Long overdue update - the future of Taiji Project Fansubs
So er, it's been brought to my attention that some people have been trying to... well, get my attention. I owe a lot of people an explanation, huh? ._.
I'm really sorry for dropping off the face of the earth, guys. I know all my current members have been frustrated by dead links, while hundreds of others have been frustrated with waiting for membership approval. Believe me, I know your pain - I've been frustrated too. :\ So behind the cut, for those who have the time for a long read, is my long-winded and more-than-slightly ranty explanation for what the heck has been going on with this community for the past couple years.
Actually, I first started feeling frustrated with fansubbing in general back while I was still active at it, toward the end when people started uploading my stuff on certain streaming sites. I know pretty much every fansubber went through that, so it wasn't enough to make me want to quit then and there or anything, but it was kinda the first few flakes in the snowball.
Then, of course, the whole Megaupload thing happened. With that I lost my most dependable file host and hundreds, if not thousands, of hours' worth of uploading time, never to be recovered. I know some sites just totally gave up and shut down after that (I still mourn the loss of the jdrama LJ comm T_T), but I guess I was too stubborn to admit defeat, so I made adjustments where I could to at least keep my site alive.
But not long after that, I started getting strikes on my Mediafire account, until it was shut down as well. So I lost 2/3 of all my download mirrors, my two most reliable and frequently used hosts, and I don't even want to think about how many hours of uploading, and there was just no way I was ever going to find the time to start over again.
And while all this was going on, at some point I started getting a CONSTANT flood of spam comments and messages at my Taiji Project journal. I don't know where they all came from or why, but I'm talking THOUSANDS of spam comments on multiple individual posts, in just a matter of months. Of course, since they were anonymous, they were all all auto-screened so most of them weren't actually visible, but they completely overtook my LJ inbox... and this is how I found out that the LJ inbox apparently has capacity limits, meaning the flood of spam completely wiped out ALL of the legit messages, comments, and requests in my inbox. Again, more losses that could never be recovered, and continuing floods of spam that forced me to stop receiving LJ notifications by email.
So all of that plus my work schedule, family stuff, band work for two J-rock promotion teams, two computer deaths, illness, and various other obligations meant that this community I poured so many years of love and effort into had to be left by the wayside. Trust me, I've missed this community, the videos, the fandom and everyone in it, and the five boys at the center of it all just as much as you guys have missed the treasures that this site once hosted. I tried at several points to at least get back into watching the regular variety shows, but I just never made it back into the swing. And well, I might make a members-only post with some vaguely related updates and rants of the more personal nature... maybe... no promises but I'll see how things go :x
Then, in recent... uh, days, weeks, however long it's been... I was contacted by a few people informing me that some loyal fans have been working to revive some of the older fansubs that have been lost in cyberspace over the years, including my own. Now, honestly, handing over the authority to upload mirrors of my videos was something that had crossed my mind more than once, but something else always seemed to come up before I could actually act on it. But this finally seemed like a good opportunity to stop being stubborn and clingy, and just hand over the reins to people who won't let them rot away by disappearing for years at a time.
Long story short...
From now on, Taiji Project fansubs can be found at arashiproject. Posts containing the download links will be members-only, but community membership is open to all! I only ask that you keep the files to yourself once you obtain them, and please don't post download links outside the community or upload them to streaming sites.
Sadly though, this also means that the Taiji Project Fansubs community is now officially closed. For all you current members, the site will still be here (I could never bring myself to delete it altogether, purely for sentimental reasons), but it will no longer be updated and new members will no longer be accepted.
Again, I'm very sorry for the inconvenience caused by the dead links and lack of membership approval. But for everyone looking for those classic late-night variety treasures of Arashi's younger days, arashiproject will take good care of you. ^^
In closing, I want to thank all the members of this community for your endless support, love, and patience. You guys made all the effort worthwhile, and I never could have continued fansubbing for those five years without you all.
To new fans and old - take care of yourselves and each other, and many sparkly rainbows of love to you all ♥
I'm really sorry for dropping off the face of the earth, guys. I know all my current members have been frustrated by dead links, while hundreds of others have been frustrated with waiting for membership approval. Believe me, I know your pain - I've been frustrated too. :\ So behind the cut, for those who have the time for a long read, is my long-winded and more-than-slightly ranty explanation for what the heck has been going on with this community for the past couple years.
Actually, I first started feeling frustrated with fansubbing in general back while I was still active at it, toward the end when people started uploading my stuff on certain streaming sites. I know pretty much every fansubber went through that, so it wasn't enough to make me want to quit then and there or anything, but it was kinda the first few flakes in the snowball.
Then, of course, the whole Megaupload thing happened. With that I lost my most dependable file host and hundreds, if not thousands, of hours' worth of uploading time, never to be recovered. I know some sites just totally gave up and shut down after that (I still mourn the loss of the jdrama LJ comm T_T), but I guess I was too stubborn to admit defeat, so I made adjustments where I could to at least keep my site alive.
But not long after that, I started getting strikes on my Mediafire account, until it was shut down as well. So I lost 2/3 of all my download mirrors, my two most reliable and frequently used hosts, and I don't even want to think about how many hours of uploading, and there was just no way I was ever going to find the time to start over again.
And while all this was going on, at some point I started getting a CONSTANT flood of spam comments and messages at my Taiji Project journal. I don't know where they all came from or why, but I'm talking THOUSANDS of spam comments on multiple individual posts, in just a matter of months. Of course, since they were anonymous, they were all all auto-screened so most of them weren't actually visible, but they completely overtook my LJ inbox... and this is how I found out that the LJ inbox apparently has capacity limits, meaning the flood of spam completely wiped out ALL of the legit messages, comments, and requests in my inbox. Again, more losses that could never be recovered, and continuing floods of spam that forced me to stop receiving LJ notifications by email.
So all of that plus my work schedule, family stuff, band work for two J-rock promotion teams, two computer deaths, illness, and various other obligations meant that this community I poured so many years of love and effort into had to be left by the wayside. Trust me, I've missed this community, the videos, the fandom and everyone in it, and the five boys at the center of it all just as much as you guys have missed the treasures that this site once hosted. I tried at several points to at least get back into watching the regular variety shows, but I just never made it back into the swing. And well, I might make a members-only post with some vaguely related updates and rants of the more personal nature... maybe... no promises but I'll see how things go :x
Then, in recent... uh, days, weeks, however long it's been... I was contacted by a few people informing me that some loyal fans have been working to revive some of the older fansubs that have been lost in cyberspace over the years, including my own. Now, honestly, handing over the authority to upload mirrors of my videos was something that had crossed my mind more than once, but something else always seemed to come up before I could actually act on it. But this finally seemed like a good opportunity to stop being stubborn and clingy, and just hand over the reins to people who won't let them rot away by disappearing for years at a time.
Long story short...
From now on, Taiji Project fansubs can be found at arashiproject. Posts containing the download links will be members-only, but community membership is open to all! I only ask that you keep the files to yourself once you obtain them, and please don't post download links outside the community or upload them to streaming sites.
Sadly though, this also means that the Taiji Project Fansubs community is now officially closed. For all you current members, the site will still be here (I could never bring myself to delete it altogether, purely for sentimental reasons), but it will no longer be updated and new members will no longer be accepted.
Again, I'm very sorry for the inconvenience caused by the dead links and lack of membership approval. But for everyone looking for those classic late-night variety treasures of Arashi's younger days, arashiproject will take good care of you. ^^
In closing, I want to thank all the members of this community for your endless support, love, and patience. You guys made all the effort worthwhile, and I never could have continued fansubbing for those five years without you all.
To new fans and old - take care of yourselves and each other, and many sparkly rainbows of love to you all ♥