Modern International Community

After UPSB shut down in 2018, the international English-speaking community that once inhabited it split into many individual groups that attempt to fulfil some or all of the utility that UPSB once provided. The ease of making a new community with technologies such as Discord have made it increasingly easy for the international community to fragment even further, resulting in a complicated muddle of smaller and larger groups that all lay claim to the original UPSB community in some way or other.

International community groups

This is a list of individual groups that claim to represent sections of the English-speaking, international community. Teams and private groups are omitted.

International Pen Modding Community

See also: International Pen Modding Community

Created by VORE-TEX, an ex-FPSB moderator, The International Pen Modding Community or IPMC for short is an English-speaking community with the aim of advancing the field of Pen Modding in the hobby. It is a Discord server that has ties to a site that collects and displays pen mods with their tutorials.

Fen Spinner

See also: Fen Spinner

Originally a small friend group in 2020, Fen Spinner officially split away from The Workshop in September 2020 after disagreements over the disconnect between community leadership and its members. Initially just a Discord server, Fen Spinner later made the website that includes this wiki project. The community has a more casual and laid-back approach to the hobby in contrast to more serious servers such as The Workshop.

Naming Committee

See also: Naming Committee

A continuation of UPSB's Naming Committee and Research Department, now focuses on matters regarding notation standards. Run by JNK from LSPSC.

The Collective

See also: The Collective

Set up by iColor, an ex-UPSB moderator, The Collective (previous known as Spin Archive) consists of a discord server and a website that collects and displays archived pen spinning content. Notably the website contains the archives for both UPSB V4 and UPSB V3. The goal is to collect and record the history of pen spinning.

Defunct/Inactive

These groups used to be active hubs but have since fallen out of activity or have become defunct.

Mango's Pen Spinning Discord

See also: Mango's Pen Spinning Discord

Originally created by Luna from UPSB before the closure of the board, it was later transferred to UPSB spinner Mango and was used as a casual hangout. After the closure of UPSB, the server experienced an influx of members and became one of the largest pen spinning communities. In recent times it has grown inactive and unmoderated.

r/penspinning

See also: r/penspinning

De facto run by Letho72, the subreddit existed before UPSB's closure but saw limited use, with increased use and the need for information and spaces appearing after the closure of UPSB. It expanded into a discord server before UPSB closed, which now acts as one of the main pipelines of new spinners into the community. Largely inactive and unmoderated.

Pen Stock

See also: Pen Stock

Created by Alex 'Lantz' Suhov in March 2018 as a YouTube channel, Pen Stock rose to become the leading active pen spinning tutorial center for the English speaking community. Prior to its deletion by a rogue moderator, the Pen Stock discord server was the largest of all pen spinning servers, with a smaller replacement appearing in its stead after. Fraught with controversies in its short lifespan, Pen Stock grew massively after the start of the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic. The community is inactive with the cessation of activity from its creator.

The Workshop

See also: The Workshop

Set up by Hobby in late 2018 and released on January 28th, 2019, The Workshop is an English speaking community aiming to grow the pen spinning community. Originally staffed by members of the old UPSB forums, plus a couple of members from a MapleStory guild and a competitive fighting game player. Defunct as of 2024.