What's a "good" volunteer for you? + Helpful guidelines

Contributing
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Hello :smiley:

I just wanna hear your opinions about a question I have to broaden my horizons in this vast community.
Thank you in advance :blush:
Here’s the story :

I was talking with my friend today about people who just joined a translation team and then disappeared without sorry nor goodbye nor sign if they are still alive. My friend is busy with her current work so she has less time, less holidays than I to sub, that’s normal with her work. She told me about her disappointment because she couldn’t participate as much as she had done in our past projects together. So, she thought that she was almost like people who just ask to join a team just for “fame” or for “X reasons” and then didn’t take part as much as we thought they would at the beginning.

I told her that it wasn’t the same because she cares about her subbing, her absence, her help in our team, her teammates. When we talk to her, we can feel her concern. I told her that when she initially joined, she didn’t do it for “fame”, she just genuinely wanted to help and now, it’s still the same. That’s the main point for me. But life is unpredictable, you can’t say without doubt that you would still be available for this period of time, so that’s why sometimes you can’t go on Viki, I am sure if you have more time or if you were on holidays you will help us without doubt (she told me before that she’s expecting her holidays so she can rest and sub on Viki because she likes it). She doesn’t have to exert herself to sub on Viki if after her work, she’s already tired, all in good time.
For me she is a good subber because she’s dedicated in what she’s doing and she likes it at the same time.




So my question now after this discussion with her is in the title : What’s a “good” volunteer for you ?

Here’s my point of view on this matter :



1) For me, for all positions, it’s a person who can communicate with her/his team : Why ?

Because we meet sometimes little problems, like CM, moderator, editor, subber, segmenter absent on some dramas although they are present in other dramas. What’s the consequence ? Well, just a whole team who is waiting for the absent people just to let them know that they can’t concentrate on this project because they are busy with life or with other dramas. That’s just common courtesy that we learn since our childhood, does being on Viki erase this basic courtesy, just because you can’t see people behind your screen, are you allowed to forget to respect people behind their screen ? Moreover, a little tiny notification of your absence can help the team to think of a plan B.
It’s a collaborative work not an individual work so we obviously need communication.

Since I’m not in the Enligsh team, the most problematic case in my opinion is when the CM, moderator, English editors, English subbers, segmenters are not here because without CM, moderator who will manage the whole team ? Without them, who can decide ? A subber can’t open locked episodes, can’t recrute, who can sub in other idioms without English editors and English subbers ? Who can sub without segment ?

Not everyone can do their work and finding an alternate needs time and trust. At least, when you know their important role and that they have at least some responsability, shouldn’t they send a message to tell about their absence + propose a solution ?

For example when a moderator is not here, why doesn’t he fix comoderation (an alternate among the team or outside) so when he’s absent, the other one can take care of the project.
I don’t know but just communicate with your team, because you are not alone in this long journey.

For instance, is it normal to wait 1 or 2 months before having news when you ask for them 3 ?
Is it normal that my team has been harassed by viewers because it took 2 months to have 1 episode, was it our fault ? No, we were waiting for English edition. So in this example, we had to say sorry to the viewers, to take all the blows, being thought of lazy people with no motivation at all, although it was not our fault, without badmouthing anyone. Why ? Because moderator and CM didn’t say anything to us for 2 months, silence.
Is it normal ? Where is all the respect ? How could we do something with a silence ? How can we make decisions ? We juste have to wait for an answer from the people who has the capability to decide. But then do we have to wait for the viewers to be more aggressive to have an answer ?
And now what ? We just have to roll up our sleeves and try to make good sentences with strange English sentences without edition, do you know our suffering ? None of it. Do you know how much time I waste to edit myself in English in my head ? None of it.

It’s just examples to show how far it can get without communication in the big chain, I am not making up stories. I absolutely don’t want to accuse, people can deal themselves with their conscience. I just want to prove that with communication, it could have been better for all. Thinking of other solutions would have been a better management : they could have been looking for an alternate or pass the project to someone else or recrut. The job is not that you keep your position while not doing your task correctly, it’s having the project done smoothly.

People can find time to text their friends, comment on ■■■■■■■■, can they not find time to write a message on Viki for 3 min ? It’s the same time you take to brush your teeth come on !
We don’t have a prime minister agenda, we are not President of some country, so just 3 min to write a message to notify.

What have I decided ? Not to work with people who has caused me problems. I just can’t wait forever an answer of 3 min to write it. How can I trust them after the ■■■■ I have received ? How can they be reliable in my head ? So not only the drama is affected, people who had faced bad experiences may not want to work with people who can’t communicate on their next dramas. Conclusion : that’s a pity.




2) Willing to improve (from a subber and editor point of view) : Why ?

Because who will watch a drama with many mistakes or many strange sentences ? Not I. At least, some people won’t. So is motivation enough to be a good volunteer ? No. What I mean is that you can be motivated and sub, sub, sub as much as you want. But why are you doing that ? To share this drama with max people, but if people who see your translations can’t watch it, what’s the point of subbing it ? What’s the point of having a big part of your sentences or even whole sentences, your efforts erased by the editor ? What’s left of your contribution ? What’s the point of making more work for the editor ? What’s the point of wasting your time and someone else ? Why ?
And for the poor editors, don’t you think they could translate it with less mistakes spending the same amount of time ?
To have all people interested watch it, make correct sentences. It’s just respecting the viewers and the editors. In my view, a good volunteer is someone who is willing to try, who is willing to improve. It’s not asking the moon to watch the correction and review lessons. It’s just asking to do your task, and not doing it badly. If it’s bad, who will want to watch an incomplete work ?

It’s good to be motivated but it’s not enough. Otherwise, let’s just all be lazy and lenient, what will happen of Viki if we all adopt this attitude ? No one is gonna watch it, it’s gonna be empty of people. If ones can do an effort in their volunteering, why not others ?




3) Humble, not looking for fame in the 1st place : Why ?

Because most viewers don’t care about who has subbed it. At least viewers who don’t know the Viki process. They are thankful to whoever has subbed it because they don’t know you, you are just one name among many other names, they will forget 1 week later. Personnally, I have other things to remember than remembering Oh it’s “X” who has subbed it, wow… No change in my life.
The most important for me is to do it for sharing, for fun, for learning. And not for personnal vanity. It’s to share and not to boast about ourselves.


I’m sure there are others things to add but here are my thoughts right now of what possibly could be a good volunteer for me. :slight_smile:

Thanks for reading :smile:

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  1. They are willing to learn and listen if they do something wrong.

  2. Dedicated to what they do. If they edit, then they put their all into making their edits best. If they translate, they translate to the best of their abilities. So on, so forth. This also means that they don’t do it for fame around the Viki community.

  3. Giving people a chance to let them shine. This means that instead of recruiting the same moderators for every drama, they are willing to let someone else who has potential be a leader of their language team. Unless there is only like 1-4 subbers for that language, of course.

  4. Socializing! I love it when the CMs / moderators are able to speak and keep up with their team. Or, in general, when volunteers socialize with their team! This is a bonus. :yum:

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Hey icedthy :grin:

Thank you for sharing your pov :smile:

For 1 and 2 : same thought :slight_smile:

  1. I agree. Now in Vikian reality : I don’t think that CM will take much time to look for suitable person. And how can you know if he’s suitable ?
    For me, it works like that : have training in moderation, it’s like an apprenticeship in a company or at the bakery. Be a comoderator with a moderator who trusts you, learn from masters and know if you can assume this position by seing yourself the difficulties. if CM trust your moderator and their jugement, they will trust you as a comoderator and then as a moderator, make you known in many projects among the CM community. So ask for many comoderations.
    Or take projects not famous as a moderator, it’s still a training for moderation.

  2. I like ! It’s what motivate me the most ! Without google chat and my teammates, I would be sooo lonely, I laugh everyday with them, many nights until 3 a.m. just talking, helping, knowing each other. I even share my phone number with my new found friend or I just learned that my friend was living 20 min away from my home. We can share our life, our experiences in life and on Viki. And it creates bonds, it’s these bonds that keep me going on Viki everyday I can, it’s my teammates that I want to help in the project we are doing together, I will feel bad if I let them on a project, I will feel guilty.
    I think it’s the best of Viki, it’s knowing each other and working together. This is not only subbing, it’s really a human experience, I like Viki especially for that.
    But sure, it’s a bonus. It doesn’t mean that people who don’t socialize are bad volunteers, it’s absolutely not what I mean.
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For #3, I usually trust most people. There are people who have asked me to be moderator, but I did not let them because I knew they just wanted to get fame. When I pick someone who I trust will do fine and well, I give them the general idea of what a moderator does. After that, I usually watch how they do things. If things go well for the first few episodes, I’ll trust that they continue working that way for the rest of the project. I usually pay lots of attention to my moderator’s work and give them tips on how to improve, but I stop after I know that they’ll do fine. I usually don’t kick anyone out of the team. Instead, I teach/help them until they do it correctly.

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Huh ? I don’t understand. Are some CM asking you to be moderator for fame ? I don’t see the link between their fame and your fame ?

Ooh I see how you work. Nice tips ! Thanks for sharing. It will help people in comoderation.
I am not a moderator because I don’t want to, it’s too much work for me, I am not ready to lead people and it’s less fun so I am totally happy with being a simple subber which is the best job for me, I have less responsabilities. So, I can’t share my experience on being moderator nor teaching in moderation. I just had 1 experience with comoderation. My friend made me a surprise by making me a comoderator in the process of subbing one drama. It was a poisoned gift for me. Too much to do but I did it because she was counting on me and she has faith that I could do it. So in this experience, she was here with me all along the project, thanks for that. I learn that it’s hard to say no for a moderator when recruiting people, so a good moderator do you think should give 1 chance to every subbers who appears at your doorstep no matter how their contributions are ?

I heard that it’s possible to have 2 kinds of comoderation : collaborative moderation and "leadership"moderation. In collabo moderation, the 2 work together, decide together through discussion to make an answer so it takes time
In leadership comoderation, they work together but the comoderator says his choice and then the chief moderator will agree or not, there is no discussion about it so it doesn’t take time.
Which one do you use ? And why is it the best for you ?

You say that you don’t kick people, does that mean that they are always here ?
Does that mean that you have never encountered someone reluctant to listen to your advices ?
What is your reaction when you are faced with people who make mistakes ? And when they don’t listen to you ?
Do you think that a good moderator is someone who doesn’t kick ? What qualities, qualifications should a moderator have ? Because not everyone can do it.
I ask this since you are a moderator and you have a particular approach of your role.

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No, not a CM who asked me to be a moderator, but a volunteer who had just passed the 3k sub mark. I knew that she would probably do fine if I taught her a bit about moderating, but I knew (and a gut instinct) that she just wanted the title of moderator for… power? I don’t know.

When I work as a moderator, I usually look at their work / contributions first. If it’s good to me, then I add them to my team.

I usually use leadership moderating because I’m usually the only moderator for that language (Vietnamese). However, when I’m an English moderator, I usually use co-moderating. I prefer co-moderating because I get to hear their opinion(s) and decide with them. With leadership moderating, it’s a bit stressful because if I were to mess up, it would be my fault.

You say that you don’t kick people, does that mean that they are always here ?

  • Not exactly. I don’t kick people out just because their subs are bad or not good enough. I usually help them through the process of becoming a better subber, so in the end, I don’t need to kick them out. The only reason why I would currently kick someone out of the team is if they were to be rude/not respect me.

Does that mean that you have never encountered someone relectant to listen to your advices ?

  • I have never encountered someone who has never wanted to listen to me. All of the volunteers I have worked with and met are very nice. :relaxed:

What is your reaction when you are faced with people who make mistakes ?

  • If you mean subbing/segging wise, then I help them get better because it’s my role as the moderator/CM to help them.

And when they don’t listen to you ?

  • I’ve never had this happen. If it were to, however, I would watch to see if the subber continues to make those mistakes after I’ve told them to fix it [a few times], and then I would kick them off the team. I do not want to work with a stubborn person, to be honest.

Do you think that a good moderator is someone who doesn’t kick ?

  • A good moderator should help that subber get better and better until they get really good. A moderator shouldn’t kick someone out of the team just because of bad subs but for a personal reason like the subber is being rude and not listening to the moderator.

What qualities, qualifications should a moderator have?

  • Patience and willing to listen to the subber(s).
  • Leadership qualities.
  • Understands the language.
  • Any quality/qualification that you would want your [someone you look up to; ex - teacher] to have.
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I edited my last comment so we can see clearly my questions.

I don’t understand your volunteer. Power ? On who ? Do your volunteer think that she has powers on subbers ?
A moderator is nothing without a subber.
What will a moderator do in a team with 0 subbers or all subbers are gone because of his bad attitude or his incompetencies ? A subber needs a moderator, it’s giving for the 2 parts. It’s a union between volunteers, not a greedy sovereign and its people. We can go freely as we want. I work with my moderators, I don’t fear them. I respect them if they fulffill their task. Even my first moderator is my friend. I don’t fear her, we are helping each other. That’s because of our bond and her good work as a moderator that I continue to stick with her. She’s the best for me, the best feeling I had among the moderators I have worked with. They fulfill their part, I do mine. We have no working contract between us which defines a submission link between us. And even in my head, moderators can’t do as they want.

A moderator acts on a larger scale, he can do things that subbers can’t. Of course, that’s his job. My job is not to care about looking for a team, building a good team, open episodes, report to CM, english moderator. My only care is that when we have a new recruit chosen by my moderator, he will be a helpful recruit. I want to be sure that my moderator has reported my questions or my teammates’ questions to the English team. I want to follow someone who can guide us well. And not letting us in the wild jungle. I want to rely on a moderator who helps the team, who is present. When I have a problem, he will try to answer me during the week cause it takes 3 minutes to answer or even less. And as a moderator, he’s the one who must talk and manage the most no ? If not, what is his job ? Is it just a title, an empty shell ?

If a moderator don’t do all the tasks he should be doing : ask for help (that’s where comoderation is a really good idea, when my moderator was absent, I was here as a comoderator). At least, react and don’t do nothing and let your team down. A good moderator for me is someone who can evaluate a situation and takes decision considering his evaluation. Not doing anything is not a solution when problem arises.

So I mean by all of this, that being moderator asks more responsability than a subber since he has a lot more to prepare. It’s not all merry. Being moderator just to have his name on a screen, that’s just useless. Do your volunteer think that only moderator chooses his subbers ? I choose my moderators since problems are encountered with some moderators.

I think I didn’t explain it clealry or maybe I misunderstood you about comoderation :blush:
When you are a moderator with an apprentice moderator under your wing, you have 2 options :

  1. Collaborative comoderation : all things are decided together between moderator and his apprentice moderator, it’s like solving a problem together in live, they will talk, make concessions and try to adapt with each other solutions.

  2. Leadership comoderation : all things are decided by the moderator and not his apprentice moderator. The apprentice moderator can suggest things but the final word will be given by the moderator. There is no discussion to resolve the problem together, Or even, when a problem arises, the apprentice moderator won’t actively participate but watch how the moderator proceeds.

So when you help an apprentice moderator, which one do you use ?

I wonder what are your standards to choose ? I mean where is the limit to be picky ? I understand to choose but some will take, some no. What’s your rule ?

You’re lucky ! As I have some experience in editing, I can say that there might be some people who don’t accept what we correct or the editor is too strict. Working as an editor is not always peaceful. The solution to it ? Make them understand why you must do it or talk about it with your moderator since the editing rules are chosen by the moderator and debrief it with the moderator. I think being sincere helps a lot.
But I think the best option was that the moderator has told everyone about his editing rules before the beginning of a project, yeah communication again. If people don’t talk, how do we know ?
And what qualities a good editor have for you ?


[quote=“icedthy, post:6, topic:10984”]
Any quality/qualification that you would want your [someone you look up to; ex - teacher] to have.
[/quote]

:kissing_heart: I think it will be my dream on Viki xd

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Let me first start by describing how I like to work.
I like being a moderator/editor, despite the extra work involved, because it gives me more control in the overall quality of the finished work. When I am a subber, and I see sloppy work, although it makes me feel bad, I keep my mouth shut and just do my piece, as it’s not my place to comment or accuse anybody.
As a moderator, I scout for good subbers, looking at their Recent Contributions. Same thing when someone writes to me to ask to be part of a team. Sometimes, because of lack of excellent subbers, I have accepted decent but not very good subbers, who make me waste lots of time correcting stupid mistakes.
Nowadays, I clearly state, from day one, that I will offer detailed feedback and, for whoever wants it, even live tutoring via Skype (correcting together and pointing out why something is wrong)
Therefore, for me a good volunteer is:
1. Someone who has enough self-awareness and knows their own limitations. So this person will not start subbing if he/she only has the basics of the language: one can segment or caption instead. Unfortunately there are many people who don’t know how bad they are and even if you tell them they won’t believe you.
2. Someone willing to put in the extra effort to do the work as well as possible, without sloppiness. When they don’t know a word, will take the time to look it up, and if the dictionary won’t help, get a feeling of what it is from wikipedia or other sources. For “Five Children”, I spent half an hour on Italian golfing sites to look for some special terms. When I see stupid typos, formatting marks missing etc…, I feel the subtitler who hasn’t even read their work again before submitting, is spitting on my face.
3. Someone willing to improve, and with the humility to accept corrections. The other day, one of my subbers wrote to me asking me if I could unlock the episode for a while, so that she could see my corrections of her work, which will help her become better. You know who this person was? She is one of my 2-3 very best, whom I barely correct. The ones that suck have never asked me such a thing, they think they already know everything. (That’s why they will not improve).
4. Someone with a sense of responsibility. Who knows that since they committed to do a job, even if it’s unpaid, it means they have to complete it. And if they cannot, for any reason, they should warn their team leader so that some other arrangements can be made. As anyone would be expected to do in a “real” job out there.
5. Someone who gets actively involved. Participates in the team discussion, asks questions when something is unclear, helps others when they have a question, keeps him/herself informed of new viki policies or guidelines etc…

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All of your povs are interesting to hear :smiley: Thank you for sharing :persevere:

Yes, I understand when you want something to be done this way and not another one. That’s why I thought I couldn’t work in a team at first, because when you are in a project at school, there are always people who don’t do anything or make less efforts or you want to do this and others think another way.

But through Viki as a subber, you have to learn to work together and make concessions even if it’s not the result you should have done alone. And it takes time to agree between teammates if there is question you want to ask to all subbers. We don’t have infinite time.
I learn to trust my moderator if she proved me that she can handle the task.

Wow, even tutoring via Skype, you are really dedicated :open_mouth:
So in this case, you don’t kick once they are in your team even if it takes you too much time to edit. You prefer to help people in improving their subbing than having a quicker subbing, less editing. Are you doing it alone ? Or your friends are helping you ? Do you think that a minimum of 1 person teaching is enough in a team of 10 persons with 50% of it who needs tutoring ? How many students can a tutor have ?

For us, we didn’t do via Skype, but we have written down recurrent mistakes and “unforgivable” mistakes for each person, even the moderator, the editor, all people without exception to show good examples and no discrimination. But at least, there was no problem with finding the right moment to do a tutoring. We showed mistakes+ correction + explanation + Total segments corrected / Total segments done, and consign them in a board on google sheet where everyone can see but every one has a code name to keep anonymity, so they won’t feel shame and to respect them. It was reaaally long to edit but you know what makes us happy in the end ? It’s that they have improved, the numbers of mistakes proved it, and I think with time, this board won’t be needed anymore.

Where are the advantages of taking your time with editing and explaining mistakes to people who are willing to improve ?

  • it’s a long term solution, once they learned the lesson, it would be for life
  • it will help them in their real life, writting resume, professional mails…
  • it will help them getting in other drama projects that requires hard selection so for these dramas, our work won’t be vain, we would have provided them good subbers or at least improved subbing.
  • trust and long term relationship, if you make efforts for them and if they recognize these efforts, they will trust you and they will be fatithful, they have more chance to stay with you in a team and to help you.
    We need definitely a feedback of the edition, of the subs we have done, otherwise we can’t know our mistakes and where we need to improve.

I have a question : does it also apply to moderator ? Because moderators has many projects at the same time. Is it better to respect our own limitations or to accept an extra project because the CM trusts us as moderator ? Which one do you choose ?

There are people who don’t even look for unknown words in your team despite your rules ? I am surprised.

Same, my friend and I sometimes asked to open episodes too so we can look for our correction. We recommend to every one to review their work after they finished it. It just takes 15 min. I always review my work even if I am lazy, I do it because I want to be proud of what I have done and since I know the suffering of editing, just 15 min of reviewing can save more than 15 min for the editor.
I think that I really became aware of the real work of an editor when I started editing. So, now I pay extra attention to what I sub to help the person who comes after me on the part.
So maybe, a tip for people who don’t accept their correction, it’s to have a taste of editing. So they can understand the problems an editor encounters and what rules he has to respect.
For people who are willing to improve, I think it’s also a good idea to look at an edited part of a good subber. I look the part my moderator has subbed and I could understand what she wanted for this drama.
I think that there is always a way to improve our subs, otherwise we would have 0 mistake.

Yes, I agree with that, it’s courtesy for me. It’s the same for all positions.

Yes, sure. Someone who is interested in what he does, if we are enough interested, we should involve ourselves.

Last thing I want to ask :

Do you need to work on a google sheet ? Do you think that it is necessary when you manage a whole team to have a google sheet to do a good job ?

For me, yes. I decided not to work with people who don’t use sheets except special reason, like you are the only subber and the drama is not repetitive, doesn’t need a google sheet.
Why ?
Because it saves you a lot of time explaining all to people who join after, it’s a diary you keep, so anyone who enters the drama can understand what to do, where is the help, what are the specificities of the drama. If I work alone, maybe I won’t need this diary but with many people working, it’s impossible for me to coordinate things without a support to do so.

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You need to look into becoming an English editor like I said before. I knew from my interactions with the french mods that non-English is stricter…wow…

We are way way more flexible and more interested in people who are humble, do their best, and follow directions. The most important virtue is following directions. I need to think more before devising what I think are good guidelines. i can list 15 subbers easily. But never thought about the commonalities much.

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You guys should help write up guidelines for non-English. Mods have for some languages for ex: french, romanian, and spanish.

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You make me feel bad for not coaching kor-eng subbers :frowning: in a good way.
I am playing with the idea of inviting the big league editor subbers to discuss someday.

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Hello sophie :slight_smile:

They already exist in my language :slight_smile: . Experienced non- English moderators in edition, subbing have already done a general guideline for us which is sent to every subber, newcomer. It is really helpful when you begin. Sure, they might have discussed between themselves to make a guideline. Here are just my ideas of what could be a good volunteer for everyone, what are you looking for in every recruit or other positions, and tips that can help to do a good job.
And we have this forum too.
Moreover, with moderators who work with google sheet, they often have a board with all the guidelines from the moderator himself for the drama. It’s really helpful and it save us time to explain it 10 times to newcomers in the middle of the drama.

I don’t want to multiply guidelines to make it more difficult for beginners, they might be afraid and flee before beginning or considering it as a hard work, no fun… I think that 1 general guideline in native idiom is enough and for each drama, an extra specific guideline. Some do it, some no. So if we begin to make multiple guidelines, some may not agree with the contents, they have their own way of managing things. I don’t want to impose my pov and say that is the best way, you should do it like that. I am just telling my opinion in this discussion, other ideas, a taste of how others can manage their team, what is the best I have experienced until now that could be a solution or not for others. Other may function with a better method, a more compatible method. What is important, it’s to have the work done, and not quickly and badly but done correctly in a correct time no matter what methods are employed. So we are keeping our rules inside the team, not asking other teams to do it this way. There also will be no fights among moderators, teams, keeping their individuality…

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Maybe the Kor-Eng community is fine with the cgwm808 guidelines. Never asked. We use it for every k-drama. Romanian has one for the Romanian school. I saw the google sheets you guys use. SO AMAZING! littleangele showed me hers.

I never thought of tutoring anyone for Kor-Eng. It did sadden me that we are probably the only ones not increasing Korean knowledge. We only sub what we know. idk if any go back post-edition. I personally usually don’t but I also give and receive feedback 1 on 1.

I am known for being picky. I made 3000+ total edits on Goodbye Mr. Black vs. co-editor making 633.

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:sweat_smile: It wasn’t on purpose, it was just to see what other people expect from others when they sign in on the team. It also helps to know which conditions we might have to respect to do a good job, to be part of a drama in some positions…
If we don’t know what others are expecting from us, how can we do a good work ?

And coaching is up to everyone, nowhere you can read that you have to teach people about languages, I just found that it’s better to improve someone in a long term view than giving no after no, but yes it really depends on the knowledge of the native language when you say no.

It takes time to coach so not everyone can do it and the most important is to have a watchable drama… I think for the English team, they have to respect a time limit, some “deadline” to bring out their episodes. Whereas for other teams, it’s a little less important.
But if we think in a large horizon, who want to participate if he just receives closed doors from us, non-English people ? We don’t know if he might be gone after our project together or he might discover that subbing is great and can become a good subber until moderator. Who knows ? I choose to think of the latter, because if he’s gone after, then that’s a pity. But if the second alternative is true, wouldn’t it be great ? I think that is greater than losing my time to teach. In both, I did a good thing for my part. Do we give a chance to everyone to improve themselves, to become a good subber if we don’t accept them in the team initially ? I don’t say to accept anyone, it really depends of your criteria in recruiting. Gain time in editing and subbing and finish a drama faster VS take time to coach people who want to improve and might be reliable after ?

For English team, I think that’s another problem since you are needed the most. No non-English team without the English team. Since your subbers are a rare ressource, you can’t be too picky about your subbers no ?
And many other things are different : the complexity of a language (in French, a complex conjugation for instance), maybe most of your volunteers have a good level in English and Asian languages.
For French, I can say to you that we have volunteers from all levels and each person has his difficulty, in conjugation, in grammar… Even I do mistake with conjugation.
So my moderator and I did many boards on every google sheet with conjugation lessons, tense sequences in conditional clause, grammar lessons, some exercices, spelling, homophones… spending our night on it, but once it’s done, it’s done for life. At least, it’s practical and some subbers have already done the exercices and tried to understand and improved. So it’s not a waste, we don’t have to edit the same mistakes 10 times once they learn from our improvised lessons and useful tips to conjugate.
This was our solution to help people who did mistakes, it has helped me at least.

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A good volunteer is:

  • who is interested to contribute and be a part of team (or not if individual project)
  • has enough language/grammar knowledge incl. lookup resources to create subs
  • who is willing to learn and to collaborate and/or ask questions
  • who will try his best to produce good/excellente subs and will re-read them
  • who will follow guidelines and each drama specifics in order to produce quality subs
  • who will try his best to keep with date lines
  • who will let you know if she/he cannot contribute for a certain time or not at all so you can find a substitute
  • even if she/he doesn’t like the drama anymore, will try to stick with the team to the end

As a moderator I like to give anyone a chance, but when forming a team and few newbies decide unannounced to leave, the team is stuck in the middle of finding timely replacement… so often mods have to finish some last eps since subbers run off or run off to other dramas :frowning: just for these reasons, I’d think twice to put them on a team in future.

I think a good volunteer is also someone who has fun participating in whatever position and enjoys what he/she does like meeting new people accross the globe, learning or brushing up other languages, learning new tech tools/applications, being a part of a community of similar interests and making friendships :blush:

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Interesting that you were talking about French errors. All the teams I’ve worked with we allow people to go sub (test drive). I’ve only had one experience where subber had shaky English and Korean. It drove me to become an editor on that show. Not fun.

One of the chiefs I work with, cgwm808 gives all subbers a short auditon. I didn’t take it because I worked with her on our orphan Gaekju, a Korean historical subbers kept running away from.
I might be one of the few she took on without audition. I later asked for it to see and I got the hard stuff really well, but not the easier one. It was accurate but awkward English.

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Hello simi :slight_smile:

Thanks for sharing your pov !
I agree with all you said except one thing, I have a different opinion on it :
If we were wrong about a drama and we don’t like it anymore, the subbers can’t leave ? Are we “condemned” to stay and finish it ? Do you think that people might not want to work with you anymore because it’s “imposed” ? You also can decide not to work with them anymore. But they could just lie to you and say that they can’t finish it because of “X reasons”. Is it not better that they are sincere to you and say that they can’t sub anymore because it doesn’t motivate them ? Maybe, with their time used to sub a drama they don’t like, they could sub faster another drama that they are interested in or even do more subs.
I have more difficulty to sub a drama that I thought was not bad initially but finally it became not interesting for me.

I think that it’s up to them to decide, what do they have in their conscience if they let their team. What do they feel ? No remorse, no shame, I don’t know… If you have created a good bond with this person, between all teammates, it’s harder for them to let you down, to let down everybody in the team. I know that for some friends, they won’t leave the team because the drama is not interesting. And they already know what they risk by doing that, you might not be keen on taking them again. Maybe, they don’t care ? I don’t know.

For newbies fleeing, is it not a risk to take for every recruiter ? You can’t know for newbies, you have to see. It’s an integral part of the job. So because you have bad experiences with newbies, do you think you won’t take anymore first comers on Viki in your team ? But where do they go after ? They could be a good help later, we don’t know.

Personnally, even though I don’t like one drama, I just do it until the end. I accept all the dramas from my friend moderator proposes me no matter what the story is, even though the plot kills me (she’s the only exception because I really like her, I always have fun and she’s good at her job). Maybe I will change later or sooner but it permits me to know what my tastes are since I don’t watch many dramas.

And what is a good moderator for you ?
What is a good CM generally speaking ?

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Who counted?

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If not, what is his job ? Is it just a title, an empty shell?

  • If a moderator isn’t doing their job correctly, it’s probably either because they are too busy with many other projects, or they are just using the title of moderator for “fame”.

Do your volunteer think that only moderator chooses his subbers ?

  • I’m not sure because I haven’t talked to my volunteers about that. I usually pick my subbers instead, but some of them choose me.

Collaborative or leadership comoderating?

  • I use both, but leadership comoderating is more of what I do. When I see them doing something wrong, I’ll talk to them about it. Most of hem usually just say something like, “Okay, sorry. I will remember this for the future,” but I’ve had people who are questioning why it is wrong, so I explain it to them. They usually listen to me because I’m the moderator, and they think that they don’t have a voice just because they are my “student”, but I try to take a gentle approach about it so they feel more comfortable to ask questions.

I wonder what are your standards to choose ? I mean where is the limit to be picky ? I understand to choose but some will take, some no. What’s your rule?

  • For Vietnamese, I’ll speak to them in Vietnamese when I ask them / when they ask me to join the team. If their accent marks are correct, and the sentence sounds like how we would say it in person, I will add them to the team. The only time I would be picky to a Viet. subber is if their sentences don’t make any sense when read aloud. It’s kind of like an English speaker just speaking Shakspeare English: it doesn’t really make any sense.

For English, I usually just look at their contributions, honestly. And when they begin to sub, I’ll look at their subs. I watch their grammar and their translations, and if they’re wrong, I speak to them about it.

I’m honestly not very picky, but I am when I know that they won’t do the subs right because of some reasons like if they cannot speak one of the languages to translate in. I’m being a hypocrite when I say this because I am not at all fluent in Korean, yet I still work as a Kor-Eng subber on some projects. I’m not trying to show off that I can speak Korean, but I’m trying to help the rest of the team by doing around 20-30% of the episode because I know they’re busy with other projects.

And what qualities a good editor have for you ?

  • I’ve only been an English editor, so I’m going to talk English editors. A good English editor to me is if they have highly great grammar and all of the other good volunteer qualities. Yeah, everyone knows that a sentence needs to end with a punctuation mark, but I’m talking about commas, apostrophes, quotations, & when to italic/bold. A good English editor also needs to know the English language very well. I’ve met people who still don’t know the difference between “they’re / their / there” or “whose / who’s”. (I’m putting spaces between the slashes so you can read them easier, lol.)
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