Machine translation from Viki

Contributing
1

Message sent on Sept 19th:

"Dear CM & French Mods/Subbers of Women Power Team,

You are receiving this message from Viki because we noticed that most of these channels have had little to no activity for the last few months pertaining to French subtitles. We want to complete the rest of the unfinished French subtitles on a few channels for our French viewing audience, therefore we will be using French machine translations for “Why Couldn’t You Get Married?.”

After completion of the machine translations, please feel free to modify/edit the machine translations to improve them if they are not up to standard.

We plan to start these translations as of Sept 19th, 2019 and appreciate your understanding and we will be sending messages to active French volunteers on these channels to inform them as well. Thank you!

Best,
Viki Community Team"

__

Pigs are flying:

We are Sept 19th, Viki picked an absent CM/French mod for 3 years, Viki did nothing for 3 years, now instead of looking for new people, they look for translation machine that they forbid us (we know why it is forbidden), but not for them.

And they just updated their volunteering article about “no translation machine allowed” and “active CM” this week.
And we just received this message on… Sept 19th. How is it called ‘communication’ or ‘information’? The same day? Is it April 1st?

All this matter and how it is handled is really disrespectful towards volunteers, viewers who get machine translation (why not looking for new volunteers?) and for quality matters.
If I follow this logic, you could replace all inactive CM/mods by machines then since you don’t know how to pick CMs. If the CM absence is causing a full language to be translated by a machine: I wonder why this CM is still CM and why she was picked and maintained by Viki.

__
:no_entry_sign: Not promoting and no caring about the community. A machine is not the community and the community is not there to clean after a machine if there are volunteers who could subtitle and edit.
17

:no_entry_sign: Not respecting your own rules
https://support.viki.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000238047-Volunteer-Guidelines
49
28

Can I report Viki if they don’t follow the own guidelines they set?

:no_entry_sign: Not respecting your viewers and your volunteers.
Viewers are paying. They are not paying for machine translations.
As volunteers, it’s treating us like crap. It’s thanks to volunteers’ free work that Viki gains money and can sell their Viki pass. It’s thanks to volunteers if you’re in the stock exchange and can pay salaries to Viki community team. The money you gain, it’s greatly thanks to volunteers.

So treat us better, it’s the least you could do. We’re doing it for free already.

57 Likes
2

"Dear CM & French Mods/Subbers of The Scintillating Team,

You are receiving this message from Viki because we noticed that this channel has had little to no activity for the last few months pertaining to French subtitles. We want to complete the rest of the unfinished French subtitles on a few channels for our French viewing audience, therefore we will be using French machine translations for The Legend of Hao Lan.

After completion of the machine translations, please feel free to modify/edit the machine translations to improve them if they are not up to standard.

We plan to start these translations as of Sept 19th, 2019 and appreciate your understanding and we will be sending messages to active French volunteers on these channels to inform them as well. Thank you!

Best,
Viki Community Team"

French team translated episode 38 today. English edition released episode 40 today. French team is active from the beginning. Did viki have a problem with respect and us? Or they are ignorant? Pretend? Should we create a union with contributors and share the same meeting table with vikistaff members so they can understand how their own site works? I mean, are we a joke for you?

13 Likes
3

Yep same for one of my channels and I feel sorry for the mod and the french team.

1 Like
4

We must tell them that we are not agree and that french teams are still active! We must tell them NO. THEN, please, ALL CONTRIBUTORS, help us to have our subtitles come back and the translations of their vikibot disappear. Let them know you are not agree too. Contact staff members to tell them, I do not know! But we must act! Today, it’s French. Tomorrow, what language will it be?

Is not it abusing? Can we report viki for this? --"

17 Likes
5

Hey.

I’m mexican but I have a DELF B2 and I passed my BAC with 15,so maybe I can help you with subtitles.
Right now I don’t have any project so I have so much free time.
Let me know if I can help, I’ll be happy if I can

Thanks & have a good day(:

1 Like
6

"Dear CM & French Mods & Subbers of the Royal Team,

You are receiving this message from Viki because we noticed that although there are users actively working, there are still over 30 episodes of unfinished French subtitles on this channel. We want to complete the rest of the unfinished French subtitles on a few channels for our French viewing audience, therefore we will be using French machine translations for Princess Weiyoung.

Please note that we encourage you to modify/edit the machine translations to improve them if they are not up to standard.

We plan to start these translations as of Sept 19th, 2019, HOWEVER, because there are users who are still actively working on this drama, we will delay the start for this channel until Sept 26th, 2019. We appreciate your understanding and we will be sending messages to active French volunteers on these channels to inform them as well. Thank you!

Best,
Viki Community Team"

OKAY, SO LET’S LEAVE VIKI X) Machine world, you have the place now! Please welcome to HORRIBLE and incomprehensible french translations done by vikibot!I 'm sure the viewers will not understand anything, but they will be very happy to have everything translated into French… X)

3 Likes
7

I think they’ve lost it.

If they do this for French, they will do it to other languages too since it is the same problem and the same logic.
And for mini teams, they’re going to tell the lone translator or 3 translators what?

9 Likes
8

"Dear CM & French Mods/Subbers of the Buddy Buddy Team,

You are receiving this message from Viki because we noticed that this channel has had little to no activity for the last few months pertaining to French subtitles. We want to complete the rest of the unfinished French subtitles on a few channels for our French viewing audience, therefore we will be using French machine translations for “Mr. Swimmer.”

After completion of the machine translations, please feel free to modify/edit the machine translations to improve them if they are not up to standard.

We plan to start these translations as of Sept 19th, 2019 and appreciate your understanding and we will be sending messages to active French volunteers on these channels to inform them as well. Thank you!

Best,
Viki Community Team"

It’s been months we’ve been working on this drama because they uploaded the episodes with English subs and segments so it takes more time for the English team to complete it. We only have a few episodes left to do. The English Team just released episode 38 today morning, we subbed until episode 37 so we were not late compared with English team progress… If you wished us to be faster then, you should have think of that before uploading episodes already subbed into English, that takes a lot of time for segmenters to adjust segments and then to English team to edit everything, and it’s normal.
Really Viki… If it is to edit Viki bot subs I already did it and don’t want to live that again. That’s just headache…
I’m not on Viki to do that.

8 Likes
9

I am not really surprised about Viki doing it, we already had such a discussion. Rakuten is actively in the field of translation programs (I was looking for a certain post in the net, but have not found it yet, I think I placed a link in the former discussion about this topic). We all could guess that Rakuten should have some interest in the product Viki to buy it and it isn’t only about entertainment.
However, the way to “communicate” with the volunteers on Viki since Rakuten took over is lacking since day one, unfortunately they don’t realize that since teams here are still working on the projects with not too much delay are hurt with such actions. So much to keep a friendly atmoshpere at Viki. There is a saying in my country “Der Fisch stinkt vom Kopf her”. (A fish rots from the head down)

The time of a volunteer … I sometimes think editing should bring more points to ones counter since it is more time-consuming anyway. But this is again the talk about appreciation …

12 Likes
10

The problem.I see is:

  • not letting us a choice in this: we are not guiny pigs.

And when V makes such decision, we feel you force us to be guiny pigs.
“You are free to edit the translation machine.” Free? Where is freedom in it? Do we have a choice? How can we feel we are free in such situation?
It’s tyrannical, restrictive and binding us.
V didn’t ask us, the main people involved, to know the situation before taking this decision.
Does a doctor suggest a solution without asking some questions to his patients? Since when, where does it hurt, how do you feel?
There are some steps before finding a solution or remedies (if a problem indeed exists).

There was near 0% listening in volunteers whereas full teams of volunteers and their viewers are impacted.
Delaying it for 7 days is not what we want and is not a solution.

  • a lack of transparency with volunteers: if it’s to improve their bot, shouldn’t V tell us clearly?
    “Using us” is the feeling you convey to us if you hide it.

  • hyprocrisy, limits of carpet/car sellers: using the excuse that the drama was not finished in French translation to call their bot to erase correct translations.
    They got to explain why they delete the edited translation of the first episodes to replace it with a bot to make us edit again.
    Where is the respect of these volunteers? Do you know they put their nights and free time for it? I have dark circles and I sleep really bad, you should take into account volunteers well-being instead of adding to our plate.
    All their hard work is lost because you deleted their hard work and you ask us to re-do the work for full ep. It is beginning again from 0.

Where can I see “producitivty” in that?

  • the bot could be implemented on other channels. Again, discussing with us.

  • if from step 0, they didn’t pick the correct and active manager or didn’t care while it wasn’t translated for more than a year…
    How can we, volunteers, take on their job? It is not in our powers to replace a CM or a moderator and we are already busy with our own channels to take care of others’ channels. How can we be everywhere?
    There are some things Viki should take responsibility for and not delegating some tasks to us, nor the responsibility to us.

When we disagree, you tell us something else and you continue to pick the same inactive people or who didn’t finish their projects or take care in finishing them.
Why should other active volunteers and their translations be taken hostage because someone else was not there?
Of course if Viki doesn’t take active volunteers, who is going to recruit competent people, the team and translate and edit?
Of course if Viki doesn’t folllow or ask some news during the year, they can stay inactive and the channel can sleep.

Of course, volunteers can’t do anything if the person is active on the website but not on a channel they manage.
Of course, we can’t check everyone and do the work of the CM you pick.
V let them, and I am not a detective or it’s not my job to do reports and again reports or take someone else’s channel to manage or mdoerare if I can’t or don’t want.
Even when we do reports, it takes 1 month to correct a 3-min video that an abuser butchered.

  • The inactiivity of some CM or moderators shouldn’t sanction other volunteers, subbers contributions or the audience.

It is mixing fever with swan flu.

The biggest abuser in all of this = Viki because you erased volunteers honest work.
I can’t sanction a whole team, I find it demotivating for everyone and it’s not their fault (subbers and editors).
Putting people in the same bag, it is pretty much not considering their own feelings.

  • some subbers are dependant and don’t dare. Some CMs are dependant and don’t dare towards moderators who are also CM.

Normally you recruit people for their competences.
If you know how it is on channels they didn’t do adequate measures to make it progress, then you shouldn’t take them again until they finish it.
If you don’t know, make a trial period to see if they keep being active and the channel progresses.
If not, look for another volunteer.

After 1 year or 1 year and half, look if it is finished. If not: ask why and decides only after looking at the whole situation.

If ppl are responsible, there is progress or they would ask help to other volunteers (coCM or recruiting or doing it themselves).
It is easy to see that.

6 Likes
11

Precisely because of this I think there must have been some sort of error. The PMs seem to be automatic.

Plus the date of “taking over” the project is the day of sending the PM, so they must have tried to make the AI itself recognise when it needs to help out on a project, but that failed.

@camiille, would you mind giving the CMs some feedback on this?

3 Likes
12

It is not an error.

This is the second version of this message.
+7 days to finish 20-30 ep or they delete everything and bot translations implemented.
And they haven’t let us a choice. It is crazy.

1 Like
13

I’ve got the same message for my channel “Age of Legends” and they already translated 12 episodes at the moment I got the message.

This is so rude and respectless! I told them, that I neither agree nor appreciate their “help” and I asked them to stop their bot and dicuss this situation with the French moderator and me before. I’m still waiting for a reply.

3 Likes
14

I think it’s useless discussing with them to ask them to stop, I saw they already completed the whole drama into French for “Age of Legends”…

15

They never discuss or ask pertinent questions before.

They do, then they might discuss.
I don’t know this type of management, but I see clearly the consequences.
Losing time for everyone.

It is the result of ignorance.
And when it’s about their website, it is worst not to know how it works or act like that.
Taking such decisions is limits to incompetence.

3 Likes
16

Yes, I saw it right now, too. Unbelievable!

17

I just can’t believe what the hell is happening, the disrespect you’re showing us by doing what you did without even asking us if we were still working on it or not makes me speechless…

14 Likes
18

They said me once they’re not using translations bot to get rid of subbers but to “help”, but seeing what’s happening right now I’m not really believing them.
When people will leave Viki because they can’t volunteer or just because of the lack of quality of subs, they will see…

9 Likes
19

Why would they delete everything that was already done? It said…

1 Like
20

It’s horrible to delete already finished subs… Does that mean if a show is 100 episodes and 70 are already done then the bot would replace all 70!!! And you would have to edit all 70??? Again!!! After you’ve wasted your precious lifetime subbing?
My Goodness… What happened to the world?

4 Likes