, but it is far more likely that the reason is they don’t want hordes of people changing their username every month. The website does require a valid reason, and you will not be allowed to repeatedly change your username.
5. New users cannot automatically create a userpage.
Bulbapedia is a user driven website, and to make sure new users properly use the many features of the website it is preferred that they first make meaningful contributions to the main space. There is an auto-confirm mechanism, that will automatically notify the new user they have met the minimum requirement and can creating their own userpages. The exact number of main space entries can vary from time to time, so the best approach is to immediately make contributions to access this feature sooner than later.
6. You can create your personalized signature.
That said, you will be required to make sure your signature specifically identifies you as a unique person so other members can tell who they are talking to. The signature must contain either a part of your real name or your full real name. Using special characters to make your signature unique is encouraged, but since there are thousands of current users it is likely your favorite Pokemon username will not be available.
7. Beware of reverting.
On Bulbapedia, reverting is when another user edits an entry another user has made, and then the original user edits it back to its original form, etc., etc. While a large number of pages on the website can be edited by anyone, the website frowns upon the idea of these reverting wars. The preferred approach is to work the problem out between the two parties, but if that is not successful you might want to contact a staff member. It’s better to use this approach than risk being blocked by the website.
8. You can link articles and other Bulbapedia features to existing manga.
There are some definite rules when linking to manga, but the short version of it is to keep things short and to the point. The website staff frowns upon users who copy articles and other information from other websites to post on Bulbapedia, particularly when it comes to the manga. The site’s FAQ provides a long list of items to read before you tackle manga connections.
9. Certain pages are protected from being edited by users.
You have to attain a certain rank before you are able to edit certain Bulbapedia pages. That rank is determined by the Bulbapedia staff, and attaining this rank may or may not be important to you. However, you can view the source Wikicode if you are curious at any rank. The reason for the protection is directly connected to the new users who have yet to learn about exactly how Bulbapedia works. The short version is that the information presented on Bulbapedia strives to be accurate, so those who are not familiar with the overall standards may insert something that will have to be edited by a staff member.
10. There is an indefinite protection setting used on some pages.
In other words, there are certain pages that can never be edited, regardless of rank unless you are given the status of administrator. One category of pages that is set to indefinite are pages that have been vandalized. Another category is reverting wars. Administrators can declare specific types of protection, such as protection from editing or protection from moving. If you are wondering why a specific page has been protected, you can look at the protection log, where all administrators required to put the reason.
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