Channel Manager Qualifications

Hi,
I meant for the upcoming projects

I see vikisubteam user as manager for the new projects :grimacing:

In most cases, vikisubteam is added to the channel, and after a certain amount of time, a “real” CM is added. For K-dramas, this usually happens after the series has finished airing on Viki.

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I see. Thanks for explaining.
I have been away from Viki so I see it has changed a loooooooooooooot.

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Yes, sadly

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I understand your frustration regarding the transparency of the process. I think one reason for the silence from Viki is that they probably can’t answer your questions regarding the criteria because they very likely are in the process of changing the volunteer model. Changes are happening; 2 recent Korean dramas have no English Editing team or Segmenting team, 1 recent Chinese drama announced the English Editing team and Segmenting team would be adding the OST lyrics only. No other changes to existing dialog and text allowed.
Of the 5 new titles added to the Coming Soon, only 2 were listed in Project Finder seeking a Channel Manager. Hopefully, the other titles will be added eventually, but in the past Viki has posted the CM positions at the same time as the post in Coming soon. There is also the unexplained lag in selecting a CM: Another Korean drama ended 3 weeks ago, but no Channel Manager has been selected.
Posting an official revised criteria for channel managers and channel mentors can’t happen until the new volunteer model is in place. Until that time, it is probably as you say: Viki just using a private method that may likely be in flux, and I’m sure your suspicion that they choose people that they are familiar with and know will follow their instructions probably has some truth to it.

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Oh boy! I’m afraid channel managers will disappear soon… I notice more tiltes are being managed by viki staff :frowning:

I don’t understand why everywhere I visit is so quiet lately.
I miss the old days where vikiers used to interact more, either segmenting, subbing, editing, designing… i guess it was because vikiers used to have more fun than now.

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Hi, MARY!!!

The main reason “vikisubteam” CMs drama is that they are subbing the show, completely. Not with just English but several languages (with AI and with real humans). Once they completely sub it, they release it to a Viki volunteer to finish subbing it with more languages and edit the English with the editing of those presubbed languages (as we know AI isn’t perfect).

That being said, wow, Mary, long time no see! You are truly missed. If anyone wants to know who the greatest CM is… it’s you! Always on point in your K-dramas!

Yeah, I miss the old days. Seriously. No corporate rules. We interacted with viewers, played games, the whole team would joke around, talking nonsense… LOL! The new Vikians have no clue what I’m talking about, but I know you do! We were truly friends in every sense of the word. Thank you, Mary, for showing up! Miss you!

The good old days will never come back.

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I totally agree. Also one of the few old ones that just recently came back to volunteer again. At first, I was a bit lost as the warmth ambience of the past where no longer there, viki community back then were welcoming and supportive, with every interaction with members was a chance to make new friends. Our short messages are always with camaraderie. Now it’s more like a workplace, where people are just doing their stuff but missing the connection. Maybe it’s the generation gap but I wanted to be optimistic and hoping that the newer vikians will somehow find that lost bond, cause this will make their memories of viki community worth looking back. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Personally, I believe there are still bonds of friendship, or rather, of collaboration and very close social interaction, among volunteers, but the environment is certainly completely different now from what it was for the older volunteers, and even from what it was for people like me (who’ve been here for the past 5–6 years).

From my perspective, everything was indirectly changed by Viki, and I say “indirectly” because they never officially said anything about the direction volunteering on Viki was taking; they just let us know through the changes they made. But on Viki’s part, there were clearly decisive moments that changed the direction of the community, such as:

  • the gradual shift to pre-subtitles, so it was clear that we could expect the possibility of translating from scratch to disappear, and this gradually led many active volunteers to leave Viki for good because their goal was to translate, not to edit;

  • increasingly limited communication, even on issues that Viki had previously actively supported through its liaison with the community staff; and although there were some attempts to resume close collaboration with the volunteer community, these were soon called off;

  • years of requests regarding editor features and the volunteer platform in general that have gone unanswered; the only notable change was moving the volunteer section to a subdomain, along with some design changes and a few new features;

  • the gradual takeover by vikisubteam of many channels with inactive CMs, channels that could have been handed over to others who are still active and capable of managing them, plus the fact that they have taken over and continue to take over even new channels under the vikisubteam account; so fewer channels to be managed by the volunteers;

  • and while we used to see at least a volunteer CM after a full release, now months go by without any CMs being appointed, and some didn’t even have the CM application open;

  • the obvious formation and continued maintenance, even to this day, of a specific group of CMs, meaning there is less and less logic and fairness in this area, so we are likely heading towards a very selected group of CMs; nothing to say about them, just about Viki and I already said a lot in my previous posts :joy:.

  • and the most recent change: Viki is gradually dropping out channel processing by Segging and the EN Editors, so immediately after a CM is appointed, the green light can be given for translation/editing by OL.

So yes, we can say that at this point, Viki’s focus is 99% on the subscribers who bring the money in and everything else besides the volunteer community.

What conclusion can we draw from this? Well, no matter how hard I try to see only the bright side of things (whatever that may be), I can only see one direction: the gradual demise of the community. And that’s pretty much the situation over the past few years: Viki making all sorts of changes, almost all of which have been against volunteerism, while we, the volunteers, sit here wondering what Viki intends to do, in other words, a general sense of uncertainty that Viki actively maintains.
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Of course, alongside the changes introduced by Viki, there’s also been a shift among the volunteers: they’ve started migrating to D(i)scord, a platform that, unintentionally, offers almost everything a Viki volunteer needs in terms of organization, communication, and functionality.

So at this point there are still active volunteers, but a large part of the off-topic socializing, and more, takes place there on a server dedicated to all Viki volunteers, as well as in private chats and other smaller groups.

So I wouldn’t say that socializing among volunteers has completely disappeared, it’s just decreased to some extent, but most of it has shifted from here and the Viki Inbox to larger or smaller groups on other platforms, primarily the one mentioned earlier. For example, I communicate a lot almost every day within the team I’m part of, and I’ve gotten to know some really cool people. And we’re working hard to expand the team and help new volunteers get familiar with what Viki is today. The same goes for socializing with volunteers from other countries, it all happens privately on the same platform.

Also, since we’ve gradually shifted to a focus on editing, only those who’ve been here for a while and still find joy in their work on Viki have remained and continue to stay. And since they’ve been here for some time, it’s absolutely normal that we’re already talking about very well-defined and entrenched mindsets and beliefs, so the only way to continue the activity is to stay with people who share the same perspectives.

So, yes, you could say that the formation of groups has become more pronounced at the expense of community activity, but I wouldn’t necessarily say that’s a serious problem, rather, it’s an adaptation to current conditions so we can continue on Viki with the same enjoyment, or at least stay here a little longer.

But there is one thing I noticed over the past few months, or maybe a year: people tend to avoid giving a chance to a collaboration just for various reasons, and most of the time without ever having a proper discussion with the person. So I feel we ended up in a vicious circle where it’s more preferable to trust someone’s words about somebody else instead of actually trying on your own to see how a person is and if you can collaborate. And, of course, I say this from my experience as well, by having first encounters with Romanian ”newbies” who had been very rude towards me and my team without even knowing anything about each other, and some of them even knew some aspects (of course, with just one part of the story) that a newbie couldn’t know and be so vehement in their insolent and even hateful behavior at the first interaction. And while this may be something normal for some of you, let me point out that until last year I never had such situations, so something has definitely changed in the community.

So that’s why I just adore the fact that with D(i)scord, private communication became much easier and animated, so I really like it when people want to learn about you. At least in my case, it gave the opportunity to actually dissipate many uncertainties regarding many volunteers just by having these private conversations, IN REAL TIME.

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Hi @marykarmelina & @maria08 :wave:

Things might have changed. Of course. The world keeps changing. However, I might not be an “old vikian” as I haven’t been here for as many years as some. But I think I’ve been here long enough to say most volunteers are really nice and help eachother here. And no, all our chats are not always about the work. :hugs:

Of course we talk about subbing, editing, segging, and try to help eachother when we face technical problems. But we also talk about our passion for dramas, our everyday lives or else. Sometimes the discussions are here on Viki discussion section of the website, sometimes it is through team, group or personal messages, other times it’s through discord servers or group chat or PM… :e-mail:

And I believe there are very nice people here, even if I don’t know everybody. And I consider myself lucky that some have become true friends. :revolving_hearts:

So, I hope you’ll stay positive. And welcome back to you both. :blush: :smiling_face_with_three_hearts::kissing_heart:

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Hello @lilybidulgi .Thanks for taking the time to welcome the old ones like me. We might be just a bit sentimental about the old days. Come to think of it I started more than 15 years ago:slightly_smiling_face: I think @dimghro has explained it well how changes were happening throughout the years. In fairness, I also met some nice members, including both of you, who I see has still that old Vikians spirit.

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Of course, I totaly understand the idea.
I hope you will reunit with your former friends and I’m sure you will make new ones. :wink:

Feel free to PM me on Viki or to send me a friend request on discord if you want to get to know me some day.

As long as people are nice and respectful, I always reply. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: I’m a bit talkative though. :sweat_smile::face_with_hand_over_mouth::joy: Just so you know. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I might see you around some project soon or in a new discussion here or on VCC discord server. :blush:

Have fun until next time. :star_struck:

:hibiscus: