Baka-Tsuki:About
Baka-Tsuki (BT) is a fan translation community that hosts translations for Japanese light novels in the Wiki format. Founded in 2006 by thelastguardian, Baka-Tsuki has since expanded to become the largest fan-based English light novel agglomerate on the Internet. Apart from physically hosting over 130 projects in 19 different languages, Baka-Tsuki aims to promote the popularity of light novels and serve as a hub to connect readers with fan translations of East Asian light novels on the World Wide Web.
Baka-Tsuki is not a translation group. Independent translators come to Baka-Tsuki and voluntarily upload their translations to the Wiki for public sharing. Baka-Tsuki does not control what translators choose to translate or how fast they translate. Do not ask when the next chapter will be updated.
All materials' copyrights are reserved by their respective authors and the associated publishers. Works will be deleted upon request by copyright holders.
History
The Suzumiya Haruhi translation project was started on November 11, 2005 by "Big Boss" thelastguardian, which he stated was his "favourite" novel series. He loved it so much that he wanted to share with others, and pushed the first translated chapter by December 24, 2005, to a silent reception. Unfortunately, time and personal commitments forced his hands and he regretfully had to put that work aside.
Fast forward to April 15, 2006, KyoAni aired an anime based on the Suzumiya Haruhi novel series. Sensing a shift in the tide, the "Big Boss" moved his work to the still new wiki format and, in order to encourage new people to help him bring this series to the world, formed the Baka-Tsuki Translation Group. Soon afterwards, Baka-Tsuki expanded to include numerous other light novels.
In 2008, Baka-Tsuki's two largest projects at the time, Suzumiya Haruhi and Spice & Wolf, were licensed by English publishers. As per Baka-Tsuki policy, the licensed material was removed from Baka-Tsuki and the projects were declared abandoned. Since 2010, Baka-Tsuki has experienced an extensive administrative shift due to the number of retiring staff, and Baka-Tsuki evolved from a formal Translation Group to a decentralized Translation Community.
Today, Baka-Tsuki is a vastly different body than the original core group of Haruhists, but it now stronger, more diverse, and growing faster than ever before.
Organization
Baka-Tsuki is Not a Translation Group
Baka-Tsuki differs from your typical fan translation group in several important ways.
- We are not a rigidly cohesive group. Rather, we are a collection of people who hold roughly similar interests. There is little in the way of control structure or specialized tasks, and we are very open to anyone who wishes to come and go.
- We deal exclusively in the "novels" genre, which is somewhat rare since most groups focus on anime and manga.
- Unlike other fan translation groups, we do not "release" anything. All of our translations exist on the Baka-Tsuki Wiki page, and are always open for discussion and revision.
Due to these unique traits, Baka-Tsuki is viewed by its members to be a fan translation community rather than a group, and we welcome anyone who wants to join us.
Administrative Hierarchy
Baka-Tsuki keeps an administrative hierarchy to manage emergencies, moderate the community, and loosely organize this highly decentralized group of fans. See our list of Administrative Staff.
Global Baka-Tsuki Structure
- Consul
- The owner of the server and wiki. This is thelastguardian. All server issues, emergencies, and copyright related issues should be emailed to him.
- Synonymous to the "bureaucrat usergroup" on the Wiki.
- Custodians
- Second-in-command. These individuals have access to key features on the Wiki, such as the rights to edit the sidebar and css. Please contact these individuals to get the sidebar updated. The highest ranked leader of this group is Onizuka-GTO.
- Synonymous to the "administrator/sysop usergroup" on the Wiki.
- Wiki Supervisors
- These are the active leaders in the Baka-Tsuki community who organize and moderate members, rules, and community. They are individuals who have access to highly protected pages such as the Main Page on the Wiki, and can batch delete/protect pages. Supervisors of the Facebook group and Forum also fall into this position on the hierarchy. Nomination and election of new Wiki Supervisors is managed by Onizuka-GTO.
- Synonymous to the "supervisor usergroup" on the Wiki.
Baka-Tsuki Project Structure
- Project Supervisors
- Every project has a Project Supervisor, who serves as the primary point of contact for the project. They are typically a member of registered editorial or translation team. They have a vested and active interest in keeping the project going forward and will keep close contact with the rest of the team. This involves keeping track of translation progress, the status of the translators, standardizing project format guidelines, and resolving conflicts among team members.
- Project Administrator
- The secondary (or backup) point of contact. The Project Administrator must be an individual with administrative privileges on the Wiki (aka: they must be from the Wiki Supervisor group or above). While they may not necessarily be involved in the translation of the project, they take control of moving, reformatting, deleting pages or other functions that require Admin level access. In the case of an inactive Supervisor, they will temporary assume Supervisor responsibility until a new Supervisor is assigned.
- Project Translator
- A dedicated translator for a certain project. Multiple Project Translators will organize themselves with every project's Registration Page to prevent overlap. In the case there is only one active Project Translator and no listed Supervisor, he/she is assumed to be the Project Supervisor by default unless otherwise stated.
- Project Editors
- A rigorous dedicated editor for a certain project. Project Editors are expected to work with Project Translators to improve the fluency of a translation, and perform highly detailed edits with many chapters in a project. In the case of a argument, Project Editors (including TLC) are expected to defer to the Project Translator.
- Casual Editors/Anonymous Contributors
- These individuals are merely passing by and performing quick typo corrections.
Project Life Cycle
Every new project on Baka-Tsuki starts out as a Teaser Project, and must undergo the New Project Startup Guidelines. A Teaser Feedback Page is typically created in the Baka-Tsuki Forums at this stage.
After one full chapter is translated, and the project obtains a Project Translator willing to continue translating the project (and a Project Supervisor), it is upgraded to the Full Project. Currently, all full projects are listed the Sidebar. From this stage, the Project Supervisor is fully responsible for all activities and issues relating to the project.
If a project ever reaches 12 months of inactivity, it is categorized as a Stalled Project.
If an English or alternative language publisher licenses the novel of a project, the Baka-Tsuki hosted translations are deleted by the release of the first volume by the publisher at the very latest. (Baka-Tsuki reserves the right to delete licensed translations earlier and without warning). At this point, it is categorized as an Abandoned Project.
Affiliated and Hosted Projects
coming soon
Rules
Project List and Related Resources
coming soon.
Community
coming soon.
Staff List
coming soon.
