I don’t think it’s fair to ask people to work for free while you go around making hirings and promotions to serve your other purposes. If Viki has the funds for these things, then it should also pay the people who are in fact responsible for keeping this site alive. If all the volunteers walked away today, like right now, all of you, would anyone still care about Viki? No one is contractually obligated to translate and edit for Viki. Viki is clearly hiring, just not you, not translators, the ones who ultimately make Viki stay in business.
Maybe it’s just me, but I think this is seriously messed up. If I’m wrong, please tell me otherwise.
LOL! You’re really cranky these days, aren’t you? Viki is not on your good books.
As a side note, I’m glad they’re hiring more web engineers (will the bug situation get better?) And also frontend page developers, as the ones they have now are not that great, to state it mildly.Who knows, maybe they will give us the updated Project Finder, Volunteer Finder, Inbox that we’ve been asking for!
Actually, Viki has hired some subbers who work on various projects. For Kdrama there are a few and sometimes Viki asks CM’s if they want help of a paid subber on their projects. Not all projects so some are still going slow.
And there are projects Viki works on alone or subs come with the license agreement. One example is Black Knight.
Oh, but we volunteers ARE being paid, Adrian! For me, my compensation comes in the form of the satisfaction I receive in making even a small contribution to the creative process that makes these programs accessible to all. It’s in the joy of helping to open cultures to others around the globe. It’s in enjoying the camaraderie that exists when working with and forming friendships with other volunteers worldwide. And in the appreciation I feel for the talented contributors who have mentored me, and my pleasure in doing what I can to mentor others. The great thing is that as volunteers we can work on projects if we want to, and when we want to. That doesn’t mean we don’t take our commitments seriously – we do. But the choice is ours.
If you were to insist that payment only matters if it’s financial, consider it this way. In round numbers, a Viki Pass Plus subscription (in the U.S., at least) is $10.00. Upon reaching QC status, Viki covers that cost for volunteers who make 500 contributions every six months. So, if that took the volunteer five hours to do (some may take more time, some may take much less), they are receiving $60 of value for five hours’ work. That would be $12 per hour. You won’t get rich, but hey, you’re getting “paid” something for an activity you enjoy doing anyway!
Now we couldn’t do any of this without Viki providing a platform for us to work and learn in. But there are costs to that, which Viki needs to cover. And they’re entitled to a reasonable profit. In order to attract enough subscribers to cover those costs, in addition to the programming, they need to ensure the stability and usability of its service. The technical work involved has to be handled by paid staff, who are available whenever needed, and not at their leisure. So if hiring these people will improve things, I’m all for it.
My apologies for rambling on, but the bottom line is that I don’t feel that the situation in regard to volunteers vis-à-vis paid staff is inherently unfair. It works for me, at least.
They don’t call me “Cranky Ady” for nothing. It’s just that I know what it’s like to have your work go unappreciated. Everything seems to be just fine, though.
I know this is an old post but the concerns are valid. I’ve had the same feeling as well. I used to love the community because I paid a small fee for legal access to videos. I understand licensing/technical support isn’t free, so I happily paid it. Now the price has gone up to have access to all videos and we get the same services… You also have to see if from the consumer side as well. Why would someone pay a higher monthly fee and have to wait weeks, sometimes even months for what they paid for? I had really high hopes that the company would start hiring more subbers because of their higher passes but sadly it’s not progressing. I think if they did then people would stop going to other sites, legal or not, and more people will be willing to pay the price for the all access pass. Maybe that’s just me. I still love the volunteers because you guys have worked so hard for so many years and I still at least have a pass because I support this site and have since the beginning. I don’t want to see it disappear like dramafever.
That’s really messed up. So instead of acknowledging hard work, and possibly paying for it, they are trying to use a bot? Well if they start doing that I think I will be taking my money elsewhere.
It’s just that I know what it’s like to have your work go unappreciated. Everything seems to be just fine, though.