Fen Spinner: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 08:25, 3 September 2026

Fen Spinner is an English-speaking pen spinning community founded by Varoza on 30 July 2020. It operates primarily through a private Discord server and maintains the Fen Spinner Wiki. The community emerged as a distinct group following disagreements between some of its members and the administration of The Workshop in September 2020.

Fen Spinner has participated in international community and competitive events, including SpinFest in 2021 and 2023. A team composed of Fen Spinner members, Final Boss, won the Pen Spinning World Cup 2022.

History

Formation and separation from The Workshop

The September 11th 2020 call and the infamous "Fentember 11th" message

Fen Spinner was established in July 2020 as an informal Discord server where members of the private team OPSD could interact with other pen spinners. It initially had a small membership and limited moderation.

The name refers to the fennec fox,^[1] the community's mascot. “Fen” was adopted as a shortened form of “fennec” and as a play on the word “pen.”

Relations between members of Fen Spinner and the administration of The Workshop became strained during 2020. Fen Spinner members criticized aspects of The Workshop's moderation, including what they regarded as inconsistent rule enforcement and insufficient responses to community feedback.

On 11 September, Fen Spinner members organized a voice call in The Workshop which reached the channel limit of 25 participants. Activity in the accompanying text channel increased considerably and included both pen-spinning discussion and off-topic posts. The Workshop administrator Coffeelucky asked participants to move to a smaller group call, prompting further disagreement about how the gathering should be accommodated.

Following the call, The Workshop issued several bans, mutes, and warnings for spam. These included a seven-day ban for Varoza and a fourteen-day mute for Zxntle. Participants disputed both the decisions and the explanations subsequently provided by the administration. Moderator abc later resigned, and several active members left The Workshop.

The dispute led more English-speaking pen spinners to join Fen Spinner. The server reportedly grew from approximately ten members to several hundred, establishing itself as a community separate from The Workshop and groups associated with UPSB.

Activities in 2021

Fen Spinner entered SpinFest 2021 after sign-ups opened in November 2020.^[2]^[3] Its submission, Fen Spinner 1st, was released on 12 April 2021.^[4] Edited by Varoza, the collaboration video featured eleven spinners and used three-dimensional graphics and visual effects.

A planned collaboration with LSPSC was discontinued when LSPSC closed in July 2021. On 30 July, Fen Spinner released the minicombo collaboration 1 Year of Fen Spinner^[5] to mark the community's first anniversary.

Fen Spinner also sought to enter the Pen Spinning World Tournament 2021. The Pen Spinning Board of Directors grouped its entrants with The Workshop and UPSB under the name English Speaking Pen-spinning Collective, managed by Padrace. Fen Spinner was represented on the tournament's A side by Varoza, Pall, and Allwars.^[6] Pall reached the top 32, Allwars the top 16, and Varoza the top eight. Mervo represented the community in the B-side tournament.^[7]

Fen Spinner organized Spin Awards 2021 after members of the previous committee declined to run the event. The format assigned a representative and an adviser to each participating community to assist with nominations, voting, and communication. Voting was conducted in early 2022 so that work released near the end of 2021 could be considered.

The results were published in February 2022 as Spinner of the Year 2021, Collab of the Year 2021, and Spin Awards 2021 – Minor Awards. Modding results were released separately as an image. Fen Spinner subsequently withdrew from organizing the awards, citing workload and disagreements within the organizing process. Control of the event's server was transferred to Patchwork of FPSB, but no further edition was held until 2025.

World Cup and Olympics in 2022

Nine joined Fen Spinner in late 2021 and later became part of its leadership. Fen Spinner initially discussed forming a World Cup team with members of The Workshop, but the communities did not reach a lasting arrangement. Fen Spinner therefore entered the Pen Spinning World Cup 2022 through a separate team named Final Boss.

Final Boss placed third in the opening round. It subsequently defeated BlackMagic of PSH, The Five Fingers of Sublime Pen, and Eastern Reunion of JEB, winning the tournament. The team earned fourteen of the fifteen available battle points.

The roster consisted of Varoza, Nine, Krogan (a pseudonym of Barney), Vanilla, ZeGentleman, and substitute Saltient. Saltient replaced ZeGentleman after the second round.

At the Pen Spinning Olympics 2022, Reboot placed first and ZeGentleman placed third in the power category. Barney competed under the name KyorYuuNa in the wipers category and placed fourth after not submitting an entry for the final round.

SpinFest 2023 and later developments

Fen Spinner released its second official collaboration video, FEN 2ND | Spinfest 2023, on 25 June 2023. The video featured several members of the Final Boss team alongside other community members.

During this period, the Spindys community grew through the work of Tilt, a Fen Spinner member whose YouTube content attracted new participants to pen spinning. As activity in The Workshop declined, Fen Spinner and Spindys became two of the principal communities serving English-speaking spinners. The Workshop closed on 20 October 2024.

Several Fen Spinner members entered the Pen Spinning World Tournament 2025, with their registered communities following their names:

Tilt (Spindys, Fen) - 3rd Place
Barney (Spindys) - Top 8
Levia (Independent) - Top 16
monsoon (PHPS) - Top 16
Apple (VNPS, Fen)

Barney jokingly signed up under PSUKC, then Spindys under a fake name 'LimSeowon'. Fen Spinner member ProBloodBag participated as one of the judges for the event

In the Pen Spinning Olympics 2026, Barney would win in both the technical and infinity categories. ProBloodBag would participate as a judge for the Technical category.

Wiki

Fen Spinner Wiki is a MediaWiki site created as a replacement for the long-defunct UPSB Wiki in early 2021. Over time, this grew to become the largest pen spinning wiki project ever made, dwarfing the original UPSB projects and other competitors. In 2025 a new responsive frontend and homepage was added to the wiki as part of a wider rollout of updates to the site.

Collaboration Videos

Fen Spinner 1st
1 Year of Fen Spinner
FEN 2ND

Notable members

References

[1] Wikipedia article on Fennec Foxes

[2] Tweet announcing sign-ups for SpinFest 2021

[3] Tweet showing Fen Spinner making it into SpinFest 2021

[4] Tweet of Fen Spinner 1st released to SpinFest

[5] 1 Year of Fen Spinner on YouTube

[6] WT21 Participants page on the website

[7] WT21 B side Participants on the website

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 |website=[https://wiki.fenspinner.net www.fenspinner.net]
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-'''Fen Spinner''' is an English-speaking [[Pen Spinning Community|pen spinning community]] created on July 30th, 2020 by [[Varoza]]. After frequent disagreements with staff from [[The Workshop]] leading up to September that year, Fen Spinner became public and the membership greatly increased, claiming to be a new community separate from those typically associated with [[UPSB]]. The community hub is primarily a public Discord server with a secondary website, [[Fen Spinner Wiki]]. The community participated in SpinFest 2021 and 2023, as well as the [[Pen Spinning World Cup 2022]], which it won.
+'''Fen Spinner''' is an English-speaking pen spinning community founded by [[Varoza]] on 30 July 2020. It operates primarily through a private Discord server and maintains the '''Fen Spinner Wiki'''. The community emerged as a distinct group following disagreements between some of its members and the administration of [[The Workshop]] in September 2020.
-==History==
-Fen Spinner was established as a Discord server on 30 July 2020 to serve as a social hub for several members of the private team OPSD to interact with non-members. Initially characterized by minimal moderation and informal structure, the server functioned primarily as a casual hangout space.
-Prior to 11 September 2020, a series of long-standing tensions began to reshape the server’s direction. Prior disagreements had emerged between members of Fen Spinner and the administration of The Workshop, with criticisms directed at the latter’s approach to moderation. Concerns included perceived heavy-handed enforcement, lack of responsiveness to community feedback, and inconsistent application of rules. Although these critiques were largely dismissed at the time, they contributed to the eventual dissolution of The Workshop.
+Fen Spinner has participated in international community and competitive events, including SpinFest in 2021 and 2023. A team composed of Fen Spinner members, Final Boss, won the [[Pen Spinning World Cup 2022]].
-The name "Fen Spinner" comes from the Fennec Fox<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fennec_fox Wikipedia article on Fennec Foxes]</ref>, the mascot animal of the community. The animal is sometimes referred to as a "Fen" and sounded similar to "Pen", so the community name was chosen as a pun.
+==History==
-===Split from The Workshop===
+===Formation and separation from The Workshop===
-[[File:Fentember.jpg|thumb|200px|The September 11th 2020 call and the infamous "Fentember 11th" message]]On 11 September 2020, members of Fen Spinner initiated what became the largest voice call on The Workshop server, reaching the channel’s maximum capacity of 25 simultaneous users. Moderators declined invitations to participate. During the event, the #voice-text channel saw a surge in activity, with posts ranging from pen spinning discussions to unrelated content. Although memes and off-topic messages had appeared previously, the volume during this call was unprecedented.
+[[File:Fentember.jpg|thumb|200px|The September 11th 2020 call and the infamous "Fentember 11th" message]]Fen Spinner was established in July 2020 as an informal Discord server where members of the private team OPSD could interact with other pen spinners. It initially had a small membership and limited moderation.
-The administrator Coffeelucky requested that participants leave the channel and instead use a group chat call, which was limited to 10 users—less than half of those present. This suggestion was met with criticism, and the proposal later shifted to creating a new server entirely. During the call, concerns were raised about moderation practices, particularly the perception that enforcement disproportionately targeted specific individuals rather than applying consistent rules. A meme referencing the September 11 attacks was posted in relation to the event.
-The call continued into the early hours of 12 September. No immediate disciplinary actions were taken, but overnight, the administration issued bans, mutes, and warnings citing the generic reason of "Spam." Notably, Varoza was banned for seven days, and Zxntle was muted for 14 days. It took approximately two weeks for the community to uncover the specific reasons behind these actions. Many users criticized the vague and delayed explanations, which remained unclear until Varoza was unbanned.
+The name refers to the fennec fox,<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fennec_fox Wikipedia article on Fennec Foxes]</ref> the community's mascot. “Fen” was adopted as a shortened form of “fennec” and as a play on the word “pen.”
-The administration later clarified that Zxntle had been muted for replying "bruh" to Coffeelucky, and that Varoza had been warned—not banned—for posting the offensive meme. The exact reason for Varoza’s ban remains unknown. Following the incident, moderator abc resigned. The administration alleged that abc had been harassed, though screenshots circulated showing abc engaging in personal attacks against other users. In the aftermath, several active members left The Workshop in protest. Some moderators, including DarKT, described the departing users as "troublemakers," despite one of them having previously been offered a moderator position.
+Relations between members of Fen Spinner and the administration of The Workshop became strained during 2020. Fen Spinner members criticized aspects of The Workshop's moderation, including what they regarded as inconsistent rule enforcement and insufficient responses to community feedback.
-As a result of these events, a significant portion of the active English-speaking community migrated to Fen Spinner, which grew from approximately 10 members to several hundred.
+On 11 September, Fen Spinner members organized a voice call in The Workshop which reached the channel limit of 25 participants. Activity in the accompanying text channel increased considerably and included both pen-spinning discussion and off-topic posts. The Workshop administrator Coffeelucky asked participants to move to a smaller group call, prompting further disagreement about how the gathering should be accommodated.
-===SpinFest 2021===
+Following the call, The Workshop issued several bans, mutes, and warnings for spam. These included a seven-day ban for Varoza and a fourteen-day mute for Zxntle. Participants disputed both the decisions and the explanations subsequently provided by the administration. Moderator abc later resigned, and several active members left The Workshop.
-[[File:Fens1st.jpg|thumb|200px|Fen Spinner 1st Title screen]]In November 2020<ref>[https://twitter.com/Spinfest/status/1333090728273121280 Tweet announcing sign-ups for SpinFest 2021]</ref>, sign-ups for [[SpinFest 2021]] opened. Fen Spinner submitted to the draft and, after India's community applied late, made it into the lineup<ref>[https://twitter.com/Spinfest/status/1342137798065852416 Tweet showing Fen Spinner making it into SpinFest 2021]</ref>. Initial plans for a parody as the first video from Fen Spinner were quickly scrapped, with plans being drawn for a show of the community's ability. On April 12th 2021, after months of editing and filming, "Fen Spinner 1st" was released<ref>[https://twitter.com/Spinfest/status/1381843299435167745 Tweet of Fen Spinner 1st released to SpinFest]</ref> as the SpinFest submission, a surprise to detractors who claimed a troll CV would be submitted. Edited by Varoza, it featured extensive 3D graphics and special effects, and featured 11 spinners.
-===Further CVs and World Tournament 2021===
+The dispute led more English-speaking pen spinners to join Fen Spinner. The server reportedly grew from approximately ten members to several hundred, establishing itself as a community separate from The Workshop and groups associated with [[UPSB]].
-A collaboration video was planned for a crossover with [[LSPSC]], but the project was suspended after LSPSC closed in July 2021.
-On July 30th 2021 a minicombo collaboration video "1 Year of Fen Spinner"<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QJPKzkpTmM 1 Year of Fen Spinner on YouTube]</ref> was released, with videos from many of the active Fen Spinner members.
+===Activities in 2021===
-Fen Spinner expressed interest in joining the [[Pen Spinning World Tournament 2021]], but a decision by the [[Pen Spinning Board of Directors]] was made to lump the community in with [[The Workshop]] and those still identifying as [[UPSB]], with [[Padrace]] as manager and the community named as the '''English Speaking Pen-spinning Collective''' (ESPC). The rule itself currently only applies to Fen Spinner, and previous World Tournaments allowed new boards and boards split from other boards to sign up, famously Korean and German boards. Ultimately, a deal was made that allowed the combined English speaking community to enter more participants than defined in the rule book, with the following spinners entering A side from Fen Spinner:<ref>[https://wt21.worldps.org/participants/ WT21 Participants page on the website]</ref>
+[[File:Fens1st.jpg|thumb|200px|Fen Spinner 1st Title screen]]Fen Spinner entered [[SpinFest 2021]] after sign-ups opened in November 2020.<ref>[https://twitter.com/Spinfest/status/1333090728273121280 Tweet announcing sign-ups for SpinFest 2021]</ref><ref>[https://twitter.com/Spinfest/status/1342137798065852416 Tweet showing Fen Spinner making it into SpinFest 2021]</ref> Its submission, ''Fen Spinner 1st'', was released on 12 April 2021.<ref>[https://twitter.com/Spinfest/status/1381843299435167745 Tweet of Fen Spinner 1st released to SpinFest]</ref> Edited by Varoza, the collaboration video featured eleven spinners and used three-dimensional graphics and visual effects.
-*[[Varoza]]
-*'''Pall'''
-*[[Allwars]]
-Pall came top 32, Allwars top 16 and Varoza top 8.
-In addition, '''Mervo''' entered World Tournament B side<ref>[https://wt21-b.worldps.org/participants/ WT21 B side Participants on the website]</ref> from Fen Spinner.
+A planned collaboration with [[LSPSC]] was discontinued when LSPSC closed in July 2021. On 30 July, Fen Spinner released the minicombo collaboration ''1 Year of Fen Spinner''<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QJPKzkpTmM 1 Year of Fen Spinner on YouTube]</ref> to mark the community's first anniversary.
-===Spin Awards 2021===
+Fen Spinner also sought to enter the [[Pen Spinning World Tournament 2021]]. The [[Pen Spinning Board of Directors]] grouped its entrants with The Workshop and UPSB under the name English Speaking Pen-spinning Collective, managed by [[Padrace]]. Fen Spinner was represented on the tournament's A side by Varoza, Pall, and [[Allwars]].<ref>[https://wt21.worldps.org/participants/ WT21 Participants page on the website]</ref> Pall reached the top 32, Allwars the top 16, and Varoza the top eight. Mervo represented the community in the B-side tournament.<ref>[https://wt21-b.worldps.org/participants/ WT21 B side Participants on the website]</ref>
-[[File:SpinAwards2021.JPG|thumb|200px|Spin Awards 2021 Branding]]
-With no members of the Spin Awards committee wishing to step up and run the event, Fen Spinner volunteered and ran Spin Awards 2021, using a complicated multiple choice voting system and a restyling of the event to look more professional. Among other changes, the event was restructured to have an individual representative and individual advisor from each community to handle fair voting, nominations and communicating the event with their own communities.
-Past Spin Awards had a limited set of representatives, typically limited to a friend group nature like the [[Pen Spinning Board of Directors]], and the list of award recipients was chosen by the event organizer, Coffeelucky, after some consultation. This made the past Spin Awards controversial as often individual candidates were missed in nominations and voting, with a heavy bias towards popular figures.
+[[File:SpinAwards2021.JPG|thumb|200px|Spin Awards 2021 Branding]]Fen Spinner organized Spin Awards 2021 after members of the previous committee declined to run the event. The format assigned a representative and an adviser to each participating community to assist with nominations, voting, and communication. Voting was conducted in early 2022 so that work released near the end of 2021 could be considered.
-The 2021 event also held voting in early 2022 in order to accurately receive combos later in the year from sources like the JapEn CV, which is typically released on Christmas day. Following this, the results compilation and editing process took until February 27th for the release of the awards, with some people such as Coffeelucky who had refused to assist the editing process complaining publicly about the internally communicated delays.
+The results were published in February 2022 as ''Spinner of the Year 2021'', ''Collab of the Year 2021'', and ''Spin Awards 2021 – Minor Awards''. Modding results were released separately as an image. Fen Spinner subsequently withdrew from organizing the awards, citing workload and disagreements within the organizing process. Control of the event's server was transferred to Patchwork of FPSB, but no further edition was held until 2025.
-All three award videos were released in February, with modding awards being published as an image result due to the editing workload not being assisted by any other Spin Awards representative:
+===World Cup and Olympics in 2022===
-* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0-lVu_WfGE Spinner of the Year 2021 | Spin Awards]
-* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xA-c4uOTk0 Collab of the Year 2021 | Spin Awards]
-* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJ5eC1VWQjg Spin Awards 2021 - Minor Awards]
-After the release of the videos, Fen Spinner announced stepping down from running Spin Awards, citing difficulties and political infighting bogging down the process of running the event. With no individuals willing to have Spin Awards handed off to them, the server was given to FPSB's Patchwork, and fell into disuse shortly after with the event no longer being held.
+[[Nine]] joined Fen Spinner in late 2021 and later became part of its leadership. Fen Spinner initially discussed forming a World Cup team with members of The Workshop, but the communities did not reach a lasting arrangement. Fen Spinner therefore entered the [[Pen Spinning World Cup 2022]] through a separate team named '''Final Boss'''.
-===Leadership changes, World Cup 2022 and Pen Spinning Olympics 2022===
+Final Boss placed third in the opening round. It subsequently defeated BlackMagic of [[PSH]], The Five Fingers of Sublime Pen, and Eastern Reunion of [[JEB]], winning the tournament. The team earned fourteen of the fifteen available battle points.
-In late 2021 a key change was [[Nine]] from [[UPSB]] joining Fen Spinner and soon making his way into the leadership of the community, with Allwars eventually departing the community for the second time. Originally Fen Spinner was to join with members of [[The Workshop]] to create a [[World Cup]] team, but the alliance was shaky and eventually broken by another Workshop conflict. The decision was made to form a new World Cup team consisting entirely of Fen Spinner members: '''Final Boss'''. Soon after these tensions resulted in Nine and Varoza being permanently banned from the workshop shortly after the tournament started.
-Final Boss came 3rd in the 1st round of the [[Pen Spinning World Cup 2022]], and defeated in all categories the strongest team from [[PSH]]: '''BlackMagic''' in round 2. In round 3, they defeated the rival team they originally split away from before the tournament: '''The Five Fingers of Sublime Pen''', captained by [[Padrace]]. Eventually, they would defeat [[JEB]]'s '''Eastern Reunion''' in the final round in all categories, winning the World Cup. The team's victories were particularly crushing as Final Boss won 14/15 round points, only losing a single battle in the event. The single lost battle was controversial, as Krogan was suggested to freestyle and troll his opponent on purpose while preparing for the next round, such was the confidence that Final Boss would win regardless.
+The roster consisted of Varoza, Nine, Krogan (a pseudonym of [[Barney]]), [[Vanilla]], [[ZeGentleman]], and substitute [[Saltient]]. Saltient replaced ZeGentleman after the second round.
-The Final Boss team members were as follows:
+At the [[Pen Spinning Olympics 2022]], [[Reboot]] placed first and ZeGentleman placed third in the power category. Barney competed under the name KyorYuuNa in the wipers category and placed fourth after not submitting an entry for the final round.
-*[[Varoza]]
-*[[Nine]]
-*Krogan (pseudonym of [[Barney]])
-*[[Vanilla]]
-*[[ZeGentleman]]
-*[[Saltient]] (substitute)
-ZeGentleman, the winner of the [[PSUK]] beginner's tournament, was notably only a 1 year [[prodigy]] spinner. He was swapped out for Saltient after round 2.
-In the [[Pen Spinning Olympics 2022]], Fen Spinner members [[Reboot]] and ZeGentleman entered the power category, with Reboot placing 1st and ZeGentleman 3rd. Barney entered the Wipers category as "KyorYuuNa", coming 4th place after not submitting for the final round.
+===SpinFest 2023 and later developments===
+[[File:Fen2nd.JPG|thumb|200px|FEN 2ND Title screen]]Fen Spinner released its second official collaboration video, ''FEN 2ND | Spinfest 2023'', on 25 June 2023. The video featured several members of the Final Boss team alongside other community members.
-===Spinfest 2023, the rise of Spindys and fall of The Workshop===
+During this period, the [[Spindys]] community grew through the work of Tilt, a Fen Spinner member whose YouTube content attracted new participants to pen spinning. As activity in The Workshop declined, Fen Spinner and Spindys became two of the principal communities serving English-speaking spinners. The Workshop closed on 20 October 2024.
-[[File:Fen2nd.JPG|thumb|200px|FEN 2ND Title screen]]
-The second official CV of the board, '''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoyGJsclm_k FEN 2ND | Spinfest 2023]''' was released on June 25th, 2023, with a strong roster comprising almost all of the '''Final Boss''' team members and other Fen Spinner members.
-On its release the manager of the Spinfest Twitter account, Coffeelucky, shared it with a caption stating that the video had "Excessive bright flashing lights" advising people not to watch it. In fact, the CV had been screened to a member with photosensitive epilepsy beforehand and confirmed not to have any adverse effects before release.
+Several Fen Spinner members entered the [[Pen Spinning World Tournament 2025]], with their registered communities following their names:
+* [[Tilt]] (Spindys, Fen) - 3rd Place
+* [[Barney]] (Spindys) - Top 8
+* '''Levia''' (Independent) - Top 16
+* '''monsoon''' (PHPS) - Top 16
+* '''Apple''' (VNPS, Fen)
+Barney jokingly signed up under PSUKC, then Spindys under a fake name 'LimSeowon'. Fen Spinner member ProBloodBag participated as one of the judges for the event
-During this period the new community [[Spindys]] began to gain traction. Tilt, a Fen Spinner member for several years had started a YouTube channel that attracted many new spinners to the hobby. With the decline in activity in The Workshop, that same activity moved over to Spindys, with Fen Spinner and Spindys cooperating for the English-speaking pen spinning community. The Workshop would later close for good on October 20th, 2024.
+In the [[Pen Spinning Olympics 2026]], [[Barney]] would win in both the technical and infinity categories. ProBloodBag would participate as a judge for the Technical category.
 ==Wiki==
 Fen Spinner Wiki is a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki MediaWiki] site created as a replacement for the long-defunct [[UPSB Wiki]] in early 2021. Over time, this grew to become the largest pen spinning wiki project ever made, dwarfing the original UPSB projects and other competitors. In 2025 a new responsive frontend and homepage was added to the wiki as part of a wider rollout of updates to the site.
+==Collaboration Videos==
+* Fen Spinner 1st
+* 1 Year of Fen Spinner
+* FEN 2ND
 ==Notable members==
@@ Line 90: / Line 77: @@
 * [[Vanilla]]
 * [[Tilt]]
-* [[iMatt]]
 * [[Reboot]]
 * [[ZeGentleman]]
 * [[Barney]]
+* [[ProBloodBag]]
 ==References==
 <references/>
 [[Category:Pen Spinning Communities]]