Quote:
Originally Posted by Mystique
If I'm reading this correctly (and remembering correctly) there was this 'golden period' in fansubbing from around 2002 ish-2006 ish (note, estimate) that's sunk its glory days claws into those who were part of the scene back in the day. It's peeps from that period that seem to be the ones most disillusioned or 'burnt out' from it all. No spark or zest for fansubbing anymore.
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It could be. Things were very different back then.
I remember first getting into fansubs around 2001-2002. Back then BitTorrent was a new file distribution method that a few groups were testing out, but IRC was the place to go for new releases (and even some older ones). The IRC channels were much larger than they are now. The size of the channels was awe-inspiring, in some ways. Anime wasn't mainstream at that point, so it was a really nice feeling to log in and see hundreds of other fans gathered in these centralized locations.
The community feel was totally different. Random fans would volunteer their bandwidth by running file servers, or "fserves" as we called them. Channel operators would occasionally scan for fserves, and any running fserves would be granted a voice within the channel (a nice little token of recognition). Accessing an fserve was like navigating an FTP server through a messaging console, as you would be going through their shared directories and directing the server through a private message window. Releases in channels were usually accompanied by a bit of fanfare - I saw a few channels that would stop request all fserve activity to stop, and then perform a countdown to the release of a new episode. People were appreciative and offered words of thanks and praise to the fansubbers.
BitTorrent changed that. As BitTorrent grew popular, people had less of a reason to use IRC and visit the fansub group channels. Whereas IRC channel size had once been an indicator of a group's popularity, fansubbers had to get used to fewer people and less active channels, looking instead at torrent tracker statistics to get a sense of how many people were viewing their work. That caused a bit of a disconnect between the fansubbers and the viewers.
Worse, the fserves began to disappear. Perhaps it was because they had less of a reason to stick around IRC; perhaps it was because they were redirecting their bandwidth toward seeding torrents; perhaps it was because of the appearance of XDCC bots. I've always felt that the XDCC bots had far less of a personal feel than the fserves did. Usually run by a person with access to high-bandwidth servers, nobody can deny that the XDCC bots were a more efficient method of file distribution.
In my mind, the community feel changed from being an environment where everyone was giving something and trying to contribute what ever they could so that others could enjoy the shows, to something where people just grab what they need with little regard or thought to others in the community. I really don't know what motivates people to enter fansubbing today. When I was a teenager entering those IRC channels, the community feel drew me in. I set up an fserve with my sluggish internet connection to try and give back, and when I entered college and gained access to a very fast connection I was invited into the fansubbing scene (and happily accepted). Being a fansubber was the pinnacle of the community - it was giving back to the community in the ultimate manner. The ideas of "glory" and the joy of receiving praise kept a lot of us going, but for me, it was the community that got me into it in the first place.
I left the fansubbing scene in 2005. I visited here and there, but it just seemed to become less and less active with time. Admittedly I don't know what it's like now, but I can't imagine that the community is returning to it. Compared with how things used to be, fansubbing seems like it'd be a much more isolated type of work...