Toyark Reorganization Q1 2012

Wanted to alert our regular members and full-time lurkers that we have reorganized the forums on Toyark.com a bit to further streamline your time-wasting, I mean hobby enjoyment, here.

First off, the following forums have been removed (though all threads still exist):

• DC - Toys, Comics, Movies/TV, General
• MOTU - Toys, Cartoon, General
• Star Wars - Toys, Movies/TV, Comics, General
• Video Games and Movies - Toys
• One Line Per Thread
• Welcome to the Toyark

All TOY discussion from the DC, MOTU, Star Wars and Video Games/Movie sub-forums have been moved to Action Figure General Discussion. So the threads are there, they are just in a new spot.

All the off topic discussion for Movies, TV and Video Games from all over the site have been moved into our new "Fandom Related" forums. Since we all collect toys here, and most of the toys come from some form of media - we figured having dedicated areas for that might be worth a shot. You can check those out here - Movies TV and Cartoon Discussion, Comic Books and Graphic Novels Discussion, Video Game Discussion.

We have kept the Marvel Toys forum intact. There is a strong Marvel fan base here and we wanted to continue to nurture that. It now resides in Tier 1 of the forum structure along with AFGD and News & Rumors.

We have also moved the Reviews and Feedback forum up top, as we'd like to see more of your reviews - text, pictorial and video. We will feature some of the best ones on the front page from time to time.

The Creative area has also been moved higher in the forum structure. Keep showing off those kick ass customs!

In summary, we have condensed the forum structure. Marvel keeps it's own sub-forum for now, because the traffic demands it. All the other forums listed above that have been cut were very slow in forum activity terms, so we moved the threads into our Action Figure General Discussion. If any particular line (DC, MOTU, Star Wars, etc) overpowers the flow of the AFGD in the future, where discussion of those topics push other discussion down the page regularly, we will split the threads back out into it's own sub forum.

The Toyark is a place for those that collect multiple lines, from multiple companies. There are other great sites that are specific to particular lines, and we understand that. So instead of sectioning everyone off in their discussion, we are going to embrace our "everything-ness", and let the discussion of all things toys take place in basically one spot - Action Figure General Discussion. That's the logic behind all this. We hope you like it, or can accept it, and don't start a digital riot.

Let us know your thoughts by replying below. Later!

hey am i the only one but i know toyark was doing something to this site and all i see is marvel forums very very limited dc dont get me wrong i love marvel too but what happened to the dc forums forgive me guys if this was a stupid question

Please see above.

the new posts button is all you need,sooner or later the most active threads get bumped anyway.

its on the front home page of toyark... dc ,star wars,motu, and other less traffic threads have been combined..Only Marvel stands alone...

I don't think that's quite fair. Killing the DC toy forum just as it seems it was really *finally* starting to take off!
A year ago I may have agreed, but the last couple months it's been really active.

I like combining the marvel and dc cartoon and comic sections into the normal cartoon and comics section.

Also, why does "Latest Review" get it's own sidebar when it's a really slow moving area, but *not* have a sidebar that features the more important threads like this?
I mean, that's not much better than giving Fan Art it's own sidebar, while removing the Marvel Sidebar.
We need a sidebar for the more random threads (That would include toy reviews, fan art, this thread, and such).

I'm fine with this. Though I did kind of like they way the "one thread per toy line" was set up, in that it was easy to browse.

I can get used to it.

This actually mean MORE clicking around to find specific stuff though. I mean, if you look at the threads from the Star Wars or DC sections most of the titles didn't say what line the thread was about. Now having them all in one place means you have no idea which thread is about what line until you click on it.

New here, but I liked DC having it's own section too

This will work itself out over time. as new threads are created in afgd, titles will be made more specific to relay what its about. or edited by staff to that effect.

I will try to go thru and do that retroactively tomorrow

Personally I like the change. I come here for the Marvel and randomly check other lines. i think the new format will lead to more people posting and reading topics they might otherwise have ignored.

" time-wasting?" anyway.....if one wants to talk dcu talk, we'll talk dcu talk! and lets start the forum about having to join this dumb toy collector mickey mouse club in order to get new dcu figs.............................................. .........hello....anybody out there?

Feel free to start that discussion in afgd

Personally, I think a better idea would have been to roll all fiction into one section, exactly like you had, but organize the toy companies by company, in one section:

Toy Companies
Hasbro-
-Marvel
-Star Wars
-Transformers
-GI Joe
-General Discussion
Mattel-
-DC Universe
-MotU
-Voltron
-Matty Collector Exclusive lines
-General Discussion
Bandai-
-Power Rangers
-Gundam
-GD
Direct Market Companies-
-DC Direct
-Marvel Sellect
-Neca

Bare with me, I forget what major brands a given company may represent. This was only an example.
Basically, something along those lines I think would serve the toys a lot better than Marvel in one forum, everything else in another. It's not perfect, but I think it covers more than the new set up does, but still stays pretty streamlined.

This idea might be good. I was thinking about suggesting broader theme sections, like "Superheroes and Comic Toys" or "Movie/TV toys" but there's lots of crossover. This way there is mostly no crossover, but it could cause troubles with people who collected DCU and DCD. It could make less sense to separate those.

Its a tough move to organize such a vast amount of topics. I think this initial streamlining is a good move, but there should be an aim for some more organization in the future based on how topics and discussion form in GD.

Something like that was discussed. If this doesn't work out, we may give something like that a shot down the road.

Or, if volume demands it of course

(Like I said, I admit it's not perfect)

In all honesty, what is the biggest problem to me (aside from the thought of picking through dozens of things I *don't* want to read, like MotU, Wrestling, Star Wars to pick out the few that genuinely interest me), is the way the sidebar is organized. It leaves out entire sections that have more important topics than the slow moving review section.
At least roll this section into the "Latest Toy Discussion" sidebar.
Change the "Latest Customs" Sidebar into a more general sidebar that includes all the fanmade topics, including Fanart.
The only attention fanart threads got at all was due to popping up on the old all-inclusive sidebar.

Alright then. I respect that.
And wow! It's nice to be acknowledged. They treat those of us who give suggestions and ideas like shit, over on the TCC board. (FunPub does, not the other board members)

Really not looking forward to scanning through posts to find content I care about. Probably just won't.

I can look into adjusting the sidebar blocks tomorrow. That part was done rather quickly after the fact to get this all launched tonight.

Sorry toyark, rather silly thing to do here. The fact that there isn't a MOTU site all by itself has ALWAYS baffled me. You have Thundercats, Transformers, Gi Joe, all understandable. Then Tokunation gets made before MOTU? Come on guys. Heck even STAR WARS should of gotten it's own site before Tokunation here. If anything this site should be Marvel, DC and other COMIC related toylines.

Something like this should really be discussed with the people who make this forum great. THE FANS. Feels like, once again, we just got tossed aside and are told to deal with it.

I always felt the same way about an entirely comic based 2005 site.
Didn't think that any of the comic and comicbook toys had the pull for an entirely Marvel forum/site, or an entirely DC site (Well, they do, but not from the existing 2005 members).
Plus, there are enough crossover readership to justify it. Even if you don't read full time from "the other side", I find most people generally like to know what's going on.

I've *always* thought there was enough here to justify an entirely comic forum and site on the 2005 network. I'd think moreso than an entirely dedicated kaiju and sentai site. And moreso than Thundercats.
Not dissing them. Just when you pull Marvel, DC, IDW, Image, Darkhorse, Tokyopop, and all the comic companies together, as well as their movies, tv, and cartoon shows together, that's a pretty massive base.

Other sites are always under consideration. Your points on the site choices are understood, but there is reasoning on why we went that way. And chose not to get into other areas.

That being said, there are some things being worked on in the long term that may interest you guys. Just have to wait and see tho

make mine MARVEL!

i'm all for changes. nerdom is never satisfied anyway. there's always going to be someone kicking rocks.

Not gonna get too deep into the site specific stuff. But, the problem with toyark right now is active forum participation. DC, motu, sw, and video games/movies as forums had Max 5 people looking at the each, 4 not being logged in. While I do appreciate feedback from all the regulars, there really want much to do here. If things need adjusting from here, a simplification and reset point, we can do that down the road.