666Shinigami666

Well, I guess I'm most suited to answer this one. Bit of history of Batoto involved because it has changed over time due to unfortunate circumstances.

Originally, Batoto was made to give the participating groups 100% of the ad revenue by hosting their ads directly. That allowed 100% transparency in what we do since we do not handle any money exchange. The key is "participating", we certainly can't give ad space to groups who simply doesn't want to participate and we cannot give give the ad space to no-longer existing ones either. So, we used to put our ads there. So, regardless of what the remaining percentage if "inventory" is, we use that to pay for the servers. Because with good ad prices which we directly controlled and provided by google adsense, and current bandwidth costs, this was perfectly viable in the long run. Though, of course when Batoto just started out, I paid from my pocket since with tiny amounts of traffic, the ads did not bring enough to offset the costs.

Then comes the google's algo changes, a time when all manga readers stopped using google ads (well, sorta). They pretty much kicked us out, likely because we don't generate great profit margin for them (you can see the full story in the announcements from a while ago).

Switching to another ad provider was a huge issue. Because other ad providers doesn't offer the type of application interface (API) like google does with ads. It makes hosting multiple ads on a single website really difficult. To make it worse, it's impossible to do quality control of the ads and also exposes huge security vulnerability to Batoto as the participants can add any ambiguous code they like and there'd be no way for me to check them as it could change at any given time. Also, as Google hosts roughly over 2/3rds of the internet banner market share, they are the only grade A when it comes to pricing (with few exception, won't bother getting into). So, we're now at a much lower paying ads and unable to put others' ads. ( <-- double frown. That's why we've (more like I've) tried to create additional methods to increase revenue so that there's more to share and more viable ways to support scanlators financially. Though, much have been futile.

So, in the end, the ads that are running support the runtime of batoto. If the ads are insufficient (I would honestly like to avoid 4x + ads we're seeing on other sites now. I think that's a bit too much. 2 banners are maximum in my opinion to keep the site fairly clean.), we'll likely switch or add a donation campaign (which we did for extremely briefly when Google ditched us [without paying], putting us in the negative -- which I just paid from my pocket).

I once ate.... Grass, cardboard/paper, one piece of cat food... uh yeah
Think that's it... But seriously, gratz for those who ate/drunk disgusting stuff... Hope it wasn't too bad on the mental health :/

what is love???
: kukuku!!!love is nothin but a reaction between two gender pheromone to reproduce a new generation which will continue
the process of reproduction in da future.UKUKUKUKU! !!!!

: LOVE is a pure feelings vested by god to create a peaceful world.

:ME?? I don't care a shit about it....................

:LOVE? what the hell is that?

: love is the source of my STRENGH!!!!HIARGHHH!!!!!!!

Having these forums moderated actually makes it a better experience for everyone since we don't have to worry about random inappropriate images popping up and scarring the innocent minds on this forum. They forums aren't the "most censored" in my opinion, in fact, we have a lot of freedom in talking about things just as long as we follow the rules and the topic posted/reply to. I think that the moderators are reasonable in what they lock and I understand that some people get frustrated that their topic gets locked but it's with a good intention.

In your second link, you verbally attacked Haruki. While you might not see it as verbally attacking her, Moderators will interpret that in a different way because not everyone sees things in the same perspective. Haruki was simply asking the question if the topic was really necessary to talk about and you interpret that as "attacking" you when you could have just ignored it but instead, you attacked her back. The thread turned into an argument thread and Batoto doesn't want nor need those so to prevent it from going on, Grumpy locked it. It's reasonable because as the administrator of Batoto, you want everyone to enjoy the site (from how I view it) and having argument threads all over the place will hinder that.

So it seems to me that, rather than being upset because Batoto is heavily censored, you're upset because mods aren't explaining things clearly enough for you? There's a pretty big difference between the two, though I can see how they might overlap. I disagree with the claim that this place is heavily censored, as do what seems to be the majority of people in this thread. But I haven't had much personal experience with any mods, so I wouldn't know about the latter. Especially since each mod is different, and you can't really look at the behavior of one and apply it to all the others.

But if that's what's really bothering you, maybe you should rephrase your complaint? The rest of us would understand you better if you did.

Now about that thread you linked. I think Grumpy explained it pretty well, but I'll tell you how I interpreted it anyway. The topic was basically arguing against unrealistic art in manga (which is already a highly subjective topic) and since every counter-argument was treated with hostility, it wasn't a good discussion environment. Just an argument thread. I wouldn't know where to draw the line about when such a thing becomes unacceptable, but thankfully that's not my job to do. Grumpy did the job just fine however, and I can't find anything to complain about. If you really wanted to continue discussing that topic, you could try making a new thread where people can express their feelings about realism in manga, and, you know, not try to force their opinions on others. Then everyone would win, right?

To be blunt, youre annoying. :I
you seem to start a thread and then attack everyone with a different opinion.
the threads have no purpose, therefore, and they get rid of them.
you started a thread on the main girl of green boys arm MUSCLE?
for real? thats like complaining a fiction book isnt realistic.

I would not call these forums censored at all. Moderated? Yes, but not censored. If you look at forums like Mangafox, you can't even type Batoto, Mangareader, Japanzai, etc without the text turning into a bunch of *********. That is what I call censoring. The mods, in my opinion, do a very good job at keeping 100 topics on the exact same thing from popping up. They keep the trolling and flames to a minimum. They don't randomly lock threads that have actual discussion going on unless it degenerates into mudslinging and flies way off the topic.

just to get back on topic again...

i really like the "heavy" modding on these forums. i find that i have a lot of freedom, as long as i stick to a few simple rules
without the censorship, i'm sure things would easily get out of hand. if that happens the owner of the site might just get tired of it and close everything down, and i wouldn't even feel like blaming him for it

the best thing would be if we can keep batoto a safe place even for 13-year-old kids. not a place where adult talk, flame wars, and spam ruins a good online community

First ever console that convinced me to buy it not because it's cheap, but because it's revolutional. Nintendo has really upped the ante for 3rd party support, I am glad they are seeing the road Sony and Microsoft have paved. They are even letting developers get free development kits if they are working on games for the Wii U. Nintendo is pouring ounce over ounce of effort, this might be a last ditch but the Wii U is something phenomenal. I just can't wait till E3 2012. It's amazing how much support this platform has from Ubisoft and THQ, I believe they we're the first ones to ever get dev kits for the console. And seeing AC3 on Wii U[If that ever happens]? will be Amazing.

I've heard its a lot better/more powerful [twice?] than the xbox 360. It's getting support from I believe netflix as well as other MM companies. Nintendo Network also has an online store. Similar to PSN or Xbox live, It may even have Skype-like communications.

I am currently residing in Canada where we drink beer and maple syrup.

I came to realize that's all Canada has few weeks ago when my mother was trying to send some gift basket to relatives in Korea. And frankly, both of them might get caught on customs.  :

Korea

it's where our dear manhwas and webtoons are created~

as it says!
 
 
EDIT 1.04.2016: followers graveyard

Judging by how the question was asked i would guess this is about red hawk trying to avoid the issue. Which is kinda smart and not so much at the same time. They got c&d letter and their move was to remove the content of the series asked from all their servers and stuff and upload directly to batoto , ofcourse since we are not affiliated with them directly our stance remains to look at them as normal uploads and that is how RHS hopes it will continue. Then there is the issue that if batoto gets a notice from the publishers about those actions , ofcourse we will remove the content that is asked from them , it already happened before and we complied.

That pretty much sums it up as explanation of this specific situation , i wont go into scanlation and how gray area it is , those discussions never end with someone as the correct one , therefore its pointless.

Your answer:

What? No. Hero is just being incredible naive. We're not even talking about the same subject anymore, just trying to make him understand that EVERY scanlator team does their thing out of selfishness. Fame, adsmoney, etc.Noez is just doing business, I don't really hate them like a lot of you people do, but they're still pretty despicable.

You did judge me and every other scanlator out there with that line. EVERY means EACH AND ALL. There is no misunderstanding in that word. I don't know what motivates other scanlation groups and I am not going to pretend that I know. I do know what motivates me and my group and I can tell you it has nothing to do with fame (was that supposed to be a joke? Hell, most people who read our scans think we are a part of Null and we are not and have never been.) and it certainly isn't ad money-- we have never taken a donation or money from advertisements. I am not going to sit here and tell you that scanlating is legal. It isn't. But those are not reasons by which we scanlate. It is not why WE do what WE do and by we I refer to myself and my group but I am sure there are other scan teams that would also fit.

Noez has become shady, dishonest and quite frankly is an insult to the entire basis on which scanlating began. It started off as a fine site, but the greed of Noez corrupted that. I do not want my work displayed there as it may be mistaken that I support their ideals and their ways of doing things. I do not. This is why I try everything I can to inform and attract attention to their actions and try to support sites like Batoto which still goes on the ideas of why scanlating originally started. So these blanket statements you are making are like spitting in my face.

If I do not understand your post then that is because you do not know what you are saying yourself.