[Locked] FAKKU State of the Union 2016

I have double checked to make sure, but there is no full screen button on the books reader. For subscriptions, the button is in the upper right hand corner and is the four outward pointing arrows that allow you to scroll to hide or show the taskbar. On books, no such button exists.

I think agree for changes even though i dont have money, i dont feel hatred instead well i just wait for other old or free even its takes me year. To creator keep it up :)

I've been a user here for quite a while, though I lurked before making an account. I greatly enjoyed Fakku, and do support the decision to become subscription-based to support the artists. It will be a hard business model, but it helps support the artists that make this community actually exist.

That being said, I can't subscribe--not due to a lack of payment ability, but rather with the deletion of the unlicensed material most of the tags that I actually like to read are gone. There would be little point in subscribing. Like another user earlier in this thread, I don't really care for NTR, and the current material is rife with it. I find Tsundere enjoyable, but that's largely gone or spliced with NTR. Not to mention my delicious flat chest is no longer around as much. I do appreciate that there is a great deal of new content being added every month to the site. But when it's all material that doesn't meet my interests, I can't really justify paying for a subscription no matter how much I support the decision for the site to become subscription-based.

However, I will be checking in on a relatively frequent basis to see what new content is being added. If they match my tastes, I will come back to get a subscription!

You see, I (intentionally) forgot to add number 3) They have all licensed content that Fakku has. Because I really hoped that people will figure it out without me saying this.

Some information for some people: there are countries in the world that unaffected by DMCA, because it was never accepted there in the first place. And thus, DMCA take-down notice won't do a crap.

And yes, why should I spend my money on Fakku, when I can spend them somewhere else and get Fakku Content + so much more?

I know this probably won't ever been seen or replied to but I want to add my few cents on the matter to a person who has been over there and had their opinion.

Why we pirate? Because there isn't a way to support them AND get the content we want. I think it is extremely selfish and unrealistic to think we should support people who provide content that isn't FOR us. I don't know about you guys but i can't fucking read kanji. I've done pretty much everything scanlation wise EXCEPT TLing because i can't read the language. This includes supporting groups who DO pay for the books and volumes (assuming they are honest and do pay for the books they then scanlate. If there was a LEGAL way to get the content i want i would do so but at the moment, there isn't. but thankfully this IS changing.

Anime and Manga sites are now popping up digitally such as crunchyroll and funimation and hopefully they are providing support financially to the industry they are making money off of. I personally only subscribe at the moment seasonally because everything i like to rewatch they do not have (why no gundams?). Once they put on some of that content that i watch almost daily I'll be supporting them fully (or in a few months when I'm more financially positive). Same with manga, I pretty much only have a sub to crunchyroll because I support their work on translating UQ Holder which they have. But many of my favourite series which are ongoing or done are not anywhere.

Webcomics, THANKFULLY we finally have LINE webtoons. I have been following comic navers series for years and had no way to even support them (i assume they get support via views because i see no subscription service). I don't use my phone much but I view all LINE webtoons from my phone with their app just in hope that it supports them with viewing. But it took forever for that service (LINE webtoons english stuff) to even come online. I HOPE they actually profit from it but regardless i'm thankfully it came into existence.

Hentai (video) - I'm still not sure there is a solid translation basis on this...If i'm wrong and there's a site that does this legally let me know i'll hope over to it.

Doujinshi/Hentai (manga) - I do not have a sub here yet mainly because i'm not really interested in some of the stuff atm but a lot of things have perked my interest and i'm sure when i'm in a position to be more free with my money i'll throw money at the site even if i don't use it much. This decision would be in hopes you back up your claims that you will provide FREE content. Even if it's not much, a way that subscription users get special exclusive content and non-subbed members still get something is what i will support on this site. Even if i don't use it, i'll support a site that provides free content because i KNOW there are people out there who can't afford it and providing them with a site they can legally view content on (even if they only provide ad revenue) is something i can back up completely. So when that free content comes in, I'll sub immediately. (weird how that works but i appreciate all the free stuff when i was younger and now that i'm older and more financially stable i want to support anything that can give service to those who were in my position prior of not being able to pay).

Visual Novels - Getting better now but holy shit games industry, I'll buy your damn games if they were translated and ONLY then. It's getting better now with mangagamer, jastusa, and sekaiproject, but prior to this fantranslations were the only way to do things. And the things i heard from some companies were just distasteful targeting foreigners. Not realizing that most people who even played their games foreign wise actually ended up BUYING their games to support them. I have bought most VN's I've played and a lot of those were not officially translated.



My opinion is that most companies are NOT actually losing ANY money from pirating, in fact they could be gaining money. Many series i would have not picked up at all i only picked up from reading the fan translated version and then seeing it in hardcopy or available for purchase somewhere and purchasing it because i read/played it. Fate/Stay Night VN? Would have never bought that in Japan when i was there had i not played the fan translated version of it. Steins;Gate? Same thing, Eien no Aselia? Absolutely. I would never have subbed to crunchyroll with stuff like UQ Holder and current anime series that i can watch like iron-blooded orphans. And now, i can support manga/hentai stuff. That's good and i will get to it.

But targeting foreigners for this is wrong. What do they expect? Us to pay for stuff without getting anything out of it? I have read comments that foreigners pirate games and anime and it's horrible for business and they must crack down on it. Not comments about THEIR OWN COUNTRY, but foreigners in particular. Yet when i go to look about what ways i can GET that content LEGALLY TRANSLATED...there is none, how is that hurting your business? There is no way people would have purchased it in the first place and now you MIGHT get people purchasing it. I know many who have done this and there are probably many who haven't, point is you just got plenty of purchases because of people who did what you could have gone (translation) for free that you would have otherwise not gotten. In a lot of cases foreigners support you loyalty sometimes more so than your own countries people would.

It brings a smile to my face when companies and people realize that, despite not having a big fanbase in their own country, worldwide they have a big fanbase. They need to realize that it isn't so unprofitable to expand worldwide, especially for the english audience. Granted usually you need to begin such expansion with something you KNOW will sell. For LINE that was Noblesse and Tower of God among others, for crunchyroll and funimation it's obvious, the series that are playing now and from research popular series that people like to rewatch. I'm not sure about hentai but i'm sure there are people who have specific artists and series they absolutely love. So i'm sure this site is on the right track.

Also, I understand, payment wise, what goes into all this, as i stated before I've done pretty much everything excluding the translating portion for free on many series. So i understand, you need to have a good amount of content before you even start these things and it's an investment in terms of money. But i'm pretty sure you will profit especially once you are done the content and you only need to continue paying publishing rights. It's like companies, you make something like software, and you don't profit off the software, you profit off of the companies that purchase a subscription to your software who realize that they NEED it and want to continue using it. And not using it is so disadvantageous that they have no choice but to purchase your software. An investment that you make back after a bit of time.

I have seen a decent amount of games especially that make WAY more money or at least AS MUCH as their local counterpart (japanese games). In this regard I see very little reason to ever think that you won't make money back for titles that have a foreign fanbase.

I DO However agree entirely with it being sad that you can't see the original artists twitter/blog over sites that provide it for free. I do think that is sad and something i hope will change with Fakku. As Fakku does pop up on the first page a lot of the time on google so I am fully with you on providing links to their stuff from fakku. Using the site for good in this regard!

BTW I have been visiting Fakku since 2008 but i never really figured creating an account was in my benifit. I only created one when i needed it to view content (that i thought was free lel atm but was wrong hue). And never used it at all.

Also for those wondering, I use torrents, and sites. In fact Fakku was never a site i exclusively used, i primarily use 5 sites for just manga/doujinshi. And now 4, i visit Fakku literally out of habit right now and i don't use it at all. Once you get that free content I will sub and use it but atm I don't want to sub a site that provides no means for anything free (Crunchyroll for instance you can still view free content, but limitations are placed, same with a lot of sites and games have demos).

I use torrents for things i want to either have perminitly or things i want the absolute quality on. In this regard content on crunchyroll and funimation i won't even view because i have a 1080p file that i torrented maybe even in FLAC or Dual Audio. It's just more convenient that way. I'll still pay for the sub out of support and the hard copy, again, out of support.

So in saying that, I REALLY hope Fakku has that free content at some point. I don't think any sub basis can REALLY profit without that free content. You need to give something that audience wants, while taking away and teasing with content they REALLY want and are willing to pay for. With games that's a demo, cutting them off but giving them the ability to play certain period of time or up to a point while saying you can't get EVERYTHING without payment. For streaming sites it's quality and multiple languages and no ads. For things like this? It should be less popular and less well done art. Having the simple art and less popular series that are free, letting people sift through, but providing a chapter here or there that has great art/scenes that make them know what they are missing out on. That's how you sell.

At the moment for myself i see two pages, maybe. But that doesn't do me any good so it isn't the same. These aren't games, you can't do that with these. Do something like streaming sites, provide worse quality images for free users (maybe ????x400 or something), provide less popular series/artists. While holding all the good quality and popular artists for the subscriptions. I think that is a better business plan personally.

Good luck!

got way longer than i figured but i really wanted to type this for a long while.



tl;dr Props to Fakku for doing it. When you get the free content, props, i'll sub immediately (I want to support sites that provide for those who CAN'T afford/pay). As to the whole Japan business bullshit provide a way to get the content LEGALLY and many will purchase it. Otherwise stop blaming foreigners for financial loss. And invest in a service that can be used and you will profit greatly from it.

EDIT: Thanks to the person letting me know that FAKKU hopes to get free content "eventually," changed my comment to more of "when" instead of "if"






Funniest part of this is the exact opposite of me. I DON'T pay with Doujin-Moe because i KNOW their content is unlicensed so you are paying 1 or 2 things, 1) for THEM to do work (which as a scanlator should NEVER be paid for and only voluntary) or 2) because they buy the raws.

IF it is the second, which i do not know, i should probably ask at some point but not having it in the FAQs or Sub page is something they should do themselves and as such i don't feel so bad about not investigating further, then i would pay. But i will never pay for JUST 1, you do no get profit for shit other people did and it's the exact reason why businesses lose money from piracy. It's almost on the level of paying for manga that is translated that isn't licensed.

My country has slight DMCA laws, it's merely Don't pay for pirated shit, if you are going to pirate, pirate, but don't PAY for pirating services. And i'm fine with that. But Doujin-Moe does have exlcusive content so that's pretty much the only plus i can think of (BTW did you know that a lot of their "exclusive" content isn't exclusive but ripped from scanlators who are less well known? Yeah...so think of that, you can get a LOT of that content for free but you are paying for it).

tl;dr cool but a lot of their content is taken from other sites as well. They do have SOME exclusive exclusive content but a lot of their exclusive content is taken from other scanlators...

Fakku was my favorite ever since I was pulled into hentai stuff for their easy-of-access of unprecedented number of top-rated series and their quality of scanlations and its presentations. On top of that, imo, myriad of provocatively amusing user comments were plus entertainment factor for this site that were virtually non-existent in other hentai community back then and even to this day (before their removal).

For your defensive posture on this topic, Jacob, I can kind of understand the artists' place and your advocacy for them after your personal meeting with them. I personally have no idea how they live or produce these creative works back in their home in Japan and their profits off of their work, but I'm curious if they live in such poverty that they can't generously forgo these translated scanlations free for those countries that can't access them in their native tongue(yet)? And just be happy with ad-profit share if you do share with them and premium users' direct support?

To my knowledge, translated works are partly protected by fair use? I'm not a legal expert so I do not want to dip into this matter but from the other side, from a human being's perspective, if you have talents to give hope to people, then serving as many people as you can is the greatest thing you can do in your life. Well this is entirely my opinion and many people can disagree with this, but I'm personally not very fond of capitalistic mind set, and I believe scanlations came into existence not because of this mind set but because of their overflowing energy and fervor to provide their translation skill-talent e.g. your skill-talent to create this website for us?

Lastly, I think Spotify's business model is probably what you should look into. Your team may have to test various resolutions, image qualities, translation qualities for free versions, but I think this is the only way to make compromise with all users and satisfy both artists and us for the future.

There are far better sites imho for quality and quantity of stuff. I won't name them but you can EASILY google them. Fakku really only has Exclusive content atm, a lot of it accessible elsewhere but sooner or later the Fakku appeal would be all the exclusive content they provide. So, despite your financial state, there are plenty of other places with a far bigger library you can go to. Just letting you know.








Okay, so first how they make money. Easy, they sell it.

Doujins (basically those fan made things based on non-original characters), is sold at conventions and stores (not big ones). It is basically the same as fanfic in western cultures. You buy the stuff based on others work at these conventions and that's how they make money. There are plenty of different ways, but you don't make as much as you might think. So when it come to these kinds of books it's really just because it's what they love to do. A lot of them have part time jobs or even full time jobs to support themselves because doing this doesn't make nearly enough money.

Manga, which is the original content, is sold the same but you also get the volumes and magazines. As these are original content and usually licensed work these are sold in the same way a manga volume would be sold at your library or book store except these would be 18+. I believe they also sell digitally but i could be wrong (pretty sure they do though). Usually this makes a bit more money due to licensing and being able to sell in bigger stores and widely at conventions again, due to publishing. But because of the age restriction this doesn't sell as much as regular manga.

The problem, is that when people go to look for the artists, especially those who do doujinshi only and are supported on a similar financial basis of donations and such, you can't find their site, you literally find places that you can read it for free. This is what Jacob was talking about. If people really wanted to support these artists you really don't have an easy way of doing it because of the amount of illegal sites that are in your way of searching.

Where it gets tricky is when you start blaming foreigners. Which is something i touched on in my post above. But primarily if you went to a japanese google and still tried to look up these artists you still get these sites. Meaning LOCAL people have the same issue and that's what i believe is the real problem. that Local people can't find these artists (blaming foreigners is BS at the moment though).

Now, in terms of translating, you are actually slightly correct. There really isn't anything wrong with taking work, scanning it (now you can't release the raws online, that's copyright), then editing it with redraws and translations. At this point it goes under fair use, but only if there is no licensed version currently or planned. This is why many sites start to remove manga that has already been translated if it is starting to be published. Because once a company officially obtains the right to SELL the content and it gets translated, the already done translated version is now in copyright. This is why places that very much adhere to DMCA rules like Batoto remove much content. A lot of that content is published (they can still try to get away with latest chapters that are not yet available to purchase thought but they usually completely remove those volumes that are in stores).

What's going on here is basically a more legal form of what has happened to the manga industry. Difference is that they get more money that this industry because they don't have an age block on it. That and they started WAY earlier. Fakku, from my knowledge, is the first trying to do what something like crunchyroll is doing, and places like mangafox and such are just like other hentai sites that don't give a crap. But like crunchyroll needing to purchase the license to be able to sell subscriptions to content, Fakku now is purchasing licensing rights (and doing their translations and such if my knowledge isn't shit) to be able to sell subscriptions to their content.

Overall the end goal of scanlation isn't to provide FREE content, it's to spread great work to people who otherwise can't access said content (in this particular instance it's translating it so others can understand what is going on). If it gets popular enough, scanlations goal is mainly to get those same foreign companies to realize there are people who would like to purchase said content and make the crowd big enough that there is profit in doing so. Which would then, hopefully, bring more money to those who provide said content.

As for spotify i don't really know how they work. But i'm hoping the business model will be identical to crunchyroll and funimation.