[X] My Assistant

(Note: This account has been handed over to YQII)

First off, a short introduction of who I am. I got started in late 2007, and posted my first public scanlation in around April 2008, with my oldest surviving gallery on here dating back to December of that year. Between then and 2016, I released a total of roughly 750 chapters. Jacob, the founder of FAKKU, first contacted me in September of 2008, asking about featuring my translations on his site. I said yes and we kept in touch, exchanging brief emails for the next six years. When FAKKU the publisher formed in summer of 2014, I was one of the first people to join the team as its translator. To date, I've translated over 1000 magazine chapters for FAKKU and ~60/110 of our book releases. My responsibilities have shifted a lot over the years, and now I mainly manage the production team working on magazines and doujinshi. I currently only translate a couple hundred to a thousand pages on an average month.

With that out of the way, before I say anything on the situation, here's what Tenboro had to say. I've cut it down to the essential quotes for brevity, but you can go to the posts themselves below for full context:

There is no big announcement or anything, but a new backend system that lets licensors place banners on galleries went live a little while ago

To reiterate; there are no backroom deals or agreements underlying this.
We have allowed licensors to run banners on their licensed content to promote their storefronts since 2015 or so

The long and short of it is a new banner system was created and invitations were sent to everyone who had a banner in the old system and also aren't dead.

There is no money involved with the banners. Money instantly makes everything complicated.

If you want to believe in some grand conspiracy, we have better things to do than try to dispel your delusions

This all lines up with what Jacob told me; we decided to use the new system and tried putting up a few of our releases to see how that would pan out. That's the full extent of our "collaboration." There's no money involved, and no further long-term plans beyond us simply utilizing this new tool.

Needless to say, this was not well-received, and the vocal part of the community made it clear our presence is not wanted here. As a result, I've disabled those galleries, and we won't upload anything else in the foreseeable future. This experiment clearly failed, and if Jacob or anyone else suggests we'll try something similar at a later date, I'm going to strongly advise against it.

That said, this is the only thing changing. E-Hentai has honored DMCA claims for as long as I can remember, and we'll continue to protect our content from direct rips. As mentioned above, the site has supported banners for licensed content for half a decade, and we'll likely continue to take advantage of this feature in the future. All this new system does is add a tool for tasks that site staff had to manually perform in the past.

To sum it up, we heard your feedback and won't post any of our content on here anymore. If you have any further questions regarding this or anything else related to FAKKU, feel free to post them here and I'll answer to the best of my abilities. I only skimmed through the comments on some of our galleries, and if you posted any legit feedback, it was likely drowned out by all the vitriol. I'll gladly give you a reply, but you'll have to repost it here. Sorry about that.

Shitposts will be ignored.

Edit: I've decided to re-enable the first gallery from 2015, seeing how that predates this event and I think there's still merit in leaving that one up.

This post has been edited by FAKKU: Jul 25 2020, 11:14

And just to nip any new unnecessary conspiracies in the bud, yes, this topic was made by me. I only used the FAKKU account for the OP because it felt more official that way. I'll most likely use this account from now on in this thread.

Was it really assumed that walking in like there's no history between the site and FAKKU and doing what amounted to advertising would be received with open arms? FAKKU has a huge amount of bad blood between not only the community here but as far as I can tell the greater hentai community as a whole and it consistently refuses to address it beyond just deriding the same communities it claims to be trying to connect with. You can't blame the hive for attacking you when you shove your hand into it looking for dollars, even if you put honey in the form of old doujins over it.

If this is a genuine attempt to start a conversation then I'd of said that would be a good start, but opening a conversation after you've been rejected when you could of tried any time prior seems like bad form to me. Maybe hire a community manager or a PR specialist when you try things like this because you couldn't of botched this harder, honestly. And I say all this as someone who doesn't hate especially FAKKU, honestly. The worst I can say about you guys is you work with Irodori, which is worth a good measure of hatred but is frankly another conversation.

As a result, I've disabled those galleries

This is so tiring.

Just close this thread, there is no need for another 'discussion'

Sad.

All of this circlejerk, pointless bullshit. Sad and childish.

I liked the galleries personally and appreciated them. Shame some morons had to ruin it.

I can understand why some people hate FAKKU, but I also believe at least half of the narrative the mob pushes is false and they don't seem to understand it is primarily Wani sending the DMCAs and FAKKU only protecting their specifically released content. Also that Wani would have DMCA'd the content regardless of any deal FAKKU made with them.

Moondoggie etc can suck it as far as I'm concerned and I at least think they should try to be honest instead of throwing out fully disingenuous smears.

I can understand having beef with FAKKU, but at least tell the real story, not just embellish it to fit the narrative that FAKKU was the one responsible for all of the Wani DMCAs and then there's the whole HH crap but that's another subject entirely.

There is no other way we will get to see most (if any) artists' work from Japan before it was covered with black bars, mosaics, or even worse completely whited out.

This post has been edited by yeller: Jul 24 2020, 12:36

Why paying attention to the mass of haters who aren't able to do anything but spit their vitriolic speech, destroy everything, pretend that they know better than the site's staff?
Besides all these bad users, there are plenty of reasonable ones who welcome such initiative, as long as everything is under control.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with advertising and teasing with free products. Whatever happened in the past doesn't matter regarding the policy applied. As long as the uploader is fair and square, no one in his right mind should be allowed to blame him for uploading. I don't recall seeing anywhere any kind of rule that applies any form of discrimination, either positive or negative.

Could we get these galleries back please? And don't mind all these haters and 0.5 star raters. You're not the only ones who are victims of such lame behavior.

This thread reminds me of Jacob's AMA from May 2020 (he avoided the real questions and answered very cherrypicked questions).

Was it you or Jacob who wrote "The response has been good so far!" and who removed it and why? I mean, we all know why, but I want to know if you can be honest about it. A large part of the reason for why so many people dislike Fakku is because Jacob is a pathological liar and removing that line got more people to dislike Fakku. The "response" wasn't referring to the comments. It was referring to the extra sales which you made along with your advertisements on this site. You removed that line because you don't want to admit that advertising on a piracy site can increase sales as it goes against the narrative that you've been pushing against piracy.

A few days before Jacob uploaded those four titles as advertisements, he went to Twtitter and made the claim that advertisements on piracy sites never make any money for the publishers and content creators. What are your thoughts on his claim?

One of those uploaded titles was made by Asanagi, who has also made the claim on Twitter that piracy never generate money. It's a very recent Tweet as well. What are your thoughts on this?

Did you remove your uploaded galleries and make this thread because you want to make yourself look like a victim? Victim playing will only burn more of your bridges with everyone, you know that right?

What are your thoughts on Takahashi's scandal and why are you still selling his company's translations? Is it because the only thing you care about is money?

What are your thoughts on Takahashi's crusade against MangaRock? If Fakku hadn't gone legit in 2014, and tried to go legit today, he would've gathered a mob and squashed you like he did with MangaRock.

Why are you trying to sweep Takahashi's scandal under the rug? You keep going on about ethics and morals but you're not being a good example to anyone by working with him. Quite the contrary, you're setting a very bad precedent.

This post has been edited by ninetydollardoujin: Jul 24 2020, 12:26

Honestly, it has been way too short to be able to say anything. The hate will eventually die down, and eventually staff and volunteers will get rid of the people spouting just pure hatred. This is something you will generally have to wait out.

While it's probably against company policy, as with most companies, a statement on the things people hate about FAKKU will probably go a long way.
A lot of people have seen the Hentai Haven statement on the website, but almost none have seen the one on realpapahh's twitter (https://twitter.com/realpapahh/status/1149618904316071944), and part of those that did ignore(d) it.
DMCA's have been done mostly by Wani, but people still want to say it's all FAKKU's fault.
Afaik FAKKU has made no effort to refute these claims, and I personally think refuting these claims with evidence will go a long way, though I understand there are various difficulties related to that.
Though the claim that FAKKU barely pays the artists is easily refuted by linking The Anime Man's interview with ShindoL. (Link for the lazy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SD9-4pUPH0?t=591)

I hope you'll either reconsider doing this and bring out a statement to appease the hate, or bring out a statement and perhaps try again later, or figure out another way to go about this (but for the love of God, please do some sort of statement).

P.S. Please make shipping to EU countries affordable, paying more for shipping than the actual book is retarded.

Ratings don't really matter.

The problem is moreso that the comment sections of each gallery turn into shit-flinging hotspots for FAKKU which is the opposite of what they want.

Do they deserve all of the criticism? Maybe. However, it's easier to just not take the option.

This post has been edited by saltcutlet: Jul 24 2020, 12:42

Just a quick note about DMCAs and who is sending them; as a side effect of the new banner system, the site will let you know who sent a DMCA if they are registered in this system, retroactive to early 2017. This is mostly to cut down on the "why is $gallery removed!!!11" threads, but

DMCA's have been done mostly by Wani, but people still want to say it's all FAKKU's fault. Afaik FAKKU has made no effort to refute these claims, and I personally think refuting these claims with evidence will go a long way, though I understand there are various difficulties related to that.

it obviously also lets you independently verify stuff like this. If it doesn't explicitly tell you that something was removed due to a claim by FAKKU, it probably wasn't.

Just a quick note about DMCAs and who is sending them; as a side effect of the new banner system, the site will let you know who sent a DMCA if they are registered in this system, retroactive to early 2017. This is mostly to cut down on the "why is $gallery removed!!!11" threads, but
it obviously also lets you independently verify stuff like this. If it doesn't explicitly tell you that something was removed due to a claim by FAKKU, it probably wasn't.

How are people supposed to know when a gallery has been removed? Does it show up as a removed gallery in favorites or what?

If this is a genuine attempt to start a conversation

I believe it was, but the outcome pretty much soured the whole experiment. You can fairly criticize both sides, between our execution and the community backlash, but the end result is still the same. We're not going to engage with this community anymore, beyond what I'm doing here. Maybe we'll try again if we see a major attitudinal shift, but given how much misinformation is constantly parroted, I won't hold my breath.

Why paying attention to the mass of haters who aren't able to do anything but spit their vitriolic speech, destroy everything, pretend that they know better than the site's staff?

I specifically called them "the vocal part of the community" because I know they don't represent everyone on this site. That said, if this is practically all we're met with when we upload something, there's little incentive to keep going.

This thread reminds me of Jacob's AMA from May 2020 (he avoided the real questions and answered very cherrypicked questions).

Again, I'll answer to the best of my abilities, but understand there are aspects of the business I can't disclose or I'm simply not privy of.

Was it you or Jacob who wrote "The response has been good so far!" and who removed it and why?

This OP marks my first involvement in any of this. I don't know the what or the why, but...

A few days before Jacob uploaded those four titles as advertisements, he went to Twtitter and made the claim that advertisements on piracy sites never make any money for the publishers and content creators. What are your thoughts on his claim?

That seems like a true statement after this experiment. From what I'm told, this generated a negligible amount of traffic/sales.

One of those uploaded titles was made by Asanagi, who has also made the claim on Twitter that piracy never generate money. In fact, it's a very recent Tweet as well. What are your thoughts on this?

Seems like the same question, but if I'm to elaborate on the topic as a whole: if piracy generated any considerable amount of money, I think more artists would embrace it, so I'm willing to believe their words here.

Did you remove your uploaded galleries and make this thread because you want to make yourself look like a victim? Victim playing will only burn more of your bridges with everyone, you know that right?

This is veering into some weird 4D chess territory, so I'm just gonna say no; I deleted them because I see no point in giving something away if I'm just met with hate.

What are your thoughts on Takahashi's scandal and why are you still selling his company's translations? Is it because the only thing you care about is money?

I assume this and your next question is about Irodori? I've personally only spoken to one person from there in a group chat, and that was years ago and I don't even know if they're still with the company. I've read a lot of stuff online about them, but here's how I'll sum it up:

Considering almost every hateful comment I read about FAKKU is based on things I know for a fact are flat-out lies or at best ignorance, when I see similarly outlandish claims against another publisher coming from the same crowd that rages on about us, don't you think it's reasonable for me to meet those accusations with a fair bit of skepticism?

I can only speak for myself, but I'm gonna need more than a 4chan copypasta before I even start considering taking any actions.

Really sorry to read that you disabled the galleries YQII.

The regular vigilantes and moderators have been cleaning up the comments section of your uploads just like we do for all galleries when hate, racism, deaths-treats and general stupidity appear. The amount of nonsense in those galleries are regrettable but it reallys hasn't been that long, 10 days? You should have given it more time to die down.

We are all volunteers and can't spend that much time watching the comments all the time. Most people that have commented appear to never have contributed to this site and while they are numerous I don't think they represent the majority opinion of the users here either. You provided quality translations (and uncensored content) for free so I can't see why people would say no to that. Advertising how people can buy work on your site is an obvious and helpful feature that people who don't care about internet drama find useful or just ignore. Don't let the few haters destroy this positive initiative.

Perhaps you have received negative feedback outside the site also if so that is regrettable.
Disabling the galleries won't stop that. It will remove the comments sections but those could be cleaned up with a more concentrated effort. There would still be comments like "I don't like FAKKU" etc but you need to have thick enough skin to take that to be on the internet. People don't like being given things for free and then have it taken away suddenly. That is one reason I think people got so upset when the big Wani/FAKKU DMCA wave came. I certainly wasn't happy. On a much smaller scale removing the galleries you just provided will elicit the same feelings and remind people of the time when much beloved content disappeared from this site.

I have have liked your translations since I found your blog in 2009 and ironically that might be how I found out about e-hentai existing.

That seems like a true statement after this experiment. From what I'm told, this generated a negligible amount of traffic/sales.

Seems like the same question, but if I'm to elaborate on the topic as a whole: if piracy generated any considerable amount of money, I think more artists would embrace it, so I'm willing to believe their words here.

Most galleries were fyorded because of the loli tag. Most traffic will likely come from galleries that can live on the regular site. So that doesn't seem like a well thought out/fair experiment.

@YQII

I quite agree with your reservations regarding the use of this advertising system in the future.
You don't need that, you've already reached everyone who might be willing to pay on this site, the rest are screwing you like hell in person so it's not your target.
Currently every new EH user sooner or later comes to know about Fakku in some way, you don't need to officially promote your content here.
A much more lucrative area in your case would be to work your link building and SEA on certain keywords.
Working on your organic SEO would allow you to gain notoriety at a low cost, but it takes time. For the paid it would be necessary to do tests.
Your Twitter and Discord are not highlighted enough on the site, if you don't know where to look, you don't notice them.
By comparison your campaign in March for containment was a great idea, just look at the statistics on the keyword fakku at the time of the promotion. In short, very clearly EH is a medium that lends itself poorly to official advertising in general.

Otherwise, conspiracy stories and other gossip are irrelevant. If you've given it a little thought, you can't do it all and catch all of the Hentai content that comes out, that's impossible. You already do not have the necessary qualified staff to maintain an equivalent level of quality on the content you already have. So why would you bother killing a site that is a great "free" entry point for future consumers discovering hentai?

I'll be you I won't waste too much time on this thread, you'll just end up arguing with people who hate you on principle.
You have made your announcement which all in all could be summed up in this sentence from Charles de Gaulle :
"Je vous ai compris"

I wish you good luck for the future, hoping that you manage to maintain the quality of paid content. Some chapters of the subscription have real issues of editing recently.

This post has been edited by Mysael: Jul 24 2020, 14:09

I believe it was, but the outcome pretty much soured the whole experiment. You can fairly criticize both sides, between our execution and the community backlash, but the end result is still the same. We're not going to engage with this community anymore, beyond what I'm doing here. Maybe we'll try again if we see a major attitudinal shift, but given how much misinformation is constantly parroted, I won't hold my breath.

Well, that's to be expected but I will say it's a shame on both sides really. FAKKU should be easy to market if you look at it from a surface angle, high quality uncensored that pays the artists etc etc. But every time you guys try you get torn apart.

The flip side of that though is you do little to stop or dispel it until it grows into, well, this or Jacobs AMA and ragequit the site. Like I said earlier, opening a conversation afterwards, as opposed to before you even start seems like bad form. You could even of said something while everyone was losing their minds going full conspiracy about secret backroom buyouts but you not only didn't, instead you insisted the response was good which inflamed things even more to the point it was almost comical. The response on the first doujin you posted was fine bordering on good even, it just got worse and worse with the subsequent posts as everyone refused to talk to eachother until everything was tainted.

I guess what my long winded pretentious whinging amounts to is that I wouldn't walk into a bar where I have a horrid reputation and expect it to play out like I walked into Cheers, I'd expect it to play out like I walked into Paddy's Pub. I wasn't being facetious when I said you should get a PR person to do things like this, and if you do already have one they're not doing a great run of it imo. I really don't have a horrid opinion of FAKKU, but stuff like this doesn't help.

It doesn't matter anymore.

It's done.

Further discussions on the matter are pointless.

Sad to hear that. I (and I am sure many others, though I can only really speak for myself) were grateful to see these galleries. It'll be said to see them go. Unfortunately, as in many cases, the minority that barks the loudest just ruin things for everyone, those same mad dogs will now think they've done everyone a favour.

I'm going to strongly advise against it.

Probably for the best. You've already shown that a group of people complaining enough is enough to provoke this response, it'll happen for certain every time now. Personally, I would have waited for it to die down. We tried our best keeping the comments section cleared, though there's far less vig than their are mad dogs, and in time I wholly believe that it would have died down and become more manageable. But, that'll only be speculation.

(I do understand that you have a brand image to consider, and those comments weren't helping it)

I do understand you are in an invidious position where you can't seem to win. If you kept them uploaded, you were "trying to kill the site", now that you've pulled them out, those same people will say you are "playing the victim.", since naturally their previous conspiracy cant work if you don't keep the files available on e-h and need a new argument.

Thank you for sharing for as long as you did.


Note: By you, in all cases, I mean FAKKU, not you personally.

This post has been edited by Ubershank: Jul 24 2020, 14:31

if piracy generated any considerable amount of money, I think more artists would embrace it, so I'm willing to believe their words here.

It certainly did because it made them relevant and famous on a worldwide scale.

I assume this and your next question is about Irodori?

Considering almost every hateful comment I read about FAKKU is based on things I know for a fact are flat-out lies or at best ignorance, when I see similarly outlandish claims against another publisher coming from the same crowd that rages on about us, don't you think it's reasonable for me to meet those accusations with a fair bit of skepticism?

Yes, it's about Irodori. That's a really bad consideration because you're comparing apples with oranges and it's not the same crowd at all. To even suggest that those facts about Irodori are 'accusations' is very insulting too. This is an entirely different matter. Don't you find it to be really strange that people are blaming Fakku for the takedowns by Wani, while Irodori has been issuing takedowns notices to this site and nuking hundreds of doujinshi galleries on a weekly basis for one year and barely anyone says a word about them?

Takahashi got caught committing a crime (providing illegal translations to piracy groups for money) which turned out to be something that he's been doing for many years and still is, and while doing that, he's been running an English publishing company for one year, he's been nuking hundreds of galleries from this site on a weekly basis and saying "piracy is bad and my sales are totally going up by doing this!", he's been gathering mobs against aggregator sites and he's been shaming scanlators on Twitter on a daily basis for almost one year now. When someone brought up his illegal activities, he immediately tried to get rid of the evidence but someone was smart enough to put it on the Wayback Machine. Then there's the "rumor" about him backstabbing Tech and using the remains of Enshodo to create Irodori, which I'm sure you've known about for a very long time, because Jacob admitted it in his AMA. This is only a tiny part of the many things that Takahashi's done so far.

TorrentFreak (a publication) asked Takahashi about this and he didn't deny this, in fact, he tried to downplay most of it with lies.
What does it say about somebody when they're doing all of that?

There are so many English erotic publishers out there who's been around for nearly a decade and they don't have any haters at all. That's because they're not full of hypocrites and swindlers, like Irodori.