[Closed] I love collecting badges but...(To Viki)

Contributing
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After the annunce of Viki i was pretty happy…but…only four drama and 2 of them aren’t translate in English. Are you kidding us ? Dear Viki why don’t you select a category like “chinese drama” or “historical drama”. What’s the point of select 4 chinese dramas ?
Their is a lots of disadvantage:

  1. Do you really think we all ( a certain language community ) can subb in 2 dramas 800 subtitles ?
  2. For the moderator of this drama, their will be a tons of people who will ask and after the 800 subtitles, they will say “Kay, Girl i got my subtitles, bye, i don’t even care about your drama”
  3. It’s the better way for this drama to be subb like a trash…just reach your 800 subtitles (during a battle of people who also want 800 subb)
    We all should be able to collect this badges, you doing an event for your community ( and that’s a good things) but what’s the point when we can’t enjoy it ? When we are selected like " Congratulation you’re The Chosen and Lucky Enought to be on this drama !" ?

Also and I promise i will shut my mouth after…

  • What if we don’t like the story of this drama ?
  • For the people who only like Korean Drama ?
  • For those who don’t like Romance drama ?
  • Their is tons of drama which don’t have enought subbers it could be a great opportunity

Finally why are you doing an event when we (volonteers) can’t do it ?
You talking about THE SUPER badge…we can’t even do one normal badge…
If all the badges of this year are concentrate on 4 dramas. Just don’t bother you Viki, don’t do.

PS: i’m sorry to be rude but i love collecting badges… <3

Bye
Kyky

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Yes so sad this event.
Some of them are not even translate in English how can we hope to have allowed to translate in other language in this short time ?

My request is 1 : How many 800 subtitles are there in this only four drama ??? lolll and how many are allowed to translate in each language lol ?

Secondly : if it is to improve the number of Chinese drama translate, Why the challenge will not in 2 times ?

First… Chinese-English will sub in first time…
It needs some days between the two phase of challenge to have sufficient work to do on each drama for all language.
Second… other language, with the same time allowed than subber Chinese/English

In reality, 1000 subtitles on 1 month will be a great idea for many reason. More drama translated, more participants, more good result and best work indeed in each drama :slight_smile:

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I speacially think of Spanish Viki Community, they are so much on some drama they are like 30 when french are barely 7. For them it shouldn’t be a mere battle but a intergallactic war

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Lately, because of the Kocowa situation, viki, to compensate for the lack of Korean dramas, has been flooding us with Chinese dramas. But there aren’t enough people interested in them.
I mean, there are many C-drama lovers here, but not nearly enough for such a fllood of dramas, of which some are not first-class quality. This is not my own assessment, by the way. C-drama lovers have been complaining lately, saying that yes, there are more now, but most are not the good ones they were hoping for.
And yes, looking at some of them, they do seem like second quality. As is expected when you need to suddenly get a great quantity of anything.

Just as all the 2000s Korean dramas that viki acquired this fall: most of them makjang melodramas full of clichés that by now are unsufferable to watch, and lame old-fashioned slapstick comedies with exaggerated grimaces. When I saw them in Project Finder, I went to the trouble of researching each one of them online, reading comments, reviews, even recaps sometimes… They all looked totally un-desirable, so I ended up not asking for any of them. Some of the films are still in the Project Finder, months later, because nobody’s interested!

Before retirement, I worked as a film critic and I knew many film importers, so I had heard from them the selling and buying process. The foreign company told the local film importer: “If you want this popular film which is going to make you big money, you also have to buy, as a bundle, these three or four B-class films. I’ll give them to you at a cheap price. But you have to buy them, otherwise I won’t sell the popular one to you”. Then the poor importer - who of course desperately wanted the popular one, likely to be a big hit - had to somehow find a way to advertise well those B-class films to try to at least cover his costs and maybe have a little profit too.

The result of this is that Viki is trying to lure people in order to get some of these translated. Many episodes have been already released, so more subbers can be accomodated at the same time.
(Of course, Chinese-English subbers are the problem, those should be lured first! Will they be subbed in time for Other Language People to have time to get the badge?)

The tactic viki uses is like putting on sales an item in an unpopular colour, when the popular colours are still full-price. Or giving cheaply an item for which service will soon be discontinued. (I bought a Chef-o-matic Pro multi-cooker yesterday for almost 1/3 of the price for that reason: last in stock, discontinued, shop window item but in perfect condition, with all its accessories).

My bet is that in the coming months, many of the badges will be about Chinese dramas.
I’m not taking part. I’m not interested in the least in those and if I commit to be in the team I have to be till the end, I cannot leave at the end of the 800 segs or subs. So yeah, I’ll pass.

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This "contest’ or whatever, has a lot of down-sides. It’s like the Japanese subathon, let’s all 2963421528 volunteers on Viki, contribute at 4-5 dramas, to get a badge. I am mod at one of the 4 proposed Chinese dramas. I received pm’s from people who usually loathe C-dramas, unless they have shirtless men in it…:smiley: First of all, it would be a little bit ironic to moderate a drama, but not get that badge. And believe me, if I were to make a team with all the persons requesting it, the drama I’m moderating would need about 60 episodes. That is one thing. But what am I supposed to do if the drama won’t release episodes to other languages? What will happen with the volunteers who hoped to get the badge, no matter how boring or uninteresting that drama was? What if the drama only releases 5 episodes in the given period of time? How should I divide those episodes among the many volunteers? What am I supposed to do about myself? Let others get the badge to a drama I’m moderating, hence, I made a document and invested time in organizing it?
Either way, it’s not fair for me, for the others, for anyone. I understand Viki wants to get these C-dramas on the map, and some of them are good; but the main focus should be the native subbers, and only then can we speak about other contributors, etc.
I’m seriously thinking if to translate any episode of that drama in the given period of time, or not…

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I don’t think, that people aren’t interested in Chinese dramas or that those dramas are unpopular. Viki is responding on the growing demand for Chinese dramas and I’m glad about it. But Viki started to upload all episodes of dramas with a belated license on the same day without any information before. The problem is, that we have not enough Chinese-English subbers on Viki and if 3-4 dramas with around 40 episodes are “dumped” on the same day, channel managers are searching desperately for subtitlers.

Due to the lack of Japanese dramas or maybe Taiwanese ones, too, many of the badges will be about Chinese and Korean dramas. And you are right, if someone takes part of a drama, this shouldn’t be just for a badge with 800 subtitles or segments.

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All I can say is there is nothing to say because you guys said everything ! :+1:
I like being on viki and translating for all people but it’s so sad to see than with this event it’s kind of forcing the community to work on some projects and just for a short period of time.
Yeah it’s reality… Having the badge = work done ! (sad but true) :weary:

I just hope dear Viki than you can increase the list of the drama for this event or do something about it for all the community and all languages ! And remember we still love you Viki ! :yum:

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To the Overlords:

PLEASE change this to read that we may work 800 of something ON OUR OWN PROJECTS. Not 4 dramas only of your choosing. Sure, it’s more work for you to vet this at the end, okay fine. Maybe you should build a little program that reads for the 800 of sub or seg on the profile from this date (captures the standing totals) and then compares to March 2nd - and determines if the counters have gone the magic 800 or not.

Seeing as you appear to want to do this sort of thing more than once in a year, perhaps this would be a useful tool to own anyway?

Oh…and…how is everybody possibly going to fit on FOUR SHOWS? Unless we have lost THAT much power in hands around here, how is this possible? Did you even calculate out HOW MANY SUB AND SEG are in existence, vs how many of each type of volunteer you have? I don’t think these four shows can HOLD ALL THE SEGMENTERS - for a start? Plus…you’re REWARDING TOP CONTRIBUTORS? This means on SEGMENTING I know EXACTLY WHO WINS…and I can’t GET 800 SEGMENTS TO GET A BADGE!

And this is the first of 11, you HAVE to have ALL of them or not get the last one at all?

Last…and this has been my concern from the very start of these pushes, the quality of work is not an indicator of whether you get a badge, someone may sub in HHHHHH in every space and get your badge, leaving the persons on the actual TEAM who want to do this drama - not forced on there by this forced push - HOLDING ALL THAT TO FIGURE OUT AND REPAIR. Not to mention the actual FEELINGS of the TEAM that started the project and cares most about it?

Baffled Fans…and Frustrated Volunteers may well be the harvest here.

I would personally like a chance at completing this year’s badge festival - if it’s fun and does not destroy the work I spend my time doing here. I do not envy those with a targeted show in this. :frowning: I value the quality of work done on the projects I take up, as well as completing them. And…by the way…what exactly do you expect the already frustrated Korean to English subbers to do on these dramas?

Please…reconsider and change this, you have time to do it, to read ALL DRAMAS and our current projects may be used!

GeNie of the Lamp has plenty to do without going to find 800 of something on someone else’s project!

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Agreed, I admit to completely avoiding the Japanese sub-a-thon for this reason.

The feelings of the existing Team who actually joined the drama to complete it should have been considered in this, and again…perhaps nothing was actually learned from watching the insanity at the Japanese dramas?

There is time, a couple of days before this starts - where they might take back this edict and replace it with one that would help all of us and not cause undue stress to people who may have plenty in the real world and do not need to add to it HERE.

GeNie

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I wholeheartedly agree.

My beef with this though is that ALL Chinese dramas should be included. My worry is that the dramas that REALLY need help, won’t. There are some that are so slow, that they should be the ones included…

I’m on two of the dramas listed and I’m getting requests like mad. Where were they when we started? Now they want to help. We don’t need you here but we need you over there… to that drama that only has so many subbers.

The focus will only be on those four. I don’t like that… at all.

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I think that has already been said but I also want to say what I think.

For me, badges challenge make me feel a lot of injustice. And above all, they hide something else.

  1. I think those who work on these 4 dramas just for the badge, they may be preventing someone who really wanted to participate, to participate. I mean, if I participate in a drama, it’s because I want to participate. I do not do it for a badge.

  2. It is unfair. Why do someone who made 800 subtitles or segments on one of these 4 dramas deserve to be rewarded more than the one who made 100 or 2000 on another? Does the number of subtitles or segments matter? I really feel like being bought with these badges! The sale of penguin is forbidden! We are volunteers and we participate in the projects we want, for pleasure!

  3. The problem is that Viki does not communicate enough with us! If they warned, at least, the CM, a week or two before putting ALL episodes of the drama at once. Then the situation would be different! (Of course, viki chose the same day to put SEVERAL Chinese dramas on viki, what a great decision!)

  4. I’m in the team of one of these dramas since the beginning (Memories of love, segmentation), episodes of the drama come out almost every day and we are several segmenters, even so, I sometimes have no time to take part. Why? Because I work in real life. Which means that I am available for sure on Wednesdays but rarely on other days. Should I ask my colleagues to leave me both episodes just on Wednesday to do my 800 segments? Is it correct? No. We are a team, not competitors. (I do not think I will win against such big segmentation fish, anyway. Ahah)

Conclusion: Viki speak to us. If you talk to us, we can avoid flops! We can quietly translate all these dramas. You will not need to make a useless competition badge. Does Viki imagine the pressure of a CM that has a 50-episode drama, and no team with people who want to watch it?

I will not participate in this challenge badge. Ps: Unless the badge has a penguin on it. LOL. More seriously, a badge to celebrate something, make 1000 subtitles or segments over 1 month, no matter the drama. It’s a good idea and enjoyable. A badge for only 4 dramas, it’s a bad idea!

I do not translate/segment for a badge. And if I had to start quantifying the number of hours I spent on viki, I think viki should give me more than just a badge. But I do not do it for money, for a badge. No no. I do it for pleasure. And when I get involved, I put my heart into it. I do things well because I want it. Since when does viki become a burden, a competition?

I can hear the idea of helping these dramas to have more volunteers. But I think other solutions are possible. Maybe choose to put the episodes one after the other? Notify the CM. Advertise. Make specific badges, if you want. A memories of love badge, a face off badge. But in the end, if you do, do it for all new dramas. Do not forget others.

PS: I saw that Viki put a lot historical dramas right now, I LOVE YOU! Thank you !:heart_eyes: I give you a badge! Happy?

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First I thought oh wow, great, then I read on the specific dramas and I thought not so great at all, especially if there are teams already in place, QUO VADIS. :scream_cat:

Whoever came up with this idea, did not see far ahead, there are far more dramas that need help, yet the work will not be rewarded. Again, I wonder if these office people do not know how teams are formed and the whole concept??? :space_invader:

Plus if you can’t find a spot you are automatically left out to earn the 12 badges how smart it that??:rolling_eyes:

Answer: Disappointed and not motivated! Will anybody of Viki higher-up read this?? Or is this bugs&issue thing?

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This is not a well thought out plan. Sorry, but it’s not. It’s going to be a disaster like the Japanese badge contest recently. I’m only going to speak about segmenting since that’s my area. I’m Chief Segmenter on Memories of Love which is listed as one of the four dramas on this contest.
Firstly: This is a live drama currently airing. We’ve had a team in place from the beginning and we are currently keeping up with segmenting as the episodes are released. We don’t need help segmenting on this drama. Subbing may be another story and I’m not addressing that, but our segmenting team there is doing just fine without any interference from others coming in to “Help” in segmenting. If our team hadn’t been segmenting all along there wouldn’t be segments for the subbers to contribute for this subathon.

Secondly: Please don’t have a top 3 winners for something so limited. My first thought when I read this was that we would try to help each other out and limit the segmenting to the required 800 and then let someone else have a chance to contribute too. That’s teamwork. However, having a top three puts it in a whole other light. Now people will hog segments and with such a very limited amount of work to do, there will only be a few badges given out at the end.

I thought this competition was suppose to be a fun community building event. Honestly now all I feel is anger and unwillingness to cooperate.

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I didn’t say that people are not interested in Chinese dramas in general. I said that nowadays there are too many and the translation may be lagging on some of them.
Again:
Because of Kocowa and the lack of Korean dramas, there are many more Chinese dramas than before. Much too many, the balance is completely tipped now. So there is a surplus, Chinese-English subbers must be overwhelmedand. Some of these Chinese ones, the not-so-exciting or the too-long ones, need a push.

The flaw in the system of monthly badges which you have to collect in their entirety to get the yearly one is that

  1. if it’s restricted to only four dramas, even if there are 15 people for each language, and, say, 20 languages (because of the badge!), it’s only 300 people for each drama, 1200 for four dramas. What will happen to everybody else? Obviously there is no place for more than very few people who will be able to take all badges, no matter how willing they are.

  2. If it is every month, you will have to sub on a different drama every month. But dramas typically last a minimum of 2 months - Chinese ones minimum 3 months. So with each month you will add a drama to your existing ones before they finish. If some of them are the 40-episode ones, then you’re screwed. Unless you choose to drop the previous ones when you have finished the 800 subs. That’s encouraging someone to behave irresponsibly.

  3. What about categories? Some people don’t like some types of drama, or dramas from a certain country. For instance I don’t like action and crime. And I also am not a fan of Chinese or Taiwanese dramas. So if one month the challenge is about this type of thing, I’m doomed. Either do it unwillingly or goodbye badge. This, then, encourages people to work on projects they don’t like, and we all know that you do a job well only when you love it.

Thus this sub-athlon encourages volunteers to:

  • sub or segment quickly to reach the target, probably doing a sub-par job
  • work on whatever is offered, even if they don’t like it, probably doing a sub-par job
  • be overwhelmed by too many dramas, probably doing a sub-par job

What a great idea, isn’t it?

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I have also sent the reply to Vikicommunity general mail indicating that we need to finish some other shows that are in dire need of subbers/segmenters first or shows that have been here like forever and receive no love from Vikians before we can shoo all into freshly acquired dramas that already have no problem with being subbed/translated. Unfortunately, we are rarely heard and asked for an opinion so I guess there is no chance for a cute teddy bear gracing our profiles anytime soon. we all love badges and they should be accessible to all those who are actively helping out at Viki. not only those who have all the time of the world, but especially those who drop by here every day to add their own “drop” to the whole waterfall of great segments and subs.

I salute you, silent warriors of this site. Every line that is honed in your free time to perfection is highly appreciated.
Even if it is being said by a shirtless hero… :wink:

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AGREED! Right now, I’m on 3 of those dramas… and already my inbox has ballooned from those who want to join these teams. Right now, I believe Face Off is undesignated (not sure of the other 3)… OY VAY!!! Already locking episodes. This is going to be a nightmare!

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Indeed Face Off is not designated. I already sent a message to Viki requesting to have it designated. Hoping they will do it before the subathon, because with all people asking to be part of the team just to have the badge…
I even had a message from someone I had to refuse who said “but this is one of the four dramas chosen for the “subathon” badge challenge, if you don’t give access how can we try to get the badge???”

I answered to more than 50 messages since this morning (the most part were segmenters), the team is already full but because there is only 4 channels concerned for this badge, people are asking expecting to be accepted even if the team is already full.

I think we have even too much segmenters on Face Off. And we can’t just accept everyone that’s like that, so some people are desappointed. But that’s like this.

And like I said to someone "even if I had accepted you in the team, are you sure that you would have been able to have the 800 segments necessary to have the badge if I had accepted everyone? You see.

Plus, I think wanting to be part of a team because of a badge is not really good. We should be wanting to be on one team because the drama looks interesting for us and not because we will receive something for what we did on the channel. Don’t you think?"

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I took the liberty of counting episodes available early this morning for segmenting in these four dramas.
68 total

These are also not dense-written dramas…so probably not that many segments in there in each episode. Figure 2 or so episodes to get around 800 MAYBE, per segmenter. Possibly more. Consider after QC, also - each segmenter may really need 900 plus to ensure hitting your magic “goal”.

Segmenters STILL lose their segment count when the segment is deleted. Subbers, who are edited or overwritten, do not.

Adding already to the competitive tendencies of the on air and there you have it, you will have 3 people qualified for your entire 11 months after one month.

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Hi Irmar,

I just referred to those statements. I didn’t deny the negative aspects of this subathon.

The flaws you are listing are obvious and right. :slight_smile:

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I was caught off guard with the sudden announcement of this subathon, for many of the reasons listed above, but part of me wanted to think that maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing ever to get some people interested in some of the dramas, however brief.

I sort of stumbled into a chief segmenter role on one of the channels, earlier on, and I wasn’t averse to adding a few segmenters because of this whole event thing, but someone just sort of jumped into a random episode and started working—I never got a message from them, and there’s no sign of them in the team discussion either. My issue with this isn’t just the act of it, but also the fact that they’re not new to Viki and still did that.

Considering the situation, I can only assume that they wanted the badge? (Even though the event doesn’t start until the 19th…) I feel a bit petty for having thought about deleting their work, just because they’re not on the team, despite the contributions actually being fine. But it just feels so disrespectful to a team to bypass and ignore them, who were there from the start of it.

[Edit: For the record, there were some misunderstandings and some miscommunication, which have been cleared out. But it only reinforces my idea that this first subathon event feels a bit haphazardly put together and could have used a bit more thought/planning.]

I hope the next events aren’t going to be more “work on these 3–4 projects” to get this badge.

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