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Interview with ANN's CEO and Publisher Christopher Macdonald


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FilthyCasual



Joined: 01 Jun 2015
Posts: 2375
PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2022 5:02 pm Reply with quote
Is it true that all ANN employees will henceforth be paid in light novels?
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 02 May 2011
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2022 5:09 pm Reply with quote
Of course not. Most of us can't read.
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SHD



Joined: 05 Apr 2015
Posts: 1759
PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2022 5:49 pm Reply with quote
Honestly I'm only hoping that you'll use some of the newly available funds to invest in some good JP-EN translators for your news. The quality of translation in the news articles has been overall fairly tragic for quite a long while now.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11595
PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2022 6:09 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
What will happen to ANN's subscriber system? If the system is going away, will there be refunds to current subscribers?

We're going to finish the bloody beta and open it to everyone as soon as we can.

Not seeing how that answer is responsive to the question (not a subscriber, so maybe I don't understand the question?). Will opening the bloody beta mean refunds or not? Will it mean the system is going away?
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DerekL1963
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Joined: 14 Jan 2015
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2022 6:19 pm Reply with quote
Whoa... subscriptions are going away?
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MagicPolly



Joined: 26 Nov 2020
Posts: 1625
PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2022 6:32 pm Reply with quote
I thought it was obvious that the answer meant that they were going to try and get the subscription system out of beta and widespread for everybody, therefore continuing the system and not requiring refunds at all
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4799
PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2022 6:56 pm Reply with quote
Hell, if we can get the forum software upgrade that's been desperately needed for over a solid decade, I'd consider this deal a win.
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RommieSG



Joined: 10 Feb 2004
Posts: 147
Location: Hokuei High School
PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2022 6:57 pm Reply with quote
I use the site for the encyclopedia more than anything, so to see improvements on that front will be most welcome.
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ANN_Lynzee
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 02 May 2011
Posts: 3031
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2022 6:57 pm Reply with quote
SHD wrote:
Honestly I'm only hoping that you'll use some of the newly available funds to invest in some good JP-EN translators for your news. The quality of translation in the news articles has been overall fairly tragic for quite a long while now.


The news articles aren't supposed to be translations, but the facts are supposed to be correct. I'm tempted to ask for an example but usually I just get weird, sideways crap whenever I do.
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Giolon
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Joined: 16 Jan 2009
Posts: 62
PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2022 7:27 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Unfortunately we are being asked to abide by Japanese copyright norms.

I think there should have been an explanation of what this means. As someone who doesn’t live in Japan, and isn’t familiar with Japanese law, this is too vague.
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Covnam



Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 3823
PostPosted: Mon Nov 14, 2022 11:38 pm Reply with quote
Giolon wrote:
Quote:
Unfortunately we are being asked to abide by Japanese copyright norms.

I think there should have been an explanation of what this means. As someone who doesn’t live in Japan, and isn’t familiar with Japanese law, this is too vague.


I would appreciate more detail to what this means as well. I know the laws are much stricter, so I'm curious to see how this will affect the site. Will "this week in anime" be able to have the same image filled format for instance?

Quote:
Will this investment mean less general ads showing up on the website, for those who do not run ad-blockers?

TBD. Optimally we'd like to have fewer, but higher paying ads. We're bringing in new advertising staff to increase our direct ad sales, and we're looking at other potential partnerships. The more direct ads that we can sell, the less we need to rely on network ads, and we can either decrease or completely remove those from the site.


Appreciate this being addressed and really hoping things can go in this direction.
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Hiroki not Takuya



Joined: 17 Apr 2012
Posts: 2667
PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:06 am Reply with quote
Thanks for the picture of Mr. MacDonald, never knew he was so young. Too bad the picture chosen has him making a smug expression that says "yeah, I made bank"...
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fuuma_monou



Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 1850
Location: Quezon City, Philippines
PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:13 am Reply with quote
Covnam wrote:
Giolon wrote:
Quote:
Unfortunately we are being asked to abide by Japanese copyright norms.

I think there should have been an explanation of what this means. As someone who doesn’t live in Japan, and isn’t familiar with Japanese law, this is too vague.


I would appreciate more detail to what this means as well. I know the laws are much stricter, so I'm curious to see how this will affect the site. Will "this week in anime" be able to have the same image filled format for instance?


They've been adding copyright notices to the screenshots in the last couple installments of TWIA.
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SHD



Joined: 05 Apr 2015
Posts: 1759
PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 4:53 am Reply with quote
ANN_Lynzee wrote:
SHD wrote:
Honestly I'm only hoping that you'll use some of the newly available funds to invest in some good JP-EN translators for your news. The quality of translation in the news articles has been overall fairly tragic for quite a long while now.


The news articles aren't supposed to be translations, but the facts are supposed to be correct. I'm tempted to ask for an example but usually I just get weird, sideways crap whenever I do.

I meant the translation of titles and quotes, and also the understanding of the Japanese sources. Myself and many others have reported numerous instances of articles with either wrong translations or wrong understanding of information based on not understanding/misunderstanding the source. And to me, as someone who works in translation and localization, the nature of these mistakes are obvious signs of the person translating/interpreting the source lacking the language skills necessary for the task, I see them all the time in my own line of work.

Obviously I don't keep a list of errors I've seen and/or pointed out, but here's one that really got stuck in my head: animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=5018571#5018571

Or this one which is just ridiculous and baffling to anyone who knows even basic Japanese:
animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=5084010#5084010

Or this where the article writer seems to have just looked up "一般" in the dictionary and failed to understand its meaning in this particular context of "industry person" "non-industry person" (but same with social groups, etc., eg. if she was an aristocrat or a celebrity it would be translated as "commoner" or "person not connected to the industry/celeb world" I guess):
animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=4989342#4989342

Or another one where the person writing the article apparently didn't know what "meka" means in Japanese usage (as opposed to English, also see: hentai, otaku, etc.), resulting in misleading translation:
animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=5256686#5256686

Or this one where again the article writer failed to get correct info across:
animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=5377728#5377728

Or hell, perhaps my favorite (and not quite SFW), this is I guess more "problematic" than plain wrong, but also it displays misunderstanding of what these particular words mean in Japanese:
animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=5054772#5054772

And I could go on.
Obviously this doesn't happen with every news writer in every single article, but frankly they don't do a whole lot for ANN's reputation as a trusted news source.
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Egan Loo



Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Posts: 1353
PostPosted: Tue Nov 15, 2022 6:19 am Reply with quote
SHD wrote:
Or another one where the person writing the article apparently didn't know what "meka" means in Japanese usage (as opposed to English, also see: hentai, otaku, etc.), resulting in misleading translation:
animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=5256686#5256686


As the writer of that particular article, I assure you that I understand the usage of the term. Please see the Macross Compendium or Escaflowne Compendium websites from two decades ago, in which I include in the "Mecha" sections such items as airplanes, boats, and tanks.

https://macross.anime.net/mecha/index.html

As you will note in the original article, the word "mecha" is green-linked to ANN's lexicon. The lexicon says, and I quote:

Quote:
In Japanese, the term is used to refer to anything mechanical from robots and spacecraft to bicycles and toasters. The robots in Mobile Suit Gundam are mecha in Japanese, and so are the cars in You're Under Arrest.


animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/lexicon.php?id=100
animenewsnetwork.com/news/2020-11-19/clamp-tokyo-babylon-2021-tv-anime-unveils-cast-staff-new-video-april-debut/.166505


I know that quote, since I co-wrote it and inserted it into ANN's lexicon over a decade ago.

Last edited by Egan Loo on Tue Nov 15, 2022 6:42 am; edited 1 time in total
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