FAQ

Those who can’t, criticize. Those who can, whine.

Note: This FAQ kinda sucks, so if you’ve got questions, post them down below.

 

Q. Can I join whiners.pro or Whine-Subs?

Can’t hurt to apply.

 

Q. How do we contact you?

A. IRC’s the best. If you know how IRC works, our channel is #whine-subs on the Rizon network. Otherwise, just make a post here and I’ll respond. If it’s something private, make a post saying you want me to email you, and as long as you have your email in the email field, I’ll be able to send you an email (it’s visible to admins, but not to regular viewers of the site).

 

Q. Oh god, we fucked up on an episode real bad. Can we get a re-review?

A. No, I don’t have time to hold your hand and tell you everything’s fine. You will be evaluated twice on your releases — once in my traditional Fansub Review format and once against your peers in a TL Party. I will not use the same episode for both, so even if you fucked up bad, you get a second chance at a positive impression. Please note that the TL Parties are only on an as-time-is-available basis. My life has been hell these past few seasons and I haven’t had time to get around to it. I will make every effort to review every group that manages to sub a show in a timely manner.

 

Q. Will you join my group?

A. No, but I appreciate the offer. I just don’t have enough time or motivation these days to join as many groups as I used to. I hardly have enough time to do anything with my own group — Whine-Subs.

 

Q. Wait, where’s my comment?

A. If you haven’t posted here before, your comment goes into Pending. Basically, this just makes sure the comments aren’t filled with spambots. If you have posted here and your comment includes lots of links, it’ll probably get flagged by Anti-Spam service that this blog has. In both cases, you’ll just have to wait until someone on staff approves your comment before it’ll appear.

I’ll ocassionally clean up these pages (FAQ/Review Queue/Staff/etc.), so posts may disappear from those if I think it’s necessary.

 

Q. Why haven’t you reviewed Group X’s Anime Y?

A. Because I’m not some magical Review Genie that can review everything in a single day. Unfortunately, reviews can take hours to do. As a rule, I don’t review HorribleSubs if there are other groups providing Crunchyroll/TheAnimeNetwork/NicoNico subtitles in their releases. Also, I don’t review trollsubs or simple re-encoders (if a group takes CR’s subs, slaps them on a raw/new encode, and releases it, I’m not going to spend time reviewing it).

 

0 thoughts on “FAQ”

  1. Question!
    You seem to be very good at English, and rather knowledgeable about a lot of the more obscure stuff, how come?
    Did you do some kind of extensive study, some unpredictable stuff or were involved in some line of English-related work?

    Reply
    • I didn’t take any special English classes beyond those required to graduate from schools, and my degree is technical. However, I did read a lot of books as a child and I think I’ve been coasting off the vocabulary I gained back then.

      Actually, I used to be an absolutely shit editor. I was a lot worse than any of the editors you’ve seen me savage on the site. As I kept failing and getting negative feedback from people, I started to look things up as I was editing. After 3-4 years of looking up obscure English rules, I finally internalized enough of them to become a fast, efficient, knowledgeable editor.

      So I guess curiosity is the only reason I know all this stuff. But hopefully I can share enough obscure knowledge in the reviews that people can learn things without having to have edited for a couple years. :P

      Reply
      • Okay, so I have 2.75 to 3.75 years to go. :p
        Well, thanks to our awesome QCs it’s already in the B+/A- area (with one exception), but still, room for improvement is everywhere. ;)

        Reply
  2. Question!

    It seems you know pretty much all other fansubbers too. Are you all like part of some kind of underground gang who compete with each other as to who can sub the best? Are you guys all inter-related? XD

    Reply
    • Hmm, if fansubbers compete over anything, it’s all about downloads. Maybe it used to be about quality, but people download on speed, not quality, these days. In the future, I imagine downloads will be largely irrelevant in terms of competition. I’d place bets that the size of the fansub group’s community will end up being more important, leading to an increase in larger and larger groups that emphasize as many releases as possible instead of just a few shows that are quickly released.

      It’s easy to get to know all kinds of fansubbers thanks to IRC. That’s where nearly all fansubbers hang out. Since I’m familiar with a lot of the work that groups do, it makes it easier for me to come in and start talking with them – reviews are a great conversation starter. It’s also easy to get to know people when they post on this site. I do read every comment, so I start to recognize names, and a lot of the people here are involved in the fansub community.

      Not sure if that answered your question. >_O

      Reply
      • Yes, it does to some extent.

        I agree with the fact that looking to the fansubbing today, and comparing it to the era of <2006, I find that you guys definitely have improved in the 'style' of fansubbing (fonts, typesetting, etc), have improved in delivering good English subs (well, some groups at least) and have improved a lot in speed.

        However, because of the speed of the fansubs, I find that the quality of the translation is reduced (i'm no expert in Japanese). I say this by comparing subs that release the show in 1-3 days, with subs that take a much longer time to release. Their scripts tend to be a lot more different. Maybe it's because they have a lot more time to preserve the actual 'japaneseness', with the idioms, and proverbs and terms, etc.

        So my point is, sure competition has increased, groups tend to pick up more shows than they would before, but the sacrifice is the overall quality of the Japanese translation.
        If you disagree, I would like to hear your take on it.

        Reply
  3. This is more of a suggestion than a question. Could you provide a corrected version of an incorrect line to go along with your criticisms?

    I’m positive that many of us would like to learn from your reviews. However, it is hard to do so if we don’t have the corrected version to compare it to.

    Reply
    • I apologize for the double comment, but I also have a follow-up question. Are there any sources, be it books or websites, that you could recommend where one would be able learn the (obscure) rules of English grammar?

      Reply
    • I could do this more. I already attempt to do so when I say things like “This line is awkward. Try *this* instead.” but I suppose I could work it in more often during the other parts.

      Reply
  4. I wish I had some in mind. There are probably decent resources out there, but I can’t vouch for their quality or accuracy. When I come across something I’m unsure of, I usually look it up and check multiple sources across the internet for my answer.

    So I’m afraid I don’t know of any specific resource that I could provide you with to read. Sorries~

    Reply
    • 1. learn to use irc
      2. rizon server, #whine-subs
      3. talk to anyone with a @, & or ~ next to their nicknames.
      4. prove goldbach’s conjection
      5. publish that mathematical proof in the Journal of Molecular Biology
      6. show us a MRI scan
      7. then we’ll consider it.

      Reply
      • Don’t you hate that moment when you realise that you have been replied to but only realise months later?

        Why am I looking here?

        Where am I?

        But yeah, I’ve since learned the ways of IRC. That confused the shit out of me.

        Reply
  5. Your group is new to me, and i am wanting to watch the new Last Exile anime. what codex are needed to support your subs? I have VLC, Media Player Classic, and Divx.

    Reply
  6. can ya please english dub on Higurashi no naku koro ni kira episode 3, been waiting for them to pop up online, but they never came online, so was wondering if ya can sub them like the 2nd episode got subbed

    Reply
    • You guys heard the man; whip out your fucking mics, and dub the shit out of Higurashi. I demand Dark_Sage to voice over Satoko.

      Reply
  7. First off, I’d like to say that this is a one of the best sites I’ve found recently. It really helps me choose which group I want to download from. I just had a few questions to ask you (directed at entire staff).
    1. What is your favorite fan subbing group? Least favorite? (Based on quality, not preference.)
    2. Could you link me to the review/release that came closest to a perfect score?
    3. Wouldn’t it be easier if you wrote up a review based on what you saw in each group’s release of the first episode?

    Reply
  8. I was wondering if you could review a couple of releases from groups such as THORA, Coalgirls, OZC and Kira-fansub.

    I think one or two eps would be enough to infer the quality of the group.

    What do you think?

    Reply
  9. Hello!

    I’m currently writing some posts on my blog about fansubbing and my final post will feature a couple of fansub groups answering the following question:

    “Why do you fansub?”.

    The length of the answer doesn’t matter, so if you want to write something huge, or short, go ahead! It would be fun to hear your opinion.

    Reply

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