TBI
The Blockbuster Insider is a Free to read Discord based newspaper founded and by Sharkfynn1012 and currently managed by Maxxiimus and MasterEWild. The news organization currently serves nearly every nation on earth.
The Blockbuster Insider was originally founded with the intent of being a business and industry newspaper, however now covers all manner of articles relating to EarthMC game-play, to those that play it. It includes town reviews, sharing about the diverse towns of EarthMC, articles voicing opinions and sharing information about EarthMC and live news and media covering almost every nation along with coverage of EarthMC's many sports events.
In early 2018 the Blockbuster magazine was launched alongside TBI's regular broadcast. The magazine has since proven popular with readers, pioneering the town review category and including things such as "today in history" and "guess the location".
TBI was also one of the early adopters of the live news format - short summarized posts about current events happening in-game. While Terra Nova News pioneered the concept TBI would adopt a slightly altered version of it.
The Blockbuster Insider features it's own website here which was refreshed in June of 2022 to host all current and future articles. (Website last updated as of October 17th 2024)
June 2022 Service Update:
In early June of 2022, coinciding with the rise in popularity of Terra Aurora The Blockbuster Insider moved to update its website and content posting method, switching from uploading full news broadcasts to individual articles visible through the [1] TBI website].
These changes marked the return of CorgiPaws (Sharkfynn1012) who had been absent from the runnings of the company for the better part of two years.
September 2020 Revival:
While 2020 as a year would prove to be a promising start for TBI, come May 2020 the Discord had started to go quiet again, with TBI dipping to below 600 members before a scheduled revival took place on the 5th of September 2020.
TBI has experienced periods of inactivity before, however this stand as being one of the longest periods during which TBI was without a broadcast.
Employee Positions:
Managing Editors: The managing editor's are the top rank of TBI and are the managers of all staff. The Managing Editor's work with the rest of the staff time to help keep things organized and have the final say on matters.
Senior Editor: The Senior Editors of TBI is second in command. The Senior Editor has the authority to make decisions on behalf of and represent the Managing Editors in their absence. The Senior Editors have this and all the same permissions as the Editors.
Editor: Editors are ranked above regular Journalists as they have the authority to edit articles and make broadcasts as well as announcements. Editors are elected in a semi monthly election process or directly appointed. Editors also have their own communication channel on the TBI Discord. Editors can also kick/ban people and act as the "police" of the TBI Discord. Editors have this and all the same permissions as Journalists.
Head Cartographer: The Head Cartographer has the full powers of an editor and is considered one for all intents and purposes but their main goal is to manage TBI's Cartographer section.
Journalist: Journalists are the backbone of the TBI staff team. Journalists make posts in TBI-Live, TBI-Media and TBI-Events and run for Editor positions such as Senior Editor and Editor.
Trial-Journalist: Trial Journalists are newly appointed Journalists. They receive this role after applying on the staff application form and being voted on by all of the Journalists/Editors already working for TBI. They can move up the ranks after making 10 live posts or writing one article. Once they have done either one of those things they become fully fledged Journalists. Trial Journalists cannot run for Editorial positions.
Writer: Writers are responsible for writing articles and town reviews to be reviewed by Editors and eventually published by TBI.
Trial-Writer: The trial writer role is given to staff members who currently hold a trial rank in another section of the organization. Upon being promoted from that rank, they will be promoted to full writer.
Cartographer: Cartographers make up the TBI mapping team, creating maps and working on the world map. While Journalists can fulfill the role of a Cartographer this is an individual position.
Trial-Cartographer: Trial Cartographers are newly appointed Cartographers. They receive this role after applying on the staff application form and being accepted by current Application Managers (Editors, Senior Editors, Managing Editor). They can move up the ranks and become a fully fledged Cartographer after making a variety of EMC related maps and being deemed fit to move on to a full cartographer by the Head Cartographer. Trial Cartographers cannot run for Editorial positions.
Data Analyst: Data Analysts source and post Data relevant to EMC on TBI. This is also an individual position that can be fulfilled by any Journalist.
Trial-Data Analyst: Trial Data Analysts are newly appointed Data Analysts. They receive this role after applying on the staff application form and being accepted by current Application Managers (Editors, Senior Editors, Managing Editor). They can move up the ranks and become a fully fledged Data Analyst after making 3 EMC related graphs which are all approved by higher ups. Trial Data Analysts cannot run for Editorial positions.
TBI Events:
The Blockbuster Insider has been home to a few events over the last few years:
The Blockbuster Awards: Pitched as being the Blockbuster equivalent of the Nobel Prize, except a lot less noble the first, and to date only Blockbuster Awards to take place occurred in late 2018, during the final days of EarthMC Classic. The awards ceremony would be held at the Blockbuster Amphitheater located in the Classic town of Lone_Blockbuster. The event would be a resounding success, with several categories including builds, literature and music. Winners of their categories received custom books and trophies.
Blockbuster Trivia Night: A trivia night hosted by TBI on the TBI Discord. Its an event that has occurred twice now, The first trivia night was in January 2020 and a grand prize of 100g. This event was moderately successful, with there being several members present in a chaotic Discord.
The second trivia night would be an even greater success. A grand total prize pool of 550 gold was up for grabs, with there being well over 20 recorded people present at the event. This trivia night was different to the first one, not only did it have questions pertaining to EMC but the real world too.
April Fools & TBI:
TBI has a special relationship with the 1st of April. Here's a list of themes TBI has adopted on each date:
| Year: | Theme: | Description: |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | InfoWars | Roles and server logo as well as staff pfps and nicknames were changed to mimic that of Alex Jones' infamous show, InfoWars. New emojis were also added. |
| 2019 | Anchorman | Roles and server logo as well as staff pfps and nicknames were changed to mimic that of Channel 4 from the 2004 film Anchorman. |
| 2020 | The Daily Wire | The server adopted a Daily Wire theme, changing pfps, nicknames, the server logo and roles to reflect The Ben Shapiro Show and the Daily Wire. Several new Ben Shapiro themed emojis were also added. |
| 2021 | N/A | Cancelled due to COVID-19 |
| 2022 | N/A | Cancelled due to COVID-19 |
| 2024 | Star Wars | Roles and server logo were updated to a Star Wars theme. A Star Wars themed announcement was also made |
Summary
All and all TBI is the largest and oldest news organization on the entirety on EMC, starting in late 2017 and still running to this day in 2024.
TBI Discord & Classic Wiki:
The link to the TBI Discord: https://discord.gg/5JSJcjY
The Blockbuster Insider Classic Wiki.
Wiki Page Last Updated on October 17th 2024