If one of the best Viki volunteers is frustrated about not being chosen as a CM and has more contributions, imagine me, a newbie. This is very humiliating. Just this month, I tried for about 20 projects, and here’s the worst part: since I can’t be a CM, I’ll try to moderate, which is even worse. In the end, I either become a subber or an editor, since the projects are coming with subtitles. I asked what the requirements are to become a CM and got no response. Speaking for myself, I do work on Viki as if I were being paid for it, meaning with quality. Some people don’t take it so seriously and do the work haphazardly. It’s frustrating to see the same people being CMs or moderators. I took advantage of Kakashi’s post because I’ve wanted to say this for a while and didn’t know where to express it.
I was rejected in several projects, the bigger the community the worse the issue of language moderator selection becomes.
Over the 3 years of contributing on Viki I’ve been CM 6 times (3 movies, 3 dramas) and I’m quite content with that number.
It’s sad that in the same time some people don’t even get a single project to manage.
When it comes to OL moderators, I’m not too well informed about the inner circles and such. I think Polish is such a small community that we rarely have to desperately fight for projects, or maybe I’m just working on the more unpopular ones.
However I recently saw some projects where people got appointed as editors instead of moderators and I was wondering, why Viki allows it. I also saw “speed appointing”: the people got appointed immediately after someone got chosen as a CM.
When I get the CM position, I like to take into consideration the amount of current moderations. I feel like it’s better to distribute the work and give someone with 1 project the moderation rather then someone with 4 moderation, each with 20 episodes. Of course the other factors such as experience and how much do I trust this person come into play.
(There are some people, that I would trust more. For example there were some typos in a drama I was translating and I wanted to check, how it translated to other languages: some also made those mistakes, but some editors corrected them and I really admired them for that)
As for applying recently: I don’t want to minimise your struggles, but recently there were a lot of dramas/movies that are coming in English only, so your application might not have been rejected, they might just be hanging until the rights to subtitle arrive.
So if you applied to 10 projects, 7 might be hanging and only 3 were rejected
I haven’t gotten a CM position for 8 months now. Is it, because the Portuguese subtitles aren’t done yet? Is it, because the projects took some months to get finished in the conservative way? We won’t know, but I guess we can agree that there’s a difference in terms of speed regarding dramas released to OL after editing and those which are released immediately after segmenting.
In general, I think some CM behaviors are not up-to-date either. E.g., choosing moderators by taking the first applicant. Given the width range of contributors, it happens to be in the middle of the night or early morning sometimes. So not even being able to apply just because someone is up at 6am…
Just like Viki should of course check a CM whose decisions allowed some drama not be segmented after a mere 9 months. Seems like they don’t care. In fact, I have no idea what they even care about.
It’s certainly not the chosen people’s fault that Viki (or rather people in charge) appoints them frequently, but it can disturb the balance to some extent. Even if we may benefit from Viki’s decisions, I do think that Viki needs more appropriate evaluations. And at the same time they should provide more concrete guidance on how they want their channels managed.
Regarding dramas with various seasons, those sometimes drop without expecting them. But each of these require a slot. In theory, you can appoint different moderators, but I can understand why it’s more likely to choose the former moderator for a new season (if there’s some connection). But this may lead to people reporting CMs because the former moderator has no free slots currently.
Regarding being selected as a moderator, I can only recommend to work on the application content and maybe on the “About me” page as well. This won’t necessarily lead to a project, but I think a majority of CMs wants to know why you want to moderate this project and why you’re qualified.
But… even if it’s very difficult, CMs should as well watch out for doubtful applications. Some people may have various accounts or use someone else to help them expand their slots. Sometimes this can be detected.
I really understand you. I go through that too. Sometimes it’s even frustrating to see people with less experience even in moderation being chosen for CM. I have experience and I’m active in Viki since 2016, I have never been able to be CM.
I once got a message that I had become a CM… and it was all an illusion:
I think by now, it’s clear that the process of choosing channel managers is not an objective one. Viki plays favorites without even hiding it. A handful of volunteers with (some) experience are serial CMs, often with several shows at a time, and often long ones. What’s left goes to newbies, who then often still need to be assisted by a co-CM in the form of one of the above-mentioned favorites.The rest of us gets little to nothing. And Viki can just get away with this since they make the rules.
Well… they do know the situation. What would happen if they’d stop applying for a while? Even if it’s not directly their fault, they are maintaining this situation cause it’s benefitting them at the cost of everyone else.
I have a list with users (CM) I know I can’t apply because I know they choose the same person on every project they get or people with +two thousand subs and even CM’s who I think they just don’t like me . Being part of bigger communities means your chances to win the war is so low.
Still… not getting chosen because there are so many candidates is not the same as not getting chosen because only a handful of people even make a chance for reasons that will never be revealed to us. That fellow volunteers play favorites is probably inevitable since there are all kinds of people on this planet… but that the staff does it… It’s unbelievable.
EXACTLY! Preach it!
The best are the cm who doesn’t even reply for aplication like they just ignore you, no (yes) or (no) just silence. (So I don’t know if those people are such a good choose by Viki, since they ignore people.- I added this explanation since in someone eyes this isn’t topic about it ) It is since one of qualified to be cm is being open minded and connecting with people. And if they behave in this way for me it’s discrediting.
But back to the actual topic of this thread.
I think there should also maybe be a 6-month cooldown after you get a CM position.
Some projects are shorter than others, yes. But most CMs have other functions on Viki which cumulatively take more time than running a channel. So it’s not as if they would not have enough to do
Maybe shorter cooldown for movies?
For movies I have also seen that it is complicated, all the movies I have seen come with English subtitles only, and to be honest I have only worked on one movie since I arrived.
It’s quite obvious that Viki needs TRANSPARENCY. If they want to use unpaid workers, we should at least get this. There is NONE. Since the new Viki, there has been a huge wall built. They slowly barricade us within it as they chip away at the segmenters, English, Spanish, and Portuguese teams. To only allow a certain few to manage channels is a blatant disregard for what Viki was built upon.
Just like they have a system that shows how many shows we are moderating at one time, why can’t there be a counter on the page. Allow 2 dramas a year. Once you reach your quota, you can’t request to CM until a year has passed and/or both dramas are complete (if the dramas are still being worked). Then the ticker restarts. That’s just one of many ideas in my head.
Not to mention some cm are or was managing like 3-4 channels in one time. Same time adding themselves as moderator, English team etc. So limits would be great. And more transparent choice, since I saw people who were choosen for cm even if they don’t match (required limits). I have many friends from first gen Viki, tho I join late, many of them have after so many times like 0 cm. So in my opinion everyone should have a chance. But as for now I see almost every time same people, as if Viki categorized some cm to specific gender, and give them channel each time they close previous. So yes I again say, limits are needed. Many of old contributors discouraged this kind of behavior and they suspend or delate they account. It’s sad. We need more transparents and equality. Or like I mention in my mail, Viki could just take away the button to apply for cm and give it to anyone they want. Don’t get me wrong I’m not mad at people who get it nor I hate them, it’s Viki faulty for this situation, bur to be true many, many contributors don’t want to talk about this topic even if they see unfairness, because they afraid to be on bad terms with those who are usually picked ( tho they don’t bite ). So for me Viki should change their way of thinking and give more chances to others and let them teach on their own mistakes. And don’t forget that Viki bloom too because of contributiners who translate it to other languages what’s kind of invite new people on this way because they can watch beloved show on their language.
I find it strange that the CMs with multiple channels haven’t chimed in on this post with their thoughts, advice, or personal experiences regarding this matter. These volunteers are often quite ‘engaged’ in other places or contexts, even with lengthy and detailed posts.
So, I dare say that if someone has mentioned that we shouldn’t point fingers at those chosen by Viki to become CMs of multiple channels at once, it’s also true that this ‘silence’ doesn’t help dispel doubts about the transparency or good faith of processes and individuals. Perhaps, even if just for the sake of fairness, these individuals could write a few lines agreeing with/supporting Kakashi and even suggesting a solution. Just saying…
They don’t write or speak out because they are not interested in change.
It would indeed be nice to have a rule for CMs. I agree, if they have 2 active cm projects, they should not be allowed to request a new one for X amount of time. If moderators are subject to certain restrictions, why not them?
This would prevent Viki from piling up projects for self interest, but also give others a chance to gain experience and improve.
The selection system should be fundamentally re-regulated, because I am beginning to feel that “people” are selecting CMs on a “buddy” basis, and the selected CMs are usually also selected on a “buddy” basis by OL moderators.
As if it’s a perpetual cycle.
It’s like that because usually people who often got cm roles work as a part of the English team and since they don’t have limits they can take how much editions as they want and they will not be booked like in moderation case. So in system or Viki staff eyes they are free and don’t have maximum slots so they definitely meet the criteria for being Cm often. And like I mention staff reply to me by “basic on previous cm” - so if one person got 3cm in one time, and finish it, in Viki eyes they are good to be one again, and person who have like 0 never will meet criteria, because he/she don’t have experience. So 2-3 cm a year, is good choice. Everyone would be happy, and mane people would have a chance to experience being cm and manage channel. Equally doe all
There is an exception to every rule and Kakashiandme seems to be one for this one
Do you mean to say that the more-often selected CMs tend also to select approximately the same set of OL mods?
If so, that is also a very good reason to take a better look at the selection process for CMs.
Versatility in selected CMs would then increase the versatility in selected OL mods. This would in turn increase the dynamic of teams in Viki and make the contributors feel they are more equal to others. And that in turn could increase the overall productivity of this Community. And maybe even partially solve some imbalance in positions and workload.