Scanlation scene nowadays and quality
Was reading this discussion. I probably made a rant similar to this already, but whatever, I'll just write another one because I feel like it.
While their discussion leaned more towards the shounen (and kinda biased toward shoujo) manga and a lot of the older groups, I felt that most of the points they covered were pretty accurate descriptions of the current state of "scanlation." Things are changing, and it doesn't really feel like a good one... As one person mentioned, it sort of feels like things are sort of "decaying." Maybe it's my own bias against new groups--especially the speed groups--and my sort of apathetic attitude toward scanlation at the moment, but I don't think I'm totally unjustified in this claim. Perhaps it's the decline in some of the more major groups (like SC, MP, TW, SM) that's making me feel this way. I guess it's sort of like losing a part of childhood? Kinda sad since this is just scanlation, but whatever. I suppose that's fine since that makes room for some other new groups to grow, but I dunno... There are sooo many of them doing just one or two projects, and I just feel like many of the new groups are just aiming for speed now, or doing the same types of projects (ie. shoujo). Admittedly, I'm getting pretty sick of the same shoujo stuff (most of the new groups seem to be shoujo-geared), even though I work in one myself >_>
Hm... I guess relating back to MangaArt, the shoujo group I spend most of my time on... We're probably a group that some might consider under the category of "new shoujo" groups (although I think we're not that new--just really small) that seems to dominate nowadays, so I guess I shouldn't be judging other new groups. Thinking about it that ways, it's kind of depressing to think that I'm contributing to the "decay" ~_~ Rarr... This is also part of the reason why I focused so much on quality--because I don't want to be considered a "newb group." It's also a part of my principle since I hate seeing low quality work when better could be done. Although with our current speed, it'll probably be really hard to grow anywhere. And lately, I don't really feel like I have the energy for this sort of thing anymore, especially since I get almost nothing out of it (the only thing I get out of it is talking to people on IRC). It's really taxing on both my time and energy to put in so much effort, especially since I now do much more than just simply edit (chase people down, train new people, manage releases, etc.). It's such a hard compromise... I don't want people to look down on us because of our quality because I know full well how good our staff are, but at the same time, we can't really afford to be snails if we want to get the manga out there. It also seems that people don't care about quality enough, or if they do, they sure aren't expressing it. So I guess cutting down on quality is the best solution. (Dammit, there goes the principle I've been clinging so strongly to.) Though I'm pretty sure that if we shift from quality to speed, people will rag on us, thinking of us as another speed group or something. People are unappreciative. Rarr. I need a new hobby.
While their discussion leaned more towards the shounen (and kinda biased toward shoujo) manga and a lot of the older groups, I felt that most of the points they covered were pretty accurate descriptions of the current state of "scanlation." Things are changing, and it doesn't really feel like a good one... As one person mentioned, it sort of feels like things are sort of "decaying." Maybe it's my own bias against new groups--especially the speed groups--and my sort of apathetic attitude toward scanlation at the moment, but I don't think I'm totally unjustified in this claim. Perhaps it's the decline in some of the more major groups (like SC, MP, TW, SM) that's making me feel this way. I guess it's sort of like losing a part of childhood? Kinda sad since this is just scanlation, but whatever. I suppose that's fine since that makes room for some other new groups to grow, but I dunno... There are sooo many of them doing just one or two projects, and I just feel like many of the new groups are just aiming for speed now, or doing the same types of projects (ie. shoujo). Admittedly, I'm getting pretty sick of the same shoujo stuff (most of the new groups seem to be shoujo-geared), even though I work in one myself >_>
Hm... I guess relating back to MangaArt, the shoujo group I spend most of my time on... We're probably a group that some might consider under the category of "new shoujo" groups (although I think we're not that new--just really small) that seems to dominate nowadays, so I guess I shouldn't be judging other new groups. Thinking about it that ways, it's kind of depressing to think that I'm contributing to the "decay" ~_~ Rarr... This is also part of the reason why I focused so much on quality--because I don't want to be considered a "newb group." It's also a part of my principle since I hate seeing low quality work when better could be done. Although with our current speed, it'll probably be really hard to grow anywhere. And lately, I don't really feel like I have the energy for this sort of thing anymore, especially since I get almost nothing out of it (the only thing I get out of it is talking to people on IRC). It's really taxing on both my time and energy to put in so much effort, especially since I now do much more than just simply edit (chase people down, train new people, manage releases, etc.). It's such a hard compromise... I don't want people to look down on us because of our quality because I know full well how good our staff are, but at the same time, we can't really afford to be snails if we want to get the manga out there. It also seems that people don't care about quality enough, or if they do, they sure aren't expressing it. So I guess cutting down on quality is the best solution. (Dammit, there goes the principle I've been clinging so strongly to.) Though I'm pretty sure that if we shift from quality to speed, people will rag on us, thinking of us as another speed group or something. People are unappreciative. Rarr. I need a new hobby.