MangaDex Network: Free Hosting For Scanlators!

[Zephyrus]

We are proud to announce the unveiling of MangaDex Network, a free blog hosting service for scanlation groups!

Gone are the days where new fledgling or small scanlation groups need to pay for the pleasure of sharing their work with the world. With our new, free hosting service, you can focus on what matters most: spending more money on raws for your current series or expanding your series portfolio!

Need more reasons to use our service? Here's a short list:

[ol]Custom mangadex.com domains for free
Bring your current domain with you
Import your blogs with ease from Wordpress, Blogspot, and even Tumblr
Support for all free plugins compatible with the WordPress platform
Seamless integration between hosting images and blogs
It's FREE with a dedicated support channel on our Discord[/ol]
You can find this service on https://mangadex.com

Signing up is easy and straightforward. For your custom subdomain and blog title, PM @ixlone with an email he can reach you at and he'll set you up as soon as he can.

If you have any further questions, feel free to ask in this thread or on our Discord in #mangadex-support.

 

[Xagnam]

Thank you for the support you all give this community!

 

[_das]

I'd like to urge scanlators to keep a backup blog and to keep local backups of their chapters if they are not doing so already. Centralization has proven to not be very good for the scanlation community (re Batoto).

 

[ixlone]

You can download full exports of your blogs from the control panel.

I've being doing it for years for own blog. Common sense.

 

[Holo]

You should always back up everything, whether it's related to MangaDex or not.

 

[ixlone]

Losing some of my chapters made me buy a QNAP NAS and install QSync. Now have two copies of every chapter backed up on different RAIDs.

 

[DivineWazu]

Very much thanks you!!! <3

 

[Wolvenworks]

@_das true, but it's a necessity in the midst of more dubious sites (like Fox). why'd you think ppl call the period between Mangadex and Batoto as "The Dark Ages"?

 

[_das]

@Wolvenworks

I wouldn't call it a necessity. There are plenty of other options that scanlation groups can use for blog hosting.

 

[Wolvenworks]

@_das yes but without a form of free hub like batoto and dex, ppl wouldn't know or even be bothered to check their work. especially if said dubious sites removed the credits page. having your own site for backup is a must-have, but what i mean is that a hub is absolutely necessary for scanlation communities to grow and prosper, no?

 

[_das]

@Wolvenworks

Ah you meant the site in general. I was referring to the "MangaDex Network."

I suppose you're right about a hub being beneficial to the scanlation community. MangaDex is by no means perfect though...

 

[Wolvenworks]

@_das true, but i'd say that in lots of aspects it is already superior than batoto.

you cannot have perfection, for that means an end to development. and that there's always someone grumpy enough in the internet to whine about your perfection not being suitable for them.

 

[azuremirage]

@wolvenworks that was a crazy two week dark age. I straight up was going on reddit to see where the action was on each individual scanlator site until mangadex pulled up with the blicky

 

[Wolvenworks]

@azuremirage even worse for me: reddit and dex was blocked back then. had to move to a less credible site for months before the indonesian govvy unblocked dex. reddit's still blocked in a very lackadaisical DOS. like they're trying to sloppily pass it off as an internet connection error

 

[_das]

@Wolvenworks

I agree you can't have perfection. Some things MangaDex has is just not scanlator-friendly though. Regardless, it's what we've got for now.

 

[Wolvenworks]

@_das from what i've seen we've already passed batoto on that:

-we already got a manual upload button, which is already a big step from more other sites which doesn't have it
-there's a customizable page for scanlation groups with the ability to follow them (IIRC batoto doesn't have that)

since i'm not a scanlator tho i might've missed a few more bulletpoints so can you tell me what i've missed? maybe the staff can take note on that as well for their backlog to V4

 

[_das]

@Wolvenworks

I'd rather not go into it here. I'll just say that there's a reason some groups don't upload to MangaDex.

 

[Wolvenworks]

@_das ok. i'll trust you on that.

 

[ixlone]

@Wolvenworks

We've had a few issues with groups over the life of the site. Be it people uploading their stuff without asking permission, us not seeing their email about their work hidden among literally 100,000 emails, general misunderstandings about site practices due to word of mouth, needing clarification on rules and so on...

Fortunately most groups we have spoke to have being happy to discuss stuff and come to an arrangement. By far and away the amount of groups that have had a positive experience with us outstrips those who haven't.

There have being a few public discussions on our Discord about various things and everyone loves to remember and chip in on potential drama. But for every few groups that approach us in public we get 4 or 5 approach us in private. Even people in the "know" don't know about those conversations. And again our feedback has being overwhelmingly positive.

In fact, many site changes have being as a direct result of our interactions with groups to address their concerns and add requested features. With more pencilled in on our version 4 ticket system.

I will add - in the interest of being open - that unfortunately not all has being smooth sailing and we have lost a few groups a long the way. Even then some of them maintain a presence on our Discord and talk with us daily. They just choose not to upload their chapters here.

 

[Wolvenworks]

@ixlone by "not uploading", as in "absolutely no uploads allowed" or "it's okay if Lymus does it for us"? curious.

abt the drama lol ofc there will always be people who come just for the drama. why'd you think indonesian soap operas are still trending despite their really cheap and predictable plot and storyline? admit it life gets slightly boring if there's no one bitching about something at some point, na? so i'm happy that you guys put the extra mile to talk it out with the scanlators, ya.

may dex prosper, for we're all out of decent fallbacks this time.

on that note, find it amusing that our logo is a cat; i have a dark Chrome theme, so the icon on my hotbar makes the cathead look like a tiny penguin-ball-thingy. honestly thought that we'd pick an anime girl mascot but well, i guess that's as likely as Holo getting a profile pic