Monday, November 09, 2009

So says the "voice" of Mangafox.



http://forums.mangafox.com/announcement.php?f=301&a=33

Basically, the voice of MF says, "The hell with what the scanlators want. We do what we like."

1. Manga Fox will observe wait periods of up to 7 days.
2. MF will not host manga hosted solely by the group that scanlated it, but if any group uses an external host or affiliate, we will host their manga as well.
3. MF will continue its policy of providing manga free of charge,
4. MF will continue its policy of removing less-popular manga at scanlators' request when they are licensed so we don't hurt small publishers.
5. MF will continue its policy of never hot-linking images.
6. MF will continue its policy of never removing credit pages, and doing our best to assure scanlators are fully and properly credited.
7. MF will continue to remove manga at publishers' requirement.


The one important line I did not see is: "MF will continue to remove scanlations at the scanlator's requests."

For the record, he's saying that he will host scanlations at his discretion if it's on another host, and he won't remove them even if the scanlators personally demand it. If there is a waiting period, he will follow them at his own set target, and not follow the scanlators' requests.

Scanlation should not be about those things. It should be about bringing manga to fans.

I can tell you what scanlation ISN'T about. It's not about some control freak declaring what it is, that much I can say. Whatever scanlation is not to be about, is not decided by him alone.

Credit for your work and the thanks you naturally receive should be enough reward for the work.

Here's my credit and thanks for his hard work. PLEASE SHUT THE HELL UP!

Scanlation work is not endorsed by publishers, nor viewed indulgently. You only continue as you are by the grace of lack of prosecution.

Last time I checked, Mangafox hosted thousands of these unendorsed works. Exactly what point is this guy trying to prove?

There is no reason for scanlators to insist on being the sole hosts, save wanting to make money for their site, or for control and glory.
But if any group uses an external host or affiliate, we will host their manga as well.
Many groups try to claim they have noble intentions in demanding to be the sole hosts, but they don't. If it's not about money, it's about control and glory.


Mangafox always edit their picture to contain: "This image is hosted at mangafox.com." at the bottom. Mangafox also prohibits providing links to another Mangahoster such as Onemanga. Is this done for our own protection?

But that's their decision. Do you see me whining, "Why do put your website label at the bottom of the picture? It makes me unable to upload it on another site!" Or "I DEMAND TO BE ABLE TO POST ONEMANGA LINKS ON YOUR FORUMS!"

Whatever intentions the groups have, it's their intention. If you can't understand or respect their decisions, fine, just don't go around deriding it, and overruling your own reasons as more righteous than theirs. The nature of their reasons is for them to decide, not for you to judge.

If you can't comply with these scanlators' wishes of being the sole hoster or their wait period, maybe you should leave them well alone. I don't think they will complain about that.

SO WHAT IF THEIR REASON IS GLORY? Does it look like the rest of the world have a problem with that? Let me know when it does. If he doesn't think that the scanlators deserve any glory, then he can do it himself!

I admit it. I have my own agenda for wanting to be the sole-hoster. I want more attention to me, and I want more people to talk to. I'm an attention whore. Well, I guess this makes my reason invalid, and it makes me TeH eViL.

It makes me sick to see someone this obnoxious declaring that scanlation groups should only scanlate for the reasons he himself deems as valid. WHO MADE HIM KING OF SCANLATED MANGAS? Who is he to decide whether a scanlator has a valid reason or not for wanting to be the sole hoster?

It should be about bringing manga to fans.

And we can still do that, with or without Mangafox. I, for one, will still bring new chapters of Skip Beat to fans. With or without Mangafox.




Seriously, I like MF a lot. Or rather, I used to. I just think they hired the wrong staff for the wrong job. But maybe that's just me.

Of course, this is just entirely my opinion. Perhaps he really have the benefits of the readers in mind. (But somehow, I really doubt it.)

This is just my take on the matter. Perhaps his action would benefit readers more in the long run. Perhaps. What do you guys think? Is this ruling really for a good cause? Or is it done merely for a sake of convenience?

The truth is, I still believe in MF enough to say this. There has to be some kind of a mistake! It doesn't seem like MF at all to do something like this.