Editing Scanlation (section)

==Reception==
Patrick Macias wrote for ''[[The Japan Times]]'' that there seems to be an unspoken agreement between scanlators and publishers; once a series obtains an English-language license, English-language scanlators are expected to police themselves.<ref name=Macias/> Most groups view the act of scanlation as treading upon a 'gray area' of legality.{{citation needed|date=July 2012}} Johnathan, owner of the now defunct scanlation sharing site Ignition-One, acknowledged that scanlations are illegal no matter what scanlation groups might say; however, unlike the manner in which the advent of the MP3 format marked the age of sharing music that harmed the music industry, he believed that scanlating manga in contrast encouraged domestic publishers to license manga.<ref name="Macias" />

[[Jake T. Forbes]], an editor and columnist, criticized the work of scanlation groups in that they in no way are in "legal grey area" and are blatant copyright infringement. He further criticized the community for lacking the right and qualifications to know whether or not scanlation is positive or negative for the industry and the harm it caused, emphasizing the simple truth that the scanlation community is "not" the industry. He describes the current fandom as taking "unfettered" access to copyrighted works "for granted" due to advent of torrents and scanlations.<ref name=Forbes>{{cite web |last=Forbes |first=Jake |title=Guest editorial: Dear Manga, You Are Broken |publisher=MangaBlog |date=2010-03-26 |url=http://mangablog.net/2010/03/26/guest-editorial-dear-manga-you-are-broken/ |access-date=2012-07-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621233528/http://mangablog.net/2010/03/26/guest-editorial-dear-manga-you-are-broken/ |archive-date=21 June 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Jason Thompson (writer)|Jason Thompson]], a freelance editor with deep involvement in the manga industry, stated that although manga companies never mention them, they have placed paying increasing amounts of attention towards scanlations as a means of gauging a title's popularity and the presence of a fanbase.<ref name=Macias /> Some licensing companies, such as [[Del Rey Manga]], [[Tokyopop]], and [[Viz Media]], have used the response to various scanlations as a factor in deciding which manga to license for translation and commercial release.<ref name="Interview">{{cite web |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/archive/2004/06/14/manganation.DTL |title=No longer an obscure cult art form, Japanese comics are becoming as American as ''apuru pai''. |author=Jeff Yang |publisher=SFGate |date=14 June 2004 |access-date=5 May 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217110640/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=%2Fg%2Farchive%2F2004%2F06%2F14%2Fmanganation.DTL |archive-date=17 December 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref> Steve Kleckner, former VP of sales for Tokyopop, stated that "hey, if you get 2,000 fans saying they want a book you've never heard of, well, you gotta go out and get it."<ref name=Interview /> [[Toren Smith]], a translator, feels differently stating that, "I know from talking to many folks in the industry that scanlations DO have a negative effect. Many books that are on the tipping point will never be legally published because of scanlations."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mrcaxton.livejournal.com/11270.html?thread=25350#t25350 |title=Comment on "The Bard is right again" |author=Toren Smith |publisher=LiveJournal |date=27 February 2006 |access-date=25 November 2008}}</ref>

Johanna Draper Carlson says that some readers of scanlations do not wish to spend money, or that they have limited mobility or funds, or that they are choosy about which series they wish to follow. Carlson feels that the readers of scanlations "do not care" that scanlations are illegal.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://comicsworthreading.com/2010/03/22/legal-doesnt-matter-more-on-scanlation-sites/|title=Legal Doesn't Matter: More on Scanlation Sites|last=Carlson|first=Johanna Draper|date=22 March 2010|work=Manga Worth Reading|access-date=16 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919070057/http://comicsworthreading.com/2010/03/22/legal-doesnt-matter-more-on-scanlation-sites/|archive-date=19 September 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> Forbes describes the cost of keeping up with new manga as "astronomical", stating that "fans expecting to read any manga they want for free isn't reasonable, but neither is it reasonable to expect your audience to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars a year to stay up to date with content that their Japanese kindred spirits can get for a quarter the cost."<ref name="Forbes" />

Forbes urged the scanlation community to instead direct their energies toward providing original, creative content as opposed to infringing on copyright laws. He addressed the fandom's criticism of the lack of quality in official translations stating that it should manifest as discussion. In regards to bridging the gap between cultures, he mentioned translating what Japanese bloggers have to say. Finally, he addressed the fame-seeking side of the scanlation community by stating that they should try their hand at creating fan art instead of placing their name on an unofficial translation of copyrighted material.<ref name="Forbes" />

During a panel on digital piracy in [[San Diego Comic-Con International|Comic-Con]] 2010, the comic and music critic and writer for [[Techland]], Douglas Wolk, expressed concern in response to the actions of Manga Multi-national Anti-Piracy Coalition stating that he had seen the music industry "destroy" itself by "alienating its most enthusiastic customer base" in attempts to fight piracy. Forbes, also a panelist, agreed, criticizing publishers for this direct retaliation; Forbes stated that publishers were not realizing that consumers wanted a large amount of content so they could browse rather than picking and choosing individual items. [[Deb Aoki]], panelist and manga editor for [[About.com]], stated that this was exactly what scanlation aggregator sites provided consumers. Forbes highlighted that until recently scanlations were not problematic; however, aggregator sites were appearing which made scanlations much more readily accessible and which run like businesses, functioning off of ad revenue while the artist and scanlation groups received nothing.<ref name="ComicCon2010" />