But guys, they explained why this is only for some languages, look:
" Why these languages? This is also in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month ( Sep. 15 - Oct. 15 ), and German-American Heritage Month and Italian-American Heritage Month which are in October. ( We know the German and Italian Viki communities are all over the world and not just America, so we’d like to think of this as celebrating the German and Italian subtitlers no matter where they live! )"
And about the dramas being only C/T, either because everyone always likes to contribute to the K-dramas. I love Taiwanese dramas, but for the (Costume & Period)C-dramas I almost never join in the teams.
And also realize that period dramas are the ones that always delay in liberation!
That’s true. I’m a Portuguese Moderator… And there are many volunteers for Spanish and Portuguese, which makes our team faster. Perhaps the Asian culture is very strong in our continent and therefore there’s many volunteers for our language!
Since I’m working on Korean dramas too, I note down every single part with the No of subs I just made And just in case, I made a screenshot of my total amount of subs before starting the subathon.
… this still doesn’t explain why Romanian isn’t included, while French is. And no, I don’t have anything against the French contributors; many of them are my friends, so I’m happy they get a shot at this. It’s a coincidence that their language is mentioned, that’s why I mentioned it as an example.
I think it is about the biggest groups of nationalities immigrating to America. I only know about the German immigrating around 1600 that’s when for example Pennsylvanian Dutch evolved a Palatine influenced dialogue.
The subathon carrot only works for English editors in the drama where I am.
The French team members don’t participate (around 11), so we have 10 released ep thanks to this event whereas before, we had to wait 1-2 weeks to get one released.
There’s a high difference with the way it affects people and the way it impacts the team workflow.
We, on the French side, are more demotivated on the contrary.
For some subbers in my German teams this subathon with large amount of suddenly released episodes while before maybe 1/week, rarerly 2 and sometimes just 1 episode/3 weeks is quite stressful because many are participating in different projects including fast on air Kdramas and now they have so many deadlines at once that they’re in trouble handling all of them.
So it seems it is only fun for those who’re in very few projects and/or have nothing else to do than subbing.
(I’d prefer a ‘subathon’ that counts all entries for a months or so because then those who are constantly working on projects might benefit more from it.)
I only have this drama now and my team mates have about the same amount of dramas (this one or 1 more).
For the French team I am in, the reason we can’t contribute is because we could only put this amount of time during summer, while the drama was airing. That’s why I took this drama during that period.
We didn’t expect there would be weeks without releasing, making this drama lasts longer for us and entering a period of time where we don’t have this free time anymore. I got messages from my team mates in that sense, starting September and October, they can’t come as much as they could during summer.
We finished similar dramas released during the same period of time, for the same amount of episodes around 1 month or 2 months before while we were still on summer holidays.
If I can suggest something:
If the subathon motivates English editors to contribute more regularly on a drama, the subathon can be done during summer holidays so English editors contribute at the same time French subtitlers have free time to contribute. Next holidays for us are for winter holidays at the end of December and at the beginning of January.
Can we motivate new and experienced English editors differently or a new way to motivate them to contribute regularly on a drama? Like a new badge for completing a Chinese drama’s edition within the month or two months or three months. We can add numbers to this badge, like 1 means the editor did it once, 2 means he did it twice…
A special badge for completing (editing, subtitling…) a Chinese drama that has been left for a year or more, with more than 1000 contributions? It would be dramas in a list made by Viki where they need people.
Can Viki give a hand and send recruiting posts to English editors in dramas we need help? It is not well-organized in some dramas managed by volunteers only, which is also why we give up.
On the French side, the carrot won’t work.
We won’t have more time because there is a subathon.
I also think because of the epidemic this year, we live differently and our sources of motivation are not the same during this period.
I know that after this drama, I won’t participate for a long time, until maybe next summer. It’s too much work to do this alone and it’s not fit to our timetable, we recruit and wait while we have time and when we don’t have time anymore, ep are released, adding a subathon so English editors release more ep than usual.
It becomes really complicated for us if things are scheduled that way.
A thought occurred to me now, reading the more recent posts. What if the subathon is designed to motivate volunteers precisely because this time of year is busier than usual? To stimulate them to at least try joggle school/work with volunteering. And maybe they realize they can continue doing both.
I like your ideas and I think it is similar here with holidays for school/university…
The best option for better quality and more volunteers would be to pay this work, in one way or another.
Recently many have more stressful lives than before because of Corona. Many earn less or already lost their job. While e.g. gamers/fans for games could now earn some money by spending (more) time for their former hobby, VIKI offers more content but doesn’t engage (so) much more volunteers at the same time to participate.
/let’s be honest, such a badge is a nice goodie but nothing to bother oneself just to collect it if other things in life are more important/necessary to handle
I think it is their failed handling of not doing the spring subathon because of Corona but wanting to do a subathon in 2020 and before the USA is busy with their elections (just my personal speculation) and Christmas or if not Christmas events than a even more severe crisis than in spring (looking at the European numbers we’re in a way worse situation than in spring because the news say more patients need intense care in hospital than in spring; EU-wide).
But no subathon at all for 2020 might be also too sad when it has some kind of tradition so… what could they do?
There’s no period when the entire world has time off, so there is no ideal subathon period. It might help, though, if there were more subathons, so that everyone could join at least once a year, in a period that’s convenient for him/her.
So true. We have to decide for ourselves whether it’s worth the effort or not.
“It doesn’t go well with the subathon’s goal” is what I wanted to say as a feedback for this fall subathon 2020.
My feelings are it’s asking a lot from us after what we have lived to “try joggle school/work and volunteering.” We want to live on, keep our job and see people. We’ve felt a lot isolated from people.
Life on my side still goes on. It’s not centered on what’s happening here, subathon or not, I will still have a plane planned at 5, they still have exams at this period, we might have more work and for others, they might look for another one after this long lockdown. A day still lasts 24 hours.
Priorities too have been redefined.
That’s what I’ve been feeling lately, my team mates too.
Will a badge motivate us after this year? For me, no. For my team mates, when I look at the spreadsheet of the drama I’m in, I’d say no.
My feedback for my language and for a Chinese drama, after the beginning of this subathon is:
putting a subathon where people don’t have time won’t add more hours to the day
the subathon only works for English editors in my case
we, French subbers, need to work at the same time English editors do. If they contribute more during subathons, try to move the subathons during our free time
In France right now, we fear a new lockdown, the mood is not into it. I’d rather see people or go out to enjoy the last moments I can be out than working for a badge no one will see it or will care about. I’m kind of pessimist!
Maybe they should make a subathon rolling in time, one year Jan-Apr-July-Oct, next year Feb-May-Aug-Nov, and the year after Mar-June-Sep-Dec, that is of course just an idea, one may participate once in a quarter but maybe only get max. 2 badges a year.
Only a suggestion.
Yeah, my reaction is it’s really not the time to think about a subathon especially after this year.
It just gives me the feeling that badges are carrots and we’re bunnies even in our darkest moments.
That might not be true, but this point of view also has to be taken into consideration.
For me, this event was a bad idea and it makes me want to go further away from companies who don’t care whether there’s a pandemic or no and organize the subathon as if nothing happened.
If people still want this tradition, not because this is a tradition, but because of the gain, they can just say it. In my world, no one is going to believe anyone that we participate for a subathon if there is no award. Would people participate without any award? Really?
As for the difference in workload for subbers, I’d have to say that I experience that in the rest of the year as well. In some teams you get to translate 1 episode a week and in others you get new episodes thrown at you all the time. And not just with long Chinese shows, with other countries’ shows as well. This is always an issue for small teams and solo subbers, not just during a subathon.
We have holidays during July and August for most Europeans and American countries. Public holidays about the same period for Christmas, New Year, Chinese New Year.
That’d be better than organizing many subathons where “this tradition” wouldn’t be exceptional but usual. Less meaning, more classic.
If people want a collection of badges, it’s easier to put pics on their account or write about their achievements on their page. Do people really take a look? I don’t and my team mates don’t take the time to read materials or guides I send them (or to be there to read them), so I don’t think they will take a look at anyone’s badges profile.
Last time I collected pics was when I was in kindergarten and the pics were real and we could trade them.
I’m old now to collect them and it’s not appealing or classy to meet people who show off or fight to get a badge.
Even in kindergarten, we didn’t do that.
To look back on when you did 500 or 1000 contributions on a Korean or Chinese drama?
I don’t remember or know what badge I have, I never take a look.
I would have looked at the dramas I’ve done rather than badges, I can’t remember when or in what circunstances I had them. I’d remember the drama’s title or the story of the drama or the team I’ve met or the talks we had on subbing or whatever topic, rather than my own badges.
I’d remember I did a race to win a badge, rather than enjoying myself. I’d find myself quite silly to do that and quite inconsistent in my participation.
And just in case, I made a screenshot of my total amount of subs before starting the subathon.
