The Wind Spell

[jiodi]

Hi! New user here. Just wanna clarify a few things that you might not know due to language barrier. Rrrrrrice is a Chinese indie artist, and her comic was translated and reposted on this site without permission. She wasn't even informed of this and had to find out by herself. I don't know if this is a common practice here but it looks a bit like copyright infringement to me. In fact, the artist HAS posted the comic on a Chinese site - all content, free of charge. But I don't think that justifies reposting without permission - I mean it was taken straight from the source, with watermarks still on. And to accuse the writing of being AI-generated is even more ridiculous when you can't and won't take the time to read the original texts. It would seem pretty hypocritical to demand a speed paint video from the artist to prove herself innocent while the version of this comic you were reading was made without her consent. You might be "wary of any content on the internet" but I am also tired of people jumping to conclusions and accusing the use of gen-AI based on nothing but their own assumptions. Creators are not content machines and they don't have the obligation to have their artwork scrutinized and picked at by a condescending audience.

It was taken directly from the raw source, watermarks still on, to ensure it was shown as the artists work. Taking off the watermarks would be super shitty.

There's a link to the author's page, a support link on the chapters, and no one is passing this off as their work.

Don't conflate people being assholes with those who lovingly translated this fantastic series so more people could see how amazing it is.

Thats what a fan translation usually is, its tough to get in contact with authors but if possible the appreciation of the author is always welcome.

You can't just jump in here and act like something untoward is going on because the author has been pretty obviously on board with the translation given how it treats their work. They showed discomfort with not being asked about it but if they asked l1v to drop it right now they absolutely would. This has driven lots of traffic to rrrice because they deserve it.

 

[_cenobite_]

It was taken directly from the raw source, watermarks still on, to ensure it was shown as the artists work. Taking off the watermarks would be super shitty.

There's a link to the author's page, a support link on the chapters, and no one is passing this off as their work.

Don't conflate people being assholes with those who lovingly translated this fantastic series so more people could see how amazing it is.

Thats what a fan translation usually is, its tough to get in contact with authors but if possible the appreciation of the author is always welcome.

You can't just jump in here and act like something untoward is going on because the author has been pretty obviously on board with the translation given how it treats their work. They showed discomfort with not being asked about it but if they asked l1v to drop it right now they absolutely would. This has driven lots of traffic to rrrice because they deserve it.

The artist did express discomfort about the comic being translated without permission, and about the accusation of gen-AI. And she did say on weibo that she tried and failed to find your group's contact information to take down the comic (this site can be hard to navigate for a new user). However this exchange was deleted so I guess there has been a change of heart. Might be because there were people arguing against the AI allegations- it sure is reassuring to see long-time fans defending real people's hard work.
That being said, I honestly don't see why it would be hard to get in contact with the artist, who has posted the comic on weibo and afdian, and both sites do have a DM system. Translation is hard work, not to mention non-profit fan translation, and I respect that. But I don't know if it's common practice to just assume that you won't be able to get in touch with the author and then don't try at all. I mean, it's all about introducing artwork to more people right? This is hard enough because of the language barrier, different platforms, payment methods if you want to support, etc etc. Sometimes even a website's user interface can become an obstacle, as in this case. Why make it even harder with the lack of communication?

 

[jiodi]

The artist did express discomfort about the comic being translated without permission, and about the accusation of gen-AI. And she did say on weibo that she tried and failed to find your group's contact information to take down the comic (this site can be hard to navigate for a new user). However this exchange was deleted so I guess there has been a change of heart. Might be because there were people arguing against the AI allegations- it sure is reassuring to see long-time fans defending real people's hard work.
That being said, I honestly don't see why it would be hard to get in contact with the artist, who has posted the comic on weibo and afdian, and both sites do have a DM system. Translation is hard work, not to mention non-profit fan translation, and I respect that. But I don't know if it's common practice to just assume that you won't be able to get in touch with the author and then don't try at all. I mean, it's all about introducing artwork to more people right? This is hard enough because of the language barrier, different platforms, payment methods if you want to support, etc etc. Sometimes even a website's user interface can become an obstacle, as in this case. Why make it even harder with the lack of communication?

It's usually very hard hard to contact an author so, yeah, unfortunately it is common practice.

But it definitely doesn't mean attempts aren't made. The translation team has been trying to reach out to rrrrice since they mentioned their discomfort. They have DMs on Twitter turned off so I believe they're going to try weibo next

 

[_cenobite_]

Saw someone mentioned the title translation thing and personally I would suggest "incantation" instead of "spell" or "curse"... I think it would have more of a musical vibe? Like a siren song? And not necessarily evil or detrimental, just mystical. Cause you know, in Chinese the character "咒" sometimes means "mantra". I don't know, just a thought