Intimidator Wiki Scheduled for Deletion

[jokers]

Someone on reddit mentioned the wiki entery for the Bob Long Intimidator was scheduled for deletion, I verified they were correct and it appears that Wikipedia might delete this entry so I wanted to save the Wiki entry in case it gets deleted. I have not read the whole thing, I do not know how accurate it is, nor did i have any interaction with the writing of this, I just saw it noticed it was something we deal with, and wanted to save it before it went away. I am posting it on the second post.

[jokers]

The Intimidator (or Timmy for short) is an electropneumatic paintball marker that was manufactured by former professional paintball player Bob Long and his company, Bob Long Technologies.

Introduced in 2000,^[1] it was, along with the Smart Parts Impulse, one of the first fully electropneumatic markers to be adopted by professional tournament teams on a widespread basis.^[2] There are over 28 versions of the Intimidator, spread over six "generations."^[3]

Bob Long Technologies was later sold to Eric Crandall in 2017.

Team Dynasty shoots Bob Long now known as Field One. The newest marker out of the factory is the Field One Force which is based on Bob Long’s NG Insight with newly designed parts from Field One.
History


The Intimidator was developed and tested by Bob Long, and manufactured in the United States.^[4] The marker was tested using computer controlled shooting machines and ballistic chronographs, invented to test machine guns.^[4]

In 2004, Bob Long introduced the Alias Intimidator.^[3] The marker was redesigned from the ground up.^[4] Features like the regulator and valve were made smaller to increase flow and lower the pressure of the marker. The LCD was moved from the top of the trigger frame to the grip frame, and the internals were modified so that it cycled faster.^[4] As a result of these modifications, the Alias was more compact than the original Intimidator, and about 20% more air efficient.^[4] This version of the Intimidator served at the basis for all subsequent markers under the Intimidator name until 2006 when the Generation 4 Intimidators were released.^[3]

At the peak of its popularity in the mid-2000s, the Intimidator saw use in national and international tournament play.^[4] Its popularity began to decline however in later years as other poppet valve markers with similar rates of fire (such as the Planet Eclipse Ego) became available. As a comparison a brand new Bob Long Vice Intimidator retails from the company at $749.99 USD whereas the Planet Eclipse Etek3 (aluminum body style) and Planet Eclipse Ego 9 retails at the company's site at $595 and $1,095 USD respectively. Nonetheless, the Intimidator can still be seen in use today at many paintball fields.

Generation 5 Intimidators were made in two body styles: the Vice marker and the Protege, the former being the more expensive and in some ways more refined high-end version. The Vice came with a Tadao board stock as well as a lever lock feedneck, a pillow bolt and more intricate milling. Generation 5 markers are four-eye capable which is a Bob Long design to incorporate four breakbeam eyes rather than the usual two. This design is intended to improve the reaction time of the board and bolt. Generation 5 markers are also in the category of very light guns weighing in at 1 lb. 13.2oz without a barrel.

Some aftermarket upgrades designed specifically for the Generation 5 markers are the Yakuza OLED board made by Tadao technologies which offers a screen to change modes instead of using the stock flashing LED and adds numerous new parameters to change, including the ability to set up multiple preset fire modes and adjust rate of fire by intervals of 0.1bps. a low pressure poppet which uses a slightly longer shaft to open the valve for a slightly longer time and more air as it cycles to create a softer shot by reducing recoil, it also reduces recoil to small degree. The aforementioned 4C eye and laser 4C eye systems which uses two additional sensors to calculate the amount of time it takes for a ball to be fully loaded into the breach and tells the board to pre-charge the solenoid. This helps increase rate of fire in semi-auto and allows for more uniform streams of paint. Protege users can buy the same pillow bolt that comes stock in the Vice from Bob Long Direct; it uses a rubber insert in the bolt face to put less pressure on the paintball being fired and to prevent paint from breaking inside the barrel. Lurker paintball makes an adjustable ram for the Gen 5 markers to help reduce recoil and lower dwell, thus increasing efficiency. Lurker rams have a cult following within the Intimidator owning and collecting community.

Generation 6 intimidators are the first non-macro line, stacked tube marker. Named the G6r, the marker was released in 2011. This model was the standard edition. Bob Long Manufactures released a 2012 edition. This edition was upgraded with a cam-drive ASA, a Frenzy OLED board, and new through air passage ways, with a new pricetag of $999.99.

A 2012 special edition Generation 6 Intimidator was also released with multi-colored anodizing and the body surface milled into the shape of flames. This limited release is intended to be a modern incarnation of the ultra rare flame milled Intimidators of generations past, of which only two are known to exist.
Operation


Like other open bolt, poppet-valve-based markers, the Intimidator uses a solenoid to drive a pneumatic ram into a poppet valve, which causes it to open, firing the paintball.^[5] On earlier Intimidators, a recognizable external feature was a dual low-pressure chamber.
References

• Has Paintball Technology Reached a Plateau? Archived 2008-01-03 at the Wayback Machine by Mohammed S. Alo, April 2004, The Paintball Times
• Intimidator Tech Page - Timmy History Archived 2008-05-13 at the Wayback Machine at Ultra Twisted Paintball
• Intimidator and Ego Comparison: Fair and Balanced Archived July 15, 2011, at the Wayback Machine at pbreview.com
• Mini Interview: Bob Long and the Intimidator Archived February 25, 2007, at the Wayback Machine, March 2, 2004, at Paintball Star
• Intimidator Tech Page – How It Works at Ultra Twisted Paintball

[DocsMachine]

... Why are they considering deleting it? It's not like that bit of storage space costs any money, the article isn't politically contentious, and it's not like the subject matter can't be independently verified.

Somebody have it in for us nasty, warlike, bloodthirsty paintballers?

Doc.

[Olsson]

Regarding paintball on Wikipedia, it has vexed me over the years how few pages there are about specific paintball products, high profile persons and other larger issues. Sure, I can understand that there wouln't be too many Wikipedia pages on the more obscure paintball memorabilia, but when there is a lack of even mentioning major brands, that does strike me as odd.

On the other hand, Wikipedia is very much created by its users, so the paintball community as a whole has obviously not seen it as especially imortant.

But to go so far as to remove a page from Wikipedia when it isn't horribly incorrect or politically contentious as mentioned goes beoynd me. Wasn't the whole pont of Wikipedia to just keep amassing information continuously in an ever greater repository of knowledge?

Any of you in the know of why Wikipedia removes pages permanently?

[Siress]

Reason:

Delete PROMO from 20 yrs ago for a paintball gun. I can't find sourcing for it now, other than ebay listings. Oaktree b (talk) 13:59, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

What can you do about it?

1. Click here
2. Learn about Wikimedia
3. Follow instructions

I don't have time to dedicate to this, but it does seem to me that there's too much detail about this particular platform - beyond encyclopedic details. Also, there's no article covering who Bob Long is, and every reference article no longer exist - except one from the wayback machine about fundamental operation. They should have used the animation from ZDSPB... Honestly, I'd donate to have Ydna restructure paintball info on Wiki. He has the right ideas for structuring it, and certainly the knowledge/references to fill in the info. This is how it's done. 3715 words, averaging 24 words per gun/item covered. The 'Bob Long Intimidator' article is 1288 words. Getting into the history of each one is very niche and will likely lack sufficient evidence to be considered encyclopedic.

[jokers]

I love the responses from you wonderful peoples. I hope that Wikipedia realizes what they have here.

Bob Long has been one of the most influential people and manufacturers in paintball. The Intimidator set the bar for stacked tube markers like the Planet Eclipse Ego. X.X.X.X (talk) 12:24, 19 June 2023 (UTC)It's extremely odd to me that @Ajf773 seems to think that a milestone in the development of our sport is somehow not notable. I suppose the problem with a user-moderated service like Wikipedia is that they don't have to know what they're talking about to pass judgement. X.X.X.X (talk) 13:08, 19 June 2023 (UTC)

[DocsMachine]

But to go so far as to remove a page from Wikipedia when it isn't horribly incorrect or politically contentious as mentioned goes beoynd me. Wasn't the whole pont of Wikipedia to just keep amassing information continuously in an ever greater repository of knowledge?

-I know that years ago, Wiki had a rage-boner over webcomics in general. If somebody rezzed up a page for a webcomic, it generally got deleted within a week, and if reopened, some moderator would perma-ban it from being opened again.

The only way they'd let the article stay, was if there was an off-internet mention of it- that is, you had to have an article in a magazine or newspaper about the comic. And, I had a TWB comic that got printed in a Russian PB magazine, and a full-page comic in the back of a special-edition PB magazine. These weren't good enough for them, and they deleted he TWB entry at least three times.

All that said, I seriously think we, as a community, need to launch our own paintball Wiki. We've already lost a ton of information over the years, with various boards getting closed down, and even moreso today with the majority of it all getting posted to Facebook, which is uncategorized and basically unsearchable.

There's magazines that no longer exist, people that have moved on (Tom Kaye) or passed on (Castleberry) markers that hardly anyone knows about (the Puma pumps) long-past accessories (that doohickey that let you change a bottle with a quarter-turn) noteworthy developments (the advent of constant air, the development of the electric marker, progression of HPA systems) fields (EMR, SC Village) past and current celebrities, techs, airsmiths, shops, vendors and stores, and so on.

Outside the sport, sure, it's not particularly valuable info, but paintball isn't going anywhere. It bay become more and/or less popular as time goes on, but I have no doubt we'll still be playing in fifty years. Those players then will often be curious as to where the sport came from , who first used this or that, who thought up the idea of using inflatable balloons as objects to hide behind, and so on.

We don't have that sort of record saved in physical magazines anymore, we ought to work to save it elsewhere.

Doc.

[Olsson]

Great write up Doc, I fully agree. Also, thank you for the snippet of insight towards the (mal)function of Wikipedia regarding topics they deem unworthy.

However, personally I don't have the know how, nor do I have the free time. Instead, I would gladly donate cash towards such a project, if I felt that those responsible for it were trustworthy, and/or delivered.