No regional restrictions for QC volunteers
Why? If you implement this, it's a win-win situation. For everybody.
1. FOR THE VOLUNTEERS
It's the minimum gesture of appreciation for the countless hours of unpaid work many of us put in.
Volunteers are given a free Vikipass, which is 5 dollars per month, equivalent to like half an hour of subbing. I'm okay with that, I didn't come for the money. After all, there are volunteers who really don't do more than the bare minimum, the 500 subs required to keep their QC status. For them, 5 per month is just right.
I also realize that giving us a vikipass is not really or not only to say "thank you" but because without it, volunteers wouldn't be able to work on any new shows.
In the past (like 2-3 years ago), regional restrictions made an exception for volunteers. Very rarely there was a drama we couldn't watch. No more so. Now more and more dramas are unaccessible to QCs. Some of them become restricted while teams are in the middle of translating or editing. Many beautiful old films have also become restricted.
2. FOR THE PAYING SUBSCRIBERS
With the current situation, paying subscribers are getting really angry and some of them are leaving.
On-air shows are variously restricted. Especially Kocowa shows behind Vikipass plus are not available to all non-American volunteers. This is a huge disadvantage. Especially for the English language, there are many segmenters, subbers and English editors located everywhere in the world, who now cannot work on them. We have seen this recently. Two shows where one or two heroic subbers did all the work, the translation of new episodes took several days to complete ... and viewers were really mad, cursing at the volunteers.
The opposite can also be true. When a show is only licensed for Europe but most Korean-English subbers are in America or in Korea or... and are not willing to actually pay for a vpn in order to translate for free!
It's very simple. If we can't watch something we also can't access the subbing tools and work on it. Then some shows don't have enough team members and the subtitles are excruciatingly slow.
Result? The viewers get angry and some cancel or don't renew their subscriptions. Viki looks bad and these ex-users talk bitterly about how they left because their experience here wasn't good.
3. FOR VIKI
Allowing us to watch everything is in Viki's best interest as well.
I realize that sometimes regional restrictions are the content providers' wish, because they don't want to displease the other streaming websites. But I also believe that Viki is not trying hard enough to explain the situation to them.
They should be made to understand that Viki depends on the volunteers in order to provide so many different languages from all over the world. This is Viki's uniqueness and its strength. If it were to change to a paid-subber model, it would be limited to only 2-3 popular languages, and all the rest of international users would leave. So changing their model is not a very smart option.
To preserve this model, Viki has to give the volunteers the opportunity to do what they have to do. If there are not enough volunteers working on a drama, subtitles can't be provided and Viki cannot function correctly and loses customers.
Skimping on free access to the volunteers in order to avoid annoying the content providers, Viki actually loses subscription money and creates user discontent.
4. FOR THE CONTENT PROVIDERS
If Viki is not profitable enough, it will buy less licenses and the content providers will also suffer money loss.
CONCLUSION
That's why I'm saying both to Viki and the content providers: making our lives easier is in your best interest first and foremost.
FRANÇAIS
Si vous souhaitez que les sous-titres soient plus rapides, veuillez soutenir les bénévoles qui demandent à être exemptés des restrictions régionales (géoblocage) - un gros problème pour nous. Si les segmenteurs et les traducteurs chinois-anglais (ou coréen-anglais) n'ont pas accès aux épisodes en raison du pays où ils résident, il y en a très peu qui travaillent sur la série et la traduction se fait très lentement.
Et bien sûr, tant que la traduction anglaise n'est pas prête, l'équipe française ne peut pas commencer à travailler.
Si vous êtes d’accord et vous voulez soutenir cette pétition, cliquez sur la petite flèche qui regarde vers le haut, qui se trouve à la droite de ce message.
(Les commentaires sont bien sûr les bienvenus, mais ils ne comptent pas comme des votes)
ESPAÑOL
Si los segmentadores y traductores coreano-inglés están restringidos debido a su ubicación, hay muy pocos trabajando en un drama y la traducción se queda atrás. Y, si la traducción al inglés no está lista, los equipos de otros idiomas (incluido el equipo español) no pueden comenzar a traducir.
Los voluntarios ahora le piden a Viki que los exima de las restricciones regionales para que puedan trabajar en todos los dramas, sin importar dónde vivan.
Si crees que esto es razonable, por favor haz clic en la flecha hacia arriba a la derecha de la publicación. Las sugerencias con muchos votos serán llevadas hasta Viki para su consideración.
PORTUGUÊS
Se você quiser legendas mais rápidas, você pode apoiar a petição dos voluntários para ficarem isentos de restrições regionais (geoblocking).
Se os segmentadores e tradutores são restritos devido à sua localização, há muito poucos trabalhando em um drama e a tradução fica para trás.
E se a tradução em inglês não estiver pronta, as outras equipes de idiomas (incluindo a equipe portuguesa) não poderão começar a traduzir.
Os voluntários estão agora pedindo à Viki para isentá-los das restrições regionais, para que possam trabalhar em todos os dramas, não importando onde eles morem.
Se você acha que isso é razoável, faça um upvote clicando na seta para cima à direita da postagem. As sugestões com muitos upvotes serão levadas ao Viki para consideração.
ITALIANO
Un tempo, tutti i volontari QC (Qualified Contributors) di viki potevano vedere tutti i video, anche se non c'era la licenza per il loro paese. E quindi anche lavorarci. Ora questo è cambiato, e per questo motivo non riusciamo a tradurre tutti i drama e i film che desiderate vedere. Ma anche se un drama ha la licenza per l'Italia però non per l'America (oppure altri paesi dove stanno i subbers dal cinese o dal coreano) è comunque un problema per noi: il team inglese ci mette secoli a finire i primi sottotitoli, facendo tardare naturalmente anche i team delle altre lingue tra cui l'italiano.
Chiediamo che i QC possano vedere tutti i video senza geo-blocking, anche se non c'è la licenza per il paese dove si trovano. Se siete d'accordo, per piacere votare cliccando sulla freccetta che guarda verso l'alto, alla destra di questo post. Viki ha detto che le idee con più voti saranno proposte a "quelli di sopra" e studiate. Se si raccolgono abbastanza voti, chissà, forse Viki potrebbe ascoltare. (Attenzione: I commenti/risposte non contano come voto)
ARABIC (by hmk_201288_223 and cherrypie94)
العربية
لابد أنكم قد لاحظتم أن بعض المسلسلات الحالية تأخذ وقتاً طويلاً ليتمّ ترجمتها! حسناً، في معظم الحالات، ذلك ليس خطأ المتطوعين أبداً. قد يكون الفريق صغير جداً لأن العديد منا لا يمكنهم الوصول إلى أدوات الترجمة المسلسل بسبب الدول التي نعيش فيها. وبالمثل، أصبحت العديد من الأفلام الكلاسيكية الجميلة مقيدة فجأة للفرق التي تعمل عليها
في الماضي (قبل عامين)، كانت القيود الإقليمية تستثني المتطوعين ونادراً ما توجد مسلسلات لا يمكن للمتطوعين مشاهدتها، بغض النظر عن مكان وجودهم في العالم. ولكن الأمر ليس كذلك. الآن، لا يمكن الوصول إلى الكثير من الأعمال الدرامية حتى للمساهمين المؤهلين (كيو سي)، الذين يعملون بجد من أجل فيكي ومستخدميها، وهذا هو الحد الأدنى للتقدير من جهودهم. الأهم من ذلك، إعطائنا قدرة مشاهدة كل شيء هو من مصلحة فيكي أيضاً، لأنهُ إذا لم نتمكن من مشاهدة شيء، فلن نتمكن أيضاً من الوصول إلى أدوات الترجمة والعمل عليها. حينها، لن تحتوي هذه المسلسلات على عدد كافٍ من المتطوعين، كما أن الترجمات سوف تكون بطيئة للغاية، وقد يغضب المشاهدون ويقوم البعض بإلغاء أو عدم تجديد اشتراكاتهم
GERMAN (by somejewels)
Euch ist bestimmt aufgefallen, dass einige Dramen in letzter Zeit nur sehr schleppend übersetzt werden. In den meisten Fällen ist es nicht die Schuld der Teams. Diese sind oft nur sehr klein, weil viele Teammitglieder keinen Zugang haben, da diese Dramen regional gesperrt sind. Viele der älteren und wunderschönen Filme wurden vor kurzem auch ganz plötzlich regional eingeschränkt.
Bis vor ein paar Jahren hatten die Volunteers in den Teams trotz der regionalen Einschränkung Zugriff zu diesen Dramen. Nur ganz selten gab es Dramen, die auch für diese Volunteers gesperrt waren. Leider ist das nicht mehr so, denn immer mehr und mehr Dramen sind auch für uns Volunteers nicht mehr zugängig, sogar wenn wir den QC haben, also Qualified Contributors sind. Diese QCs setzen sich oft sehr für Viki und euch Fans ein, sie leisten die ganze Arbeit beim Subben und Segmentieren. Es ist also nur ein kleines Entgegenkommen von Viki, wenn diese QCs dann auch Zugriff auf alle Dramen haben. Zumal dieses Entgegenkommen für Viki sehr wichtig ist, denn wenn die QCs ein Drama nicht gucken können, haben sie auch keinen Zugriff und können weder segmentieren noch subben. Die Konsequenz daraus: bei vielen Dramen gibt es zu wenige Teammitglieder die Zugriff haben und dadurch dauert es sehr lange, bis die Episoden übersetzt sind. Die Zuschauer ärgern sich, einige stornieren ihr Viki Pass Abo oder verlängern es nicht mehr.
Bitte nehmt euch kurz Zeit und schaut euch diesen Beitrag an. Wenn er euch gefällt, wäre es klasse, wenn ihr diesen positiv bewerten würdet.
POLSKI (by amiga_tauri_259)
Drodzy fani dram oraz zespoły tłumaczeń,
Zapewne zauważyliście, że ostatnio tłumaczenie wielu seriali zajmuje bardzo dużo czasu! No cóż, w większości przypadków nie jest to winą ochotników. Grupy tłumaczy są zbyt małe, ponieważ wielu z nas nie ma dostępu do dram i filmów z uwagi na kraj, w którym mieszkamy. Także wiele starszych produkcji nagle zaczęło podlegać tym restrykcjom.
W przeszłości (do kilku lat wstecz) wolontariusze nie podlegali regionalnym (geolokalizacyjnym) restrykcjom. Rzadko kiedy zdarzała się drama, której wolontariusze nie mogli obejrzeć, nie zależnie od tego w jakiej części świata się znajdowali. Ale to się zmieniło. Obecnie coraz więcej dram jest niedostępnych, nawet dla wolontariuszy ze statusem QC (Qualified Contributor - Wykwalifikowany Kontrybutor).
Chcemy to zmienić z trzech następujących powodów:
1. Dla wolontariuszy. Ci QC ciężko pracują dla Viki oraz jej użytkowników i jest to minimalny objaw uznania, jaki im się należy za wysiłek, który w to wkładają.
2. Dla subskrybentów. Jeśli nie jesteśmy w stanie czegoś obejrzeć, nie mamy też dostępu do narzędzi do tworzenia napisów i nie możemy pracować nad tłumaczeniami. W skutek tego w grupach pracujących nad tłumaczeniem tych seriali, nie ma wystarczająco dużo ochotników i tłumaczenie idzie straszliwie wolno. Widzowie się złoszczą i niektórzy z nich rezygnują ze swoich subskrypcji lub ich nie przedłużają. I to można w dużym stopniu naprawić!
3. Dla Viki. Zezwolenie nam na oglądanie wszystkiego i tworzenie większych zespołów = szybsze tworzenie napisów, co także jest w najlepszym interesie Viki, z uwagi na to, że ich klienci, którzy wnoszą opłaty za oglądanie, będą bardziej zadowoleni i nie będą odchodzić z Viki.
Jeśli zgadzasz się z tym, by znieść te restrykcje, proszę, poświęć chwilkę by zagłosować za tą propozycją, tutaj na podstronie z sugestiami dla Viki. By to zrobić, kliknij w strzałkę skierowaną w górę, która znajduje się po prawej stronie oryginalnego postu.
Chcę jednocześnie zwróć uwagę na to, że mimo, iż wszelkie komentarze na ten temat są mile widziane, to jednak NIE LICZĄ SIĘ jako Twój głos w tej sprawie. Żeby zagłosować, musisz kliknąć w strzałkę.
Comments
This is ridiculous not to have an access to a drama you are subbing! What's up with that? The site will just die without subbers. Unless this is Rakuten's goal to kill Viki?
concordo
Sim concordo.
I agree on that!
J'approuve!
Agree!
Firmo
Since English is my only language, I rely on your contributions. However, I'd pay Viki more for complete and quality translated captions. To get that, subtitlers would have to be paid. Because you volunteer, I refrain from complaining and only express my sincere gratitude. Without you, there would be no reason for me to subscribe to this site.
Unfortunately, politics are adversely affecting us all. Sanctions and exorbitant tariffs are hurting everyone. Those who live where there's democratic elections, please get involved. At least vote.
Totalmente de acuerdo!
I agree Viki seems like they are just about collecting money now they have no competition. I also don't understand why Viki deletes the subtitles Kocowa provides. Kocowa has provided professional subtitles which are on their shows when they air. For some unknown reason Viki deletes these and makes the people who pay for Kocowa programs wait for subbers to volunteer. By not taking off Kocowa subtitles the hard working volunteers would be freed up to work on other shows and those who use the English for other languages could start right away. Viki seriously needs to reexamine how they are treating their volunteers and customers.
Muito Justo! Concordo.
@traveling_kdramafan. It's not as you say. Viki does not delete Kocowa subtitles. Never.
Some Kocowa shows come with subtitles (which we always heavily edit because they suck big time, they look and sound like an American show glossing over any Asianness and missing all local flavour; they are shortened, simplified and dumbed down and are often full of mistakes - not to speak of the sloppy segments).
Some other shows come without subs and we translate them from scratch.
There is a third category of shows which come with subs but no translation is allowed in other languages. That's the worst, because Viki is an international site and so many people don't really understand English that well (some not at all!)
Don't ask me why there are three different modalities, I have no idea.
De acuerdo
Unless the content has some gory violence or political/religious objectionable content, as per my view any drama shld be accessible to all!! No restriction shld be there whatsoever
Viki, what would Viki do without volunteers? Imagine there would be no translators? Every hand is needed, that can only happen if there is access. Reinstate regional access to hard working volunteers, thank you!
@irmar
Regarding the third category you've mentioned:
I asked OnDemandKorea why so many series do not have captions translated to English. They said rights have to be obtained.
While they didn't elaborate aside from stating "they're working on it," someone else suggested that in many cases, mainly the talk and variety shows, there are discussions + guests and contestants use language foreigners would deem offensive. This is also a reason there's programming that's not permitted to be broadcast outside of S. Korea other than ad revenue and contractual agreements. Of course tunnelers and pirates get around this.
I don't know if it's true but it makes sense to me (censorship).
I agree!!!
agreed!
@tjones265_985:
I think you are misunderstanding something. This post is not about lifting restrictions to all users (we know it's not feasible to pay for worldwide licenses when they are so expensive), and it's not about having licenses to all dramas (same reason), and it's also not about negotiating the rights to sub in English every single drama available on Viki (Viki already has this: there is no drama here with this restriction, they are or will be all subbed in English)
What I'm talking about is not differentiating among volunteers based on where they live.
If a drama is licensed on Viki, if Viki has the permission to provide subtitles, then let all QC volunteers be able to work on it, not only a few.
That was my point.
I agree and support!!
Yes volunteers should not be restricted in order to provide the best support to Vikki and viewers, especially with the growing number of discontented viewers expressing their discontent with the lag time in subtitles.
I can't finish subs for several dramas just because of this restriction
@irmar
To clarify, we've all left messages and voted up this page to demonstrate our support for translators to have access to all content.
I never questioned the matter of Viki having rights to any of the video they stream or whether or not "all users" should have access to everything. In your reply to @traveling_kdramafan, you addressed "three different modalities" of captioning and translated subtitles. The third of which you could provide no explanation. I merely suggested a possible reason for it since license to broadcast the video itself isn't the only thing content providers have to obtain. Just like they have to purchase license for the music if there's any, they also have to get rights to provide subtitles.
If the governing bodies where these translators are located are blocking the content for whatever reasons (sanction, boycott, censorship) or imposing exorbitant tariffs, what can Viki do about it? Like you stated, all their video is licensed; therefore, they do not break laws.
However, you, as a translator and transcriber must have had direct contact. To get what you want, shouldn't you find out the reason behind the denied access so we can take action?
As a subscriber, I definitely support this. It is very frustrating to wait now when a few years ago things were subtitled so quickly. Even extremely popular shows like The Last Empress will sometimes take a few days to be 100% subbed. I do hate to point out but many of the shows I watch are available on Kocowa's site directly. I have not changed to that because I've appreciated the time and volunteer effort that Viki has made for the fans of Asian dramas. However, it is very tempting to change especially when shows I want to watch are already subbed on their site and available much sooner.
I hope by that management reads this and realizes that something must be done to make the content available for the volunteers so that subscribers don't leave for another site. Viki by far has the best amount of content and availability but frustration if this continues to get worse will definitely impact people's choices.
So I just checked out Kocowa but Viki does way have more content. Viki does have much more Asian dramas than Netflix that I want to watch as I've watched all the ones I like there, so I'm staying with Viki. I want to be part of the SOLUTION. What would it take? Is it more money for a special license for volunteers?
I noticed on the timed comments that lots of people complain about ads so they are watching for free. Netflix has one month free then people must pay. I understand this might exclude young teens who like Viki, but I'm sure their parents can pay $5 for a latte so a Standard Viki membership costs about that per month, and the Basic plan is $2.50 per month. I truly hope Viki will go for a SOLUTION. I watched for free a few days then bought the basic and now am a Plus subscriber.
I really like that Viki gives us a voice.
Concordo totalmente, não a restrição regional.
Eu concordo, Viki por favor, ouça-nos
Without the dedicated QC's how can I enjoy my time in my favourite TV streaming package. NO to any sort of blocking the QC's.
Estoy totalmente de acuerdo espero que esto pueda mejorar. Por favor Viki escúchanos.
Super concordo, é muito ruim ter que esperar somente por uma tradução para que possamos trabalhar!!
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