Animax’s Blog

PHOTO CREDITS: The Evil Obataku by ClaudiaKat

I’ve
been very busy this week with deadlines and numerous interviews for the
magazine I work for, and giving a little assistance for a monumental
project that Animax has planned. To amuse myself with the very little
free time I have, I’ve been monitoring the blog to see how you people
would conduct yourselves this time. I wish I could say that there’s an
improvement, but it’s not significant enough to impress me, sad to say.
In fact, I don’t know whether I should laugh or cry that a couple of
people in the SEA site has been asking questions about the Animax voice
actors when I have already posted not just one, but SEVEN interviews
with them. See what happens when you don’t even bother to read the blog
and just waste valuable "Members Speak" space with idle chatting,
requests for "Add me", annoying quarreling, and asking really stupid
questions like "What is this?"?

Since
the issues regarding the blog and the Animax website would not die
without giving you a clear picture of what exactly is going on, then
let me give you my frank comments on this matter, especially since Shin
Angel decided to put her two cents in, most of which I DON’T agree
with. I SHOULD have done this before, especially during the brouhaha
that took place in the India site over the removal of the "CSI
Section", but I respected the decision of the Webmaster to let the
Moderators take care of things. And what did the Moderators get for
doing their jobs? Just a lot of grief and verbal abuse, which they DO
NOT DESERVE. Well, I’ve kept my silence long enough, SO LISTEN UP!!

The Disappearance of the "CSI Section"

When
the CSI Section was added to the site, it was for the purpose of
allowing members to post arts, pictures and videos, which you have
created or taken with your cameras. However, MOST members only read the
first part of the rule and DID NOT read the part that the arts, pics
and videos should be something that YOU HAVE MADE. Common sense people. What’s the point of having the word "CREATE" in the name of the section if you share stuff that you did not make to begin with?

So what were the abuses that were committed that prompted the removal of the CSI section?

1.
Posting of copyrighted arts by the original manga/anime artists. Some
members even had the nerve to claim them as their own arts.

2. Posting of arts by other fan artists and blatantly claiming them for your own

3.
Posting Animated Music Videos or AMVs (This is a double violation of
copyright because you used a clip from an anime AND music from
well-known artists)

Some
people have been whining about why they shouldn’t be allowed to share
the stuff that they have stored in their computers. If you had even
bothered to check where you’ve been taking your pics, you would have
seen that ALL GALLERY AND LIVEJOURNAL SITES HAVE COPYRIGHT AND LEGAL
DISCLAIMERS. Those pics you have stolen were meant for your personal enjoyment.
Distributing them to other sites without even putting the copyright
notices is already infringement. Let me also say this point blank. The
Animax site is VERY, VERY STRICT when it comes to copyrighted images.
It is a condition that was made known to me even before I started
writing the blog because the Japanese animation companies are strongly
implementing this. In fact, as the Animax blogger, in case you haven’t
noticed, I make it a point to always get the copyright notice for every
image I put into the blog.

When
you mule-headed people started posting arts and videos that NEVER
belonged to you, you have inadvertently caused serious LEGAL issues for
the Animax website. Since you cannot be reasoned with, judging from
your fuming comments, better to get rid of the "CSI Section" altogether.

The So-Called "Glitches" in the Site

Why
is it that certain members are quick to blame technical problems in the
site to the Webmaster? Have you even bothered to think that you may be
also causing the numerous technical problems that are afflicting this
site? I may not be in charge of the technical matters here, but even a
moron could see the kind of abuse that you people have been putting the
site through.

Want some concrete examples?

1. Frequent changing of avatars

2.
Frequent changing of Profiles (Why you even bother to list down all the
anime that you’ve watched and loved defies logic? Why not say you love
all anime that Animax has aired. PERIOD.)

3. Frequent changing of nicks (Why? To hide yourselves whenever you’ve done something wrong in the blog?)

4.
Congesting the comments boxes of the blog and Profiles with ridiculous
"friendship spam" and ASCII art. Oh, to those of you who love to post
anime lyrics, even that is copyright infringement!

On
a lark, my nephew Enzo experimented with the functions of the site. All
the problems that you’ve been complaining about (profiles, avatars
wouldn’t load, etc.) DID NOT exist during the early hours of the
morning. Why? Because most of you who have been abusing these functions
are probably asleep. Also, if your profiles and avatars wouldn’t load,
DON’T PUSH THE SITE by reloading again and again and again. If it
doesn’t appear after 24-hours, that’s when you try again.

Shin
Angel, you suggested to delete the Profiles of inactive members. Just
how sure are you that they are inactive? I’ve actually spoken to a few
of these so-called "inactive" members and the reason why they aren’t
active is because 1) they were turned off by the idle chatting and 2)
they couldn’t comment at all. Just because they lurk doesn’t give any
member the right to delete their Profiles in order for you to abuse the
site even further with empty chats.

Oh,
there’s also one favorite suggestion – put a "Delete" function in the
Members Speak portion of the blog. Come on, people! You’re practically
lazy enough deleting comments in your own Profiles. How could you even
be counted on to delete hundreds of chat comments in the blog? If I
remember correctly, one avid chatter and nick changer was even
wondering why the Webmaster hasn’t cleaned up the Members Speak box.
You chat and let someone else clean up for you? That’s ridiculous! The
Webmaster has more important things to do than just clean up your
chatter.

This Thing About Netiquette

Shin
Angel took offense with my nephew’s comment about the "stupidity" of
certain members not knowing where chatting is or is not allowed. As a
moderator of not just one but THREE communities, IGNORANCE IS NOT AN
EXCUSE FOR NEWBIES. The only mistake that I could see that Animax made
is that they were too lenient enough to assume that you people would
know how you should behave in the proper forums. But it’s obvious that
you don’t. Some of you are obviously members of other forums and, yet,
you behave terribly in the Animax website in comparison to the other
groups you’re members of.

In
every forum, every community I’ve been to, the rules are the same –
conduct yourselves properly, no flaming, no spoilers, respect the
Moderators, chat in chatrooms, express your views in blogs and forums,
if you want to fight with someone then do it privately, etc. The Animax
website is no different from these communities. Besides, should each
and everyone of you need to have a set of rules for you to behave
properly and decently? In fact, there is only ONE rule that you should
remember – DO UNTO OTHERS WHAT YOU WOULD WANT OTHERS TO DO UNTO YOU.
That’s the core of Netiquette.

Let
me give you a heads up on this. I know a lot of you are requesting for
changes to the website. Yes, there will be changes in the offing.
HOWEVER, THESE CHANGES ARE USELESS IF YOU
MEMBERS CONTINUE TO ACT THE WAY YOU DO. A lot of you may not like it,
but I’m already preparing a set of rules and recommendations on how
affairs in any Interactive sections of this site will be conducted. I
honestly believe that conditions as they are now necessitate STRICTER
measures in the future.

I have
a strong respect for Animax and their staff. But sad to say, with many
of you acting like spoiled brats, you have given the website a very bad
impression upon those who visit it. People already think of anime fans
as rude and obnoxious. Should you even justify their opinions by acting
the same way in the Animax site?

This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 7:04 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.