I'd like to finish translating a drama, but

First time subber here. There is a j-drama whose translation to English has been left incomplete by the current team for months. Since I got some other people hooked on it, I need to finish the translation at least for them.

But for all intents and purposes, the project seems abandoned. I wrote to the channel managers specified on the drama page, but received no reply so far. I can go ahead and just add the missing subs, but one of the episodes is locked for whatever reason, even though its translation status is only 80%. Also, I’m concerned that they might wake up and raise a stink about me doing the translation they abandoned, and cause all sorts of problems.

Since I don’t want to waste my effort, I’d like to handle this more or less officially. My question is, if the channel managers continue to ignore me, what do I need to do to complete the translation of this drama?

Just in case, the drama in question is Tohai II.

I don’t think they’re ignoring you, as much as they haven’t logged in for awhile.

Try contacting this moderator; she seems active:
https://www.viki.com/users/martafernandes

Also if you don’t get a reply then after a certain time you can write Viki through the Help Center, tell them about your problem/plan and ask them if you can be a Mod/Channel managers. They especially state it in the FAQ that you can ask to get into the position if the original Manager/Mod is inactive :wink: Good luck with your project!

Thanks for the answers. Found that FAQ… I’m supposed to wait 7 days for reply before I can ask to be added as a language mod. Seriously, anyone’s motivation will wane after 7 days of not being able to work on what you want.

I waited for six months for one of the other projects, so I’m writing this in affect…

If a manager ignores your messages, they ignore your messages. There’s no “He/she hasn’t logged in for a while”. Why? Because you can get all your Viki inbox messages forwarded into your normal mail account, you don’t need to be logged into Viki. Because, once you are a project manager, you have certain obligations to your team and the project itself. And because, should you not be able to complete those duties anymore, then you should forfeit these duties to someone else. The only thing could be that they forgot to respond, so you should send them another PM (if you haven’t already).

I think that whoever “raises a stink” about that is more concerned about their own control over the project, than the project itself.

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I currently have the same problem with a Taiwanese drama I want to become a moderator for so I can lock the subs when done. Haven’t got a response from the two channel managers so I tried contacting the help center but I haven’t got a reply yet.

I got an email that my request (for language mod status) was received one day after I submitted it. So it’s seven days to wait for channel manager, one day to just have your request accepted, and then who knows how long until the request is granted. With these delays, how many volunteers would have the motivation to stick around?

I can completely understand why people wouldn’t forward messages to their email though. It’s the same train of thought that you leave work at work, lest you become a slave to it. But that’s another discussion.

Anyway, going through Viki’s help center takes forever. I’ve had pending tickets for a month or more.

That’s why I suggested you contact one of the other moderators on the channel. Both martafernandes and earsds are listed as moderators for the channel, are active (hence, more likely to respond), and would be able to add you to the team or at least unlock any episodes.

Though upon further inspection, technically their positions aren’t related to subbing. But if you were to explain that the managers were inactive and you wanted to help work on the show, I assume they’d be willing to unlock an episode / add you as a subber. Just explain the situation and be specific on the episode you need unlocked.

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