Background:
A few years ago (c. 2015), it was decided from a vote among BT contributors that web novel translations should be strongly regulated (effectively banned) from the Baka-Tsuki Wiki along with MTLs. Part of the basis of this ban was:
- Web Novels are effectively someone else's original light novel (OLN) so the quality of many web novels are poor.
- Web Novels are easy to machine translate, so many of the translations were poor.
- Many of the web novel translation sites engage in donations/financial practices that Baka-Tsuki does not support.
- At the time, Chinese Web Novels were flooding onto the Baka-Tsuki at an unmanageable rate.
By my reckoning, the web novel ban was extremely effective at achieving its goals. During the peak burst of fan interest in Chinese web novels, Baka-Tsuki successfully deflected the wave of new interest in Chinese web novels.
Arguably, it was too effective though. Through 2015-2017, the series of big DCMAs from major Japanese light novel publishers killed much of the activity and readership at Baka-Tsuki. Furthermore, the rise of link aggregators such as Novelupdates has diminished the relevance of Baka-Tsuki as a hub for light novel translations. As of today (August 2017), activity on Baka-Tsuki is perhaps at an all-time low.
Proposal/Request:
Today, my request comes from my perspective as a Chinese translator who left Baka-Tsuki for two years, and in fact switched primarily to reading and occasionally translating obscure Chinese web novels. As a person involved in this portion of the subculture, I can report that the Chinese/Japanese web novel-translating scene lacks a Baka-Tsuki equivalent, and small-time translators (myself included) lack a good place to put their translations.
Furthermore, I believe that the poor quality of many web novel translations could in fact benefit greatly from a collaborative wiki model such as Baka-Tsuki.
Therefore, my request is that Baka-Tsuki reconsider its ban/restrictions on Web Novels, and consider re-allowing web novel translations to be posted to the Wiki.
The pros:
- Repealing the WN restrictions may possibly increase the activity at Baka-Tsuki
- The collaborative wiki model has the potential to improve the quality of existing web novel translations on the Internet
- Baka-Tsuki can remain culturally relevant by advertising its values to the broader community of light novels and web novels (e.g. non-commercial translating, translation ethics)
- Poorer quality translations may come to Baka-Tsuki
- More Chinese novels (e.g. wuxia/xianxia) may come to Baka-Tsuki, which may not be the preferred genre of many of Baka-Tsuki readers
Thank you!