User:The stuart/GBSTV

This is a userfied version of an article that has been deleted for failing WP:V, WP:RS and having no sources beyond primary sources. You can see the archived discussion surrounding it's deletion here. Please feel free to update this preserved copy of the article.

GBStv (Goon Broadcast System television) was an internet television stream originally created and maintained by members of the Something Awful web forum. Operating from 2004 until 2010, was the first and, currently, the only one of its kind. Videos were submitted to the site by members and then after a moderation process, were categorized and placed in the system database. Then they could be browsed, voted and commented on, and queued by members. Videos were first played in random order, but members could also select videos to be played which were then inserted into a running play list queue, which took precedence over the random play list. Because it was created by members of the "General Bullshit" subforum of Something Awful, the station was sometimes referred to as General Bullshit Television.

Videos included just about anything of interest such as: public domain material, cartoons, old educational films, music videos, old commercials (with nostalgic value), short films, news clips, fastest run video game movies, educational programs, and even low budget home made productions made by members. There were even some feature films however, these could only be added to the play list by moderators.

Videos were rated and commented upon using the GBStv website. The highest rated videos were called "GOLD". Videos could only be re-added to the play list every 36 hours. Unlike any other internet TV stream that existed at the time, GBStv considered itself a real television station complete with a logo and bumpers, with the added benefit of real-time user interaction. Anyone could watch GBStv on their computer with the appropriate media player. Adding videos, commenting on a videos page, and voting and queuing videos was limited to members of GBStv. At first limited to Something Awful members, eventually GBStv membership was open to the public and free. Contents

Operations
The GBStv playlist was built solely of user submitted videos. Users first converted their submissions to Nullsoft's NSV streaming format, and then uploaded them to the GBStv FTP server. Once uploaded, they were imported to the website where they awaited screening through a full content moderation system. This was to ensure member-added videos adhered to some basic programming guidelines, as well as technical compatibility with the stream broadcast specifications. The basic guidelines for content were prohibitive of commercially copyrighted content and nudity or blatant pornography.

GBStv was streamed via a series of SHOUTcast servers which in turn were served by a custom-written Nullsoft Streaming Video video "broker". The broker navigated the upcoming play list in real-time and pushed the content feed to the outgoing stream.

As a community project based solely on the donations of members, GBStv was forced to have a decentralized relay system. Instead of having a single point for all viewers to converge on, the stream of data traveled from a root server to a trunk, and then out to the many user-operated SHOUTcast relays in service. Relays refered to one another only by DNS, thus enabling the administrators to swap out a defunct relay very easily.

Despite technical limitations, the stream was relatively easy to access and very stable in comparison to other internet television stations.

History
Hi folks, sorry there has been an outage. There was a big stinky data loss situation that went down a few days ago that is pretty messy. We're trying to be careful and save all the data we can. The database is all fine, but the video files themselves are what could be missing many files (everything post-January 22nd, 2006).
 * December, 2003 - June, 2004 - The idea of a Goon TV station was first suggested.
 * June 10, 2005 - The seed of the current GBStv was planted by Chris Putnam on the Something Awful forums
 * June 12, 2005 - At 1:21PM EST, the first GBStv stream began broadcasting. It had 10 slots, limited users to 5 minutes of viewing, and forced viewers to watch a constant loop of "Clown Quartet," a video by Neil Cicierega.
 * August 29, 2005 - GBStv simulcasts CNN's Hurricane Katrina coverage live. The Something Awful forums servers were hosted in downtown New Orleans at Zipa.com, where techs furiously fought to keep the data center afloat. Thus, many of GBStv's members had somewhat of a personal stake in the situation. The simulcast was legally questionable but, under the circumstances, it went virtually unnoticed.
 * October 14, 2005 - Both the GBStv stream and website go down due to an electrical fire where the server was stored.[5] Fortunately, GBStv was restored to the viewing public within 24 hours, with no significant data loss.
 * October 31 - November 15, 2005 - Member registration to GBStv, which had previously been limited to members of the Something Awful forums, is opened to the general public. During this period membership swells by over 2,000 members. Less than a month later, open registration would be opened again and remains open now.
 * November 4, 2005 - GBStv holds its first content submission contest. The winner received a cash prize and all the submitters received a free GBStv T-shirt.
 * November 24, 2005 - GBStv has the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Turkey Day marathon, renewing the tradition of MST3K marathons held on Thanksgiving. The tradition started back when the show was on Comedy Central and several of the bumps from the original marathons were also shown.
 * December 10, 2005 - The GBStv website is moved from GBStv.info to GBS.tv.
 * December 14, 2005 - GBStv is plugged on national television during G4's live prime-time vehicle Attack of the Show. Unfortunately the website was down during the show and was not fixed until 45 minutes after it was over. [6]
 * December 22, 2005 - Browser player support is added for Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer.
 * December 26, 2005 - GBStv airs the Star Wars Holiday Special in its entirety, with unanimous "golds" by everyone watching that day.
 * March 17, 2006 - GBStv airs a special video reconstruction of The Thief and the Cobbler along with other content related content to the film and its director Richard Williams.
 * May 26th 2006 - WTF Chuck "Get Fired or Try Quitting" is the first original long form content to be aired. It is a 41 minute compilation of the last 2nd season of WTF Chuck.
 * May 29th 2006 - Densha Otoko is first aired as a weekly series every Monday(with a thursday encore).
 * July 3rd 2006 - GBStv goes down due to a failed RAID controller. Little is known about the reasons behind the site going down until a week later when site owner Chris Putnam addressed the downtime:

until I am totally sure I should cut my losses, I'm putting things on hold in hopes that we can recover some or all of the data.

if you're a mega linux guru and have a good bit of experience in RAID, LVM, and data recovery, please contact me. chrisputnam+gbstv@gmail.com

thanks, putnam

p.s. i hope every engineer that works for silicon image dies a horrible fiery death


 * July 31st 2006 - GBStv comes back online, at 2:10 Pacific Daylight Time.
 * September 18th 2006 - You Can't Do That on Television replaces Densha Otoko's timeslot as a weekly series.
 * November 23, 2006 - Mystery Science Theater 3000 Turkey Day Marathon REDUX
 * Fall 2010 - After several months of inactivity, GBStv is shut down by Putnam. In a plain-text statement which replaced the gbs.tv front page, Putnam cited "scaling issues and lack of use" as not justifying the cost for continuing the service.  While the stream was live in the months immediately leading up to the closure, the servers were only streaming a loop of the GBStv "tuba" bump.

Original Programming
Besides public domain videos, GBStv prided itself on its users' original programming.


 * WTF Chuck - An animated/live action series that parodies everything from the internet. The animation style is similar to that of MSPAINT artwork.
 * Living on the Cheap - A series of shorts that helps college students and "minimum wage retailers" save money on things.
 * Poker's YTMNDs - A weekly series hosted by Poker that showcases the funniest YTMNDs of the week, and was among the highest rated shows at the network.
 * A Night at the Movies - A programming block designed after classic movie nights featuring a trailer, cartoon, newsreels, a comedy/musical short, a serial episode, and a feature-length movie (all in the public domain).
 * Bumps - Many members of GBStv created commercial bumps to serve as separators between queued content. All of the bumps ranged greatly in variety, from simple text-based messages, to short sketches, to fully animated pieces, and so on.

GBStv also had a few content submission contests as well.

Syndicated Content

 * Patrolling with Sean Kennedy - a RantTV original "where Kennedy discusses the basics of kit necessary for everyday survival, as well as many other things pertaining to everyday modern life."