[Edit by xomachi: A conversation from Channel Approval issue]
It’s not only harvesting all kinds of channels but besides being CM also taking up the role of language moderator, or/and even a segmenter of the same channel, also not all moderators fulfill the assumed participation of subs was it 200-300?.. sometimes approved channels are dormant when CM’s are on hiatus as well…
Question: why would it be wrong to work on a channel you CM? I do it…and I will continue to do it.
I’m not sure I really get that one. I mean, is a CM supposed to sit and watch everyone else work? I can’t do that, so I guess I’m not getting this point, sorry Simi girl.
CD, HD
lol, each role has its own work, the work of a CM, the work of Mod, etc. I just said some CM take other roles besides CM of the same drama… meaning that other folks who’d like to mod cannot… I understand what you are saying though, just wondering where is the limit…
To Simi: 
Well, I’ve been known to write in more than one mod though too - some language mods - I have one drama where I plan THREE together because it will need extensive Team notes and there’s the global nature of things, maybe 1 mod will not be available but the others ones will - it gets complicated too depending on when things get released or how fast it comes out. Some of the C dramas show up 4 eps at a time…not the slower pace of a K drama generally…soooo sometimes more than 1 mod is a good idea.
As CM - I believe it is my responsibility to do my best to make sure the English version happens in good order, - so part of Eng Mod and Editor are naturally going to be part of my interest as a CM. I can segment too, and I AM the emergency call segmenter IMHO for that reason, another reason I did do the NSSA work.
I can see what you say - but I also have some channels we have pending where I have gone in with someone on Eng Mod - or I have privately discussed with another the option that I will turn it to them IF it becomes logical. With some Chinese dramas that show up with 4 eps a week or more, you never know how it’s going to go on all of that - and with a global situation of subbers around the world, it’s possibly good to have more than 1 mod on a major project both to build good Team Notes and handle a really great global TEAM.
And if a CM is a qualified TE or Editor…hey we have a MAJOR shortage around here! As CM IMHO< you should be the one who cares MOST about what’s going on with that English edition in particular!
Maybe I’m a bit odd about this, but I want to ensure that what the Team puts out is good and proper, and that the Other Languages folks also do their best to complete the project - on or off air. (A baffling side question though is how can one edit the Other Language Teams which is part of the Moderator position for each language without actually changing any subtitles…or subbing yourself? How can one moderate and have ZERO subtitles at the end of a project?) I guess part of the biggest question is what do people believe a CM really should do.
I answered it for myself, and how I am. To each, their own.
Crouching Dieter, Hidden Donut
Before asking for divine intervention, put thy own shoulder firmly to the wheel…
(Raises hand) I can attest that Mirna has helped me learn to be a CM :).
Without her help, I would have been truly helpless when thrown into being a CM as a brand new volunteer, despite having a great deal of real-world experience that may have helped me in the long run as a leader…!
Thank you again, Mirna, for taking pity on me as a new and truly helpless person here with a huge drama to do and no real way to figure it out except by working on it and asking questions of you.
Three Musketeers, Oliver Reed as Athos, sweeping BOW with a feathered hat flourish,
THANK YOU
And thank you also, Xie Xie, to all who choose to mentor, help, and otherwise help me and others find their way through the Minotaur’s Maze that is working as a volunteer here at the Vikiverse.
Crouching Dieter, Hidden Donut
My first drama as CM, completed in English and now working Other Languages
Two More working as CM and hopefully soon to complete.
And I hope to CM an on-air we would all like to watch soon to be approved.
ALL with the help of gracious, proficient, and kind Fans who are also Volunteers here…!
What are you trying to do? Want to make me cry? Awww…very sweet words. Thank you…it’s humbling really.
Mentoring is so critical, I think. When I first showed up here, no one helped me. I asked questions of some moderators and got nothing. Our experience here shouldn’t be like that. One person we mentor may mentor others and so on. Let’s keep the ball rolling.
Why should there be a limit to the jobs a CM can do in a show? If a CM can perform other jobs well, and has the time, why shouldn’t she?
Sometimes we even ask for CM position only to be able to become moderators, as usually moderators for certain popular languages grab the position months before the channel is approved. A mad, mad race.
Amen to that.
And that is why I have paired up with a new CM on a proposed drama, and I hope we get it. I had promised if they submitted the application, I would step forward to help. To specifically take the lead chair with them staying with me there.
CM also isn’t what everybody really wants to do, not day in, day out. Some are wise enough to know they really do not want that chair - but want others and do them very proficiently. :).
They do not lack for places to work here! I mean, if you think about it, there are some truly top segmenters, editors, moderators around who do NOT lack things to do!
Do anything well here and you will be acknowledged. Acknowledge the ability of others, and this too brings you closer to your own goals.
Despite the suggestion someone made about doing it alone, this is definitely best done by grouping the best together, and cultivating new talent where possible to join that front echelon…you never know if that new person will truly be the next with the shield there for your own shoulder. :).
Honor to the Valiant Volunteers.
Crouching Dieter Hidden Donut
Goal Achieved, make someone cry happy tears OR laugh til they cry today!
as you say it’s a mad mad race… 
I’m trying to put myself in Viki’s place. What would I do if I were viki?
I would give the most prestigious and popular on-air dramas, the ones with lots of expecting audience demanding speed as much as quality, to the most experienced channel managers who have a record of successfully completing such projects.
Among those most experienced, if there were 3-4 asking for the same thing, I would choose the one who asked first. But if the first one to ask was a beginner or semi-beginner with not much experience as CM, or someone with experience who has never done an on-air drama, I wouldn’t even consider him/her. This is the truth. (If all the 3-4 more experienced have other on air-dramas as well, obviously they will end up with lots of stuff).
Then, less demanding on-air projects to moderately experienced channel managers.
To first timers I would give only finished, older dramas. It is fitting to be so.
I have been here for one year, and I have gathered quite a bit experience as a subber and as a moderator both off-air and on-air, and also general experience of how viki works. I’ve seen how other C.M.s do their job, I have also made a few mental notes on what I liked about one or another CM.
Then I was given my first CM projects: two classic old films that nobody cared or knew about, and then, more lately, a collection of 18 KBS Drama Specials from 2014-15. In the latter, I have seen the difficulties of gathering a team, of choosing moderators in languages I don’t know, making a different kind of Google sheet, Team Notes for everybody (well, this was the easiest), keeping all this big group motivated, checking whether they are advancing or not, nudging them on when they are inactive and so on.
I am very thankful that I wasn’t given an on-air drama to have my first experiences with. I’d like to manage at least 2-3 more aired ones before attempting it.
As I see it, the CM has a lot of work before the start of a drama (gathering a team, preparing Team Notes, making sure a cover page is made and so on), but after it starts there is precious little to do. Sending messages about episodes being ready for this or that, mainly. (That’s why many of them also take another role as mod or editor). On the contrary, the moderator’s job is more hands-on during the whole process.
Of course, this is the point of view of a newbie at managing. If I were, like dudie who first started this thread, an experienced one, one of those who have shown their colours successfully in many shows, and yet I was never chosen even when my channel number is older (OK, I never knew of this detail, see, I learned something today…), I’d be seriously pissed, just as she is.
a channel manager has little to do after the drama starts.
Well, I suppose it depends, I don’t know if it’s a hard and fast rule. I do the general guidelines valid for all teams, because they affect the overall look of the drama, and that it follows viki guidelines. Then of course the English moderator will take care of grammar, punctuation, OSTs and this sort of stuff.
Many of the jobs overlap between CM and English mod. See here: https://support.viki.com/hc/en-us/articles/200139224-What-is-a-Channel-Manager-and-what-do-they-do-
The dividing of an episode into parts. Yes, you’re right, I didn’t mention it. And to think that I just love doing this thing! But it seems that on new dramas it’s already done by viki when uploading.
But otherwise, seriously… If there is no infraction, someone to report, a moderator not doing his job, things like that, there is precious little to do once you cut the episode apart from sending notifications about it being ready to be segmented/translated into English/translated into other languages.
That’s probably the reason why many CMs choose to be moderators as well, to get some action.
YOU LIKE DIVIDING EPISODES?! I heard it is a lot like segging.
It’s nothing like segging. You just find a proper place so that it’s equally divided (more or less around 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 minutes, but it shoudn’t be in the middle of a segment), note down the time and then copy paste all those times into a list on the Manage page and click save.
(The full instructions are here https://support.viki.com/hc/en-us/articles/212889108-How-do-you-create-virtual-parts-)
It’s easy, but then you go back to Subtitle Editor and you see it, voilà! neatly divided… I don’t know, you may laugh, but it’s very satisfying. Like creating order out of chaos? Well, in that sense it may be close to the feeling (not the technique) of segmenting.
I still am not sure about the Edit credit marker thingie beneath. I’ve never used it yet.
the post must have 10 characters in it, such is the requirement.
Oh on on-air dramas they tend to section them for us, like almost at the same time as upload.
Well, you could, if you see there’s a big pause. (If there isn’t, then you have to “imagine” the segments there which may be tricky).
Actually on a related note, how do Channel Managers choose Moderators? Experience? Previous cooperation? First-come-first-serve? What’s an important quality to be a moderator?
Some Channel Managers want moderators who have done multiple projects so that they have experience with working with a subbing team (assuming they don’t intend to translate a whole drama on their own). This also helps to make sure they can recruit subbers on their own. I guess it kind of depends on what language the moderator wants to be in charge of. If it’s an obscure language with low demand then the criteria might be looser.
Personally I look at different factors like:
For some moderators I prefer a mod with experience and if multiple people apply at the same time I mostly go for first come first serve. For other positions I’m ok taking in newbies but then I check how active they are… I mean if there are 2 people applying for one language and one hasn’t made a single contribution in years I go for the one who has been more active. I have had mods who where only on my projects for show and I prefer mods who don’t want to do all their work on their own if people offer help. And if they write me in really bad English I always wonder: “How can you translate properly if your English is so bad?” Messages in languages I don’t know will mostly be ignored as the person didn’t even take the time to make sure I could read it.
And if it’s a really random language someone hardly subs into I always get a bit suspicious of their intentions (sorry for the ones who mean well but I had ‘abusers’ who copy pasted Spanish in an other random language for example).
But due this topic I found out that the ‘problem’ is more huge then I thought… and it not only concerns CM’s but also mods.
Maybe someone should make a similar topic to discuss the moderator issues?