I have not received any mail regarding it yet.
Me neither. Maybe we don’t get a gift for 2024 (?)
Does it feel like the pink elephant in the room, more and more volonteers ask about the “year end gift”, but zero reaction of viki?
When you reach out to them for help, you get an answer months later. So no, I’m not surprised that they didn’t react to this yet
Well, it means that probably this year we won’t receive it
The 2023 gift was sent on 20 March 2024 so it’s absolutely fine that there is no news at this moment for the 2024 gift. Also, I don’t see any problem if we don’t get it… it’s not like they are obligated to give us something and, theoretically, we are here because we wanted to translate for free (later we found out about these little and rare gifts). I would prefer to have a much higher number of community staff doing something for real and actively for the community, instead of these few bucks.
Just because they aren’t obligated to give us gifts doesn’t mean they shouldn’t. It’s them showing their appreciation and they SHOULD do that. I’ve volunteered for many, many places and each place has done something special for their volunteers at least once a year. No one should ever break their back over a company that doesn’t show any interest in them, especially if it’s free labor. They also already established gift giving, so it would be very odd for them to stop giving the yearly gift, esp sans warning
Wow please stop with this mentality: “it’s not like they are obligated to give us something and, theoretically, we are here because we wanted to translate for free”. We basically provide a good quality subtitles and they save a lot of money thanks to us. I’m not greedy and what I really want to say is that the present was a really nice surprise and it did motive me to do more work here, sooo… yup, this year I’m kinda dispointed.
I can’t stop with this mentality because I live in the real world, having a full-time paid job and life responsibilities. The real world, where I saw how these things work (even recently at my workplace). I should not expect something from someone if there was no promise of it in the first place. Even in a company, where you are an employee with a contract, you can be noticed (or sometimes not) that a bonus will be cut (or your salary). Yes, it can be unpleasant not to receive any gift anymore, but there is also no realistic reason to blame them. We never signed any agreement with them so they are not obligated to give us something. It’s quite hilarious to create our delusional expectations and then to be bothered because they are not linked to reality. This world is not functioning only with ourselves… that’s why it’s called „world”.
That’s why, personally, I feel more motivated if I have the channels I wish for my team and If I can do more for the RO audience, for them to have more subbed series to watch. The gifts were a surprise for me after a few months when I started and I will continue to think of them in the same way. The motivation for being a Viki volunteer should be found and kept in the actual activity of subbing/segging/editing and also in receiving a much more efficient and updated contributing environment. So things that last longer, that really motivate us to do more and better, and for which we decided to spend our free time or a part of it on Viki.
I intended to avoid this topic, but seeing so many impatient people asking about it, I thought of checking my emails from the last year and saying something. Is not a problem to have an expectation, but the reaction of not seeing it fulfilled should be tailored to the actual situation… which is: volunteers & a company with zero mutual contractual obligations. That’s all I had to say as my last post here, back to my work on channels! Fighting!
I understand you’re done with the conversation, but please refrain from calling people delusional and judging them for having a different motivation style than you. By so clearly stating that gifts don’t matter to you, you may be influencing the company to stop giving gifts. You have the option to not receive them, and thats YOUR choice, just dont force your preference on others.
Most of us have had jobs or are currently working. I’m literally eating my breakfast before work right now and then caretaking 2 family members when i get home. We all have lives and a gift from a company we take time out of our busy lives for is nice. Because gifts are nice. Viki can’t come to us in person, so they show their appreciation in a different way. As they have already established for YEARS.
But also, um. If you got a yearly bonus at work for multiple years, it’s pretty reasonable to assume you’ll get it every year, and then get annoyed if you suddenly don’t get one. We aren’t lucky to be at a company, the company is lucky to have us.
TL;DR dont be rude, gifts are nice -.-
Wow… Jesus, are you okay? You must be struggling, cause you sound so miserable. I first posted because I was curious if I’m the only one not receiving info about gift. I’m not delusional (just asking not demanding), I also manage the full-time job and life in general, and I feel quite offend that somebody that doesn’t even know me implies this. Good riddance, let’s end this disscussion here.
Indeed you didn’t demand. But there was someone in this thread who said “they SHOULD” - yes, capitalized. And some other people implied that since Viki sent gifts for a number of years, now they are obliged to.
This is why some people prefer not to give gifts at set dates, and of set value. Because it creates expectation. The recipient is not grateful anymore but expects it as a matter of course, feels entitled, as if it were an obligation for the other party, and feels wronged if he doesn’t get it or if it is of lesser value. It’s a very well-known and well-documented psychological phenomenon.
Are gifts nice? Sure they are. I don’t think that there’s anyone who doesn’t appreciate a gift. But do Viki volunteers work because of the gifts?
Now, people are saying that the idea of gifts makes them want to contribute. That it’s their “motivation”. What?
Of course each person is free to feel as s/he wants, but I find it puzzling that such a measly thing would be a dealbreaker.
After all, frankly, the gifts are not of such value that they are worth all these hours of work
Those of us who have been here for quite some time surely don’t do it for the gift - which wasn’t there when we started, it’s a relatively more recent thing. And we also don’t do it for the measly amount of the monthly subscription that we save.
Because 5 euros per month is nothing compared to the many hours we dedicate to this. We could make much more by doing corresponding hours of the most basic job.
An office employee in my country makes 5 euros in one hour, and a cleaning lady 9-10 euros per hour. I hear that in the US the hourly wage is more like 20 dollars.
Just do the math. We need 1 hour’s work for each episode part, so for someone who does only two parts per week (a subber, for example), it’s already 8 hours per month + watching the 2 episodes = 10 hours per month.
In the case of an editor, it’s about 5-6 hours per episode, 10-12 hours per week X 4 = 40-48 hours per month. Watching the episodes before the editing is 2 hrs per week = 8 hrs per month. Add the time spent on communicating with the team, updating the Google sheet and we reach a total of 58 hours per month. If it were a paying job, wouldn’t it be 500 euros or more?
However we view this as volunteering because we love dramas. And we accept that monthly Vikipass as a gesture of goodwill from Viki, and because, honestly, it would be weird for us to have to pay in order to work for free.
Yes, probably the very first idea of contributing came to our mind because of the annoying ads and not wanting to pay for Vikipass (that’s how I started, nine years ago). But when you start seriously working, the math doesn’t add up - especially if you have a paying job that you could be doing during those hours.
I thought we were getting an end-of-year gift from Viki this year too but I’m kind of disappointed. Somebody said that it’s not that deep to not receive AN USUAL gift this year too but, wha? This is not okay from Viki, i thought it was responsible company and i felt comfortable. It’s just that, THE END-OF-YEAR GIFT WAS MOTIVATION FOR US
(PS. I’ve been volunteering here for 4 years now and got 3 end-of-year gifts. Viki sent an email to me around december and in march, my gift was in my country. Hope this helps for those who are somehow confused.)
In my opinion, the whole discussion isn’t necesarilly about gifts, rather about Viki not communicating with their loyal volunteers. Even the smallest businesses are capable of sending an e-mail or a group message saying “happy New Year, we’re glad that you helped us & we’ll be sending you more info on your gift before (date)/We’re sorry to inform you that this year, we decided there won’t be a gift”. Call me delusional or too demanding, but I feel like showing respect to people who spend hours and hours working for you, is not too much to ask. I worked on your team couple of times and when I had a question, you replied swiftly. Why can’t Viki do the same?
I’m going to sound stupid but when I started I didn’t know I would get a free Viki, I was fascinated by segments and impressed that volunteers at Viki could teach me how to segment for free. Free education and if I was good at it maybe just maybe I could help out on shows. Then in Sandbox I heard about free Viki but was paying almost a year until I could get free Viki because I had payed in advance.
I think a gift is nice but what I wish the most is that Viki fixes the bugs so I can work smoothly as a segger. Because after all I came to watch shows found segmenting and then really great people all over the world.
Volunteer
verbTo offer to do something that you do not have to do, often without having been asked to do it and/or without expecting payment
As to my knowledge, we all are here as volunteers.
Yes, a gift is a nice bonus for us, as is the free monthly subscription.
Yes, it would be nice to know if we don’t get the end of the year gift this time.
But no, Viki is not obligated to give us anything, since we volunteer to do this. It’s not a mentality, its facts.
When I started on Viikii they didn’t have legal content yet but you could make a donation to keep the site running I believe. If you donated $10 you got a neon green/yellowish ribbon on your profile.
Note: Viikii’s colors back then where grey and neon green/yellowish.
Since Viki started with legal content and VikiPass I never not had it for free and sometimes I’m like ohh yes people pay for that…
But yeah looking at how many hours I spend on Viki for the last 14+ years… it’s nothing. I would have been so rich if Viki paid per segment/ sub or even per episode I worked on.
[The motivation for being a Viki volunteer should be found and kept in the actual activity of subbing/segging/editing and also in receiving a much more efficient and updated contributing environment.
OK with you
■■■ !
■■■■! I thought I was going to get Park Hyung Sik or Tian Jian Ci as a gift, it’s done!
I’m disappointed!
That sounds like a gift that would be hard as there are so many that might want the exact same thing…