Sayonara Mangadex, putting down our rose colored glasses.
- Thread starter Anonymous
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Only winner here would be those aggregators site.
Group Leader
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As a pretty new scanlator, having done this less than a year, totally self taught, doing every aspect of the process all by myself, I really don't know anything about the scanlation industry or community or whatever. I just got pointed here as a nice place to upload my work that won't run shitty ads on it and will let me keep credit and engage with my readers and all that. And so far that's what I've gotten and it's been great.
But because I use mangadex as my one and only platform, I'm really concerned about this. A bunch of scanlators leaving makes it sound really bad.
The thing is, when I read the post, I don't actually understand what the problem is. Some groups didn't want their work uploaded to Mangadex? And then their work was uploaded anyway? That doesn't seem right. Groups that don't want to be on Mangadex usually don't have an issue taking their stuff down.
Then there's this whole business of what if Mangadex goes legit? It's hard to imagine. I mean they're not gonna be able to poach licenses from Viz or Jump. And if they did go legit and have to purge all their unlicensed content well... on to the next site I guess? Cross that bridge when we come to it.
Am I missing something that makes Mangadex not by far the best choice for a scanlator? Honestly asking, I'm totally green here.
But because I use mangadex as my one and only platform, I'm really concerned about this. A bunch of scanlators leaving makes it sound really bad.
The thing is, when I read the post, I don't actually understand what the problem is. Some groups didn't want their work uploaded to Mangadex? And then their work was uploaded anyway? That doesn't seem right. Groups that don't want to be on Mangadex usually don't have an issue taking their stuff down.
Then there's this whole business of what if Mangadex goes legit? It's hard to imagine. I mean they're not gonna be able to poach licenses from Viz or Jump. And if they did go legit and have to purge all their unlicensed content well... on to the next site I guess? Cross that bridge when we come to it.
Am I missing something that makes Mangadex not by far the best choice for a scanlator? Honestly asking, I'm totally green here.
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@Istvan90623 is that a joke? Champion I understand if you're coming at it from the two week thing, but they don't use ads (or use them so infrequently in my hundreds of visits since they changed the site I haven't seen one) and they did that along with closing their discord and hiding all scanlators roles because people spammed chat and constantly pinged staff and scanlators to ask about updates. They have the two weeks as a way of saying our stuff is up, either read it on aggregate, go to our site, or wait two weeks. JB has 2 weeks as default, but did you not notice that solo leveling originally was uploaded the day of, then afterwards it was uploaded only 12-24 hours after they finished it? A lot of their work is contract work, it's how they pay scanlators and can get funds to host their own site and spare funds go back into the team to pay translators and typesetters and so on. Solo leveling brought in 2k a month in donations, when this happened Meraki picked up a lot of other stuff and there were a half dozen daily releases. It went on the dex almost immediately after because they knew if they put more than a day on it then people would just scrape it in order to read the newest chapters faster. The only things that had unreasonable release dates were unpopular stuff that never even made it to the top chapters of the past 6 hours, let alone 24hr chart or 7 day chart.
It's like GTA or red dead 2, released only on console so you needed one to play it, but both decided that after a while pc would get it. If you really want to read these chapters so bad you go to an aggregate site or can't wait the day that most works come out in, why are you complaining? If you love it so much you go to third party sites you hate or force yourself to their own site it means you wanted to read it so bad you couldn't even wait. 2 weeks is extreme, but the Manga that are tied to 2 week deadlines are usually commission based where the company says that the scanlators can't upload it on their own site for a few days after the commissioner gets it, and if they are even allowed to put it on the dex they must delay it so people know it's out in the native platform and licensed company.
Hati had good release pace because they have a lot of commission work and a lot of donations, and use their teams wisely. They've dropped dozens of Manga because staff quit or donations dropped too low to pay all projects, so only passion projects where the team works because they enjoy it and stuff that is popular enough to bring donations and not get axed stay. It's a loss for both. Mangadex does not steal stuff that scanlators didn't post themselves so losing this many is a hard blow considering they don't even upload the massively popular stuff with a lot of licensing issues. Goblin slayer for example, they stopped as soon as the company told them to, people are still scanning it, mangadex doesn't upload because it could face a lawsuit, scan teams know they can face a lawsuit but they still do it. JB and Meraki have had to drop a ton of stuff cuz of this and lose a ton of money. Mangadex was a site to promote scanlators in theory, to read Manga directly from the source before kiss Manga slapped their logo over every page, and in exchange for scanlators uploading directly they didn't take ads or donations from them, making it beneficial to upload first without any delay, then putting in one for more popular stuff so those too impatient to wait the day or hour to read it would go to their site and hopefully join their discord or see their other series.
This is a long rant of saying : there's nothing more expensive than a free lunch
It's like GTA or red dead 2, released only on console so you needed one to play it, but both decided that after a while pc would get it. If you really want to read these chapters so bad you go to an aggregate site or can't wait the day that most works come out in, why are you complaining? If you love it so much you go to third party sites you hate or force yourself to their own site it means you wanted to read it so bad you couldn't even wait. 2 weeks is extreme, but the Manga that are tied to 2 week deadlines are usually commission based where the company says that the scanlators can't upload it on their own site for a few days after the commissioner gets it, and if they are even allowed to put it on the dex they must delay it so people know it's out in the native platform and licensed company.
Hati had good release pace because they have a lot of commission work and a lot of donations, and use their teams wisely. They've dropped dozens of Manga because staff quit or donations dropped too low to pay all projects, so only passion projects where the team works because they enjoy it and stuff that is popular enough to bring donations and not get axed stay. It's a loss for both. Mangadex does not steal stuff that scanlators didn't post themselves so losing this many is a hard blow considering they don't even upload the massively popular stuff with a lot of licensing issues. Goblin slayer for example, they stopped as soon as the company told them to, people are still scanning it, mangadex doesn't upload because it could face a lawsuit, scan teams know they can face a lawsuit but they still do it. JB and Meraki have had to drop a ton of stuff cuz of this and lose a ton of money. Mangadex was a site to promote scanlators in theory, to read Manga directly from the source before kiss Manga slapped their logo over every page, and in exchange for scanlators uploading directly they didn't take ads or donations from them, making it beneficial to upload first without any delay, then putting in one for more popular stuff so those too impatient to wait the day or hour to read it would go to their site and hopefully join their discord or see their other series.
This is a long rant of saying : there's nothing more expensive than a free lunch
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ixlone edit 2: oops I just noticed I overwrote your comment when pasting, so here is the post history:
ixlone edit:
Also restricting comments so you don't change this.
ixlone edit:
Also restricting comments so you don't change this.
MD@Home
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@Bloodnose
Most people believe the same as you do, because it is true.
You said a bunch but not that many groups and one of them is(was?) disbanded. Also most of the series they are removing are either 1) LICENSED *cough* Jaimini's Box *cough* or 2) finished/dropped/slow release
Only a few series are truely popular on Mdex and most people will just read on another site for that.
Most people believe the same as you do, because it is true.
You said a bunch but not that many groups and one of them is(was?) disbanded. Also most of the series they are removing are either 1) LICENSED *cough* Jaimini's Box *cough* or 2) finished/dropped/slow release
Only a few series are truely popular on Mdex and most people will just read on another site for that.
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@ThiccEarth
this is the most stupid tinfoil thing i've read all day, thank you for bringing your idiocy on board
and if this is a troll, you're amazing
this is the most stupid tinfoil thing i've read all day, thank you for bringing your idiocy on board
and if this is a troll, you're amazing
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@Bloodnose
If groups want their chapters gone, they can take them down, we even help them if they have too many to do manually.
If holo ever did make a legit site, it would not be Mangadex. There's no way Mangadex itself could go legit. It would mean removing everything, at which point there would be no site and no reason to even go legit.
Part of what makes Mangadex useful is that you can get your work noticed by other people who come looking for other manga and also notice yours. And because the credits and group names are intact they can check out all your other work, your website, Discord, etc. No other site does this.
If groups want their chapters gone, they can take them down, we even help them if they have too many to do manually.
If holo ever did make a legit site, it would not be Mangadex. There's no way Mangadex itself could go legit. It would mean removing everything, at which point there would be no site and no reason to even go legit.
Part of what makes Mangadex useful is that you can get your work noticed by other people who come looking for other manga and also notice yours. And because the credits and group names are intact they can check out all your other work, your website, Discord, etc. No other site does this.
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@thiccearth 500 iq tbh
not like aggregators have terrible readers, site plagued with ads, bad accessibility, bad/squashed resolution and usually their bookmark pasted onto their stolen scans.
"aggregators bad" is a tale that has existed as long as scanlators have. sure, most of the egregious offenders are not as big anymore but claiming that the DDOS would rally the community is the biggest meme I've heard. if anything, it would encourage people to go to an aggregator.
not like aggregators have terrible readers, site plagued with ads, bad accessibility, bad/squashed resolution and usually their bookmark pasted onto their stolen scans.
"aggregators bad" is a tale that has existed as long as scanlators have. sure, most of the egregious offenders are not as big anymore but claiming that the DDOS would rally the community is the biggest meme I've heard. if anything, it would encourage people to go to an aggregator.
Ok I think we are going around in circles here with a pointless blame game going on.
In the end of the day, the Scans above posted that they are leaving MD and taking all of their work with them. They are entitled to do so regardless of any reason and can bring it elsewhere if they so wish. It's up to them to do what they want with their own work.
Likewise, there is no point going on about MD being legit or any reason. It's also their own decisions to move forward what ever way they so wish as it's their platform.
With that in mind, how about we close this thread and just move on. No need to keep going on and repeating the same stuff.
In the end of the day, the Scans above posted that they are leaving MD and taking all of their work with them. They are entitled to do so regardless of any reason and can bring it elsewhere if they so wish. It's up to them to do what they want with their own work.
Likewise, there is no point going on about MD being legit or any reason. It's also their own decisions to move forward what ever way they so wish as it's their platform.
With that in mind, how about we close this thread and just move on. No need to keep going on and repeating the same stuff.
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@Bloodnose You are exactly the sort of person MangaDex is built for - a platform for you to share your works with millions of people without having to worry about hosting costs, etc.
Don't be concerned about the groups leaving, because those particular groups had already left anyway.
And no, those groups are free to upload or remove their chapters from here at any time. In fact, I personally helped Meraki remove their chapters last week.
Basically, tonight there's been a smear and misinformation campaign going on, turning a non-story into a story, started by a bunch of people/groups with ulterior motives.
Don't be concerned about the groups leaving, because those particular groups had already left anyway.
And no, those groups are free to upload or remove their chapters from here at any time. In fact, I personally helped Meraki remove their chapters last week.
Basically, tonight there's been a smear and misinformation campaign going on, turning a non-story into a story, started by a bunch of people/groups with ulterior motives.
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@Confused
it was never a big secret, also it's very unlikely to even happen, we'd lose most our of chapters und readsers, and we don't want that.
Teasday (and maybe others don't quite remember) said they'll quit if we ever would go legit.
It was mostly an off comment about a scenario, that could never happen no matter ho good the stars align, that some people took far too serious.
it was never a big secret, also it's very unlikely to even happen, we'd lose most our of chapters und readsers, and we don't want that.
Teasday (and maybe others don't quite remember) said they'll quit if we ever would go legit.
It was mostly an off comment about a scenario, that could never happen no matter ho good the stars align, that some people took far too serious.
The core issue with all of this is people being so damn ambitious about getting stuff out of scanlation piracy.
Like, has everyone forgotten that you are actually stealing someone's work?
People expect Patreon subscriptions, people expect ad revenue and viewership to keep their own domain names and sites open, people expect viewers to come to their mega-emporium like Mangadex and boost its readership up so it because the Amazon of scanlations to win internet points or pull a Fakku.
Why are you putting all these expectations of reward on something that is fundamentally stealing?
I don't understand how scanlation isn't just "I did this here's a credit page I'm uploading it to imgur or photobucket alright I'm done." People seem to think they have a right to all this additional stuff on top of that when ultimately their actual foundation is built on stealing from Japan.
They've forgotten that ultimately they are the bad guys, yes they're filling a market failure because Japan hasn't built a commercial model but you are still the bad guys. And they are expecting *more* on top of that, stuff like ad revenue, patreon, donations and Mangadex world domination?
To me both sides, the sites that want donations and Mangadex, seem like they've got the wrong idea here.
People whose objective is to scale up your manga stealing business into some big time enterprise just seem like they have no moral compass.
Like, has everyone forgotten that you are actually stealing someone's work?
People expect Patreon subscriptions, people expect ad revenue and viewership to keep their own domain names and sites open, people expect viewers to come to their mega-emporium like Mangadex and boost its readership up so it because the Amazon of scanlations to win internet points or pull a Fakku.
Why are you putting all these expectations of reward on something that is fundamentally stealing?
I don't understand how scanlation isn't just "I did this here's a credit page I'm uploading it to imgur or photobucket alright I'm done." People seem to think they have a right to all this additional stuff on top of that when ultimately their actual foundation is built on stealing from Japan.
They've forgotten that ultimately they are the bad guys, yes they're filling a market failure because Japan hasn't built a commercial model but you are still the bad guys. And they are expecting *more* on top of that, stuff like ad revenue, patreon, donations and Mangadex world domination?
To me both sides, the sites that want donations and Mangadex, seem like they've got the wrong idea here.
People whose objective is to scale up your manga stealing business into some big time enterprise just seem like they have no moral compass.
Dex-chan lover
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@Bloodnose They brought up this going legit bullshit with those shitty screencaps but the actual reason this happened (as far as I know) was the MD staff refusing to remove this credit page, which criticized groups who ask for donations and was indirectly targeted at another group that translated that series, on the grounds that the staff is neutral in scanlator drama and will only intervene if people start throwing direct attacks. The whole mess caused by that led to a poll where the staff asked if they should be harsher when it comes to moderation, which can be read here and which the groups leaving clearly didn't like.
I ignore if something else happened and if these groups have other reasons for leaving but this is how this started.
It's ultimately up to you if this is a serious issue or if it's nothing and everyone is overreacting.
I ignore if something else happened and if these groups have other reasons for leaving but this is how this started.
It's ultimately up to you if this is a serious issue or if it's nothing and everyone is overreacting.
Dex-chan lover
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I always thought about Mangadex as a Pokedex. It just gives you information about the pokemon but you still don't know about them fully till you catch and you can yourself give information to it, that helps the other people. Mangadex does a good job of redirecting us to other sites which may contain our interests and delays can always be made, thus, the translators can have some profit also. Think of mangadex as a library that promotes other translators during the delay period (the period where most of the people are hyped about the manga), and then aggregates the manga for the reader's convenience but taking yourself out of here is a good decision as well as a bad decision, because till MD becomes commercialised (which I don't think will happen), you're getting promoted, but that also gives you the disadvantages that you think you're going to get.
So, according to me, this conversation is based on your own perspective, but you're translating it, so you can do what you want with that series until it becomes licensed.
So, according to me, this conversation is based on your own perspective, but you're translating it, so you can do what you want with that series until it becomes licensed.
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Who cares about delays? If you care enough to demand to read it immediately why is it wrong to think it is worth money? 2 week delays shouldn't matter if these scans are as bad as aggregate sites. So many people complain about slow releases or money hungry scans, but see no issue buying books in a store or exclusive figurines. For people who read this for free you should consider that
A. Most of you can't even Google translate the originals because the text is inside the images
B. are reading for free what costs companies millions (you pay money to see endgame, a movie by someone other than Stan Lee based in the universe Stan created)
C. Are too angry to realize that if it's really such a minor thing then getting angry and complaining you feel forced to go to either the source or aggregate literally means you are so impatient you literally can't wait for a few days to get free reading without ads.
A. Most of you can't even Google translate the originals because the text is inside the images
B. are reading for free what costs companies millions (you pay money to see endgame, a movie by someone other than Stan Lee based in the universe Stan created)
C. Are too angry to realize that if it's really such a minor thing then getting angry and complaining you feel forced to go to either the source or aggregate literally means you are so impatient you literally can't wait for a few days to get free reading without ads.
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