Jobs for Viki staff at Discussions

@misswillowinlove

The different posting forums of Viki, operates under similar guidelines, with differing specification. I think others have been admonished, myself included. The funny thing is, it’s done in a haze. Maybe due to too much, so to speak, air pollution.

:face_with_hand_over_mouth::face_with_hand_over_mouth::face_with_hand_over_mouth::rabbit: :rofl::joy::sob:
I agree, there is a bit more, wiggle, room here in Discussions. :smile:

I do like that, that I can watch links here without the hassel of commercials. Will that change in the future? It might, when money is involved.

Trust is more for relationships. As you’ve so keenly observed, it’s a business.

Aaah! Yea!

To make it more understandable what I meant …
We had the problem with continue watching and 3 different topic talking about it, so I now handed it over directly, since it seems the problem might be solved or nearly. I forwarded these 3 mentioned topics to merger them.


Okay, we will see how it works out.

I didn’t mean to discuss what Viki staffs job is in general, but right now the things that we mentioned to them, but not much happened the past 3-4 weeks.

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I think lutra made this topic for people who had bug problems and stuff that could be fixed quickly. Maintenance jobs because the Viki staff hadn’t been available the past weekend and would have missed any cries for help.

About the Trust Level thing, I didn’t completely understand what you’re getting at, but it’s definitely not “shady” people who police our discussions. The timed comments are policed by the volunteer team’s CMs and Mods and our Discussions are policed by users we already know. I’ve had a post deleted and a thread merged/edited, all by @jeslyni, who we all know is a Viki employee. @mariliam also used to do that before she left.

I’ve never posted a YT link in the Team Discussion, so I don’t know what’s up with that. I personally don’t think Viki would delete an account just over that. In the guidelines, it says Viki will delete an account only after multiple cases of multiple flagging and reports.

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@leerla73 @entwyfhasbeenfound
I guess I might be really sick, or the painkillers killed my ability to follow what you are talking about, …
My brain right now only works in a straight line, in general I feel better, but my throat is a mess and my mind is numb, my body tells me to sleep, sleep, sleep it off.

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Don’t worry about it, it’s nothing big. :smile: Rest well and I hope you get well soon!

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Lutra

Please take care of your health first. Sleeping is one way. Nourishing your system is another, give it what it needs, for best results. Take care of you!

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Trust levels in Discussions are completely independent of contribution to Viki by segmenting, subtitling or other. The highest trust level a non-Viki-staff member can have is Regular (which in itself is a badge), and at this point a lot of very active individuals hold it who don’t at all contribute to the translations at Viki.com.

Hmm… Team Discussion (a parallel tab to Subtitle Editor and Segment Editor) has a very specific role - one to facilitate the workflow of multiple teams across all languages. The language is usually dry and professional, as well as highly organised, in order to quickly find information relevant to you. Posting a video with a usually pretty big thumbnail, a video irrelevant to work on that particular project might make it more difficult for other volunteers who use the Team Discussion on a regular basis. That is why we have Discussions (this platform), as well as the Comments filed under each show’s front page, to freely discuss and share our thoughts and what inspires them :blush: And thank the team. Believe it or not, lots of team members regularly check Comments section. Mostly to clean up malicious comments, buy hey :sweat_smile:

If you see massive amount of verbal garbage in Timed comments, please do send a note to the CM or English Editor to clean them up.

You said it yourself, the still on-going problem with Continue Watching section not updating. We received no feedback information on the topic whatsoever! Not even “Hi, Community, we have registered the issue and are working on it.” :thinking:

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Help center is slow too
Usually they respond within 24-72 hrs
i filed a ticket 4 days ago and no response.

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We know that one person left, I don’t think they have a replacement, or if they will get one. It’s time for vacation, so imagine another pair of hands missing, it adds on.

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Actually Sean replied to me !
I pmed him. But he told me to file a ticket because the problem i have can only be solved faster by the help center.

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Well, my subtitles aren’t updating. And I’ve been subtitling for more then 30 min. now. Weird. :roll_eyes:

Screenshot_20210729-004203_Samsung%20Internet Screenshot_20210729-004232_Samsung%20Internet

Edit: Neither my contribution number is changing.

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From my perspective there is personal trust, and there is professional trust. When I was hired 26 years ago to work for the City of Rochester, NY, I literally had to swear an oath to act honorably in conducting myself as an employee of the City, and if I broke the law as an employee, jail for me big-time.

In fact, I took early retirement due to stress because it turned out the head of my department was part of a “pay-to-play” scandal and spent three years helping our Mayor siphon funds from the City budget to create a “slush” fund for bribing various public and private individuals.

When the head of my department was discovered to be very much part of the scandal, she was offered a choice: early retirement and a chance to keep her pension OR get arrested, go to trial, and go to jail.

I as a low-level worker bee was one of about twenty-five people who were constantly and vaguely threatened with unspecified reprisals if we dared to reveal to anyone outside our office any information that was not approved by my corrupt boss.

We were made to feel that newspaper reporters showing up to review documents (with approval from the Public Relations office of all places) and constant questioning by the Office of Public Integrity were our fault (though the group of people I was part of was one of the most honest, hardworking, long-suffering groups of worker bees I have ever known.

I’ve been retired for about four and a half years now, and it was only recently that I met the whistleblower who forced a mayor, three of five department heads, and four or five supervisors to retire early or find a new job. She was/is the mom of one son and the owner of a small general subcontracting business that wasn’t getting paid on time. Her investigations into why she wasn’t getting paid blew the lid off City Hall, so to speak.

On the level of professional trust and professional responsibility, it continues to make no sense top me that the acknowledged leaders of the Viki community need to ask Viki (actually Discourse) to grant “leader” status to people who are already:

  • Respected in the Viki community
  • Doing a good job of maintaining order
  • Keeping people on topic and on task in discussions
  • Reminding people of the need to interact in a productive and encouraging manner
  • Asking people to consider taking certain topics in threads and make new threads to avoid confusing people who are new to the community

Maybe because I have only recently become involved in the Community Discussion Board, it sounds as if those recognized as Viki Community leaders already had, before purchase by Rakuten, the ability to perform necessary Discussion Board housekeeping (organizing of information, archiving, combining and deleting of threads, and so on).

What about Viki’s being owned by Rakuten and run by Discourse (at least on the Discussion Board) now makes it mandatory for the recognized leaders of the Viki community to ask to have conferred on them what they have been doing all along?

I did have a fairly simple question just a few days ago about whether or not threads could be deleted. In reviewing exactly what I had originally asked, and in reviewing questions you and others wanted to compile and present to a Viki contact person, it struck me that there was no need for the Viki community to ask for permission to do what is already being done (at least based on what I have been reading).

If anything, Viki as a subsidiary of Rakuten and Discourse as the manager of the Community Discussion Board should be answering questions such as: “When will you be upgrading the app, the infrastructure, the server (the whatever) that allows the Discussion Board to exist SO THAT clearly recognized and responsible Viki leaders can do a better job of managing the Board with less hassle?”

The answer as always is money. Which is where my quote from a young woman’s honors thesis comes in.

Viki wants to maintain the illusion that the Viki community is a fansubber’s paradise, a fun community where everybody’s doing it for love and giggles, because it creates appealing product branding, attracts more potential segmenting/subbing volunteers, and keeps Viki’s costs low, low, low in that area.

Which I am all for. Because I want to be able to watch great Asian dramas for essentially 10.00 USD per month. Because I want to offer Viki viewers the best possible subs. Because I know Viki can’t afford my PROFESSIONAL-LEVEL, careful, sophisticated services.

I know that the salary-earning Viki contact people are not bad guys. They have their issues and stresses and are under more pressure than members of the Viki community. Because if they don’t manage to keep Viki functioning as a very profitable income stream for Rakuten, they could lose their jobs during a tough time for economies all over the world

But after thinking about your question to me, it seemed to me that my original question was pretty irrelevant, and Viki community members needed to ask different kinds of questions.

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I experienced the same thing! Last night.
I subbed till 10pm and they didn’t get updated and today morning I noticed that they got updated around 1 am.

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I really don’t think Discourse is involved in managing anything here. Discourse is the integrated platform Viki(and Soompi) uses to host their comment sections/Discusions/TDs. Discourse people themselves aren’t involved. If you post comments on Soompi, there’s no wait-time for moderation. Only if lots of people flag your comment, it gets taken down.

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The way my mind works, I tend to see Viki’s choice of Discourse as a “framework” for the Community Discussion Board as some kind of . . . necessary abdication of responsibility for overseeing part of its business?

I do keep in mind that there are essentially three parts to the Viki Community that somebody has to be responsible for in order to keep Viki performing as a materialistic income stream for Rakuten. They overlap somewhat but are distinct.

There are ALL the people who watch what Viki streams, whether for free or on a subscription basis. The “discussion” that many Viki fans take part in occurs through the timeline comments. It’s what I think of as the comments people make when they go to a movie theater, watch a movie, and respond to what they see on the screen. But because time-line commenters are not constrained by the social expectations placed on people in a real movie theater, those commenters can end up doing some pretty heavy trolling.

Then there are the paid subscribers who have access to the Community Discussion Board. Discussions about Viki dramas can get pretty wild because there is more opportunity to express ideas and feelings in depth. There is, I think, more opportunity for people to “go off the rails” on the Discussion Board, but there is also much more opportunity for Viki fans to get to know other people and develop relationships of trust and support.

Then there are the volunteers who take the plunge and get involved in segmenting and subbing. And of course because these are highly technical activities requiring extensive training, and because Viki’s financial success rests on the skill of trained volunteers, it is imperative that there be maximum hard work and minimum irrelevant chatter.

But ultimately, whatever subset of Viki fans is under consideration, and whatever the reasons are for those fans to have to interact with Viki’s corporate representatives. I find it sad that a variety of questions get asked about a variety of things, and it takes way too long (n my estimation) for Viki’s real money-makers to get answers. In fact, sometimes it seems as if the simpler the question, the longer the delay in answering.

Discourse has a part to play in this whole process because Viki has chosen Discourse to provide the Discussion Board framework. I assume that, if something goes wonky with the format or content of the Discussion Board, ultimately Viki will defer to Discourse.

Discourse doesn’t have a part to play in time-line comments, reviews, or issues related to training of subbers and segmenters.

I understand that Viki fans, whatever their status or function, are going to have questions about how things work and how they SHOULD work because Rakuten Viki has a much different behind the scenes setup than the “old” Viki. And obviously it is important to have a good working relationship with “Viki corporate” because so much is at stake.

However, since Viki would not have a product to sell without its fans (especially its volunteers), I see Viki fans as having the ability to be just a little more demanding and a little less servile in tone.

I think this is one of those things, again, where my coming out of an individual-oriented cullture, rather than a community-oriented one, has me focusing on things that others might find irrelevant or offensive. Or they just have never thought about them.

I am not very familiar with the social aspects of how Viki works, but I am learning and (I hope) growing in that regard. In terms of the behind-the-scenes and more technical aspects of how Viki conducts daily business, the more I learn, the more I have to wonder why Viki keeps making it hard for Viki fans to support Viki, and why Viki fans aren’t asking more challenging, but still professional and respectful, questions.

It’s my perspective, and it’s not meant to be an offensive one. I am willing to learn. However, since childhood, one of my constant cries about anything in life has been, “But why?”

As an eldest child, another constant comment out of my mouth has been, “Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”

I hope the two comments balance each other out eventually.

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Yes but you had discussed this issue at length on another thread, and you could have added as much as you like there.
This thread, though, was meant to be a list of issues that Viki staff needs to address: one that they can regularly check to quickly see if there is something urgent they need to act upon, instead of having to search a great number of useless threads (and OMG there have been dozens lately, by badge-hungry users who obviously have nothing else to do because of the summer school vacations!).
You have completely hijacked it, in order to return to talking about the role of Viki staff, about who calls the shots and the stance of Viki towards its users. I get it that it’s important to you and I agree that it’s surely an interesting discussion, one that needs to be made. Just not here.
That’s my personal opinion.

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I apologize for trying to understand and failing to understand. This is obviously a thread that I have not been able to contribute to. Because I retain a great amount of skepticism about Viki’s overall concern for Viki fans, it seems I cannot focus meaningfully on practical things that would benefit Viki fans, especially volunteers.

At this point, I know the world of Viki primarily from the perspective of someone who, truth be told, cares less about how things work than about the end result of whatever is going on behind the scenes. And when I hear that there are yet more delays regarding simple issues (or what I perceive to be relatively simple issues), my innate cynicism about corporate and administrative promises emerges.

On the one hand, I have skills and enthusiasm and and high standards. On the other hand, I have very little in the way of practical understanding, experience, or diplomatic skills.

I am, I think, somewhat more than a month into learning my way around English-language subs. In every job I’ve ever had, it has taken me six months of on the job training before I stop exasperating the most experienced of my co-workers. And it has always taken me about five years before I can say I really know my job from the inside out.

So, at this point, it’s probably not a good idea to conflate my deep interest in Viki communications of all kinds with any practical ability to advocate for change using them.

I will try harder to wield my mop and pail when it comes cleaning pre-subs, and I will try less hard to “understand things.” I am (in addition to being a great maintenance maknae) at the top of my class in overthinking.

Again, I apologize.

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I wonder if I am the only one who has problems with reading “apology letters”, maybe because it is not a German tradition. Anyway, I might have tried to stop you earlier, but as I stated, when I read your first comment I was:

  • sick
  • just had taken 2 paracetamol
  • my throat was almost killing me
  • I was frustrated because I just had one day that I felt good after 10 not so good days and now again another health issue

My thoughts in this state were at least as one track minded as yours but we both were headed in different direction, me the short information, done, collect the data, done, send it over to Viki staff.

And looking for more untouched topics/problems, really analytically, only as you said volunteer work and communication related.

So, when I read your comment I couldn’t even go through it, with my one track volunteer mode - I was, what is she talking about, and I wrote that I need to read it later, when my head is clearer. I am honest, I still have not read it. I didn’t have the mind set, time, nor the power of concentration.

I feel, I have written at least as much as you in one of your comments LOL, but feel apologetic too, since I couldn’t pay attention to it as you might wish too. In between, my mom came around every 5-10 minutes, we will see if what I wrote makes actual sense to you.
So now I am off, I had to talk too much, I even had to shout, so my throat is finally killing me, I might make it another half an hour without medication, but will surely take one before I go to sleep.
Until then, don’t mind me, maybe I will make a reference next time: Only work related - not up for discussion - could that help?

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Outright apologies were not a part of my family tradition as I was growing up. Sudden appearances of special food or a decision that we should all go to the movies . . . those were signs that it was time to move on and focus on other things.

However, I learned a long time ago that, when people point out where I have gone off track and why, the most useful thing I can do to promote better communications is acknowledge that.

As a very right-brained, global-thinking sort of person, specificity is always very helpful to me. I have no problem with having things clearly pointed out.

I have a very lovely German neighbor; she grew up in Bremerhaven. When life in the neighborhood we live in goes wacky (weird weather, kids making too much noise in the streets, the Water Bureau suddenly deciding to rip up streets and replace sewer pipes), we both agree that “ordnung muss sein!”

And that is true of Viki as well. There’s a time for creative ferment, and there is a time for housecleaning, and sometimes it’s not terribly obvious to me which is which.

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I understand where you’re coming from, and you don’t really need to apologise. As I said, the conversation is useful and meaningful, I was just suggesting you take it where it was already started, to keep this as a list of jobs - probably just day-to-day little issues.
I am as skeptical as you - I would venture to say even more - about important changes we need in order to make our life easier here. Because I’ve seen time and again that they don’t listen to us. I wouldn’t really put such things here - even if technically this is their place. I have written them so many times and it’s been years, so in my opinion it’s useless (although I would never discourage others from stating their requests). But the little glitches such as “subtitle count not updating”, “watching history not working”, “there’s an abuser who needs to be scolded/banned”, this kind of little bugs of existing features, they do take care of.
That’s all, nothing more and nothing less.

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