Thinking of Contributing Back to the Community

[Vestus]

I apologize if this is in the incorrect forum. I thought of posting in the General Discussion, but I thought General Anime was more appropriate.

Okay, I have been getting free anime from torrents from the "torrenting anime community" (don't know what else to call it) and from free fansub groups for around 5-6 years. I'm not going to lie, I think my overall seed/leech ratio is around 0.10 - 0.20. It actually might be lower. Doesn't matter, it basically boils down to that I have a s*** seed/leech ratio.

Now that I am out of college and have a full-time job as a software developer and basically living as a young single 23 year old male I would like to contribute back to the community (reason I say like a single male is that my girlfriend refuses to let me spend cash on her until I start making more).

I know I could just start seeding 24/7 (which I can), but I feel that isn't enough. I would like to do something different. I can't translate anything (only know English here, and even that is kind of poor at times). I was thinking of using my Diamond Giganews Usenet Account to host stuff there, but people actually need to pay for a Usenet Provider (I know most of you can't afford it for multiple reasons). Then I saw something called a Megaupload Lifetime Platinum Membership.

Now, I have a few questions regarding this Platinum Membership:

1) Anything I host on it, does it have unlimited downloads?
2) How would I get the new releases early enough?
3) Should I create and host a simple website that gives you the links?
4) What do you guys think?

- Vestus

[bayoab]

Originally Posted by Vestus

I'm not going to lie, I think my overall seed/leech ratio is around 0.10 - 0.20. It actually might be lower. Doesn't matter, it basically boils down to that I have a s*** seed/leech ratio.

Who cares? Torrents are based around the 90/10 principle. 10% will provide most of the upload and 90% will leech.

3) Should I create and host a simple website that gives you the links?
4) What do you guys think?

Terrible idea. The last thing that is needed is yet another website that hosts DDLs on MU/RS/etc. There are way too many of those as it is and most of them are scam attempts. And that doesn't give back to anyone. It just makes MU money.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Vestus

I know I could just start seeding 24/7 (which I can), but I feel that isn't enough.

You can increase the impact of your contribution by targeting the shows you seed. When I have quota to spare I make a point of seeding old obscure shows that I think deserve more love - it's not uncommon to be the only seed for something and for days to go by without a peer, then all of a sudden some random person on the other side of the world starts DLing. It's nice to feel you're helping a stranger with a common interest rather than just seeding Massively Popular Anime of the Week.

[synaesthetic]

The fansubbers here ought to do the same thing the devs over at xda-developers do.

Put a link in their sig to contribute to their beer fund.

Different work, but I've dicked around a little with Aegisub myself, and my lesser half has done some translation work (she's actually translating scripts for some moemoe variety show about idol singers), so we know it's rough.

Very tedious and time-consuming, a lot like hacking ROMs and developing apps.

So yeah I suggest if you appreciate a fansub group's work and want to give back... show your love with green.

[Ichihara Asako]

More anime on usenet would be wonderful. Most all I ever see is horriblesubs type stream rips, never anything good by real groups. Batches are often just raw DVD ISOs too, not rips from A4E, KAA etc. It's the main downfall of usenet. A good anime dedicated nzb index would be great. There is one I recall seeing somewhere, but it was terrible at keeping track, and releases on usenet are crappy, as I said.

So a real "contribution" would be to download fansubs from good groups via torrent/xdcc, upload to usenet, make nzb's and host nzb's on a dedicated site.

Or, y'know. Just buy anime, and not worry about what the copyright infringing masses want/do/say.

[Vestus]

Originally Posted by Ichihara Asako

More anime on usenet would be wonderful. Most all I ever see is horriblesubs type stream rips, never anything good by real groups. Batches are often just raw DVD ISOs too, not rips from A4E, KAA etc. It's the main downfall of usenet. A good anime dedicated nzb index would be great. There is one I recall seeing somewhere, but it was terrible at keeping track, and releases on usenet are crappy, as I said.

So a real "contribution" would be to download fansubs from good groups via torrent/xdcc, upload to usenet, make nzb's and host nzb's on a dedicated site.

Or, y'know. Just buy anime, and not worry about what the copyright infringing masses want/do/say.

I was thinking about that. However, how many people would find it useful? Out of all my friends and coworkers, I only know 6 people (including myself) that use Usenet.

Usenet is great, but the main reason why people don't use it is because it costs money (although you can find a decent provider for $5 to $10 dollars a month). Whereas, Torrents are free.

I'll just create the Dedicated Anime Usenet Website anyway, but I won't host it until I find that enough people will use it.

Edit: There seems to be one already http://animeusenet.org/ (I also like the layout, I was going to do something very similar to this)

[Ichihara Asako]

Originally Posted by Vestus

Edit: There seems to be one already http://animeusenet.org/ (I also like the layout, I was going to do something very similar to this)

That's one I recall, a little better than the other I was thinking of.

However I'd still rather prefer a layout like AS has here, with links to info about the series, and details on the group releasing it.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Ichihara Asako

Or, y'know. Just buy anime, and not worry about what the copyright infringing masses want/do/say.

Now that's just crazy talk.

Originally Posted by Vestus

However, how many people would find it useful? Out of all my friends and coworkers, I only know 6 people (including myself) that use Usenet.

I was a big Usenet junkie in the 90s (insert long nostalgic ramble about how alt.tasteless would beat /b/ in a fight as surely as ninjas would beat pirates), but I was under the impression it had pretty much gone the way of dial-up BBSes. Even 6-8 years ago when I ran my old University's news server we had hardly any users. So there's still an active anime community on there?

[Ichihara Asako]

Originally Posted by Simon

I was a big Usenet junkie in the 90s (insert long nostalgic ramble about how alt.tasteless would beat /b/ in a fight as surely as ninjas would beat pirates), but I was under the impression it had pretty much gone the way of dial-up BBSes. Even 6-8 years ago when I ran my old University's news server we had hardly any users. So there's still an active anime community on there?

It's not used as a community anymore, really (well, some probably still active) but binary newsgroups have verily superseded torrents for downloading. Faster, secure, private... the only catch is not free due to sub costs.

[Vestus]

Originally Posted by Ichihara Asako

It's not used as a community anymore, really (well, some probably still active) but binary newsgroups have verily superseded torrents for downloading. Faster, secure, private... the only catch is not free due to sub costs.

Well, if I were to do this, this would be a one man project. Essentially what I would have to do is:

1) Make sure I download all new releases (and perhaps old ones if requested)
2) Upload to Usenet (I guess I would create my own newsgroup?)
3) Create the .nzb files
4) Upload the .nzb files to the created website
5) ????

requirements:
1) Usenet Provider (already have this via diamond plan @ giganews)
2) Website (already in the works)
3) Host for the Website

Of course, I will be doing this. Even covering the costs.

[NightWish]

I'll second this:

Originally Posted by Ichihara Asako

Just buy anime

If you've now got money buy every anime you've ever downloaded and enjoyed. Put money back into the anime industry so they'll keep making more. That's what will benefit the community most, even if they don't realise it.

[InitialGT]

Originally Posted by NightWish

I'll second this:If you've now got money buy every anime you've ever downloaded and enjoyed. Put money back into the anime industry so they'll keep making more. That's what will benefit the community most, even if they don't realise it.

i'll have to agree with this too. forget about helping to pirate more anime. support the makers of the anime by buying the japanese or dub versions of all the anime/manga that you like.

[Dist]

This is what I've thought for a long time too, when I kept leeching.* Then, I got faster connection and I started '' giving back ''.... Well cause, it's all I can do. By the way, whoever suggested to buy the anime ... Well I get it, buying anime means more anime is made, but even if I bought anime, I would still get fansubs. I'd buy the original DVD's without awful dubs and slow release dates, but I wouldn't be able to understand them .. So even then, I would feel like I need to give back to the fansub/torrent community.

And for the record, I'd buy my anime too, if I had money.

*My ratio was probably something like 0.05 .. However, now with total of 4.75TB uploaded in last 3 months, I've gotten it to over 20+.

[SeijiSensei]

You know, you don't have to listen to the "awful dubs." R1 DVDs (and I'd imagine ones released in other regions like yours) almost always include the original Japanese with subtitles.

@OP:
Just buy some DVDs. The real community that needs support are the people who make anime.

[Dist]

That is true, but I hate dubs so much that I don't want to support the companies dubbing them. I'd rather have the japanese DVD's with original covers, and much faster releases. That is of course, if I could buy them. And to be honest .. Fansubs > Official subs .. But lets not go there.

The bottom line is, not everyone have a job or are even 18 so buying anime is pretty much out of a question. Of course there

Also out of interest : If you buy a localized version of anime, how's that giving back to the industry ? You're buying it from a company who has bought rights to the anime to sub and dub it .. Like I said, I don't want to support that.

[InitialGT]

^bought rights goes to the makers of the anime.

[Vestus]

Haha, I already buy anime. I never open it though. I just buy the sets to collect them. And I store all my downloaded anime on my home server.

I was thinking about buying figurines for my collection, but yeah I can't do that. I have friends over every now and then.

Well I could do it, but the figurines would just be stored and hidden along with my collection of DVD anime...

Btw, I'm a closet otaku.

[Simon]

Originally Posted by Dist

Also out of interest : If you buy a localized version of anime, how's that giving back to the industry ? You're buying it from a company who has bought rights to the anime to sub and dub it .. Like I said, I don't want to support that.

Depends on the licensing model (and I don't work in the industry so what follows is all guesswork). If it's fixed fee plus a percentage of sales, then at least a small amount of your individual purchase goes back to the creators. But even if the licensee buys the rights at a one-off price then carries the risk of making a profit, supporting them still indirectly helps the licensor: if the licensees find that certain types of show aren't profitable, they won't even bother to license future shows like that. This is yet another good reason to target your spending towards the shows and creators that you most want to support.

All that said, I agree it would be better for everyone to dump regional licensing altogether and have the Japanese companies go global. Biggest problem is revising their insane pricing structure, which may be the very reason why they haven't done it.

[Vestus]

Originally Posted by Simon

Depends on the licensing model (and I don't work in the industry so what follows is all guesswork). If it's fixed fee plus a percentage of sales, then at least a small amount of your individual purchase goes back to the creators. But even if the licensee buys the rights at a one-off price then carries the risk of making a profit, supporting them still indirectly helps the licensor: if the licensees find that certain types of show aren't profitable, they won't even bother to license future shows like that. This is yet another good reason to target your spending towards the shows and creators that you most want to support.

All that said, I agree it would be better for everyone to dump regional licensing altogether and have the Japanese companies go global. Biggest problem is revising their insane pricing structure, which may be the very reason why they haven't done it.

Honestly, they should create an ITunes like online store for Anime where the prices are cheaper than the regular DVDs or Boxed Sets. It should be really simple to implement.

[Dist]

Originally Posted by Vestus

Haha, I already buy anime. I never open it though. I just buy the sets to collect them. And I store all my downloaded anime on my home server.

I was thinking about buying figurines for my collection, but yeah I can't do that. I have friends over every now and then.

Well I could do it, but the figurines would just be stored and hidden along with my collection of DVD anime...

Btw, I'm a closet otaku.

Time to come out, then ? If you hide it for too long, and then they find out eventually, what do you think will happen o.o

Anyway .. As for your original post, I doubt there would be much need for anime on usenets. I mean, why bother ? Torrents are free and fast, Usenet costs money .. I just don't see it. Then there's Megaupload and such, but they're always slower than torrents so again .. Why use file hosting services ?

So yeah pretty much I guess the only thing you can do is seed whenever you can to keep torrents alive, especially those older ones. I hate it when I find good series I want to watch, but it's old and torrents have like, 1 seed or none :x. And you already buy anime so you're already supporting the '' real community '' which SeijiSensei mentioned.

As for me, like I said I'd buy anime if I had money .. Like Vestus does. But we both still download anime, so the fansub/torrent community is important too. And yeah I get it that if series gets licensed and is popular, they may license other series to it and makers get more money ... But all in all, I just despise the raping of original audio with those dubs so much, that I'd rather buy the official japanese releases .. again, provided I had money.