kcrawfish Posted Oct 23, 2011, 6:32 pm	A possible checklist for creating your first toyvoy: ~ choose a toy whose being lost in the mail won't break your heart!  (also known as "don't send your daughter's first teddy bear") ~ write a profile description with some personality ~ upload a profile picture -- sizing it to under 100k and cropping the photo to be square to keep it from being distorted ~ put the weight of your toyvoy in the profile ~ if you want to include anything extra to travel with your toyvoy, mention it in the profile AND add the weight of these extras to the profile weight (I'm not referring to gifts that the first host can keep, of course.) ~ have 5 life missions written out in the profile ... I suggest making them completable -- some people will offer to host your toyvoy just to be able to complete one of its missions ... it's quite motivating! ("wanting to see the world" could be in the toy's profile) ~ write at least two first updates yourself *with photos* ~ write updates in English and in the first person -- we want to "hear the voice" of your toyvoy ~ put in the map coordinates for those first updates ~ be particular about your host (When was she last active?  Does she hold up TVs by the fistful in photos?  Does she update only once every 5-6 weeks?  Are the photos blurry?  Has she deleted the photos of her previous guests?)  ~ get your host's contact info, including email ~ mail your toy with all needed info, ID #, your address and password IF you have created one for its profile (And if you don't have a physical tag, maybe you can create one because, as with a pet, an ID tag makes it more likely to come home if it gets away.) ~ go to Edit Preferences and choose "newest post first" -- totally optional, but, personally, I was really happy when I made this change ~ and keep logging in to read your host's updates -- a host updating weekly and a mentor reading monthly, for example, is unmotivating I hope this will make your toy an A#1 toyvoyager in the eyes of potential hosts.
olgamaus Posted Oct 25, 2011, 7:42 am	Like kcrawfish already wrote, most of the TVs from the German members have life missions like"visit Tokio", "visit Paris", visit "New York Ciity" and so on. Please consider that there are not so many hosts in Asia. There is really a lot of active hosts in the USA, scattered throughout the whole country. Every place is worth seeing it, not only the capital cities and those with touristic highlights. As there are so many new German members, you may think about life missioins which could be fulfilled by some of the newbies, for example - take a photo in front of a lighthouse - have a beer and pretzel in the Hofbraeuhaus - take a walk in a forest (probably impossible for a host in NYC) - visit a racetrack - go skateboarding - try local delicacies - visit the host's workplace - always a favourite: meet my host's pets Yesterday I saw an interesting life mission with one of the new TVs: Visit all 17 German federal states - such a great mission - and really a challenge When you send your TVs throughout Germany at first, you have the chance to have your first updates only one or two days later. Sending the TVs abroad can take several weeks sometimes, due to different ways of mail transportation and customs regulations. Germany is offering great places, unique for this country, really worth visiting them!
iloveletters Posted Oct 25, 2011, 8:58 am	olgamaus said: ...Yesterday I saw an interesting life mission with one of the new TVs: Visit all 17 German federal states - such a great mission - and really a challenge Yes, that seems a great mission! I really like this challenge. I am here in Thuringia if someone still needs a host in this part of Germany   Maybe I'll pick up the idea later and see if I find 17 people from all the 'Bundesländer' that would like to take part in a kind of RR (or does that exist already?
olgamaus Posted Oct 25, 2011, 9:11 am	This would be a fantastic idea - a "Federal-State-Round-Robin". But than we would have to say good-bye to our TVs for nearly two years, until they visited all the states.
RikeH Posted Oct 25, 2011, 10:58 am	I would love to join!!! So if someone will organize it I am in for Schleswig-Holstein. I could take the Part for Hamburg, too.
miapearl Posted Oct 25, 2011, 11:10 am	Are there newbies in all the federal states? 2 years, that's a long time! I'm trying to work out how many states I've been to - NRW, Hamburg, S-H, and wherever Heidelberg and Phantasialand are!
Tinka Posted Oct 29, 2011, 11:14 am	I didn't Know we have 17 Bundesländer. I always thought there were 16. But well, "Welcome Mallorca, you now are the 17th Bundesland of Germany". Sorry Spain.
nuriayasmin nuriayasmin70@gmail.com Posted Oct 29, 2011, 11:40 am	Mia, Heidelberg is situated in Baden-Wurttemberg. Phantasialand is near Cologne, so it's NRW :-) And we have 16 states and not 17. Fortunately Mallorca has more to offer than those terrible German-occupated spots at the coast. Well, I like the idea of such a trail or Round Robin but wouldn't want to be a host for it at the moment because if things work out fine I'm hopefully moving to Hamburg in about 1 1/2 years. Daniela
Tomi Posted Oct 29, 2011, 11:44 am	really nice checklist really helped me creating my teddy tomi
kcrawfish Posted Nov 12, 2011, 6:46 am	i'm glad! your bears are so cute!
iloveletters Posted Jan 10, 2012, 5:40 pm	Only now I read the first post in detail and dicovered the option of changing my preferences for showing posts in the travellog. I changed to 'show newest post first' and that is a great option. I was always bugged by the fact to go to the last page of the travellog and scroll down and wait for all the pictures to load. I am happy I now dicovered the option!
Gizalba Posted Jan 10, 2012, 6:17 pm	iloveletters said: Only now I read the first post in detail and dicovered the option of changing my preferences for showing posts in the travellog. I changed to  'show newest post first' and that is a great option. I was always bugged by the fact to go to the last page of the travellog and scroll down and wait for all the pictures to load. I am happy I now dicovered the option! This took me a while to discover too! I'm glad you've found it as it really makes a difference P.s. This is a great list Krawfish, very useful for newbies. I think there should perhaps be something like this on one of the tabs at the top along with other info for new members, like explaining to them how to create their free TV (replying to the current 'create a TV' topic rather than making a new topic).
kcrawfish Posted Jan 11, 2012, 6:08 am	i agree with you two. "show newest post first" really improved my enjoyment of the site. when i am on the site logged off, i'm quite annoyed by the "old" way (old to me now that i've had it the newest post first way for a while). that alone is worth being its own topic. oh, and good suggestions, becca.
iloveletters Posted Jan 11, 2012, 10:58 am	kcrawfish said: i agree with you two.  "show newest post first" really improved my enjoyment of the site.  when i am on the site logged off, i'm quite annoyed by the "old" way (old to me now that i've had it the newest post first way for a while).  that alone is worth being its own topic.  oh, and good suggestions, becca. Yeah, just discovered that (of course) it only works if you are logged in...
Xadrian xadriankruez@hotmail.com Posted Jan 16, 2012, 6:54 pm	Great checklist for beginners, thank you for creating this!
LittleCableCars Posted Apr 23, 2012, 3:25 pm	Bump.
Noisy Posted Jun 30, 2012, 12:34 pm	Bump again :-) A BIG HELLO for all the new members! It is much easier to find a host, if the TV has some nice updates in the travelog! Each TV has it't own charactere, so show it with a little story. Your english mustn't be perfect, we all give our best! Take your new TV with yourself for some days and make photos at your school, at your working place, in the mall, in your garden... just wherever you are! It is a lot of fun! Just do it! All the other members are curiously waiting for the stories of your TV!!!
LittleCableCars Posted Jun 30, 2012, 8:42 pm	Has TV-TV been on TV again recently?    Glad to see another group of new members.  I got a message that someone who just joined wants to host one of my TVs.  I haven't responded yet, will wait until he gets settled. As Noisy says, wait until you get oriented before hosting someone else's TV or sending your own out. There are a lot of helpful threads on the forum.  Yes, post lots of updates for your own TV, I'll be reading them.  Welcome!!
Noisy Posted Jun 30, 2012, 8:51 pm	[quote=LittleCableCars]Has [tv]TV-TV[/tv] been on TV again recently? Yes, at Thursday. It was the same show as in Oktober last year :-) with the same great effect for this site :-D
Biggi Posted Jul 6, 2012, 2:09 pm	sorry for beein dump, but I didn't find an answer for my question elsewhere so I decided to post it here: If I do find a first host for my TV, do I have to find the next host too or does the first host ask for the next? If it would be like second option it would be a surprise to me where my TV travels. (and yes I do know about the RR option, I'm just wondering about the other option.)
Noisy Posted Jul 6, 2012, 6:54 pm	usually you have to plan the travelroute for your TV. :-)