The Toyark is looking for News Staff!
 

The Toyark is looking for News Staff!

The all new Toyark.com has launched and is growing well in it's first weeks of existence. We appreciate all that have come on board early and made The Toyark part of their daily rounds on the internetz. Keep posting, it's all about the posts baby! That being said, The Toyark is now somewhat situated with the backend stuff so it's time to get down to business.

Toyark.com is looking for dedicated fans in a number of areas to become "Newsies". This is a different position than the normal Moderator position you see on many websites and forums. In the Toyark way of doing things, a Newsie's sole purpose is to scour the internet for "news" related to their focus (Marvel, DC, McFarlane, WWE, etc).

This could be any kind information, images, press releases, rumors, first in hand pics and reaction, awesome reviews, release dates, and so on. They can come from a number of sources - official company websites, our Toyark forums, other fan sites, small personal blogs, Google or Yahoo news results, etc. We at Toyark have and will continue to grow it's direct relationships with various companies over time. When that happens, you would be put in charge of communicating with them if your focus is what they do. That way, the companies can also pass information and images directly to you for distribution through Toyark.com.

You don't need to be a professional journalist or anything, most of our News stories are just 1 or 2 sentence blurbs with some pics. You just need to be pro-active in the area you cover, making sure you check all the default spots you know information pops up, or, go searching for new spots that may uncover something. After coming on board, we can help steer you in the right directions. You need to have a sense of what to do and where to go before joining though.

So, if you are a fan of a particular line, and know the ins and outs of the fandom around it, then this position is for you. Over time, you will become the one known as the source for new and breaking information around it, and hopefully get the respect of your peers for doing so. The way we look at it, you are on the internetz all day looking at this stuff anyway, might as well round it up and do something with it, right?

We are looking for at least 1 Newsie per category listed below. We would like each Newsie to focus on only 1 line, maybe 2 if you are online a lot and can demonstrate the dedication needed. The ones in bold are needed immediately.

Aliens, Predator, Terminator (and similar movie lines)
Anime (looking for more than 1 Newsie here)
Ben 10
DC
Disney
Dragonball Z
Elite Force, Military
Family Guy, Futurama, Simpsons, Adult Swim
G.I. Joe (Positions Full)
Girls Lines (In general, or a particular one if you are into it)
Godzilla
Gundam
Robot Toy Lines (general, non-TF, non-Macross/Robotech, non-Gundam)
Harry Potter
Hellboy
Horror (general, F13th, NMOES, Halloween, etc)
Indiana Jones
Lego and Building Blocks
Lord Of The Rings
Macross Positions Full
Marvel (looking for more than 1 Newsie here)
Masters Of The Universe
Matchbox and Hot Wheels, other die cast toys both small and large
McFarlane (and similar style toys - Upper Deck, Neca, etc)
Minimates
Pokemon
Power Rangers
Revoltech
Robotech Positions Full
Smurfs
Star Trek
Star Wars (looking for more than 1 Newsie here)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Transformers Positions Full
Urban and Vinyl
Video Games
Wrestling

If you don't see a category listed above, but you are super into the line and want to cover news on it, then we will be glad to create the category in the news area and possibly in the forums, and you can lead the team on it.

Here are some questions, please PM them to the addresses below if you are interested.

Your desired topic of choice? (Marvel, DC, McFarlane, WWE, etc)

How many days a week can you do "Newsie" stuff?

What time of the day are you usually on the most?

How many hours a day can you dedicate to "Newsie" stuff?

Can you do "Newsie" stuff at your job during work hours?

Can you do "Newsie" stuff on the weekends?

Do you post regularly on another website, if so, which ones?

Do you have your own blog or website, if so, is it updated frequently?

Do you currently or have you ever worked for a website as staff of any kind, if so, which ones?

Are you willing to actively seek out new sources of information via web searches, emailing people, etc?

If there is enough news and information out there on the line you cover, can you do at least 1 news post a day, barring any special circumstances in real life?

Are you ok working with others?

Are you ok with taking direction from management staff?

Do you love toys?!?

Do you like cheese?

After all that, if you are interested in becoming a Newsie at the Toyark, please send a PM to me (Tony_Bacala) and/or Destro. Please include the above information.

We hope to hear from you soon, thanks for reading!

Tony B, Destro, and the Toyark.com staff.

I can be a Star Wars newsie. I frequent that forum more than others so I can always jump on what's new and post it there.

Cool man, just hit me with a PM with that info above, and we can go from there.

So do you guys need Newsie's for the LEGO forum?

Yes.

It wouldn't be in the "forum" per say, but rather you finding Lego info either from the company itself or from other places on the internet, and doing up front page blurbs like the one I just did here: http://www.toyark.com/news/lego-toy-...with-pics-366/

So, if Lego or Amazon put up product pics that hadn't been seen before, you would go to our front page system, and do a story up like what I just did there. Or if a fan on another site found new items for the first time, and posted pics with a receipt, you would do the same thing. Anything "newsworthy".

In relation to being a newsie, the forum is just a place to discuss the news stories. You could in theory do news for Toyark and never post any threads in the forum part, other than starting a "discuss the news" thread for each story, if needed.

I can vouch for Cryo Prime.

Can we count news that we make as news? I mean like if we found a new product in stores? Also, I forgot to mention in my PM I can do Lego, too if you need more than one guy on it.

Yes, thats the best kind of news actually :) If you are the first to find and mention it on the web, then for sure, you would post it up.

That's koo. I was ust thinking of CryoPrime's sighting.

I was interested as well as being part of the Lego news staff as well. I personally was concerned I would be the only one there, all lonely. But with all this positive energy toward this forum, I really feel like being part of it.

Okay, cool thanks. I've sent you a PM about being a Lego newsie.

Just wanted to let everyone know we've got your PMs, are looking them over, and will be contacting you soon.

If anyone else is interested, feel free to PM me. Thanks!

Hm. You mean I could actually be official in all of my news postings instead of just freelance spamming?

Tempting, I suppose. But I'm not a huge fan of responsibility... :p

Dang, this would be good to put on a resume... "Freelance Reporting" of toys. :P I love toys.

When I get more time, I will fill out the questionnaire and apply for a Gundam position.

I can be possibly a Disney Cars and or Zoids newsie.

PM Sent for MOTU

I would love to be a Gundam toy newsie.
I go to my hobbytown weekly and i am always finding new stuff.
I also like to brouse the internet sometimes for random gundam stuff.
I might send you a PM a little later today.
-Ian7

I wouldn't mind being a Marvel Newsie.

Hey Guys and Gals,

Just want to let you know we've been getting your PMs. We generally save them up, then go over them once a month or so, and make decisions then. We don't PM back right away. So don't think we are blowing you off. Just hold tight, and we will PM you back when we have some news.

For those that are still interested and haven't submitted anything yet, we welcome you to send us a PM with the info above.

Later!

I'm a do it for the marvels!!!

I can do Star Wars and Marvel

I can really do Star Wars and Marvel.

I hate to PM twice, so I'm going to post here. I've been collecting the Jakks Pacific Smurfs and Spongebob sets. These are some of the best toys out there, and I don't think they ever have news, but if they do, I'd be glad to pass it along.

Start posting news in the forums, if it's shown that you are able to find news you'll be more likely to get a staff position. Thanks.

I applied.